initial commit of ebook 9197HEADmain

210 files changed, 62853 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/9197-8.txt b/9197-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31dfa4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8462 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: English Villages
+
+Author: P. H. Ditchfield
+
+Release Date: August 13, 2004 [EBook #9197]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders.
+Illustrated HTML version by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+ENGLISH VILLAGES
+
+BY
+
+P.H. DITCHFIELD
+M.A., F.S.A.
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+Eleven years ago my little book on the antiquities of English villages
+was published. Its object was to interest our rustic neighbours in
+their surroundings, to record the social life of the people at various
+times--their feasts and fairs, sports and pastimes, faiths and
+superstitions--and to describe the scenes which once took place in the
+fields and lanes they know so well. A friendly reviewer remarked that
+the wonder was that a book of that kind had never been written before,
+and that that was the first attempt to give a popular and readable
+sketch of the history and associations of our villages. In the present
+work I have attempted to fill in the sketch with greater detail, and to
+write not only for the villagers themselves, but for all those who by
+education are able to take a more intelligent interest in the study of
+the past.
+
+During the last decade many village histories have been written, and
+if this book should be of service to anyone who is compiling the
+chronicles of some rural world, or if it should induce some who have
+the necessary leisure and ability to undertake such works, it will not
+have been written in vain.
+
+One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+continual decrease of the population. The rural exodus is an alarming
+and very real danger to the welfare of social England. The country is
+considered dull and life therein dreary both by squire and peasant
+alike. Hence the attractions of towns or the delights of travel empty
+our villages. The manor-house is closed and labourers are scarce. To
+increase the attractions of our villages, to arouse an interest in
+their past history and social life, is worth attempting; and perhaps
+this Story may be of some use in fostering local patriotism, and in
+reconciling those who spend their lives far from the busy hives of men
+to their lot, when they find how much interest lies immediately around
+them.
+
+The study of archaeology has been pursued with much vigour during
+recent years, and increased knowledge has overthrown the many wild
+theories and conjectures which were gravely pronounced to be
+ascertained facts by the antiquaries of fifty years ago. Gildas,
+Geoffrey of Monmouth, or Richard of Cirencester are no longer accepted
+as safe and infallible guides. We know that there were such people as
+the Druids, but we no longer attribute to them the great stone circles
+nor imagine them sacrificing on "Druid's altars," as our forefathers
+called the dolmens. The history of Britain no longer begins with the
+advent of Julius Caesar, nor is his account of the Celtic tribes and
+their manners accepted as a full and complete statement of all that
+is known about them. The study of flint implements, of barrows and
+earthworks, has considerably thrown back our historical horizon and
+enabled us to understand the conditions of life in our island in the
+early days of a remote past before the dawn of history. The systematic
+excavation of Silchester, so ably conducted by the Society of
+Antiquaries, and of other Roman sites of towns and villas, enables us
+to realise more clearly the history of Britain under the rule of the
+Empire; and the study of the etymology of place-names has overthrown
+many of the absurd derivations which found a place in the old county
+histories, and are often repeated by the writers of modern guide books.
+Moreover patient labour amid old records, rolls, and charters, has
+vastly increased our knowledge of the history of manors; and the
+ancient parish registers and churchwardens' account books have been
+made to yield their store of information for the benefit of industrious
+students and scholars. There has been much destruction and much
+construction; and this good work will doubtless continue, until at
+length English archaeology may be dignified with the title of an exact
+science. Destruction of another kind is much to be deplored, which has
+left its mark on many an English village. The so-called "restoration"
+of ancient parish churches, frequently conducted by men ignorant of the
+best traditions of English architecture, the obliteration of the old
+architectural features, the entire destruction of many interesting
+buildings, have wrought deplorable ruin in our villages, and severed
+the links with the past which now can never be repaired. The progress
+of antiquarian knowledge will I trust arrest the destroyer's hand and
+prevent any further spoliation of our diminished inheritance. If this
+book should be found useful in stimulating an intelligent interest in
+architectural studies, and in protecting our ancient buildings from
+such acts of vandalism, its purpose will have been abundantly achieved.
+
+I am indebted to many friends and acquaintances for much information
+which has been useful to me in writing this book; to Sir John Evans
+whose works are invaluable to all students of ancient stone and bronze
+implements; to Dr. Cox whose little book on _How to Write the History
+of a Parish_ is a sure and certain guide to local historians; to Mr.
+St. John Hope and Mr. Fallow for much information contained in their
+valuable monograph on _Old Church Plate_; to the late Dr. Stevens, of
+Reading; to Mr. Shrubsole of the same town; to Mr. Gibbins, the author
+of _The Industrial History of England_, for the use of an illustration
+from his book; to Mr. Melville, Mr. P.J. Colson, and the Rev. W.
+Marshall for their photographic aid; and to many other authors who are
+only known to me by their valuable works. To all of these gentlemen I
+desire to express my thanks, and also to Mr. Mackintosh for his
+artistic sketch of a typical English village, which forms the
+frontispiece of my book.
+
+P.H.D.
+
+BARKHAM RECTORY
+_May_, 1901
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.     INTRODUCTION
+II.    PREHISTORIC REMAINS
+III.   TUMULI OR BARROWS
+IV.    PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS
+V.     CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS
+VI.    ROMAN RELICS
+VII.   ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
+VIII.  SAXON RELICS
+IX.    ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
+X.     NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE "DOMESDAY BOOK"
+XI.    NORMAN CASTLES
+XII.   MONASTERIES
+XIII.  THE MANOR-HOUSE
+XIV.   PARISH CHURCHES
+XV.    CHURCH PLATE
+XVI.   MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES
+XVII.  THE PARISH CHEST
+XVIII. STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS
+XIX.   CHURCH BELLS
+XX.    THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE
+XXI.   VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES
+XXII.  THE VILLAGE INN
+XXIII. VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
+
+       APPENDIX--BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO
+       PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+
+       INDEX
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+FULL-PAGE
+
+An English village
+Village street
+Palaeolithic implements
+Neolithic and bronze implements
+Old market cross
+Broughton Castle
+Netley Abbey, south transept
+Southcote Manor, showing moat and pigeon-house
+Old Manor-house--Upton Court
+Stone Tithe Barn, Bradford-on-Avon
+Village church in the Vale
+An ancient village
+Anne Hathaway's cottage
+Old stocks and whipping-post
+Village inn, with old Tithe Barn of Reading Abbey
+Old cottages
+
+IN THE TEXT
+
+Barbed and leaf-shaped arrow-heads
+Plan of a tumulus
+Plan of tumulus called Wayland Smith's Cave, Berkshire
+Celtic cinerary urn
+Articles found in pit dwellings
+Iron spear-head found at Hedsor
+Menhir
+Rollright stones (from Camden's _Britannia_, 1607)
+Dolmen
+Plan and section of Chun Castle
+The White Horse at Uffington
+Plan of Silchester
+Capital of column
+Roman force-pump
+Tesselated pavement
+Beating acorns for swine (from the Cotton MS., _Nero_, c. 4)
+House of Saxon thane
+Wheel plough (from the Bayeux tapestry)
+Smithy (from the Cotton MS., B 4)
+Saxon relics
+Consecration of a Saxon church
+Tower of Barnack Church, Northamptonshire
+Doorway, Earl's Barton Church
+Tower window, Monkwearmouth Church
+Sculptured head of doorway, Fordington Church, Dorset
+Norman capitals
+Norman ornamental mouldings
+Croyland Abbey Church, Lincolnshire
+Semi-Norman arch, Church of St. Cross
+Early English piers and capitals
+Dog-tooth ornament
+Brownsover Chapel, Warwickshire
+Ball-flower mouldings, Tewkesbury Abbey
+Ogee arch
+Decorated capitals, Hanwell and Chacombe
+Decorated windows, Merton College Chapel; Sandiacre, Derbyshire
+Decorated mouldings, Elton, Huntingdonshire; Austrey, Warwickshire
+Perpendicular window, Merton College Chapel, Oxford
+Tudor arch, vestry door, Adderbury Church, Oxon
+Perpendicular parapet, St. Erasmus' Chapel, Westminster Abbey
+Perpendicular moulding, window, Christchurch, Oxford
+Diagram of a manor
+Ancient plan of Old Sarum
+A Norman castle
+Tournament
+A monk transcribing
+Ockwells manor-house
+Richmond Palace
+Doorway and staircase, Ufton Court
+The porch, Ufton Court
+Window of south wing, Ufton Court
+Ancient pew-work, Tysoe Church, Warwickshire
+Early English screen, Thurcaston, Leicestershire
+Norman piscina, Romsey Church, Hants
+Lowside window, Dallington Church, Northamptonshire
+Reading-pew, seventeenth century, Langley Chapel, Salop.
+Chalice and paten, Sandford, Oxfordshire
+Pre-Reformation plate
+Censer or thurible
+Mural paintings
+Ancient sanctus bell found at Warwick
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+Local histories--Ignorance and destruction--Advantages of the study
+of village antiquities--Description of an English village--The church--
+The manor-house--Prehistoric people--Later inhabitants--Saxons--Village
+inn--Village green--Legends.
+
+
+To write a complete history of any village is one of the hardest literary
+labours which anyone can undertake. The soil is hard, and the crop after
+the expenditure of much toil is often very scanty. In many cases the
+records are few and difficult to discover, buried amidst the mass of
+papers at the Record Office, or entombed in some dusty corner of the
+Diocesan Registry. Days may be spent in searching for these treasures
+of knowledge with regard to the past history of a village without any
+adequate result; but sometimes fortune favours the industrious toiler,
+and he discovers a rich ore which rewards him for all his pains. Slowly
+his store of facts grows, and he is at last able to piece together the
+history of his little rural world, which time and the neglect of past
+generations had consigned to dusty oblivion.
+
+In recent years several village histories have been written with varied
+success by both competent and incompetent scribes; but such books are few
+in number, and we still have to deplore the fact that so little is known
+about the hamlets in which we live. All writers seem to join in the same
+lament, and mourn over the ignorance that prevails in rural England with
+regard to the treasures of antiquity, history, and folklore, which are to
+be found almost everywhere. We may still echo the words of the learned
+author of _Tom Brown's Schooldays_, the late Mr. Hughes, who said that
+the present generation know nothing of their own birthplaces, or of the
+lanes, woods, and fields through which they roam. Not one young man in
+twenty knows where to find the wood-sorrel, or the bee-orchis; still
+fewer can tell the country legends, the stories of the old gable-ended
+farmhouses, or the place where the last skirmish was fought in the Civil
+War, or where the parish butts stood. Nor is this ignorance confined to
+the unlearned rustics; it is shared by many educated people, who have
+travelled abroad and studied the history of Rome or Venice, Frankfort or
+Bruges, and yet pass by unheeded the rich stores of antiquarian lore,
+which they witness every day, and never think of examining closely and
+carefully. There are very few villages in England which have no objects
+of historical interest, no relics of the past which are worthy of
+preservation. "Restoration," falsely so called, conducted by ignorant
+or perverse architects, has destroyed and removed many features of our
+parish churches; the devastating plough has well-nigh levelled many an
+ancient barrow; railroads have changed the character of rustic life and
+killed many an old custom and rural festival. Old legends and quaint
+stories of the countryside have given place to talks about politics and
+newspaper gossip. But still much remains if we learn to examine things
+for ourselves, and endeavour to gather up the relics of the past and save
+them from the destructive hand of Time.
+
+A great service may thus be rendered not only to the cause of history,
+but also to the villagers of rural England, by those who have time,
+leisure, and learning, sufficient to gain some knowledge of bygone times.
+It adds greatly to the interest of their lives to know something of the
+place where they live; and it has been well said that every man's concern
+with his native place has something more in it than the amount of rates
+and taxes that he has to pay. He may not be able to write a history of
+his parish, but he can gather up the curious gossip of the neighbourhood,
+the traditions and stories which have been handed down from former
+generations. And if anyone is at the pains to acquire some knowledge of
+local history, and will impart what he knows to his poorer neighbours, he
+will add greatly to their interest in life. Life is a burden, labour mere
+drudgery, when a man has nothing in which he can interest himself. When
+we remember the long hours which an agricultural labourer spends alone,
+without a creature to speak to, except his horses or the birds, we can
+imagine how dull his life must be, if his mind be not occupied. But here,
+on his own ground, he may find an endless supply of food for thought,
+which will afford him much greater pleasure and satisfaction than
+thinking and talking about his neighbours' faults, reflecting upon his
+wrongs, or imitating the example of one of his class who, when asked
+by the squire what he was thinking so deeply about, replied, "Mostly
+naught." To remove the pall of ignorance that darkens the rustic mind,
+to quicken his understanding and awaken his interest, are certainly
+desirable objects; although his ignorance is very often shared by his
+betters, who frequently hazard very strange theories and manifest many
+curious ideas with regard to village antiquities.
+
+We will walk together through the main roads of the village, and observe
+some of its many points of interest. Indeed, it is no small thing to live
+in such a "city of memories" as every village is, when at every turn and
+corner we meet with something that reminds us of the past, and recalls
+the pleasing associations of old village life. To those who have lived
+amid the din and turmoil of a large town, where everybody is in a hurry,
+and there is nothing but noise, confusion, and bustle, the delicious
+calm and quietude of an old English village, undisturbed by the world's
+rude noise, is most grateful. But to live in memory of what has gone
+before, of the lives and customs of our forefathers, of the strange
+events that have happened on the very ground upon which we are standing,
+all this will make us love our village homes and delight in them
+exceedingly. In most of our large towns the old features are fast
+disappearing; historical houses have been pulled down to make room
+for buildings more adapted to present needs, and everything is being
+modernised; but in the country everything remains the same, and it is
+not so difficult to let one's thoughts wander into the past, and picture
+to one's self the old features of village life in bygone times.
+
+Most of our villages have the usual common features, and it is not
+difficult to describe a typical example, though the details vary very
+much, and the histories of no two villages are identical. We see arising
+above the trees the church, the centre of the old village life, both
+religious, secular, and social. It stands upon a site which has been
+consecrated to the service of God for many centuries. There is possibly
+in or near the churchyard a tumulus, or burial mound, which shows that
+the spot was set apart for some religious observances even before
+Christianity reached our shores. Here the early Saxon missionary planted
+his cross and preached in the open air to the gathered villagers. Here
+a Saxon thane built a rude timber church which was supplanted by an
+early Norman structure of stone with round arches and curiously carved
+ornamentation. This building has been added to at various times, and now
+shows, writ in stone, its strange and varied history. The old time-worn
+registers, kept in the parish chest in the vestry, breathe the
+atmosphere of bygone times, and tell the stories and romances of the
+"rude forefathers of the hamlet." The tombs and monuments of knights and
+ancient heroes tell many a tale of valour and old-world prowess, of
+families that have entirely died out, of others that still happily
+remain amongst us, and record the names and virtues of many an
+illustrious house. The windows, brasses, bells, and inscriptions, have
+all some interesting story to relate, which we hope presently to examine
+more minutely.
+
+Nestling amid the trees we see the manor-house, standing probably on the
+site of a much older edifice; and this building carries our thoughts back
+to the Saxon and early Norman times, when the lord of the manor had
+vassals and serfs under him, held his manorial court, and reigned as a
+king in his own small domain. The history of the old English manor is a
+very important one, concerning which much has been written, many
+questions disputed, and some points still remain to be decided.
+
+Then we notice an old farmhouse which has doubtless seen better days, for
+there are the remains of an ancient moat around it, as if some family of
+importance once lived there, and wished to guard themselves and their
+possessions from troublesome visitors. This moat tells of the times of
+war and lawlessness, of wild and fierce animals roaming the countryside;
+and if the walls of the old house could speak how many stories could they
+tell of the strange customs of our ancestors, of bread riots, of civil
+wars, and disturbances which once destroyed the tranquillity of our
+peaceful villages!
+
+We shall endeavour to discover the earliest inhabitants of our villages
+who left their traces behind in the curious stone and bronze weapons of
+war or domestic implements, and who lived in far remote periods before
+the dawn of history. The barrows, or tumuli, which contain their dead
+bodies tell us much about them; and also the caves and lake dwellings
+help us to form some very accurate notions of the conditions of life in
+those distant days. We shall see that the Britons or Celts were far from
+being the naked woad-dyed savages described by Caesar, whose account has
+so long been deemed sufficient by the historians of our childhood. We
+shall call to mind the many waves of invaders which rolled over our
+country--the Celts, the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans--all of whom
+have left some traces behind them, and added sundry chapters to the story
+of our villages.
+
+The fields too proclaim their story, and tell us of the Saxon folk who
+were our first farmers, and made clearings in the forests, and tilled the
+same soil we work to-day. They tell us too of the old monks who knew so
+much about agriculture; and occasionally the plough turns up a rusty
+sword or cannon ball, which reveals the story of battles and civil wars
+which we trust have passed away from our land for ever. The very names of
+the fields are not without signification, and tell us of animals which
+are now extinct, of the manners of our forefathers, of the old methods of
+farming, and the common lands which have passed away.
+
+The old village inn, with its curiously painted signboard, has its own
+story to tell, of the old coaching days, and of the great people who used
+to travel along the main roads, and were sometimes snowed up in a drift
+just below "The Magpie," which had always good accommodation for
+travellers, and stabling for fifty horses. All was activity in the stable
+yard when the coach came in; the villagers crowded round the inn doors to
+see the great folks from London who were regaling themselves with
+well-cooked English joints; and if they stayed all night, could find
+comfortable beds with lavender-scented sheets, and every attention. But
+the railroads and iron steeds have changed all that; until yesterday the
+roads were deserted, and the glory of the old inns departed. Bicyclists
+now speed along in the track of the old coaches; but they are not quite
+so picturesque, and the bicycle bell is less musical than the cheerful
+posthorn.
+
+On the summit of a neighbouring hill we see a curious formation which is
+probably an earthwork, constructed many centuries ago by the early
+dwellers in this district for the purpose of defence in dangerous times,
+when the approach of a neighbouring tribe, or the advance of a company of
+free-booting invaders, threatened them with death or the destruction of
+their flocks and herds. These earthworks we shall examine more closely.
+An ivy-covered ruin near the church shows the remains of a monastic cell
+or monastery; and in the distance perhaps we can see the outlines of an
+old Norman keep or castle; all of these relate to the story of our
+villages, and afford us subjects for investigation and research.
+
+Then there is the village green where so many generations of the
+villagers have disported themselves, danced the old country dances
+(now alas! forgotten), and reared the merry May-pole, and crowned
+their queen. Here they held their rural sports, and fought their bouts
+of quarter-staff and cudgel-play, grinned through horse-collars, and
+played pipe and tabor at many a rustic feast, when life was young and
+England merry. We shall try to picture to ourselves these happy scenes
+of innocent diversion which cheered the hearts of our forefathers in
+bygone times.
+
+[Illustration: A VILLAGE STREET]
+
+We will try to collect the curious legends and stories which were told to
+us by our grandsires, and are almost forgotten by the present generation.
+These we should treasure up, lest they should be for ever lost. Local
+tradition has often led the way to important discoveries.
+
+In this brief circuit of an ordinary English village we have found many
+objects which are calculated to excite our imagination and to stimulate
+inquiry. A closer examination will well repay our study, and reward the
+labour of the investigator. It is satisfactory to know that all possible
+discoveries as to the antiquities of our villages have not yet been made.
+We have still much to learn, and the earth has not yet disclosed all its
+treasures. Roman villas still remain buried; the sepulchres of many a
+Saxon chieftain or early nomad Celt are still unexplored; the pile
+dwellings and cave domiciles of the early inhabitants of our country have
+still to be discovered; and piles of records and historical documents
+have still to be sought out, arranged, and examined. So there is much
+work to be done by the antiquary for many a long year; and every little
+discovery, and the results of every patient research, assist in
+accumulating that store of knowledge which is gradually being compiled
+by the hard labour of our English historians and antiquaries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+PREHISTORIC REMAINS
+
+Pytheas of Marseilles--Discovery of flint implements--Geological
+changes--Palaeolithic man--Eslithic--Palaeolithic implements--
+Drift men--Cave men--Neolithic man and his weapons--Dolichocephalic--
+Celtic or Brachycephalic race--The Iron Age.
+
+
+It was customary some years ago to begin the history of any country with
+the statement, "Of the early inhabitants nothing is known with any
+certainty," and to commence the history of England with the landing of
+Julius Caesar B.C. 55. If this book had been written forty or fifty
+years ago it might have been stated that our first knowledge of Britain
+dates from 330 B.C. when Pytheas of Marseilles visited it, and described
+his impressions. He says that the climate was foggy, a characteristic
+which it has not altogether lost, that the people cultivated the ground
+and used beer and mead as beverages. Our villagers still follow the
+example of their ancestors in their use of one at least of these drinks.
+
+Of the history of all the ages prior to the advent of this Pytheas all
+written record is silent. Hence we have to play the part of scientific
+detectives, examine the footprints of the early man who inhabited our
+island, hunt for odds and ends which he has left behind, to rake over
+his kitchen middens, pick up his old tools, and even open his burial
+mound.
+
+About fifty years ago the attention of the scientific world was drawn to
+the flint implements which were scattered over the surface of our fields
+and in our gravel pits and mountain caves; and inquiring minds began
+to speculate as to their origin. The collections made at Amiens and
+Abbeville and other places began to convince men of the existence of an
+unknown and unimagined race, and it gradually dawned on us that on our
+moors and downs were the tombs of a race of men who fashioned their
+weapons of war and implements of peace out of flint. These discoveries
+have pushed back our knowledge of man to an antiquity formerly never
+dreamed of, and enlarged considerably our historical horizon. So we will
+endeavour to discover what kind of men they were, who roamed our fields
+and woods before any historical records were written, and mark the very
+considerable traces of their occupation which they have left behind.
+
+The condition of life and the character and climate of the country were
+very different in early times from what they are in the present day; and
+in endeavouring to discover the kind of people who dwelt here in
+prehistoric times, we must hear what the geologists have to tell us
+about the physical aspect of Britain in that period. There was a time
+when this country was connected with the Continent of Europe, and the
+English Channel and North Sea were mere valleys with rivers running
+through them fed by many streams. Where the North Sea now rolls there
+was the great valley of the Rhine; and as there were no ocean-waves to
+cross, animals and primitive man wandered northwards and westwards from
+the Continent, and made their abode here. It is curious to note that the
+migratory birds when returning to France and Italy, and thence to the
+sunny regions of Algiers and other parts of Northern Africa, always
+cross the seas where in remote ages there was dry land. They always
+traverse the same route; and it appears that the recollection of the
+places where their ancestors crossed has been preserved by them through
+all the centuries that have elapsed since "the silver streak" was formed
+that severs England from her neighbours.
+
+In the times of which we are speaking the land was much higher than it
+is now. Snowdon was 600 feet greater, and the climate was much colder
+and more rigorous. Glaciers like those in Switzerland were in all the
+higher valleys, and the marks of the action of the ice are still plainly
+seen on the rocky cliffs that border many a ravine. Moreover we find in
+the valleys many detached rocks, immense boulders, the nature of which
+is quite different from the character of the stone in the neighbourhood.
+These were carried down by the glaciers from higher elevations, and
+deposited, when the ice melted, in the lower valleys. Hence in this
+glacial period the condition of the country was very different from what
+it is now.
+
+Then a remarkable change took place. The land began to sink, and its
+elevation so much decreased that the central part of the country became
+a huge lake, and the peak of Snowdon was an island surrounded by the sea
+which washed with its waves the lofty shoulder of the mountain. This is
+the reason why shells and shingle are found in high elevations. The Ice
+Age passed away and the climate became warmer. The Gulf Stream found its
+way to our shores, and the country was covered by a warm ocean having
+islands raising their heads above the surface. Sharks swam around, whose
+teeth we find now buried in beds of clay. The land continued to rise,
+and attracted by the sunshine and the more genial clime animals from the
+Continent wandered northwards, and with them came man. Caves, now high
+amongst the hills, but then on a level with the rivers, were his first
+abode, and contain many relics of his occupancy, together with the bones
+of extinct animals. The land appears to have risen, and the climate
+became colder. The sea worked its relentless way through the chalk hills
+on the south and gradually met the waves of the North Sea which flowed
+over the old Rhine valley. It widened also the narrow strait that
+severed the country from Ireland, and the outline and contour of the
+island began more nearly to resemble that with which we are now
+familiar.
+
+A vast period of time was necessary to accomplish all these immense
+changes; and it is impossible to speculate with any degree of certainty
+how long that period was, which transformed the icebound surface of
+our island to a land of verdure and wild forests. We must leave such
+conjectures and the more detailed accounts of the glacial and
+post-glacial periods to the geologists, as our present concern is
+limited to the study of the habits and condition of the men who roamed
+our fields and forests in prehistoric times. Although no page of history
+gives us any information concerning them, we can find out from the
+relics of arms and implements which the earth has preserved for us, what
+manner of men lived in the old cave dwellings, or constructed their rude
+huts, and lie buried beneath the vast barrows.
+
+The earliest race of men who inhabited our island was called the
+Palaeolithic race, from the fact that they used the most ancient form
+of stone implements. Traces of a still earlier race are said to have
+been discovered a few years ago on the chalk plateau of the North Down,
+near Sevenoaks. The flints have some slight hollows in them, as if
+caused by scraping, and denote that the users must have been of a very
+low condition of intelligence--able to use a tool but scarcely able to
+make one. This race has been called the Eolithic; but some antiquaries
+have thrown doubts upon their existence, and the discovery of these
+flints is too recent to allow us to speak of them with any degree of
+certainty.
+
+[Illustration: PALAEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS]
+
+The traces of Palaeolithic man are very numerous, and he evidently
+exercised great skill in bringing his implements to a symmetrical shape
+by chipping. The use of metals for cutting purposes was entirely
+unknown; and stone, wood, and bone were the only materials of which
+these primitive beings availed themselves for the making of weapons or
+domestic implements. Palaeolithic man lived here during that distant
+period when this country was united with the Continent, and when the
+huge mammoth roamed in the wild forests, and powerful and fierce animals
+struggled for existence in the hills and vales of a cold and inclement
+country. His weapons and tools were of the rudest description, and made
+of chipped flint. Many of these have been found in the valley gravels,
+which had probably been dropped from canoes into the lakes or rivers, or
+washed down by floods from stations on the shore. Eighty or ninety feet
+above the present level of the Thames in the higher gravels are these
+relics found; and they are so abundant that the early inhabitants who
+used them must have been fairly numerous. Their shape is usually oval,
+and often pointed into a rude resemblance of the shape of a spear-head.
+Some flint-flakes are of the knifelike character; others resemble awls,
+or borers, with sharp points evidently for making holes in skins for the
+purpose of constructing a garment. Hammer-stones for crushing bones,
+tools with well-wrought flat edges, scrapers, and other implements, were
+the stock-in-trade of the earliest inhabitant of our country, and are
+distinguishable from those used by Neolithic man by their larger and
+rougher work. The maker of the old stone tools never polished his
+implements; nor did he fashion any of those finely wrought arrowheads
+and javelin points, upon which his successor prided himself. The latter
+discovered that the flints which were dug up were more easily fashioned
+into various shapes; whereas Palaeolithic man picked up the flints that
+lay about on the surface of the ground, and chipped them into the form
+of his rude tools. However, the elder man was acquainted with the use
+of fire, which he probably obtained by striking flints on blocks of
+iron pyrites. Wandering about the country in families and tribes, he
+contrived to exist by hunting the numerous animals that inhabited the
+primeval forests, and has left us his weapons and tools to tell us what
+kind of man he was. His implements are found in the drift gravels by
+the riversides; and from this cause his race are known as drift men,
+in order to distinguish them from the _cave men_, who seem to have
+belonged to a little later period.
+
+The first dwellings of man were the caves on the hillsides, before he
+found out the art of building pile huts. In Palaeolithic times these
+caves were inhabited by a rude race of feral nomads who lived by the
+chase, and fashioned the rude tools which we have already described.
+They were, however, superior to the drift men, and had some notion of
+art. The principal caves in the British islands containing the relics of
+the cave folk are the following: Perthichoaren, Denbighshire, wherein
+were found the remains of Platycnemic man--so named from his having
+sharp shin-bones; Cefn, St. Asaph; Uphill, Somerset; King's Scar and the
+Victoria Cave, Settle; Robin Hood's Cave and Pinhole Cave, Derbyshire;
+Black Rock, Caldy Island, Coygan Caves, Pembrokeshire; King Arthur's
+Cave, Monmouth; Durdham Downs, Bristol; and sundry others, near Oban, in
+the valleys of the Trent, Dove, and Nore, and of the Irish Blackwater,
+and in Caithness.
+
+In these abodes the bones of both men and animals have been found; but
+these do not all belong to the same period, as the Neolithic people,
+and those of the Bronze and Iron Ages, followed the occupation of the
+earlier race. The remains of the different races, however, lie at
+various depths, those of the earlier race naturally lying the lowest. An
+examination of the Victoria Cave, Settle, clearly shows this. Outside
+the entrance there was found a layer of charcoal and burnt bones, and
+the burnt stones of fireplaces, pottery, coins of the Emperors Trajan
+and Constantine, and ornaments in bone, ivory, bronze and enamel. The
+animal remains were those of the _bos longifrons_ (Celtic ox), pig,
+horse, roe, stag, fowl (wild), and grouse. This layer was evidently
+composed of the relics of a Romano-British people. Below this were found
+chipped flints, an adze of melaphyre, and a layer of boulders, sand, and
+clay, brought down by the ice from the higher valley.
+
+Inside the cave in the upper cave earth were found the bones of fox,
+badger, brown bear, grizzly bear, reindeer, red deer, horse, pig, and
+goat, and some bones evidently hacked by man. In the lower cave earth
+there were the remains of the hyena, fox, brown and grizzly bears,
+elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, urus, bison, and red deer, the
+hacked bones of a goat, and a small leg-bone of a man.
+
+Some idea of the time which has elapsed since primitive man inhabited
+this rude dwelling may be formed from these excavations. Two feet below
+the surface lay the Romano-British layer, and we know therefore that
+about 1,600 years was required for the earth to accumulate to that
+depth. The Neolithic layer was six feet below this; hence 4,800 years
+would be necessary to form this depth of earth. So we may conclude that
+at least 6,400 years ago Neolithic man used the cave. A long time
+previous to this lived the creatures of the lower cave earth, the bison,
+elephant, and the hyena with the solitary human bone, which belonged to
+the sharp-shinned race (Platycnemic) of beings, the earliest dwellers in
+our country.
+
+It is doubtful whether Palaeolithic man has left any descendants. The
+Esquimaux appear to somewhat resemble them. Professor Boyd Dawkins, in
+his remarkable book, _Cave Hunting_, traces this relationship in the
+character of implements, methods of obtaining food and cooking it, modes
+of preparing skins for clothing, and particularly in the remarkable
+skill of depicting figures on bone which both races display. In carving
+figures on bone and teeth early man in Britain was certainly more
+skilful than his successor; but he was a very inferior type of the human
+race, yet his intelligence and mode of life have been deemed not lower
+than those of the Australian aborigines.
+
+The animals which roamed through the country in this Pleistocene period
+were the elk and reindeer, which link us on to the older and colder
+period when Arctic conditions prevailed; the Irish deer, a creature of
+great size whose head weighed about eighty pounds; bison, elephant,
+rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lion, wolf, otter, bear, horse, red deer, roe,
+urus or gigantic ox, the short-horned ox (_bos longifrons_), boar,
+badger and many others which survive to the present day, and have
+therefore a very long line of ancestors.
+
+The successor of the old stone implement maker was Neolithic man, to
+whom we have already had occasion to refer. Some lengthy period of
+geological change separates him from his predecessor of the Old Stone
+Age. Specimens of his handiwork show that he was a much more civilised
+person than his predecessor, and presented a much higher type of
+humanity. He had a peculiarly shaped head, the back part of the skull
+being strangely prolonged; and from this feature he is called
+_dolichocephalic_. He was small in stature, about 5 feet 6 inches in
+height, having a dark complexion, and his descendants are the Iberian or
+Basque races in the Western Pyrenees and may still be traced in parts of
+Ireland and Wales. The long barrows or mounds, the length of which is
+greater than the breadth, contain his remains, and we find traces of his
+existence in all the western countries of Europe.
+
+He had made many discoveries which were unknown to his Old Stone
+predecessor. Instead of always hunting for his food, like an animal, he
+found out that the earth would give him corn with which he could make
+bread, if only he took the trouble to cultivate it. Instead of always
+slaying animals, he found that some were quite ready to be his servants,
+and give him milk and wool and food. He brought with him to our shores
+cows and sheep and goats, horses and dogs. Moreover he made pottery,
+moulding the clay with his hand, and baking it in a fire. He had not
+discovered the advantages of a kiln. He could spin thread, and weave
+stuffs, though he usually wore garments of skins.
+
+His dwellings were no longer the caves and forests, for he made for
+himself rude pit huts, and surrounded himself, his tribe, and cattle
+with a circular camp. Traces of his agricultural operations may still be
+found in the "terraces," or strips of ground on hillsides, which
+preserve the marks of our early Neolithic farmers.
+
+[Illustration: BARBED AND LEAF-SHAPED ARROW-HEADS]
+
+Their implements are far superior to those of the Old Stone men, and are
+found on the surface of our fields, or on hillsides, where they tended
+their flocks, or dug their rude pit shelters. Their weapons and tools
+are highly polished, and have evidently been ground on a grindstone.
+They are adapted for an endless variety of uses, and are most skilfully
+and beautifully fashioned. There are finely wrought arrowheads, of three
+shapes--barbed, tanged and barbed, and leaf-shaped; axes, scrapers for
+cleansing and preparing skins for clothing, hammer stones, wedges,
+drills, borers, knives, and many other tools. In the Reading Museum may
+be seen a heavy quartzite axe and chipped flint hatchet, which were
+found with some charred timber on an island in the Thames, and were
+evidently used for scooping out the interior of a boat from a tree with
+the aid of fire. So this New Stone man knew how to make boats as well as
+a vast number of other things of which we shall presently speak more
+particularly. His descendants linger on in South Wales and Ireland, and
+are short in stature, dark in complexion, and narrow-skulled, like their
+forefathers a few thousand years ago.
+
+[Illustration: NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE IMPLEMENTS]
+
+Another wave of invaders swept over our land, and overcame the
+long-headed Neolithic race. These were the Celtic people, taller and
+stronger than their predecessors, and distinguished by their fair hair
+and rounded skulls. From the shape of their heads they are called
+Brachycephalic, and are believed to have belonged to the original Aryan
+race, whose birthplace was Southern Asia. At some remote period this
+wave of invaders poured over Europe and Asia, and has left traces behind
+it in the languages of all Indo-European nations.
+
+Their weapons were made of bronze, although they still used polished
+stone implements also. We find chisels, daggers, rings, buttons, and
+spear-heads, all made of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, and
+fashioned by the skilled hands of these early Celtic folk. As they
+became more civilised, being of an inventive mind, they discovered the
+use of iron and found it a more convenient metal for fashioning axes to
+cut down trees.
+
+When Caesar came to Britain he found that the inhabitants knew the use
+of iron, even the less civilised early Celtic settlers driven northwards
+and westwards by the Belgae, had iron weapons, and the wild Caledonians
+in the time of Severus, although they were naked, woad-dyed savages,
+wore iron collars and girdles and were armed with metal weapons.
+
+Such are some of the relics of antiquity which the soil of our native
+land retains, as a memorial of the primitive people who first trod upon
+it. Concerning their lives and records history is silent, until the
+Conqueror tells us something of our Celtic forefathers. From the scanty
+remains of prehistoric races, their weapons and tools, we can gather
+something of the earliest inhabitants of our island, and try to realise
+their habits and mode of life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TUMULI OR BARROWS
+
+Barrows near churchyards--Their universality--Contents--Food in
+barrows--Curious burial customs--Belief in future life--Long and
+round barrows--Interior of barrow--Position of bodies--Cremation--
+Burial urns--Articles of dress and ornament--Artistic workmanship--
+Pottery--Remains of agriculture--Organised condition of society
+among prehistoric people.
+
+
+Throughout the country we find many artificial mounds which are called
+_tumuli_ or barrows, or in the neighbourhood of Wales, "tumps." These
+are the ancient burial-places of the early inhabitants of our island,
+the word "barrow" being derived from the Anglo-Saxon _beorh_, a hill or
+grave-mound. It is not unusual to see a barrow in the centre, or near,
+an old churchyard, as at Taplow, Bucks. The church was built, of course,
+much later than the erection of the mound; but doubtless the early
+preachers of the gospel took advantage of the reverence which was paid
+to these ancient tombs, proclaimed there the story of the cross, and on
+the spots so consecrated churches were ultimately built.
+
+These mounds have much to tell us of the early inhabitants. To cover the
+dead with a mound of earth was a custom common to all nations. All over
+Europe, in Northern Asia, India, and in the new world of America, we
+find burial-mounds. The pyramids of Egypt are only glorified mounds; and
+our islands can boast of an endless variety, sometimes consisting of
+cairns, or heaps of stones, sometimes of huge hills of earth, 130 feet
+in height, as at Silbury, Wilts, and covering five acres; while others
+are only small heaps of soil a few feet high.
+
+The contents of the tumuli differ also. Sometimes the bodies were burnt
+and the ashes preserved in rude urns; sometimes they were not cremated.
+Sometimes they were buried in stone cists, or in the hollowed trunk of
+trees; sometimes without any covering save that of the earth. In nearly
+all cases we find numerous articles buried with the dead, such as
+personal ornaments, weapons, pottery, and food.
+
+The presence of food in the tumuli testifies to the natural instinct
+implanted by the Creator in the human heart with regard to a future
+existence. The idea that the soul of the departed is about to take a
+long journey is constant and deeply rooted; the rainbow and the milky
+way have often been supposed to be the paths trod by the departed, who
+require sustenance for so long a journey. The Aztecs laid a water-bottle
+beside the bodies to be used on the way to Mictlan, the land of the
+dead. Bow and arrows, a pair of mocassins with a spare piece of deerskin
+to patch them if they wear out, and sinews of deer to sew on the patches
+with, together with a kettle and provisions, are still placed in the
+graves by the North American Indians. The Laplanders lay beside the
+corpse flint, steel, and tinder, to supply light for the dark journey. A
+coin was placed in the mouth of the dead by the Greeks to pay Charon,
+the ferryman of the Styx, and for a similar purpose in the hand of a
+deceased Irishman. The Greenlanders bury with a child a dog, for they
+say a dog will find his way anywhere. In the grave of the Viking warrior
+were buried his horn and armour in order that he might enter the halls
+of Valhalla fully equipped.
+
+These and many other examples might be quoted showing the universality
+of the belief in a future life, a belief that was evidently shared with
+other nations by the primeval races who inhabited our islands in
+prehistoric times.
+
+The presence of food and drinking vessels in the tumuli clearly shows
+this, and also the store of weapons and implements, adzes, hammers,
+scrapers, and other tools which the barrows have preserved through so
+many ages.
+
+These barrows are not confined to one period or one race, as their shape
+denotes. Some are long, measuring 200 to 400 feet in length by 60 or 80
+feet wide; others are circular. The former were made by the long-headed
+(dolichocephalic) race of whom we have already spoken; the latter by the
+round-headed (brachycephalic), conquerors of their feebler long-skulled
+forerunners. When we consider the poor tools used by these primitive
+peoples, we may wonder at the amount of labour they must have expended
+on the construction of these giant mounds. Picks made of deer's horns
+and pointed staves enabled them to loosen the earth which was then
+collected in baskets and thrown on the rising heap. Countless toilers
+and many years must have been needed to produce such wonderful memorials
+of their industry.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF A TUMULUS]
+
+With better tools we will proceed to dig into these mounds and discover
+what they contain. First we notice an encircling trench and mound
+surrounding the barrow, the purpose of which is supposed to have been to
+keep the dead person in the tomb, and prevent it from injuring the
+living. After much digging in the centre of the barrow we find a single
+stone chamber, entered by a passage underneath the higher and wider end
+of the mound. Sometimes the chamber is divided into three parts, the
+centre one being covered by a dome, formed by the overlapping of the
+stones in the upper parts of the walls. The passage leading to the
+centre chamber is also built with large stones erected with much care
+and skill. The contents of these long barrows are not so interesting, or
+numerous, as those contained in the round barrows. The skeletons are
+usually found in irregular positions, and few weapons or ornaments
+accompany the buried bones. Derbyshire possesses many barrows; wherever
+in a place-name the suffix _low_ occurs, derived from the Anglo-Saxon
+_hlow_, signifying a small hill or mound, a barrow is generally to be
+found. The long barrow is usually about 200 feet in length, 40 feet
+wide, and 8 to 12 feet high. They run east and west, frequently
+north-east by south-west, the principal interment being usually at the
+eastern and higher end. The bodies are often found in a cist or box made
+of large stones, and several were buried in one mound, generally on the
+south and east sides, so that they might lie in the sun. This practice
+may have been connected with sun-worship; and the same idea prevailed in
+modern times, when the south side of the churchyard was considered the
+favoured portion, and criminals and suicides were relegated to the
+colder north side.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF TUMULUS CALLED WAYLAND SMITH'S CAVE, BERKSHIRE]
+
+The position of the bodies varied, but usually they were buried in a
+crouching position, with knees bent and head drawn towards the knees.
+This was probably the natural position which a man would assume when he
+slept without a luxurious bed to lie upon, and with little to cover him,
+in order to keep himself as warm as possible. Hence when he sank into
+his last long sleep, his mourning relatives would place him in the same
+posture. In the Channel Islands bodies were often placed in a kneeling
+position.
+
+The custom of burning the body seems to have been adopted later by the
+same long-headed race who used the long barrows, and prevailed more in
+the north of England, in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Scotland, than in
+the south. The cremation was sometimes not very thoroughly performed.
+The bodies were placed together, wood being piled about them, and over
+the heap the mound was raised. Then the fire was lighted, which
+naturally only partly consumed the bodies. We find also, mingled with
+bones of men and women, the bones of animals, which were probably the
+remains of funeral feasts.
+
+As we have said the round-headed race introduced the circular barrow,
+and cremation was their usual, though not exclusive, practice. These
+people were much stronger and bigger men than their predecessors, their
+powerful jaws and projecting chins showing much more power of will than
+the softer narrow-faced dolichocephalic race. However, in the round
+barrows we also find the bodies of the latter, and we gather that they
+were not exterminated or driven out by their conquerors, but mingled
+with them, intermarried, until at length the type of the long-skulled
+race prevailed, and the Celt of later times possessed the features of
+the race he had formerly subdued. At least such seems to be the teaching
+of the barrows.
+
+The Celt became acquainted with the use of bronze, and his tomb was
+enriched with a store of the relics of the life and art of the
+workmanship of the time. As cremation was the usual practice, it was no
+longer necessary to have a chamber which the dead might inhabit; the
+size of the sleeping-place of the dead was reduced, and a cist was
+constructed for the receptacle of the urn in which the remains were
+placed. The mound also was reduced in size and looked much less imposing
+than the huge barrows of the Stone Age; but its contents were much more
+important.
+
+The ashes we find frequently contained in a rude urn of black pottery
+with some ornamentation. Then we discover pins made of bones, which were
+evidently used to fasten the dress. The people therefore were evidently
+not naked, woad-dyed savages; moreover we find bits of woollen fabric
+and charred cloth, and in Denmark people belonging to this same early
+race were buried in a cap, shirt, leggings, and boots, a fairly complete
+wardrobe. They also loved to adorn themselves, and had buttons of jet,
+and stone and bone ornaments. Besides flint implements we find adzes and
+hatchets and chisels, axe-hammers constructed with a hole in them for
+the insertion of a handle, grain rubbers, wheat stones, and hammer
+stones. The mounds also disclose a great variety of flint implements,
+hatchets, scrapers, both round and long, knife-daggers, knives, saws,
+drills, fabricators or flaking tools, sling stones, hammer stones,
+polishers, arrow-points, either leaf-shaped, triangular, or barbed, and
+heads of darts and javelins. A very curious object is sometimes found, a
+stone wrist guard, for the purpose of protecting the wrist from the bow
+string.
+
+These barrows and their contents bear evidences to the artistic
+workmanship of the prehistoric dwellers in our villages. Their tombs
+show that these people did not confine themselves to the fabrication of
+objects of utility, but that they loved to adorn themselves with
+personal ornaments, which required much art and skill in the
+manufacture. Necklaces of beads pleased their fancy, and these they made
+of jet, or shells, the teeth of deer, and the vertebrae of fish.
+Moreover they loved ear-rings, which were sometimes made of the teeth of
+pigs. Objects of gold, bronze, glass, ivory, amber, clay, and bone were
+also used as ornaments.
+
+[Illustration: CELTIC CINERARY URN]
+
+If we examine the pottery in the barrows we find that a vessel of
+earthenware was usually placed at the back of the head of the body when
+it was not cremated. There were also cinerary urns, cups, usually called
+incense cups, which were certainly not used for incense, whatever may
+have been their purpose, food and drinking vessels. This pottery was not
+sun-dried, but burnt in a fire, though not made in a kiln, and the form
+of the vessels shows that the makers were ignorant of the use of a
+potter's wheel. The ornamentation consisted of a series of straight
+lines made by a sharp-pointed instrument and by impressions of the
+finger nails or string, often revealing much skill and artistic
+workmanship.
+
+From a study of the barrows we may learn much about the early inhabitants
+of our island, who lived and worked and died on the same spots where we
+now are spending our days. We can see them hunting in the wild woodlands,
+rearing cows and sheep and goats, and cultivating their crops of corn.
+We can still trace on the hillsides some curious terraces fashioned by
+them for the growing of their grain, and discover querns, or hand
+millstones, and stones for bruising the corn. The bones of young
+oxen a few days old, discovered in the mounds, show that they knew the
+use of milk, and how to get a good supply. A rude spindle-whorl shows
+that they knew how to weave stuffs for their clothing, and the numerous
+buttons, fasteners, and belts prove that the clothes were fitted to the
+wearer, and not mere shapeless sacks.
+
+The barrows also bear evidence to the existence of some organised
+condition of society. In the early savage state of human existence
+the family is the only community; but as man progressed towards
+civilisation, he learnt how to combine with his fellows for mutual
+defence and support. We gather from our examination of the tombs of
+these early races that they had attained to this degree of progress.
+There were chiefs of tribes and families who were buried with more
+honour than that bestowed upon the humbler folk. Many families were
+buried in one mound, showing that the tribal state had been reached,
+while the many humbler graves denote the condition of servitude and
+dependence in which a large number of the race lived. All this, and
+much more, may be learnt from a careful study of the tombs of these
+prehistoric people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS
+
+Pit dwelling earliest form of house-building--Discoveries at
+Bright-hampton, Worlebury--British oppida--Hurstbourne--Contents of
+pit dwelling--Pot-boilers--Condition of civilisation--Pile dwellings--
+Switzerland--Glastonbury--Hedsor--Crannogs--Modern use of pile
+dwellings--Description of a lake dwelling--Contents--Bronze Age--
+Recent discoveries at Glastonbury.
+
+
+We have examined in our last chapter the abodes of the dead; we will
+now investigate the abodes of the living which the earth has preserved
+for us for so many centuries. The age of the cave dwellers had long
+passed; and the prehistoric folk, having attained to some degree of
+civilisation, began to devise for themselves some secure retreats from
+inclement rains and cold winds. Perhaps the burrowing rabbit gave them
+an idea for providing some dwelling-place. At any rate the earliest and
+simplest notion for constructing a habitation was that of digging holes
+in the ground and roofing them over with a light thatch. Hence we have
+the pit dwellings of our rude forefathers.
+
+Many examples of pit dwellings have been found by industrious explorers.
+Some labourers when digging gravel at Brighthampton, near Oxford, came
+across several such excavations. They were simply pits dug in the earth,
+large enough to hold one or two persons, and from the sides of these
+pits a certain quantity of earth had been removed so as to form a seat.
+At the bottom of these a few rude flint arrow-heads were found. In the
+remarkable British oppidum at Worlebury, near Weston-super-Mare, several
+circular, well-like pits may be seen, fairly preserved in shape owing to
+the rocky nature of the ground in which they have been excavated. One in
+particular is very perfect, and about two feet from the bottom is a seat
+formed of the rock extending all round the pit.
+
+These ancient pit dwellings are usually surrounded by an earthen
+rampart. Caesar says that "the Britons called that a town where they
+used to assemble for the sake of avoiding an incursion of enemies, when
+they had fortified the entangled woods with a rampart and ditch." The
+remains of many of these oppida may still be seen in almost all parts of
+the country; and in most of these hollows are plainly distinguishable,
+which doubtless were pit dwellings; but owing to the sides having fallen
+in, they have now the appearance of natural hollows in the earth.
+
+At Hurstbourne, Hants, nine of these early habitations were discovered
+by the late Dr. Stevens, some of which were rudely pitched with flint
+stones, and had passages leading into the pit. A few flints irregularly
+placed together with wood ashes showed the position of the hearths,
+where cooking operations had been carried on. The sloping
+entrance-passages are peculiar and almost unique in England, though
+several have been met with in France. A rude ladder was the usual mode
+of entrance into these underground dwellings. Fragments of hand-made
+British pottery and the commoner kinds of Romano-British ware were
+found, and portions of mealing stones and also a saddle-quern, or
+grain-crusher, which instruments for hand-mealing must have been in
+common use among the pit dwellers. The grain was probably prepared by
+parching it before crushing; the hollow understone prevented the grain
+from escaping; and the muller was so shaped as to render it easily
+grasped, while it was pushed backwards and forwards by the hands.
+Similar stones are used at the present time by the African natives, as
+travellers testify.
+
+[Illustration: ARTICLES FOUND IN PIT DWELLINGS
+(1) Knife of deer-antler
+(2) Bone needle
+(3) Marrow scoop
+(4, 5) Bone awls]
+
+One of the pits at Hurstbourne was evidently a cooking-hole, where the
+pit dwellers prepared their feasts, and bones of the Celtic ox (_bos
+longifrons_), pig, red deer, goat, dog, and hare or rabbit were found
+near it. One of the bones had evidently been bitten by teeth. The pit
+dwellers also practised some domestic industries, as Dr. Stevens found a
+needle, an awl or bodkin, and fragments of pointed bone, probably used
+for sewing skins together. A rude spindle-whorl shows that they knew
+something of weaving, and two bored stones were evidently buttons or
+dress-fasteners. A large supply of flint implements, scrapers, and
+arrow-heads, proves that the dwellings were inhabited by the Neolithic
+people before the Britons came to occupy them. I must not omit to notice
+the heating stones, or "pot-boilers." These were heated in the fire, and
+then placed among the meat intended to be cooked, in a hole in the
+ground which served the purpose of a cooking pot. I have found many such
+stones in Berkshire, notably from the neighbourhood of Wallingford and
+Long Wittenham. The writer of the _Early History of Mankind_ states that
+the Assineboins, or stone-boilers, dig a hole in the ground, take a
+piece of raw hide, and press it down to the sides of the hole, and fill
+it with water; this is called a "paunch-kettle"; then they make a number
+of stones red-hot in a fire close by, the meat is put into the water,
+and the hot stones dropped in until it is cooked. The South Sea
+Islanders have similar primitive methods of cooking. The Highlanders
+used to prepare the feasts of their clans in much the same way; and the
+modern gipsies adopt a not very dissimilar mode of cooking their stolen
+fowls and hedgehogs.
+
+We can now people these cheerless primitive pit dwellings with their
+ancient inhabitants, and understand something of their manners of life
+and customs. Their rude abodes had probably cone-shaped roofs made of
+rafters lashed together at the centre, protected by an outside coat of
+peat, sods of turf, or rushes. The spindle-whorl is evidence that they
+could spin thread; the mealing stones show that they knew how to
+cultivate corn; and the bones of the animals found in their dwellings
+testify to the fact that they were not in the wild state of primitive
+hunters, but possessed herds of cows and goats and other domestic
+animals.
+
+Who were these people? Mr. Boyd Dawkins is of opinion that the early pit
+dwellers belonged to the Neolithic folk of whom I have already told you,
+as the flint implements testify. But these dwellings were evidently
+occupied by a later people. The querns and spindle-whorl probably
+belonged to the Celts, or Britons, before the advent of the Roman
+legions; and that these people were the inhabitants of the Hampshire pit
+dwellings is proved by the presence of a British gold coin which is
+recognised by numismatists as an imitation of the Greek stater of Philip
+II. of Macedon. According to Sir John Evans, the native British coinage
+was in existence as early as 150 years before Christ. Hence to this
+period we may assign the date of the existence of these Celtic primitive
+habitations.
+
+Pit dwellings were not the only kind of habitations which the early
+inhabitants of our country used, and some of our villages possess
+constructions of remarkable interest, which recent industrious digging
+has disclosed. These are none other than lake dwellings, similar to
+those first discovered in Switzerland about fifty years ago. Few of our
+villages can boast of such relics of antiquity. Near Glastonbury, in
+1892, in a dried-up ancient mere a lake village was discovered, which I
+will describe presently; and recently at Hedsor in Buckinghamshire a
+pile dwelling has been found which some learned antiquaries are now
+examining. In Ireland and Scotland there are found the remains of
+fortified dwellings called Crannogs in some of the lakes, as in Dowalton
+Loch, Wigtownshire, and Cloonfinlough in Connaught, but these belong to
+later times and were used in the Middle Ages.
+
+[Illustration: IRON SPEAR-HEAD FOUND AT HEDSOR]
+
+In primitive times, when tribe warred with tribe, and every man's hand
+was against his fellow-man, and when wild and savage beasts roamed o'er
+moor and woodland, security was the one thing most desired by the early
+inhabitants of Europe. Hence they conceived the brilliant notion of
+constructing dwellings built on piles in the midst of lakes or rivers,
+where they might live in peace and safety, and secure themselves from
+the sudden attack of their enemies, or the ravages of beasts of prey.
+Switzerland is famous for its numerous clusters, or villages, of ancient
+lake dwellings, which were of considerable size. At Morges, on the Lake
+of Geneva, the settlement of huts extends 1,200 feet long by 150 in
+breadth; and that at Sutz on the Lake of Bienne covers six acres, and is
+connected with the shore by a gangway 100 feet long and 40 feet wide.
+Nor is the use of these habitations entirely abandoned at the present
+time. Venezuela, which means "little Venice," derives its name from the
+Indian village composed of pile dwellings on the shores of the Gulf of
+Maracaibo, as its original explorer Alonzo de Ojeda in 1499 chose to
+compare the sea-protected huts with the queen city of the Adriatic; and
+in many parts of South America, in the estuaries of the Orinoco and
+Amazon, such dwellings are still found, also among the Dyaks of Borneo,
+in the Caroline Islands, and on the Gold Coast of Africa. Herodotus
+describes similar dwellings on the Lake Prasias, existing in the fifth
+century B.C., and Lord Avebury states that now the Roumelian fishermen
+on the same lake "inhabit wooden cottages built over the water as in the
+time of Herodotus."
+
+These habitations of primitive man were built on piles driven into the
+bed of the lake or river. These piles were stems, or trunks of trees,
+sharpened with stone or bronze tools. A rude platform was erected on
+these piles, and on this a wooden hut constructed with walls of wattle
+and daub, and thatched with reeds or rushes. A bridge built on piles
+connected the lake village with the shore whither the dwellers used to
+go to cultivate their wheat, barley, and flax, and feed their kine and
+sheep and goats. They made canoes out of hollow trunks of trees. One of
+these canoes which have been discovered is 43 feet in length and over 4
+feet wide. The beams supporting the platform, on which the huts were
+erected, were fastened by wooden pins. Much ingenuity was exercised in
+the making of these dwellings. Sometimes they found that the mud of the
+lake was too soft to hold the piles; so they fashioned a framework of
+trunks of trees, which they let down to the bottom of the lake, and
+fastened the upright piles to it. Sometimes the rocky bed of the lake
+prevented the piles from being driven into it; so they heaped stones
+around the piles, and thus made them secure. The lake dwellers were very
+sociable, and had only one common platform for all the huts, which were
+clustered together. As all the actual dwellings have been destroyed by
+time's rude action, it is impossible to describe them accurately; but
+their usual size was about 20 feet by 12 feet. The floor was of clay,
+and in the centre of the building there was a hearth made of slabs of
+stone.
+
+The people who inhabited these structures belonged either to the later
+Stone Age, or the Bronze Age, as we learn from the relics which their
+huts disclose. In the earlier ones are found celts, flint flakes,
+arrow-heads, harpoons of stag's horn with barbs, awls, needles, chisels,
+and fish-hooks made of bone, and sometimes wooden combs, and skates made
+out of the leg-bone of a horse. Besides the remains of the usual
+domestic animals we find bones of the beaver, bear, elk, and bison.
+
+When the use of bronze was discovered the people still lived on in their
+lake dwellings. Fire often played havoc with the wooden wattle walls;
+hence we frequently find a succession of platforms. The first dwelling
+having been destroyed by flames, a second one was subsequently
+constructed; and this having shared the same fate, another platform with
+improved huts was raised upon the ruins of its predecessors. The relics
+of each habitation show that, as time went on, the pit dwellers advanced
+in civilisation, and increased the comforts and conveniences of life.
+
+Some of the dwellings of these early peoples belong to the Bronze Age,
+as do those of the Auvernier settlement in the Lake of Neuchatel; and
+these huts are rich in the relics of their former inhabitants. At Marin
+on the same lake the lake dwellers were evidently workers in iron; and
+the relics, which contain large spear-heads, shields, horse furniture,
+fibulas, and other ornaments, together with Roman coins, prove that they
+belonged to the period of which history tells us.
+
+I have described at length these Swiss lake dwellings, although they do
+not belong to the antiquities of our villages in England, because much
+the same kind of habitations existed in our country, though few have
+as yet been unearthed. Possibly under the peaty soil of some ancient
+river-bed, or old mere, long ago drained, you may be fortunate enough
+to meet with the remains of similar structures here in England. At
+Glastonbury a few years ago a lake village was discovered, which has
+created no small stir in the antiquarian world, and merits a brief
+description. Nothing was known of its existence previously; and this is
+an instance of the delightful surprises which explorers have in store
+for them, when they ransack the buried treasure-house of the earth,
+and reveal the relics which have been so long stored there.
+
+All that met the eyes of the diggers was a series of circular low
+mounds, about sixty in number, extending over an area of three acres.
+Imagine the delight of the gentlemen when they discovered that each of
+these mounds contained the remains of a lake dwelling which was
+constructed more than two thousand years ago.
+
+First they found above the soft peat, the remains of a lake long dried
+up, a platform formed of timber and brushwood, somewhat similar to the
+structures which we have seen in the Swiss lakes. Rows of small piles
+support this platform, and on it a floor of clay, or rather several
+floors. The clay is composed of several horizontal layers with
+intervening thin layers of decayed wood and charcoal, each layer
+representing a distinct floor of a dwelling. In the centre of each mound
+are the remains of rude hearths. The dwellings, of which no walls
+remain, were evidently built of timber, the crevices between the wood
+being filled with wattle and daub. In one of the mounds were found
+several small crucibles which show that the inhabitants knew how to work
+in metals. Querns, whetstones, spindle whorls, fibulae, and finger-rings
+of bronze, a horse's bit, a small saw, numerous implements of horn and
+bone, combs, needles, a jet ring and amber bead, all tell the tale of
+the degree of civilisation attained by these early folk. They worked in
+metals, made pottery and cloth, tilled and farmed the adjoining lands,
+and probably belonged to the late Celtic race before the advent of the
+Romans. These lake dwellers used a canoe in order to reach the mainland,
+and this primitive boat has been discovered. It is evidently cut out of
+the stem of an oak, is flat-bottomed, and its dimensions are 17 feet
+long, 2 feet wide, and 1 foot deep. The prow is pointed, and has a hole,
+through which doubtless a rope was passed, in order to fasten it to the
+little harbour of the lake village.
+
+It will be gathered that these people, whether dwelling in their pit or
+lake villages, showed so much capacity, industry, and social
+organisation, that even in the Neolithic Age they were far removed from
+a savage state, and a low condition of culture and civilisation. They
+showed great ingenuity in the making of their tools, their vessels of
+pottery, their ornaments, and clothing. They were not naked, woad-dyed
+savages. They could spin and weave, grow corn, and make bread, and had
+brought into subjection for their use domestic animals, horses and
+cattle, sheep and goats, and swine. They lived in security and comfort,
+and were industrious and intelligent; and it is interesting to record,
+from the relics which the earth has preserved of their civilisation, the
+kind of life which they must have lived in the ages which existed before
+the dawn of history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS
+
+Stone monuments--Traditions relating to them--Menhirs or hoar-stones--
+_Alignements_--Cromlechs--Stonehenge--Avebury--Rollright stones--Origin
+of stone circles--Dolmens--Earthworks--Chun Castle--Whittenham clumps--
+Uffington--Tribal boundaries--Roman rig--Grims-dike--Legends--Celtic
+words.
+
+
+Among the antiquities which some of our English villages possess, none
+are more curious and remarkable than the grand megalithic monuments of
+the ancient races which peopled our island. Marvellous memorials are
+these of their skill and labour. How did they contrive to erect such
+mighty monuments? How did they move such huge masses of stone? How did
+they raise with the very slender appliances at their disposal such
+gigantic stones? For what purpose did they erect them? The solution of
+these and many such-like problems we can only guess, and no one has as
+yet been bold enough to answer all the interesting questions which these
+rude stone monuments raise.
+
+Superstition has attempted to account for their existence. Just as the
+flint arrow-heads are supposed by the vulgar to be darts shot by fairies
+or witches which cause sickness and death in cattle and men, and are
+worn as amulets to ward off disease; just as the stone axes of early
+man are regarded as thunder bolts, and when boiled are esteemed as a
+sure cure for rheumatism, or a useful cattle medicine--so these stones
+are said to be the work of the devil. A friend tells me that in his
+childhood his nurse used to frighten him by saying that the devil lurked
+in a dolmen which stands near his father's house in Oxfordshire; and
+many weird traditions cluster round these old monuments.
+
+[Illustration: MENHIR]
+
+In addition to the subterranean sepulchral chambers and cairns which we
+have already examined, there are four classes of megalithic structures.
+The first consists of single stones, called in Wales, Cornwall, and
+Brittany, _menhirs_, a name derived from the Celtic word _maen_ or
+_men_ signifying a stone, and _hir_ meaning tall. In England they are
+known as "hoar-stones," _hoar_ meaning a boundary, inasmuch as they
+are frequently used in later times to mark the boundary of an estate,
+parish, or manor. There is one at Enstone, Oxfordshire, and at
+Wardington, Warwickshire. Possibly they were intended to mark the graves
+of deceased chieftains.
+
+The second class consists of lines of stones, which the French call
+_alignements_. Frequently they occur in groups of lines from two to
+fourteen in number, Carnac, in Brittany, possesses the best specimen
+in Europe of this curious arrangement of giant stones.
+
+The third class of megalithic monuments is the circular arrangement,
+such as we find at Avebury and Stonehenge. These are now usually called
+cromlechs, in accordance with the term used by French antiquaries,
+though formerly this name was applied in England to the dolmens, or
+chambered structures, of which we shall speak presently. According to
+the notions of the old curator of Stonehenge the mighty stones stood
+before the Deluge, and he used to point out (to his own satisfaction)
+signs of the action of water upon the stones, even showing the direction
+in which the Flood "came rushing in." The Welsh bards say that they were
+erected by King Merlin, the successor of Vortigern; and Nennius states
+that they were erected in memory of four hundred nobles, who were
+treacherously slain by Hengist, when the savage Saxons came. There is
+no need to describe these grand circles of huge stones which all
+antiquaries have visited.
+
+The cromlech at Avebury covers a larger area than that of Stonehenge,
+the circle being about 1,300 feet in diameter. There is a fine circle
+at Rollright, in Oxfordshire, which is the third largest in England.
+The diameter of the circle is about 107 feet, and the stones numbered
+originally about sixty. Near the circle stand the Five Whispering
+Knights, five large stones leaning together, probably the remains of
+a dolmen, and a large solitary stone, or menhir. Popular tradition has
+woven a strange legend about these curious relics of bygone ages. A
+mighty chieftain once ruled over the surrounding country; but he was
+ambitious, and wished to extend his sway, and become King of England.
+So he mustered his army, and the oracle proclaimed that if he could
+once see Long Compton, he would obtain his desire. Having proceeded
+as far as Rollright, he was repeating the words of the oracle--
+
+  "If Long Compton I can see,
+  King of England I shall be"--
+
+when Mother Shipton, who had doubtless ridden on her broomstick from
+her Norfolk home, appeared and pronounced the fatal spell--
+
+  "Move no more; stand fast, stone;
+  King of England thou shall none."
+
+[Illustration: ROLLRIGHT STONES From Camden's _Britannia_]
+
+Immediately the king and his army were changed into stone, as if the
+head of Medusa had gazed upon them. The solitary stone, still called the
+King Stone, is the ambitious monarch; the circle is his army; and the
+Five Whispering Knights are five of his chieftains, who were hatching a
+plot against him when the magic spell was uttered. The farmers around
+Rollright say that if the stones are removed from the spot, they will
+never rest, but make mischief till they are restored. Stanton Drew, in
+Somersetshire, has a cromlech, and there are several in Scotland, the
+Channel Islands, and Brittany. Some sacrilegious persons transported a
+cromlech bodily from the Channel Islands, and set it up at Park Place,
+Henley-on-Thames. Such an act of antiquarian barbarism happily has few
+imitators.
+
+For what purpose were these massive stones erected at the cost of such
+infinite labour? Tradition and popular belief associate them with the
+Druids. Some years ago all mysterious antiquarian problems were solved
+by reference to the Druids. But these priests of ancient days are now
+out of fashion, and it is certainly not very safe to attribute the
+founding of the great stone circles to their agency. The Druidical
+worship paid its homage to the powers of Nature, to the nymphs and genii
+of the woods and streams, whereas the great stone circles were evidently
+constructed by sun-worshippers. There is no doubt among antiquaries that
+they are connected with the burial of the dead. Small barrows have been
+found in the centre of them. Dr. Anderson is of opinion that the stone
+circles were developed out of the hedge, or setting of stone, which
+frequently surrounds the base of a barrow, and was intended to keep the
+ghost in, and prevent it from injuring the living. By degrees the wall
+was increased in size while the barrow or cairn decreased; until at last
+a small mound of earth, or heap of stones, only marked the place of
+burial, and the huge circle of stones surrounded it. Stonehenge, with
+its well-wrought stones and gigantic trilitha, is much later than the
+circles of Avebury and Rollright, and was doubtless constructed by the
+people who used iron, about two hundred years before our era. The
+earlier circles have been assigned to a period eight or ten centuries
+before Christ.
+
+[Illustration: DOLMEN]
+
+Many conjectures have been made as to how the huge capstones of the
+circle at Stonehenge were placed on the erect stones. Sir Henry Dryden
+thought that when the upright stones were set on end, earth or small
+stones were piled around them until a large inclined plane was formed,
+on which "skids" or sliding-pieces were placed. Then the caps were
+placed on rollers, and hauled up by gangs of men. Probably in some such
+way these wonderful monuments were formed.
+
+The last class of rude stone monuments is composed of dolmens, or
+chambered tombs, so named from the Welsh word _dol_, a table, and _maen_
+or _men_, a stone. They are in fact stone tables. Antiquaries of former
+days, and the unlearned folk of to-day, call them "Druids' altars," and
+say that sacrifices were offered upon them. The typical form is a
+structure of four or more large upright stones, supporting a large flat
+stone, as a roof. Sometimes they are covered with earth or stones,
+sometimes entirely uncovered. Some antiquaries maintain that they were
+always uncovered, as we see them now; others assert that they have been
+stripped by the action of wind and rain, and snow, frost, and thaw,
+until all the earth placed around them has been removed. Possibly
+fashions changed then as now; and it may console some of us that there
+was no uniformity of ritual even in prehistoric Britain. Dolmens contain
+no bronze or iron implements, or carvings of the same, and evidently
+belong to the time of the Neolithic folk.
+
+Among prehistoric remains none are more striking than the great camps
+and earthworks, which hold commanding positions on our hills and downs,
+and have survived during the countless years which have elapsed since
+their construction. Caesar's camps abound throughout England; it is
+needless to say that they had nothing to do with Caesar, but were made
+long years before the Conqueror ever set foot on British land. These
+early camps are usually circular in shape, or follow the natural curve
+of the hill on which they stand. Roman camps are nearly always square
+or rectangular. They consist of a high vallum, or rampart of earth,
+surrounded by a deep ditch, and on the _counterscarp_, or outside edge
+of the ditch, there is often another bank or rampart. The entrance to
+these strongholds was often ingeniously contrived, in order that an
+enemy endeavouring to attack the fortress might be effectually resisted.
+
+Chun Castle, in Cornwall, is an interesting specimen of ancient Celtic
+fortress. It consists of two circular walls separated by a terrace. The
+walls are built of rough masses of granite, some 5 or 6 feet long. The
+outer wall is protected by a ditch. Part of the wall is still about 10
+feet high. Great skill and military knowledge are displayed in the plan
+of the entrance, which is 6 feet wide in the narrowest part, and 16 in
+the widest, where the walls diverge and are rounded off on either side.
+The space within the fortress is about 175 feet in diameter. The
+Herefordshire Beacon on the Malvern Hills is a fine example of a
+triple-ramparted Celtic camp.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN AND SECTION OF CHUN CASTLE]
+
+In Berkshire we have the well-known Whittenham Clumps, the Sinodun
+of the Celts, on the summit of which there is a famous camp, with a
+triple line of entrenchment, the mound and ditch being complete. The
+circumference of the fortress is over a mile. Berkshire and Oxfordshire
+are very rich in these camps and earthworks, which guard the course of
+the old British road called the Iknield Way. Hill-forts crown the tops
+of the hills; and the camps of Blewberry, Scutchamore Knob (a corruption
+of Cwichelm's law), Letcombe, Uffington, and Liddington, command the
+ancient trackway and bid defiance to approaching foes.
+
+The object of these camps was to provide places of refuge, whither the
+tribe could retire when threatened by the advent of its enemy. The Celts
+were a pastoral people; and their flocks grazed on the downs and
+hillsides. When their scouts brought news of the approach of a hostile
+force, some signal would be given by the blowing of a horn, and the
+people would at once flee to their fortress driving their cattle before
+them, and awaiting there the advent of their foes.
+
+At Uffington there is a remarkable relic of British times called the
+Blowing Stone, or King Alfred's Bugle-horn, which was doubtless used by
+the Celtic tribes for signalling purposes; and when its deep low note
+was heard on the hillside the tribe would rush to the protecting shelter
+of Uffington Castle. There, armed with missiles, they were ready to hurl
+them at the invading hosts, and protect their lives and cattle until all
+danger was past. Those who are skilled at the art can still make the
+Blowing Stone sound. The name, King Alfred's Bugle-horn, is a misnomer,
+and arose from the association of the White Horse Hill with the battle
+which Alfred fought against the Danes at Aescendune, which may, or may
+not, have taken place near the old British camp at Uffington. There are
+several White Horses cut out in the turf on the hillsides in Wiltshire,
+besides the famous Berkshire one at Uffington, celebrated by Mr. Thomas
+Hughes in his _Scouring of the White Horse_. We have also some turf-cut
+crosses at White-leaf and Bledlow, in Buckinghamshire. The origin of
+these turf monuments is still a matter of controversy. It is possible
+that they may be Saxon, and may be the records of Alfred's victories;
+but antiquaries are inclined to assign them to an earlier date, and
+connect them with the builders of cromlechs and dolmens. It is certainly
+improbable that, when he was busily engaged fighting the Danes, Alfred
+and his men would have found time to construct this huge White Horse.
+
+[Illustration: THE WHITE HORSE AT UFFINGTON]
+
+In addition to the earthen mounds and deep ditch, which usually formed
+the fortifications of these ancient strongholds, there were wicker-work
+stockades, or palisading, arranged on the top of the vallum. Such
+defences have been found at Uffington; and during the present year on
+the ancient fortifications of the old Calleva Atrebatum, afterwards the
+Roman Silchester, a friend of the writer has found the remains of
+similar wattle-work stockades. Evidently tribal wars and jealousies were
+not unknown in Celtic times, and the people knew how to protect
+themselves from their foes.
+
+Another important class of earthen ramparts are the long lines of
+fortifications, which extend for miles across the country, and must have
+entailed vast labour in their construction. These ramparts were
+doubtless tribal boundaries, or fortifications used by one tribe against
+another. There is the Roman rig, which, as Mrs. Armitage tells us in her
+_Key to English Antiquities_, coasts the face of the hills all the way
+from Sheffield to Mexborough, a distance of eleven miles. A Grims-dike
+(or Grims-bank, as it is popularly called) runs across the southern
+extremity of Oxfordshire from Henley to Mongewell, ten miles in length;
+and near it, and parallel to it, there is a Medlers-bank, another
+earthen rampart, exceeding it in length by nearly a third. Near
+Salisbury there is also a Grims-dike, and in Cambridgeshire and
+Cheshire. Danes' Dike, near Flamborough Head, Wans-dike, and Brokerley
+Dike are other famous lines of fortifications.
+
+There are twenty-two Grims-dikes in England. The name was probably
+derived from Grim, the Saxon devil, or evil spirit; and was bestowed
+upon these mysterious monuments of an ancient race which the Saxons
+found in various parts of their conquered country. Unable to account for
+the existence of these vast mounds and fortresses, they attributed them
+to satanic agency.
+
+There is much work still to be done in exploring these relics of the
+prehistoric races; and if there should be any such in your own
+neighbourhood, some careful digging might produce valuable results.
+Perhaps something which you may find may throw light upon some disputed
+or unexplained question, which has perplexed the minds of antiquaries
+for some time. I do not imagine that the following legend will deter you
+from your search. It is gravely stated that years ago an avaricious
+person dug into a tumulus for some treasure which it was supposed to
+contain. At length after much labour he came to an immense chest, but
+the lid was no sooner uncovered than it lifted itself up a little and
+out sprang an enormous black cat, which seated itself upon the chest,
+and glowed with eyes of passion upon the intruder. Nothing daunted, the
+man proceeded to try to move the chest, but without avail; so he fixed a
+strong chain to it and attached a powerful team of horses. But when the
+horses began to pull, the chain broke in a hundred places, and the chest
+of treasure disappeared for ever.
+
+Some rustics assert that if you run nine times round a tumulus, and then
+put your ear against it, you will hear the fairies dancing and singing
+in the interior. Indeed it is a common superstition that good fairies
+lived in these old mounds, and a story is told of a ploughman who
+unfortunately broke his ploughshare. However he left it at the foot of a
+tumulus, and the next day, to his surprise, he found it perfectly whole.
+Evidently the good fairies had mended it during the night. But these
+bright little beings, who used to be much respected by our ancestors,
+have quite deserted our shores. They found that English people did not
+believe in them; so they left us in disgust, and have never been heard
+of since.
+
+If you have no other Celtic remains in your neighbourhood, at least you
+have the enduring possession of the words which they have bequeathed to
+us, such as _coat, basket, crook, cart, kiln, pitcher, comb, ridge_, and
+many others, which have all been handed down to us from our British
+ancestors. Their language also lives in Wales and Brittany, in parts of
+Ireland and Scotland, and in the Isle of Man, where dwell the modern
+representatives of that ancient race, which was once so powerful, and
+has left its trace in most of the countries of Europe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+ROMAN RELICS
+
+Roman remains numerous--Chedworth villa--Roads--Names derived from
+roads--_Itinerary_ of Antoninus--British roads--Watling Street--Iknield
+Street--Ryknield Street--Ermyn Street--Akeman Street--Saltways--
+Milestones--Silchester--Its walls--Calleva--Its gardens and villas--
+Hypocausts--Pavements--Description of old city--Forum--Temple--Baths--
+Amphitheatre--Church--Roman villa.
+
+
+"The world's a scene of change," sings Poet Cowley; but in spite of all
+the changes that have transformed our England, the coming and going of
+conquerors and invaders, the lapse of centuries, the ceaseless working
+of the ploughshare on our fields and downs, traces of the old Roman life
+in Britain have remained indelible. Our English villages are rich in the
+relics of the old Romans; and each year adds to our knowledge of the
+life they lived in the land of their adoption, and reveals the treasures
+which the earth has tenderly preserved for so many years.
+
+If your village lies near the track of some Roman road, many pleasing
+surprises may be in store for you. Oftentimes labourers unexpectedly
+meet with the buried walls and beautiful tesselated pavements of an
+ancient Roman dwelling-place. A few years ago at Chedworth, near
+Cirencester, a ferret was lost, and had to be dug out of the rabbit
+burrow. In doing this some Roman _tesserae_ were dug up; and when
+further excavations were made a noble Roman villa with numerous rooms,
+artistic pavements, hypocausts, baths, carvings, and many beautiful
+relics of Roman art were brought to light. Possibly you may be equally
+successful in your own village and neighbourhood.
+
+If you have the good fortune to live near a Roman station, you will
+have the pleasing excitement of discovering Roman coins and other
+treasures, when you watch your labourers draining the land or digging
+wells. Everyone knows that the names of many of the Roman stations
+are  distinguished by the termination _Chester, caster_, or _caer_,
+derived from the Latin _castra_, a camp; and whenever we are in the
+neighbourhood of such places, imagination pictures to us the
+well-drilled Roman legionaries who used to astonish the natives with
+their strange language and customs; and we know that there are coins
+and pottery, _tesserae_ and Roman ornaments galore, stored up beneath
+our feet, awaiting the search of the persevering digger. Few are the
+records relating to Roman Britain contained in the pages of the
+historians, as compared with the evidences of roads and houses, gates
+and walls and towns, which the earth has preserved for us.
+
+Near your village perhaps a Roman road runs. The Romans were famous for
+their wonderful roads, which extended from camp to camp, from city to
+city, all over the country. These roads remain, and are evidences of
+the  great engineering skill which their makers possessed. They liked
+their roads well drained, and raised high above the marshes; they liked
+them to go straight ahead, like their victorious legions, and never swerve
+to right or left for any obstacle. They cut through the hills, and
+filled up the valleys; and there were plenty of idle Britons about,
+who could be forced to do the work. They called their roads _strata_ or
+streets; and all names of places containing the word _street_, such as
+_Streatley_, or _Stretford_, denote that they were situated on one of
+these Roman roads.
+
+You may see these roads wending their way straight as a die, over hill
+and dale, staying not for marsh or swamp. Along the ridge of hills they
+go, as does the High Street on the Westmoreland hills, where a few
+inches below the grass you can find the stony way; or on the moors
+between Redmire and Stanedge, in Yorkshire, the large paving stones, of
+which the road was made, in many parts still remain. In central places,
+as at Blackrod, in Lancashire, the roads extend like spokes from the
+centre of a wheel, although nearly eighteen hundred years have elapsed
+since their construction. The name of Devizes, Wilts, is a corruption of
+the Latin word _divisae_, which marks the spot where the old Roman road
+from London to Bath was _divided_ by the boundary line between the Roman
+and the Celtic districts.
+
+In order to acquire a knowledge of the great roads of the Romans we must
+study the _Itinerary_ of Antoninus, written by an officer of the
+imperial Court about 150 A.D. This valuable road-book tells us the names
+of the towns and stations, the distances, halting-places, and other
+particulars. Ptolemy's _Geographia_ also affords help in understanding
+the details of the _Itinerary_, and many of the roads have been very
+satisfactorily traced. The Romans made use of the ancient British ways,
+whenever they found them suitable for their purpose. The British roads
+resembled the trackways on Salisbury Plain, wide grass rides, neither
+raised nor paved, and not always straight, but winding along the sides
+of the hills which lie in their course. There were seven chief British
+ways: Watling Street, which was the great north road, starting from
+Richborough on the coast of Kent, passing through Canterbury and
+Rochester it crossed the Thames near London, and went on through
+Verulam, Dunstable, and Towcester, Wellington, and Wroxeter, and thence
+into Wales to Tommen-y-Mawr, where it divided into two branches. One
+ran by Beth Gellert to Caernarvon and Holy Head, and the other through
+the mountains to the Manai banks and thence to Chester, Northwich,
+Manchester, Ilkley, until it finally ended in Scotland.
+
+The second great British road was the way of the Iceni, or Iknield
+Street, proceeding from Great Yarmouth, running through Cambridgeshire,
+Bedfordshire, Bucks, and Oxon, to Old Sarum, and finishing its course at
+Land's End. We have in Berkshire a branch of this road called the
+Ridgeway.
+
+The Ryknield Street beginning at the mouth of the Tyne ran through
+Chester-le-Street, followed the course of the Watling Street to
+Catterick, thence through Birmingham, Tewkesbury, and Gloucester, to
+Caermarthen and St. David's.
+
+The Ermyn Street led from the coast of Sussex to the south-east part of
+Scotland.
+
+The Akeman Street ran between the Iknield and Ryknield Streets, and
+led from what the Saxons called East Anglia, through Bedford, Newport
+Pagnel, and Buckingham to Alcester and Cirencester, across the Severn,
+and ending at St. David's.
+
+The Upper Saltway was the communication between the sea-coast of
+Lincolnshire and the salt mines at Droitwich; and the Lower Saltway led
+from Droitwich, then, as now, a great centre of the salt trade, to the
+sea-coast of Hampshire. Traces of another great road to the north are
+found, which seems to have run through the western parts of England
+extending from Devon to Scotland.
+
+Such were the old British roads which existed when the Romans came. The
+conquerors made use of these ways, wherever they found them useful,
+trenching them, paving them, and making them fit for military purposes.
+They constructed many new ones which would require a volume for their
+full elucidation. Many of them are still in use, wonderful records of
+the engineering skill of their makers, and oftentimes beneath the
+surface of some grassy ride a few inches below the turf you may find
+the hard concreted road laid down by the Romans nearly eighteen hundred
+years ago. Roman milestones we sometimes find. There is one near
+Silchester, commonly called the Imp Stone, probably from the first three
+letters of the Latin word _Imperator_, carved upon it. Curious legends
+often cluster round these relics of ancient times. Just as the
+superstitious Saxons, when they saw the great Roman roads, made by a
+people who had long vanished from the land, often attributed these great
+works to evil spirits, and called parts of these well-made streets the
+Devil's Highway, so they invented a strange legend to account for the
+Imp Stone, and said that some giant had thrown it from the city, and
+left on it the marks of his finger and thumb.
+
+Our English villages contain many examples of Roman buildings. Where
+now rustics pursue their calling, and sow their crops and reap their
+harvests, formerly stood the beautiful houses of the Roman nobles, or
+the flourishing towns of Roman citizens. Upon the sites of most of these
+old-world places new towns have been constructed; hence it is difficult
+often to trace the foundations of Roman cities in the midst of the
+masses of modern bricks and mortar. Hence we fly to the villages; and
+sometimes, as at Silchester, near a little English village, we find the
+remains of a large, important, and flourishing town, where the earth has
+kept safely for us during many centuries the treasures and memories of a
+bygone age.
+
+Every student of Roman Britain must visit Silchester, and examine the
+collections preserved in the Reading Museum, which have been amassed by
+the antiquaries who have for several years been excavating the ruins.
+The city contained a forum, or marketplace, having on one side a
+basilica, or municipal hall, in which prisoners were tried, business
+transactions executed, and the general affairs of the city carried on.
+On the other side of the square were the shops, where the butchers,
+bakers, or fishmongers plied their trade. You can find plenty of oyster
+shells, the contents of which furnished many a feast to the Romans who
+lived there seventeen hundred years ago. The objects which have been
+found tell us how the dwellers in the old city employed themselves,
+and how skilful they were in craftsmanship. Amongst other things we
+find axes, chisels, files for setting saws, hammers, a large plane, and
+other carpenters' tools; an anvil, a pair of tongs, and blacksmiths'
+implements; shoemakers' anvils, very similar to those used in our day,
+a large gridiron, a standing lamp, safety-pins, such as ladies use now,
+and many other useful and necessary objects.
+
+In order to protect the city it was surrounded by high walls, which seem
+to defy all the attacks of time. They are nine feet in thickness, and
+are still in many places twenty feet high. Outside the wall a wide ditch
+added to the strength of the fortifications. Watch-towers were placed at
+intervals along the walls; and on the north, south, east, and west sides
+were strongly fortified gates, with guard chambers on each side, and
+arched entrances through which the Roman chariots were driven.
+
+These walls inclose a space of irregular shape, and were built on the
+site of old British fortifications. Silchester was originally a British
+stronghold, and was called by them Calleva. The Celtic tribe which
+inhabited the northern parts of Hampshire was the Atrebates, who after a
+great many fights were subdued by the Romans about 78 A.D. Then within
+the rude fortifications of Calleva arose the city of Silchester, with
+its fine houses, temples, and baths, its strong walls, and gates, and
+streets, the great centre of civilisation, and the chief city of that
+part of the country.
+
+It is often possible to detect the course of Roman streets where now the
+golden corn is growing. On the surface of the roads where the ground is
+thin, the corn is scanty. Observation of this kind a few years ago led
+to the discovery of a Romano-British village at Long Whittenham, in
+Berks. In Silchester it is quite easy to trace the course of the streets
+by the thinness of the corn, as Leland observed as long ago as 1536. One
+is inclined to wonder where all the earth comes from, which buries old
+buildings and hides them so carefully; but any student of natural
+history, who has read Darwin's book on _Worms_, will cease to be
+astonished. It is chiefly through the action of these useful creatures
+that soil accumulates so greatly on the sites of ancient buildings.
+
+[Illustration: SILCHESTER. PLAN OF CITY]
+
+Within the walls of Silchester were gardens and villas replete with all
+the contrivances of Roman luxury. The houses were built on three sides
+of a square court. A cloister ran round the court, supported by pillars.
+The open space was used as a garden. At the back of the house were the
+kitchens and apartments for the slaves and domestics. The Romans adapted
+their dwellings to the climate in which they lived. In the sunny south,
+at Pompeii, the houses were more open, and would be little suited to our
+more rigorous climate. They knew how to make themselves comfortable,
+built rooms well protected from the weather, and heated with hypocausts.
+These were furnaces made beneath the house, which generated hot air; and
+this was admitted into the rooms by earthenware flue-tiles. The dwellers
+had both summer and winter apartments; and when the cold weather arrived
+the hypocaust furnaces were lighted, and the family adjourned to their
+winter quarters.
+
+The floors were made of _tesserae_, or small cubes of different
+materials and various colours, which were arranged in beautiful
+patterns. Some of these pavements were of most elegant and elaborate
+designs, having figures in them representing the seasons, or some
+mythological characters.
+
+The walls were painted with decorations of very beautiful designs,
+representing the cornfields, just as the Roman artists in Italy loved to
+depict the vine in their mural paintings. The mortar used by the Romans
+is very hard and tenacious, and their bricks were small and thin,
+varying from 8 inches square to 18 inches by 12, and were about 2 inches
+in thickness. Frequently we find the impression of an animal's foot on
+these bricks and tiles, formed when they were in a soft state before
+they were baked, and one tile recently found had the impression of a
+Roman baby's foot. Roman bricks have often been used by subsequent
+builders, and are found built up in the masonry of much later periods.
+
+[Illustration: CAPITAL OF COLUMN]
+
+It is quite possible to build up in imagination the old Roman city, and
+to depict before our mind's eye the scenes that once took place where
+now the rustics toil and till the ground. We enter the forum, the great
+centre of the city, the common resort and lounging-place of the
+citizens, who met together to discuss the latest news from Rome, to
+transact their business, and exchange gossip. On the west side stood the
+noble basilica, or hall of justice--a splendid building, its entrance
+being adorned with fine Corinthian columns; and slabs of polished
+Purbeck marble, and even of green and white marble from the Pyrenees,
+covered the walls. It was a long rectangular hall, 233 feet in length by
+58 feet in width, and at each side was a semicircular apse, which was
+called the Tribune. Here the magistrate sat to administer justice, or an
+orator stood to address the citizens. In the centre of the western wall
+was another apse, where the _curia_ met for the government of the city.
+Two rows of columns ran down the hall, dividing it into a nave with two
+aisles, like many of our churches. Indeed the form of the construction
+of our churches was taken from these Roman basilica. Several chambers
+stood on the west of the hall, one of which was another fine hall,
+probably used as a corn exchange. The height of this noble edifice, the
+roof of which was probably hidden by a coffered ceiling, must have been
+about fifty-seven feet.
+
+Passing along the main street towards the south gate we come to the
+foundations of a nearly circular temple. Two square-shaped buildings
+stood on the east of the city, which were probably temples for some
+Gaulish form of religion, as similar sacred buildings have been
+discovered in France. A quadrangle of buildings near the south gate,
+having various chambers, contained the public baths, whither the Romans
+daily resorted for gossip and discussion as well as for bathing. There
+is an ingenious arrangement for using the waste water for the purpose of
+flushing the drains and sewers. Nor were they ignorant of the invention
+of a force-pump, as the accompanying illustration on the next page
+shows.
+
+[Illustration: ROMAN FORCE-PUMP]
+
+The amphitheatre stands outside the gate, whither the citizens flocked
+to see gladiatorial displays or contests between wild beasts. With the
+exception of one at Dorchester, it is the largest in Britain. It is made
+of lofty banks of earth, which surround the arena, and must have been an
+imposing structure in the days of its glory, with its tiers of seats
+rising above the level arena. It is difficult to imagine this
+grass-covered slope occupied by a gay crowd of Romans and wondering
+Britons, all eagerly witnessing some fierce fight of man with man, or
+beast with beast, and enthusiastically revelling in the sanguinary
+sport. The modern rustics, who have no knowledge of what was the
+original purpose of "the Mount," as they name the amphitheatre, still
+call the arena "the lions' den."
+
+Silchester was a very busy place. There were dye works there, as the
+excavations show; hence there must have been some weaving, and therefore
+a large resident population. Throngs of travellers used to pass through
+it, and carts and baggage animals bore through its streets the
+merchandise from London, which passed to the cities and villas so
+plentifully scattered in western Britain.
+
+By far the most important of the discoveries made in Roman Britain is
+the little church which stood just outside the forum. It is very similar
+in form to the early churches in Italy and other parts of the Roman
+Empire, and is of the basilican type. The orientation is different from
+that used after the reign of Constantine, the altar being at the west
+end. The churches of S. Peter and S. Paul at Rome had the same
+arrangement; and the priest evidently stood behind the altar facing the
+congregation and looking towards the east at the time of the celebration
+of the Holy Communion. There is an apse at the west end, and the
+building is divided by two rows of columns into a nave and two aisles.
+The nave had probably an ambon, or reading-desk, and was mainly used by
+the clergy, the aisles being for the use of the men and women
+separately. A vestry stood at the western end of the north aisle. Across
+the eastern end was the narthex, or porch, where the catechumens stood
+and watched the service through the three open doors. Outside the
+narthex was the atrium, an open court, having in the centre the remains
+of the labrum, or laver, where the people washed their hands and faces
+before entering the church. We are reminded of a sermon by S.
+Chrysostom, who upbraided his congregation, asking them what was the use
+of their washing their hands if they did not at the same time cleanse
+their hearts by repentance. This interesting memorial of early
+Christianity was probably erected soon after the Emperor Constantine's
+Edict of Toleration issued in 313 A.D.
+
+But not only at Silchester and at other places, once the great centres
+of the Roman population, do we find Roman remains. In addition to the
+stations, camps, and towns, there were the villas of the rich Roman
+citizens or Gaulish merchants on the sunny slopes of many a hillside.
+Although hundreds of the remains of these noble houses have been
+discovered, there are still many to be explored.
+
+The villa consisted of the house of the proprietor, which occupied the
+centre of the little colony, together with the smaller houses of the
+servants and slaves, stables, cowsheds, mills, and granaries, and all
+the other usual outbuildings connected with a large estate. The main
+house was built around a central court, like an Oxford college; and
+resembled in architectural style the buildings which the excavations at
+Pompeii have disclosed. A corridor ran round the court supported by
+pillars, from which the rooms opened. In a well-defended town like
+Silchester the houses were usually built on three sides of the court;
+but the country villas, which had occasionally to be fortified against
+the attacks of wandering bands of outlaws and wild Britons, and the
+inroads of savage beasts, were usually built on all the four sides of
+the square court. They were usually of one story, although the existence
+of a force-pump in Silchester shows that water was laid on upstairs in
+one house at least. As the wells were less than thirty feet deep, a
+force-pump would not be needed to lift the water to the earth-level.
+Hence in some houses there must have been some upper chambers, a
+conclusion that is supported by the thickness of the foundations, which
+are far more substantial than would be required for houses of one story.
+The rooms were very numerous, often as many as sixty or seventy, and
+very bright they must have looked decorated with beautiful marbles and
+stuccoes of gorgeous hues, and magnificent pavements, statues and
+shrines, baths and fountains, and the many other objects of Roman luxury
+and comfort. The floors were made of _opus signinum_, such as the
+Italians use at the present day, a material composed of cement in which
+are embedded fragments of stone or brick, the whole being rubbed down to
+a smooth surface, or paved with mosaic composed of _tesserae_. In
+whatever land the Roman dwelt, there he made his beautiful tesselated
+pavement, rich with graceful designs and ever-enduring colours,
+representing the stories of the gods, the poetry of nature, and the
+legends of the heroes of his beloved native land. Here we see Perseus
+freeing Andromeda, Medusa's locks, Bacchus and his band of revellers,
+Orpheus with his lyre, by which he is attracting a monkey, a fox, a
+peacock, and other animals, Apollo singing to his lyre, Venus being
+loved by Mars, Neptune with his trident, attended by hosts of seamen.
+The seasons form an accustomed group, "Winter" being represented, as at
+Brading, by a female figure, closely wrapped, holding a lifeless bough
+and a dead bird. Satyrs and fauns, flowers, Graces and wood-nymphs,
+horns of plenty, gladiators fighting, one with a trident, the other with
+a net--all these and countless other fanciful representations look at us
+from these old Roman pavements. The Roman villa at Brading is an
+excellent type of such a dwelling, with its magnificent suites of rooms,
+colonnades, halls, and splendid mosaic pavements. As at Silchester, we
+see there fine examples of hypocausts. The floor of the room, called a
+_suspensura_, is supported by fifty-four small pillars made of tiles.
+Another good example of a similar floor exists at Cirencester, and many
+more at Silchester.
+
+[Illustration: TESSELATED PAVEMENT]
+
+Here is a description of a Roman gentleman's house, as drawn by the
+writer of _The History of Oxfordshire_:--
+
+"His villa lay sheltered from wild winds partly by the rising brow of
+the hill, and partly by belts of trees; it was turned towards the south,
+and caught the full sun. In the spring the breath of his violet beds
+would be as soft and sweet as in Oxfordshire woods to-day; in the summer
+his quadrangle would be gay with calthae, and his colonnade festooned
+with roses and helichryse. If we are to believe in the _triclinium
+aestivum_ of Hakewill, it says much for the warmth of those far-away
+summers that he was driven to build a summer dining-room with a north
+aspect, and without heating flues. And when the long nights fell, and
+winter cold set in, the slaves heaped higher the charcoal fires in the
+_praefurnium_; the master sat in rooms far better warmed than Oxford
+country houses now, or sunned himself at midday in the sheltered
+quadrangle, taking his exercise in the warm side of the colonnade among
+his gay stuccoes and fluted columns. Could we for a moment raise the
+veil, we should probably find that the country life of 400 A.D. in
+Oxfordshire was not so very dissimilar to that of to-day, ... and that
+the well-to-do Roman of rustic Middle England was ... a useful,
+peaceful, and a happy person."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
+
+Departure of Romans--Coming of Saxons--Bede--Saxon names of places--
+Saxon village--Common-field system--_Eorl_ and _ceorl_--Thanes,
+_geburs_, and _cottiers_--Description of village life--Thane's
+house--_Socmen_--Ploughman's lament--Village tradesmen--Parish
+council--Hundreds--Shires.
+
+
+The scene changes. The Roman legions have left our shores, and are
+trying to prop the tottering state of the falling empire. The groans
+of the Britons have fallen on listless or distracted ears, and no one
+has come to their succour. The rule of the all-swaying Roman power has
+passed away, and the Saxon hordes have poured over the hills and vales
+of rural Britain, and made it the Angles' land--our England.
+
+The coming of the Saxons was a very gradual movement. They did not
+attack our shores in large armies on one or two occasions; they came
+in clans or families. The head of the clan built a ship, and taking
+with him his family and relations, founded a settlement in wild Britain,
+or wherever the winds happened to carry them. They were very fierce
+and relentless in war, and committed terrible ravages on the helpless
+Britons, sparing neither men, women, nor children, burning buildings,
+destroying and conquering wherever they went.
+
+Bede tells the story of doings of the ruthless Saxons:--
+
+"The barbarous conquerors ... plundered all the neighbouring cities and
+country, spread the conflagration from the eastern to the western sea
+without any opposition, and covered almost every part of the devoted
+island. Public as well as private structures were overturned; the
+priests were everywhere slain before the altars; the prelates and
+the people, without any respect of persons, were destroyed with fire
+and sword; nor was there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly
+slaughtered. Some of the miserable remainder, being taken in the
+mountains, were butchered in heaps. Others, spent with hunger, came
+forth and submitted themselves to the enemy for food, being destined
+to undergo perpetual servitude, if they were not killed even upon the
+spot. Some, with sorrowful hearts, fled beyond the seas; others,
+continuing in their own country, led a miserable life among the woods,
+rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food to support life, and
+expecting every moment to be their last."
+
+Many antiquaries believe that the extirpation of the Britons was not so
+complete as Bede asserts, and that a large number of them remained in
+England in a condition of servitude. At any rate, the almost entire
+extinction of the language, except as regards the names of a few rivers
+and mountains, and of a few household words, seems to point to a fairly
+complete expulsion of the Britons rather than to a mingling of them with
+the conquering race.
+
+What remains have we in our English villages of our Saxon forefathers,
+the makers of England? In the first place we notice that many of the
+names of our villages retain the memory of their founders. When the
+family, or group of families, formed their settlements, they avoided the
+buildings and walled towns, relics of Roman civilisation, made clearings
+for themselves in the primeval forests, and established themselves in
+village communities. In the names of places the suffix _ing_, meaning
+_sons of_, denotes that the village was first occupied by the clan of
+some chief, whose name is compounded with this syllable _ing_. Thus the
+Uffingas, the children of Offa, formed a settlement at Uffinggaston, or
+Uffington; the Redingas, or sons of Rede, settled at Reading; the
+Billings at Billinge and Billingham; the Wokings or Hocings, sons of
+Hoc, at Woking and Wokingham. The Billings and Wokings first settled at
+Billinge and Woking; and then like bees they swarmed, and started
+another hive of industry at Billingham and Wokingham.
+
+These family settlements, revealed to us by the patronymic _ing_, are
+very numerous. At Ardington, in Berkshire, the Ardings, the royal race
+of the Vandals, settled; the Frankish Walsings at Wolsingham; the
+Halsings at Helsington; the Brentings at Brentingley; the Danish
+Scyldings at Skelding; the Thurings at Thorington; and many other
+examples might be quoted.
+
+Many Saxon names of places end in _field_, which denotes a forest
+clearing, or _feld_, made by the axes of the settlers in the primeval
+woods, where the trees were _felled_. These villages were rudely
+fortified, or inclosed by a hedge, wall, or palisade, denoted by the
+suffix _ton_, derived from the Anglo-Saxon _tynan_, to hedge; and all
+names ending with this syllable point to the existence of a Saxon
+settlement hedged in and protected from all intruders. Thus we have
+Barton, Preston, Bolton, and many others. The terminations _yard_,
+_stoke_, or stockaded place, as in Basingstoke, _worth_ (Anglo-Saxon
+_weorthig_), as in Kenilworth, Tamworth, Walworth, have much the same
+meaning.
+
+Perhaps the most common of all the terminations of names denoting the
+presence of Anglo-Saxon settlers is the suffix _ham_. When the _a_ is
+pronounced short the syllable denotes an inclosure, like _stoke_ or
+_ton_; but when the _a_ is long, it means home, and expresses the
+reverence with which the Anglo-Saxon regarded his own dwelling. England
+is the land of homes, and the natural affection with which we Englishmen
+regard our homes is to a great extent peculiar to our race. The
+Frenchman, the Spaniard, the Italian, do not have the same respect for
+home. Our Saxon forefathers were a very home-loving people, and it is
+from them doubtless that we inherit our love for our homes.
+
+We find, then, the Saxon holding the lands. The clan formed settlements;
+sections of each clan formed branch settlements; and several members of
+each section cut their way through the thick forests, felled the trees,
+built homesteads, where they tilled the land and reared their cattle.
+
+In early Saxon times the settlement consisted of a number of families
+holding a district, and the land was regularly divided into three
+portions. There was the village itself, in which the people lived in
+houses built of wood or rude stonework. Around the village were a few
+small inclosures, or grass yards, for rearing calves and baiting farm
+stock; this was the common farmstead. Around this was the arable land,
+where the villagers grew their corn and other vegetables; and around
+this lay the common meadows, or pasture land, held by the whole
+community, so that each family could turn their cattle into it, subject
+to the regulations of an officer elected by the people, whose duty it
+was to see that no one trespassed on the rights of his neighbour, or
+turned too many cattle into the common pasture.
+
+[Illustration: BEATING ACORNS FOR SWINE
+Cotton MS., _Nero_, c. 4]
+
+Around the whole colony lay the woods and uncultivated land, which
+was left in its natural wild state, where the people cut their timber
+and fuel, and pastured their pigs in the glades of the forest. The
+cultivated land was divided into three large fields, in which the
+rotation of crops was strictly enforced, each field lying fallow once
+in three years. To each freeman was assigned his own family lot, which
+was cultivated by the members of his household. But he was obliged to
+sow the same crop as his neighbour, and compelled by law to allow his
+lot to lie fallow with the rest every third year. The remains of this
+common-field system are still evident in many parts of the country, the
+fields being termed "lot meadows," or "Lammas lands." Our commons, too,
+many of which remain in spite of numerous inclosures, are evidences of
+the communal life of our village forefathers.
+
+How long the Saxon villages remained free democratic institutions, we do
+not know. Gradually a change came over them, and we find the manorial
+system in vogue. Manors existed in England long before the Normans came,
+although "manor" is a Norman word; and in the time of Canute the system
+was in full force. The existence of a manor implies a lord of the manor,
+who exercised authority over all the villagers, owned the home farm, and
+had certain rights over the rest of the land. How all this came about,
+we scarcely know. Owing to the Danish invasions, when the rude barbarous
+warriors carried fire and sword into many a peaceful town and village,
+the villagers found themselves at the mercy of these savage hordes.
+Probably they sought the protection of some thane, or _eorl_, with his
+band of warriors, who could save their lands from pillage. In return for
+their services they acknowledged him as the lord of their village, and
+gave him rent, which was paid either in the produce of these fields or
+by the work of their hands. Thus the lords of the manor became the
+masters of the villagers, although they too were governed by law, and
+were obliged to respect the rights of their tenants and servants.
+
+Saxon society was divided into two main divisions, the _eorl_ and the
+_ceorl_, the men of noble birth, and those of ignoble origin. The chief
+man in the village was the manorial lord, a _thane_, who had his demesne
+land, and his _gafol_ land, or _geneat_ land, which was land held in
+villeinage, and cultivated by _geneats_, or persons holding by service.
+These villein tenants were in two classes, the _geburs_, or villeins
+proper, who held the yardlands, and the _cottiers_, who had smaller
+holdings. Beneath these two classes there were the _theows_, or slaves,
+made up partly of the conquered Britons, partly of captives taken in
+war, and partly of freemen who had been condemned to this penalty for
+their crimes, or had incurred it by poverty.
+
+There were degrees of rank among Saxon gentlemen, as among those of
+to-day. The thanes were divided into three classes: (i.) those of royal
+rank (_thani regis_), who served the king in Court or in the management
+of State affairs; (ii.) _thani mediocres_, who held the title by
+inheritance, and corresponded to the lords of the manor in the later
+times; (iii.) _thani minores_, or inferior thanes, to which rank
+_ceorls_ or merchants could attain by the acquisition of sufficient
+landed property.
+
+We can picture to ourselves the ordinary village life which existed in
+Saxon times. The thane's house stood in the centre of the village, not a
+very lordly structure, and very unlike the stately Norman castles which
+were erected in later times. It was commonly built of wood, which the
+neighbouring forests supplied in plenty, and had stone or mud
+foundations. The house consisted of an irregular group of low buildings,
+almost all of one story. In the centre of the group was the hall, with
+doors opening into the court. On one side stood the kitchen; on the
+other the chapel when the thane became a Christian and required the
+services of the Church for himself and his household. Numerous other
+rooms with lean-to roofs were joined on to the hall, and a tower for
+purposes of defence in case of an attack. Stables and barns were
+scattered about outside the house, and with the cattle and horses lived
+the grooms and herdsmen, while villeins and _cottiers_ dwelt in the
+humble, low, shedlike buildings, which clustered round the Saxon thane's
+dwelling-place. An illustration of such a house appears in an ancient
+illumination preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 603. The lord and lady
+of the house are represented as engaged in almsgiving; the lady is thus
+earning her true title, that of "loaf-giver," from which her name "lady"
+is derived.
+
+[Illustration: HOUSE OF SAXON THANE]
+
+The interior of the hall was the common living-room for both men and
+women, who slept on the reed-strewn floor, the ladies' sleeping-place
+being separated from the men's by the arras. The walls were hung with
+tapestry, woven by the skilled fingers of the ladies of the household. A
+peat or log fire burned in the centre of the hall, and the smoke hid the
+ceiling and finally found its way out through a hole in the roof. Arms
+and armour hung on the walls, and the seats consisted of benches called
+"mead-settles," arranged along the sides of the hall, where the Saxon
+chiefs sat drinking their favourite beverage, mead, or sweetened beer,
+out of the horns presented to them by the waiting damsels. When the hour
+for dinner approached, rude tables were laid on trestles, and forthwith
+groaned beneath the weight of joints of meat and fat capons which the
+Saxon loved dearly. The door of the hall was usually open, and thither
+came the bards and gleemen, who used to delight the company with their
+songs and stories of the gallant deeds of their ancestors, the weird
+legends of their gods Woden and Thor, their Viking lays and Norse sagas,
+and the acrobats and dancers astonished them with their strange
+postures.
+
+Next to the thane ranked the _geburs_, who held land granted to them by
+the thane for their own use, sometimes as much as one hundred and twenty
+acres, and were required to work for the lord on the home farm two or
+three days a week, or pay rent for their holdings. This payment
+consisted of the produce of the land. They were also obliged to provide
+one or more oxen for the manorial plough team, which consisted of eight
+oxen.
+
+There was also a strong independent body of men called _socmen_, who
+were none other than our English yeomen. They were free tenants, who
+have by their independence stamped with peculiar features both our
+constitution and our national character. Their good name remains;
+English yeomen have done good service to their country, and let us hope
+that they will long continue to exist amongst us, in spite of the
+changed condition of English agriculture and the prolonged depression in
+farming affairs, which has tried them severely.
+
+[Illustration: WHEEL PLOUGH
+From Bayeux Tapestry]
+
+Besides the _geburs_ and _socmen_ there were the _cottiers_, who had
+small allotments of about five acres, kept no oxen, and were required to
+work for the thane some days in each week. Below them were the _theows_,
+serfs, or slaves, who could be bought and sold in the market, and were
+compelled to work on the lord's farm.
+
+Listen to the sad lament of one of this class, recorded in a dialogue of
+AElfric of the tenth century:--
+
+"What sayest thou, ploughman? How dost thou do thy work?"
+
+"Oh, my lord, hard do I work. I go out at daybreak, driving the oxen to
+field, and I yoke them to the plough. Nor is it ever so hard winter that
+I dare loiter at home, for fear of my lord, but the oxen yoked, and the
+ploughshare and the coulter fastened to the plough, every day must I
+plough a full acre, or more."
+
+"Hast thou any comrade?"
+
+"I have a boy driving the oxen with an iron goad, who also is hoarse
+with cold and shouting."
+
+"What more dost thou in the day?"
+
+"Verily then I do more. I must fill the bin of the oxen with hay, and
+water them, and carry out the dung. Ha! Ha! hard work it is, hard work
+it is! because _I am not free._"
+
+Evidently the ploughman's want of freedom was his great hardship; his
+work in ploughing, feeding, and watering his cattle, and in cleansing
+their stable, was not harder than that of an ordinary carter in the
+present day; but servitude galled his spirit, and made the work
+intolerable. Let us hope that his lord was a kind-hearted man, and gave
+him some cattle for his own, as well as some land to cultivate, and then
+he would not feel the work so hard, or the winter so cold.
+
+Frequently men were thus released from slavery; sometimes also freemen
+sold themselves into slavery under the pressure of extreme want. A man
+so reduced was required to lay aside his sword and lance, the symbols
+of the free, and to take up the bill and the goad, the implements of
+slavery, to fall on his knees and place his head, in token of submission,
+under the hands of his master.
+
+[Illustration: SMITHY
+From the Cotton MS., B 4]
+
+Each trade was represented in the village community. There were the
+_faber_, or smith, and the carpenter, who repaired the ironwork and
+woodwork of the ploughs and other agricultural implements, and in return
+for their work had small holdings among the tenants free from ordinary
+services. There was the _punder_, or pound-man, who looked after the
+repair of the fences and impounded stray cattle; the _cementarius_, or
+stonemason; the _custos apium_, or bee-keeper, an important person, as
+much honey was needed to make the sweetened ale, or mead, which the
+villagers and their chiefs loved to imbibe; and the steward, or
+_prepositus_, who acted on behalf of the lord, looked after the
+interests of the tenants, and took care that they rendered their legal
+services. The surnames Smith, Baker, Butcher, Carter, and many others,
+preserve the remembrance of the various trades which were carried on in
+every village, and of the complete self-dependence of the community.
+
+We have inherited many customs and institutions from our Saxon
+forefathers, which connect our own age with theirs. In recent years we
+have established parish councils in our villages. Formerly the pet
+theory of politicians was centralisation; everything had to be done at
+one centre, at one central office, and London became the head and centre
+of all government. But recently politicians thought that they had
+discovered a new plan for carrying on the internal affairs of the
+country, and the idea was to leave each district to manage its own
+affairs. This is only a return to the original Saxon plan. In every
+village there was a moot-hill, or sacred tree, where the freemen met to
+make their own laws and arrange their agricultural affairs. Here
+disputes were settled, plough lands and meadow lands shared in due lot
+among the villagers, and everything arranged according to the custom of
+the village.
+
+Our county maps show that the shires are divided into hundreds. This we
+have inherited from our Saxon forefathers. In order to protect
+themselves from their neighbours, the Saxon colonists arranged
+themselves in hundreds of warriors. This little army was composed of
+picked champions, the representatives of a hundred families; men who
+were ready in case of war to uphold the honour of their house, and to
+fight for their hearths and homes. These hundred families recognised a
+bond of union with each other and a common inheritance, and ranged
+themselves under one name for general purposes, whether for defence,
+administration of justice, or other objects.
+
+On a fixed day, three times a year, in some place where they were
+accustomed to assemble--under a particular tree,[1] or near some
+river-bank--these hundred champions used to meet their chieftain, and
+gather around him when he dismounted from his horse. He then placed his
+spear in the ground, and each warrior touched it with his own spear in
+token of their compact, and pledged himself to mutual support. At this
+assembly criminals were tried, disputes settled, bargains of sale
+concluded; and in later times many of these transactions were inserted
+in the chartularies of abbeys or the registers of bishops, which thus
+became a kind of register too sacred to be falsified. A large number of
+the hundreds bear the name of some chieftain who once used to call
+together his band of bearded, light-haired warriors and administer rude
+justice beneath a broad oak's shade.[2] Others are named after some
+particular spot, some tree, or ford, or stone, or tumulus, where the
+hundred court met.
+
+Our counties or shires were not formed, as is popularly supposed, by
+King Alfred or other royal person by the dividing up of the country into
+portions, but were the areas occupied by the original Saxon tribes or
+kingdoms. Most of our counties retain to this day the boundaries which
+were originally formed by the early Saxon settlers. Some of our counties
+were old Saxon kingdoms--such as Sussex, Essex, Middlesex--the kingdoms
+of the South, East, and Middle Saxons. Surrey is the Sothe-reye, or
+south realm; Kent is the land of the Cantii, a Belgic tribe; Devon is
+the land of the Damnonii, a Celtic tribe; Cornwall, or Corn-wales, is
+the land of the Welsh of the Horn; Worcestershire is the shire of the
+Huiccii; Cumberland is the land of the Cymry; Northumberland is the land
+north of the Humber, and therefore, as its name implies, used to extend
+over all the North of England. Evidently the southern tribes and
+kingdoms by conquest reduced the size of this large county and confined
+it to its present smaller dimensions. In several cases the name of the
+county is derived from that of its chief town, _e.g._ Oxfordshire,
+Warwickshire; these were districts which were conquered by some powerful
+earl or chieftain, who held his court in the town, and called his newly
+acquired property after its name.
+
+We have seen the picture of an ordinary English village in early Saxon
+times, the villeins and slaves working in the fields and driving their
+oxen, and the thane dressed in his linen tunic and short cloak, his hose
+bandaged to the knee with strips of cloth, superintending the farming
+operations. We have seen the freemen and thanes taking an active part in
+public life, attending the courts of the hundred and shire, as well as
+the folk moot or parish council of those times, and the slave mourning
+over his lack of freedom. But many other relics of Saxon times remain,
+and these will require another chapter for their examination.
+
+
+[1] Until the eighteenth century there stood a pollard oak in the parish
+of Shelford, Berks, where the hundred court used to be held.
+
+[2] Other theories with regard to the origin of the hundred have been
+suggested. Some writers maintain that the hundred was a district whence
+the hundred warriors were derived, or a group of townships. But the
+Bishop of Oxford in his _Constitutional History_ states: "It is very
+probable that the colonists of Britain arranged themselves in hundreds
+of warriors; it is not probable that the country was carved into equal
+districts. The only conclusion that seems reasonable is that under the
+name of geographical hundreds we have the variously sized _pagi_, or
+districts, in which the hundred warriors settled, the boundaries of
+these being determined by other causes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SAXON RELICS
+
+Peculiarities of Saxon barrows--Their contents--Weapons--Articles
+of personal adornment--Cremation--Saxon Cemeteries--Jutes--Saxons--
+Angles--Religion of Saxons--British Church in Wales--Conversion
+of Saxons--Saxon crosses--Whalley--St. Wilfrid--Ruthwell cross--
+Bewcastle cross--Eyam cross--Ilkley cross--Hexham cross--Cross at
+St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland--Cheeping crosses--Pilgrim crosses.
+
+
+The earth has preserved a vast store of relics of the Saxons, and for
+these we must search in the barrows which contain their dead. There are
+certain peculiarities which characterise these memorials of the race.
+The larger tumuli, whether belonging to Celt or Roman, usually stand
+alone, or in groups of not more than two or three, and were the
+monuments of distinguished people; whereas the Saxon barrows form a
+regular cemetery, each group being the common burying-place of the
+people in the district. Another characteristic is the large number of
+articles which they contain. Moreover it was the practice of the other
+races to lay the body on the ground, and build up the chamber and mound
+above it. The Saxons on the other hand laid the body in a deep grave
+before they began to construct the barrow.
+
+The body was usually stretched out on its back, but is sometimes found
+in a sitting position, as in graves recently discovered on Lord
+Wantage's estate, Berks. Coffins of hollowed trunks of trees were
+occasionally used, but these were not common. If the dead man was a
+warrior, his weapons were buried with him, and we find the head and
+spike of his spear, heads of javelins, a long iron broad-sword, a long
+knife, occasionally an axe, and over his breast the iron boss of his
+shield, the wooden part of which has of course decayed away.
+
+[Illustration: SAXON RELICS
+(1) Sword
+(2) Top of Sword Handle
+(3) Buckle
+(4) Spear-head
+(5) Plain Fibula]
+
+The articles of personal adornment are very numerous. Fibulae, or
+brooches, and buckles, made of bronze, are very beautifully ornamented.
+Gold fibulae of circular form are found in the Kentish barrows,
+frequently ornamented with real or fictitious gems. Rings, bracelets,
+necklaces of beads, pendants for the neck and ears, are very common. The
+beads are of glass, or amber, or variegated clay. Hairpins with which
+the Saxon ladies bound up their tresses, chatelaines with tweezers for
+removing superfluous hairs, toothpicks, scissors, and small knives, are
+very frequent, and combs made of bone.
+
+When cremation was used the ashes were deposited in an urn made of rude
+earthenware without the help of a lathe. Drinking-vessels of glass of
+fine and delicate workmanship, pointed or rounded at the bottom, are
+common. From the construction of these cups it is evident that the Saxon
+allowed no "heel-taps." Bronze bowls, dishes, and basins are found in
+Saxon barrows, and occasionally buckets.
+
+A pair of dice was found in a grave at Kingston Down, which indicates a
+favourite pastime of the Saxons. The presence of a large number of Roman
+coins shows that they used Roman money long after the legions had left
+our shores. Sceattas, or Saxon silver coins, are also frequently
+discovered.
+
+Many Saxon cemeteries have been discovered in various parts of England,
+but a vast number have never been examined; and the careful inspection
+of the contents of barrows must throw much light upon Saxon settlements
+in England. Bede tells us that there were three different branches of
+this race. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons
+settled in Essex, the country of the East Saxons, Sussex, that of the
+South Saxons, and Wessex, of the West Saxons. The Angles settled in East
+Anglia. Now an examination of barrows shows that the Angles practised
+cremation and urn burial, which was not so common amongst the Jutes and
+Saxons, and the fibulae found in the tombs of these tribes differ
+considerably in shape and size. The contents of these graves throw much
+light on the history of the people, their customs and habits. The action
+of the plough has often obliterated the traces of ancient barrows. It is
+advisable that the position of all such mounds should be carefully noted
+and recorded, and where possible excavations made which may help in
+settling many vexed questions, and enable us to understand more fully
+the condition of the pagan Saxon, ere the light of Christianity had
+dawned upon him.
+
+Our names for the days of the week tell us of the gods of our Saxon
+forefathers, whom they worshipped in their pagan and unregenerate state.
+Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuisco's-day, Woden's-day, Thor's-day, Frya's-day,
+Saeter's-day, link us on to the times when these "whelps from the
+kennels of barbarism," as the Britons loved to call their conquerors,
+swept away the old British Church, and established their heathen rites
+and customs. Their religion resembled that of their Scandinavian
+neighbours. Each village had its sacred spot, some clearing in the
+forest, a tree, or well, whither the people resorted to pray to their
+gods, and practise superstitious rites and customs which lingered long
+after the introduction of Christianity, and even still survive. They had
+also a few temples whither the freemen came three times a year.
+
+Driven out of England the ancient British Church found a refuge in the
+wilds of Wales and Cornwall, where it lived on and flourished
+vigorously, allied to the Churches of Ireland and Scotland, sending out
+missionaries to the Continent of Europe, having schools and colleges,
+monasteries, and numerous churches. Llancarvan, in Glamorganshire, was a
+celebrated seat of learning; and all places named Bangor, such as
+Bangor-Iscaed, St. Asaph, and many others, possessed schools and
+colleges. The village names of numerous places in Wales and Cornwall
+record the labours of many earnest, saintly men, who brought
+Christianity to the savage folk in these wild regions. There are nearly
+five hundred names of these holy men in Wales alone, whose memory is
+retained by this simple record; and Cornwall is dotted over with
+churches dedicated to men and women whose names are strange, and of whom
+we know nothing. History tells us of some of these early saints and
+martyrs, of St. Alban, the first British martyr, who was slain 303 A.D.
+during the Diocletian persecution in the city which bears his name; of
+St. David, a Welsh prince, who followed the active life of John the
+Baptist, and preached like him. The memory of early saints is enshrined
+in the names, St. Ives, St. Neots, St. Bees, and in St. Edmund's Bury,
+named after St. Edmund, who was taken prisoner by Ingvar the Viking, and
+having been bound to a tree, was scourged, and served as a target for
+the arrows of the Danes, being afterwards beheaded. All these record the
+bravery and zeal of the holy men of old who loved their God, and for His
+sake feared not to die.
+
+Nothing need be said of the conversion of the English. That is a story
+which has been often told. The scene is again changed. The temples of
+Woden and Thor at Canterbury and Godmundingham and elsewhere, with their
+heathen altars and shrines and idols, have been changed into Christian
+churches, and other houses of God have been raised in the various
+kingdoms; while Paulinus, Berinus, Aidan, Winfrid, and other preachers,
+travelled through the country, exhorting the people to accept the
+Christian faith.
+
+Memorials of these early Christian missionaries remain in many a village
+churchyard. Often there stands near the village church an old stone
+cross, its steps worn away by the rains and frosts of thirteen
+centuries; its head has doubtless gone, broken off by the force of the
+gales, or by the wild rage of human passion and Puritanical iconoclastic
+zeal; but it preserves the memory of the first conversion of the Saxon
+villagers to Christianity, and was erected to mark the spot where the
+people assembled to hear the new preacher, and to consecrate it for this
+purpose.
+
+In the life of St. Willibald we read that it was the custom of the Saxon
+nation, on the estates of some of their nobles or great men, to erect,
+not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God,
+beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common
+use of daily prayer. It is recorded also that St. Kentigern used to
+erect a cross in any place where he had converted the people, and where
+he had been staying for some time. Very probably the Saxon preacher
+would make use of the old open-air meeting-place, where the pagan
+villagers used to worship Woden; and thus the spots still used for
+public worship are in many cases the same which used to echo with the
+songs of Thor and the prayers of pagan Saxons.
+
+These crosses were the rallying-points for Christian congregations
+before churches arose, and the bells in their turrets summoned the
+people to the service of God. In Somersetshire alone there are two
+hundred relics of the piety of our forefathers; and the North of England
+and Scotland are especially rich in crosses. No two are ever quite
+similar. Some are of simple design or character; but many have such
+beautiful carving and scrollwork that we are astonished at the skill of
+the workmen who, with very simple and rude tools, could produce such
+wonderful specimens of art.
+
+The pagan Saxons worshipped stone pillars; so in order to wean them from
+their ignorant superstition, the Christian missionaries, such as St.
+Wilfrid, erected these stone crosses, and carved upon them the figures
+of the Saviour and His Apostles, displaying before the eyes of their
+hearers the story of the cross written in stone.
+
+The North of England has very many examples of the zeal of these early
+preachers of the faith, and probably most of them were fashioned by the
+monks and followers of St. Wilfrid, who was Archbishop of York at the
+beginning of the eighth century.
+
+When he travelled about his diocese a large body of monks and workmen
+attended him; and amongst these were the cutters in stone who made the
+crosses and erected them on the spots which Wilfrid consecrated to the
+worship of God.
+
+The Whalley cross is earlier than the time of Wilfrid. It is one of the
+crosses of Paulinus, who was one of the priests sent by Pope Gregory to
+help Augustine in the work of converting the Saxons, and who became
+Archbishop of York. Under the shadow of this very cross Paulinus, who
+came to England in 601 A.D., preached nearly thirteen hundred years ago.
+Indeed an old monkish writer wished to represent that Augustine himself
+came to Whalley and erected the cross, which he calls "St. Augustine's
+Cross"; but there is little doubt that Paulinus was the founder. In
+Puritan times this and other relics of early faith suffered badly, and
+was removed with two others from the churchyard, and used as a gatepost;
+but the spoiler repented, and restored it once more to its old
+resting-place.
+
+But how did the founders learn to make such beautiful patterns and
+designs? St. Wilfrid had travelled much; he had been to Rome and seen
+the wonderful examples of Roman skill in the great city. The Romans had
+left behind them in England their beautiful pavements, rich in designs,
+with splendid borders of fine workmanship. These, doubtless, the monks
+copied on parchment in the writing-rooms of their monasteries, and gave
+their drawings to the monks in the stone-shed, who reproduced them in
+stone. The only tool they had to produce all this fine and delicate work
+was the pick, and this increases our wonder at the marvels they were
+able to accomplish.
+
+There is a famous cross at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire, which for a short
+time formed part of the kingdom of Northumbria. Scenes from early
+Christian history are portrayed, and these are surrounded by bands with
+sentences in Latin describing them. The lowest panel is too defaced for
+us to determine the subjects; on the second we see the flight into
+Egypt; on the third figures of Paul, the first hermit, and Anthony, the
+first monk, are carved; on the fourth is a representation of our Lord
+treading under foot the heads of swine; and on the highest there is the
+figure of John the Baptist with the Lamb. On the opposite side are the
+Annunciation, the Salutation, and other scenes of gospel history. On the
+side of the cross is some beautiful scrollwork, which shows a wonderful
+development of skill and art.
+
+In addition to the Latin sentences there are five stanzas of an
+Anglo-Saxon poem of singular beauty. It is the story of the crucifixion
+told in touching words by the cross itself, which narrates its own sad
+tale from the time when it was a growing tree by the woodside, until at
+length, after the body of the Lord had been taken down--
+
+  "The warriors left me there,
+  Standing defiled with blood."
+
+On the head of the cross are inscribed the words, "Caedmon made me."
+This Caedmon was the holy monk, on whom the gift of writing verses was
+bestowed by Heaven, who in the year 680 A.D. began to pour forth his
+songs in praise of Almighty God, and told in Anglo-Saxon poetry the
+story of the creation and the life of our Lord. The Bewcastle cross is
+somewhat similar to that at Ruthwell. We see again the figure of our
+Lord standing on the heads of swine, but the lower figure is represented
+with a hawk, the sign of nobility, and is probably that of a person to
+whom the cross is a memorial. The ornamentation on this cross is very
+perfect and beautifully executed. The very beautiful cross at Eyam, in
+Derbyshire, differs both in style and workmanship from almost any other.
+The shaft has evidently been broken. In the panels of the head of the
+cross are figures of angels.
+
+Sometimes we find some very strange beasts carved on the old crosses. On
+the cross at Ilkley we observe some of these curious animals with their
+long tails interlacing. Sometimes the tail is wound round the creature's
+body, and the idea of the artist was to represent the animal reduced to
+a state of powerlessness. One forepaw is held up in sign of submission.
+Above is a figure of our Lord triumphing over the powers of evil, and
+these animals represent probably man's lower nature owning the supremacy
+of the King of Heaven. On the other side of the cross are figures of the
+four evangelists. The upper half of the figures alone appears dressed in
+flowing garments; each is carrying a book; circles of glory surround
+their heads, which are the symbols of the evangelists. St. Matthew has a
+man's head; St. Mark a leopard's; St. Luke's a calf's; and St. John an
+eagle's head.
+
+The crosses at Hexham, where Archbishop Wilfrid founded a monastery, are
+very ancient. We are able to tell the date of these stones, for they
+were placed at the head and feet of the grave of Bishop Acca, who was a
+follower of St. Wilfrid, and accompanied him on his missionary journeys.
+Acca succeeded Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham, and according to the old
+chronicler Bede, "being a most active man and great in the sight of God
+and man, he much adorned and added to his church." Acca died in 738
+A.D., and as the monastery of Hexham was soon destroyed, these crosses
+must have been erected eleven hundred and sixty-three years ago.
+
+The cross at St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland, is of much later date, and
+the workmanship is not nearly so fine and delicate as in the earlier
+crosses. The Saxons had deteriorated as a race just before the Normans
+came, and although the cross still appears on the flat stone, the design
+on the shaft of the cross merely represents a hunting scene; and a Saxon
+bowman is shown shooting at some animals. The religious conceptions of
+an earlier and purer time have disappeared. The moustache of the
+sportsman also shows that the stone belonged to a period very near the
+Norman Conquest, when that fashion of wearing the hair was in vogue.
+
+England is remarkable for these specimens of ancient art. On the
+Continent there are very few of these elaborately carved crosses; but
+it is noteworthy that wherever the English or Irish missionaries went,
+they erected these memorials of their faith. In Switzerland, where
+they founded some monasteries, there are some very similar to those
+in England.
+
+There are several other kinds of crosses besides those in churchyards.
+There are market crosses, called "cheeping" crosses after the
+Anglo-Saxon _cheap_, to buy, from which Cheapside, in London, Chippenham
+and Chipping Norton derive their names. Some crosses are "pilgrim"
+crosses, and were erected along the roads leading to shrines where
+pilgrimages were wont to be made, such as the shrine of St. Thomas
+a Becket at Canterbury, Glastonbury, Our Lady of Walsingham. Sometimes
+they were erected at the places where the corpse rested on its way to
+burial, as the Eleanor crosses at Waltham and Charing, in order that
+people might pray for the soul of the deceased. Monks also erected
+crosses to mark the boundaries of the property of their monastery.
+
+[Illustration: AN OLD MARKET CROSS]
+
+Time has dealt hardly with the old crosses of England. Many of them
+were destroyed by the Puritans, who by the Parliamentary decree of
+1643, ordered that all altars and tables of stones, all crucifixes,
+images and pictures of God and the saints, with all superstitious
+inscriptions, should be obliterated and destroyed. In London, St.
+Paul's Cross, Charing Cross, and that in Cheapside, were levelled
+with the ground, and throughout the country many a beautiful work
+of art which had existed hundreds of years shared the same fate.
+Place-names sometimes preserve their memory, such as Gerard's Cross,
+in Buckinghamshire, Crosby, Crossens, Cross Inn, Croston; these and
+many others record the existence in ancient times of a cross, and
+probably beneath its shade the first preachers of the gospel stood,
+when they turned the hearts of our heathen ancestors, and taught them
+the holy lessons of the Cross.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
+
+Saxon monasteries--Parish churches--Benedict Biscop--Aldhelm--St.
+Andrew's, Hexham--Brixworth Church--Saxon architecture--Norman
+architecture--Characteristics of the style--Transition Norman--
+Early English style--Decorated style--Perpendicular style.
+
+
+The early Saxon clergy lived in monasteries, where they had a church
+and a school for the education of the sons of thanes. Monastic houses,
+centres of piety and evangelistic zeal, sprang up, the abodes of
+religion, civilisation, peace, and learning. They were the schools of
+culture, sacred and profane, of industry and agriculture; the monks were
+the architects, the painters, the sculptors, the goldsmiths of their
+time. They formed the first libraries; they taught the young; they
+educated women in convents, and by degrees dispersed the shades of
+ignorance, idolatry, and barbarism, and reformed England.
+
+To record the number of these monastic houses which were erected in the
+seventh and eighth centuries would require much space; and as our chief
+concern is with the vestiges that remain in our English villages, and
+as most of these Saxon monasteries were plundered and destroyed by the
+Danes, or rebuilt on a grander scale by the Normans, we will not now
+enumerate them.
+
+After the country had been evangelised by the itinerant monks and
+preachers, the next process was to establish a church in every village,
+and to provide a pastor to minister therein. Archbishop Theodore
+encouraged the thanes to build and endow churches on their estates, and
+introduced to this country the parochial system, by means of which all
+villages could have the services of a resident pastor.
+
+Then the thane's house was not considered complete without its chapel;
+and in the scattered hamlets and village communities churches arose,
+rudely built of wood and roofed with thatch, wherein the Saxon _ceorls_
+and _cottiers_ loved to worship.
+
+The great Churchmen of the day were not content with such humble
+structures. They had travelled to Rome, and seen there some of the fine
+buildings dedicated for divine service; so they determined to have the
+like in their own country. One of these noble builders was Benedict
+Biscop, founder of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. When he
+built the former, he imported foreign artists from Gaul, who constructed
+the monastery after the Roman style, and amongst other things introduced
+glazed windows, which had never been seen in England before. Nor was his
+new house bare and unadorned. He brought from Rome vast stores of church
+furniture, many books, and the "arch-chanter" John, to teach his monks
+the music and ritual of Rome.
+
+Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, and first Bishop of Sherborne, was one of
+the foremost church-builders of the time, and the beautiful churches at
+Malmesbury, Sherborne, Bradford-on-Avon, Frome, and Wareham, owe their
+erection to his instrumentality. Wilfrid also was one of the saintly
+architects of the period. Here is a description of the church of St.
+Andrew, at Hexham, taken from the writings of Richard, prior of the
+monastery there:--
+
+"The foundations of this church St. Wilfrid laid deep in the earth for
+the crypts and oratories, and the passages leading to them, which were
+then with great exactness contrived and built under ground. The walls,
+which were of great length, and raised to an immense height, and divided
+into three several stones or tiers, he supported by square and other
+kinds of well-polished columns. Also, the walls, the capitals of the
+columns which supported them, and the arch of the sanctuary, he
+decorated with historical representations, imagery, and various figures
+of relief, carved in stone, and painted with a most agreeable variety of
+colour. The body of the church he compassed about with pentices and
+porticoes, which, both above and below, he divided with great and
+inexpressible art, by partition walls and winding stairs. Within the
+staircases, and above them, he caused flights of steps and galleries of
+stone, and several passages leading from them both ascending and
+descending, to be so artfully disposed, that multitudes of people might
+be there, and go quite round the church, without being seen by anyone
+below in the nave. Moreover in the several divisions of the porticoes or
+aisles, he erected many most beautiful and private oratories of
+exquisite workmanship; and in them he caused to be placed altars in
+honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Michael, St. John the Baptist,
+and the holy Apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, with all decent
+and proper furniture to each of them, some of which, remaining at this
+day, appear like so many turrets and fortified places."
+
+[Illustration: CONSECRATION OF A SAXON CHURCH]
+
+The Danish wars had a disastrous effect on such noble structures raised
+by these monastic architects, as well as on many a rustic village
+church, which fell a prey to the ruthless invading bands of pagan
+warriors. But frequently, as we study the history written in the
+stonework of our churches, we find amid the massive Norman walls traces
+of the work of Saxon builders, an arch here, a column there, which link
+our own times with the distant past when England was divided into eight
+kingdoms, or when Danegeld was levied to buy off the marauding
+strangers.
+
+Roman buildings served as a model for our Saxon architects, and Roman
+bricks were much used by them. Brixworth Church is perhaps the finest
+specimen of our early Saxon churches. It has semicircular arches, made
+of Roman bricks, springing from square massive piers with single abaci.
+
+[Illustration: TOWER OF BARNACK CHURCH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE]
+
+We will try to point out the distinguishing features of Saxon work, in
+order that you may be able to detect the evidence of its existence in
+your own village and neighbourhood. The walls are chiefly formed of
+rubble or rag stone, having "long and short work," _i.e._ long block of
+cut stone laid alternately horizontally and vertically, at the corners
+of the building and in the jambs of the doors. Often narrow ribs of
+masonry run vertically up the walls, and a string-course runs
+horizontally. The churches of Barnack and Wittering in Northamptonshire,
+St. Michael's, Oxford, and the towers of Earl's Barton are good examples
+of this.
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY, EARL'S BARTON CHURCH]
+
+Saxon doorways have semicircular arches, and sometimes the head is
+shaped in the form of a triangle. The jambs are square-edged, the stone
+of the arch is plain, and a hood or arch of ribwork projecting from the
+surface of the wall surrounds the doorway. Belfry windows have two
+semicircular-headed lights divided by a _baluster_ shaft, _i.e._ a
+column resembling a turned-wood pillar. This feature is quite peculiar
+to Saxon architecture.
+
+Anglo-Saxon single-light windows have two splays, increasing in width
+from the centre of the wall in which the window is placed. Norman
+windows have only one splay on the internal side of the building. Saxon
+arches separating the nave from the aisles and chancel are plain. There
+is no sub-arch as in Norman buildings. They are often very small,
+sometimes only five or six feet wide, and stand on square piers.
+
+[Illustration: TOWER WINDOW, MONKWEARMOUTH CHURCH
+Built by Benedict Biscop, _circa_ A.D. 674]
+
+Some Saxon churches have crypts, but few of them remain. The crypt made
+by St. Wilfrid at Hexham, mentioned above, still exists, and also one at
+Ripon Cathedral, in which there is a small window called "Wilfrid's
+needle." There is a legend about this which states that if a maid goes
+through the "needle," she will be married within the year. Repton Church
+has a very perfect specimen of Saxon crypt.
+
+The ground plan of Saxon churches differed. Many were cruciform, and
+consisted of nave, transepts, and chancel. The east wall of the chancel
+was often semicircular or polygonal, sometimes rectangular. The church
+of St. Lawrence, at Bradford-on-Avon, mentioned by William of
+Malmesbury, is a fine specimen of a Saxon church, and also the little
+church at Escombe, Durham, and that of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire,
+recently rescued from being used as a farmstead.
+
+After the close of the thousandth year after the birth of Christ a new
+impulse was given to church-building. People imagined that with that
+year the millennium would arrive and the Second Advent take place. It
+would be vain to build beautiful churches, if they were so soon to
+perish in the general destruction of the world, as vain as to heap up
+treasure by means of trade. Hence people's minds were unsettled, and the
+churches left in ruins. But when the millenary had safely passed away,
+they began to restore the fallen shrines, and build new churches, and
+the late Saxon or early Norman style came into vogue. Canute was a great
+church-builder, and Edward the Confessor rebuilt Westminster Abbey after
+the new fashion. Then came William the Conqueror with his Norman
+builders, and soon nearly every village had its church, which was
+constructed, according to William of Malmesbury, _novo aedificandi
+genere_.
+
+We will now notice the characteristics of early Norman work, traces of
+which you may be able to recognise in your own church. The doorways are
+very remarkable, profusely adorned with richly carved ornamental
+mouldings and sculpture. The archways are round, and are composed of a
+succession of receding arches, all elaborately carved. The doorway of
+Malmesbury Church has eight arches, recessed one within the other. These
+arches are supported by one or more shafts, which are sometimes carved.
+Above the door and below the arch is the tympanum, covered with
+sculpture, representing scriptural subjects, such as the figure of the
+Saviour in allusion to His saying, "I am the door," or the _Agnus Dei_,
+or Adam and Eve, or such legendary or symbolical subjects as St. George
+and the Dragon, or the Tree of Life.
+
+[Illustration: SCULPTURED HEAD OF DOORWAY, FORDINGTON CHURCH, DORSETSHIRE]
+
+Porches are not very common in early Norman structures, but several
+still exist, notably at Malmesbury, Balderton, and Brixworth. The
+windows are usually small and narrow, the jambs being splayed only on
+the inside of the church. Three such windows placed together usually
+give light over the altar. The walls of Norman buildings are thick and
+massive, and are often faced with cut stone. String-courses or mouldings
+projecting from the walls, run horizontally along them, and are often
+adorned with the zigzag or other Norman patterns of ornament. The tower
+often stands between the nave and the chancel, and is usually low and
+massive. In the eastern counties are found many round towers made of
+flint masonry. Flat buttresses are a sure sign of Norman work, as they
+were not used in any of the subsequent styles of architecture.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN CAPITALS
+(1) Crypt, Worcester Cathedral
+(2) Winchester Cathedral]
+
+The arches of the Norman builders are easily recognised. The piers in
+country churches are nearly always cylindrical; but there are several
+examples of massive square or octagonal piers, and also a number
+of round columns attached, so as to form one pier. The _cushion_
+capital is the most common form used in the Norman style. It is easily
+recognisable, but difficult to be described; and perhaps the
+accompanying sketch will enable the reader to discover a cushion
+capital when he sees it. The early Norman builders loved to bestow
+much labour on their capitals; and while preserving the usual cushion
+form, enriched them with much elaboration. The _scallop_ frequently
+occurs, and also the _volute_, which was copied from the work of Roman
+builders, who themselves imitated the Greek sculptures. Sometimes the
+capitals are elaborately carved with figures of men, or animals, or
+foliage.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN ORNAMENTAL MOULDINGS.
+(1)  Indented. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(2)  Zig-zag. Iffley, Oxfordshire
+(3)  Alternate Billet. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(4)  Double Cone. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(5)  Pellet. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(6)  Lozenge. Essendine, Rutland
+(7)  Cable. Fritwell, Oxfordshire
+(8)  Star. Stringham, Norfolk
+(9)  Medallion. Iffley, Oxfordshire
+(10) Beak-Head. Steetley, Derbyshire
+(11) Nail-Head. St. Ethelred's, Norwich
+(12) Embattled. Lincoln Cathedral]
+
+Norman arches resemble the doorways in having sub-arches recessed within
+an outer arch, the intrados often being decorated with mouldings such as
+the zigzag or the lozenge. The chancel arch is usually very elaborately
+ornamented with various mouldings, which are very numerous and peculiar.
+Those illustrated on the previous page are the most common.
+
+[Illustration: CROYLAND ABBEY CHURCH, LINCOLNSHIRE]
+
+The Normans were also much skilled in vaulting with stone, as the crypts
+in our churches testify. Over the vaulted roof of the aisles was the
+_triforium_, a kind of gallery between this roof and the external roof
+of the church. Very few of the wooden roofs of Norman churches remain.
+The fonts are large, square or cylindrical in shape, and are decorated
+with mouldings or sculpture, often very elaborate but rudely executed.
+At Winchester Cathedral the font is carved with a representation of the
+baptism of King Cynigils at Dorchester. Other favourite subjects were
+the creation of man, the formation of Eve, the expulsion from Paradise,
+Christ upon the cross, the Four Evangelists, the baptism of our Lord,
+and legendary or symbolical representations.
+
+[Illustration: SEMI-NORMAN ARCH, CHURCH OF ST. CROSS]
+
+This style of architecture prevailed until about the middle of the
+twelfth century, when the _Transition Norman_ became in vogue. It is
+characterised by the introduction of the pointed arch. Many conjectures
+as regards its origin have been made. Some suppose that the idea of
+making the arch pointed was suggested by the intersection of
+semicircular arches in ornamental arcades. Others say that the Crusaders
+introduced it on their return from the East, or that it was suggested by
+the Norman vaulting, or from the form of the _vesica piscis_, the most
+ancient of Christian symbols. The Cistercian monks were the first to
+introduce it to this country, and the Cistercian abbeys of Fountains,
+Kirkstall, Furness, and Tintern are noble specimens of Transition Norman
+work. Religious zeal and enthusiasm are often reflected in the improved
+condition of our churches, and the grand buildings of this period are
+outward and visible signs of a great religious revival. Semicircular
+arches, however, continued to be used for windows and for the triforium;
+the capitals of the piers were decorated with foliage somewhat similar
+to that used in a subsequent period.
+
+[Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH PIERS AND CAPITALS
+(1) Salisbury Cathedral
+(2) Lincoln Cathedral]
+
+Then arose the Early English style of architecture which flourished
+from about the year 1175 to 1275, and is characterised by a gradual
+abandonment of the heavy and massive features of the Norman style, and
+the adoption of lighter and more elegant forms of construction and
+decoration. Salisbury Cathedral, erected 1220-1260 A.D., is the most
+perfect example of this period. The arches are pointed, and the piers
+supporting them are often composed of an insulated cylindrical column
+surrounded by slender detached shafts, all uniting together under one
+capital, and divided into parts by horizontal bands. In small churches
+plain octagonal or circular piers are frequently used, as in the
+succeeding style, from which they can only be distinguished by the
+mouldings. Mouldings are often the surest guides in helping us to
+ascertain the date of a building. We have already studied the Norman
+mouldings. In this style they are composed of bold rounds and deep
+hollows, usually plain, or ornamented with the dog-tooth.
+
+[Illustration: TOOTH OR DOG-TOOTH ORNAMENT]
+
+The lancet window is now introduced, at first of only one light, very
+narrow and long, and differing from the Norman window in having a
+pointed arch. At the east end of the chancel there are often three
+lancet windows, the centre one higher than the rest, with one dripstone
+over them. The first idea of window-tracery was the introduction of a
+plain lozenge-shaped opening over a double lancet window, the whole
+being covered by a single dripstone. From this simple arrangement it
+was not difficult to develop the beautiful bar-tracery which came into
+vogue in the subsequent period of English architecture. The capitals
+of the Early English style are bell-shaped, at first quite plain, but
+subsequently these are often covered with beautifully sculptured foliage
+of a very graceful character. Circular windows at this period came
+into vogue in the gables of churches. They were either plain or
+quatre-foiled. Norman towers were sometimes capped with spires in the
+thirteenth century. The walls are not so thick or massive as in the
+Norman period, and the buttresses are stouter and more numerous, and
+project further from the wall. Flying buttresses were also introduced at
+this period. We can generally distinguish Early English work from that
+of the Norman style by its lightness and elegance, as compared with the
+roughness and massiveness of the latter; and its plainness and
+simplicity sufficiently distinguish it from that of the Decorated
+period.
+
+[Illustration: BROWNSOVER CHAPEL, WARWICKSHIRE]
+
+The Decorated style (1275-1375) which prevailed during the reigns of
+the three Edwards was ushered in by a period of Transition, during which
+there was gradually developed the most perfect style which English
+architectural skill has ever attained. In the thirteenth century our
+builders were striving to attain the highest forms of graceful design
+and artistic workmanship. In the fourteenth their work reached
+perfection, while in the fifteenth there was a marked decline in their
+art, which in spite of its elaborate details lacked the beauty of the
+Decorated style.
+
+[Illustration: MOULDINGS, TEWKESBURY ABBEY]
+
+[Illustration: OGEE ARCH]
+
+The arches of this period are usually wider, and are distinguished from
+those of the Early English by the character of the mouldings. The
+ball-flower, consisting of a ball inclosed by three or four leaves,
+somewhat resembling a rosebud, is the favourite ornament, and a
+four-leaved flower is often used. Roll mouldings, quarter, half, or
+three-quarters round, frequently occur, and produce a very pleasing
+effect. The form of the arch is in many instances changed, and the
+graceful _ogee_ arch is introduced. The piers are round or octagonal in
+village churches, and in large churches are formed by a cluster of
+cylindrical shafts, not detached as in the preceding period, but closely
+united. The capitals are bell-shaped, and in large churches richly
+sculptured. Few of the wooden roofs remain, as they have been superseded
+in later times; but the marks of the old roofs may often be seen on the
+eastern wall of the tower. The windows are larger than those of the
+earlier style, and are filled with geometrical and flowing tracery of
+great variety and beauty. Small windows have heads shaped in the ogee or
+trefoil forms. Square-headed windows are not uncommon, especially in the
+clerestory, and in monastic churches circular windows are frequently met
+with. It is characteristic of this style that the carving is not so deep
+as in the previous work. We find groups of shallow mouldings separated
+by one cut deeper than the others.
+
+[Illustration: CAPITALS
+(1) Hanwell
+(2) Chacombe Church]
+
+[Illustration: DECORATED WINDOWS
+(1) Merton College Chapel
+(2) Sandiacre, Derbyshire]
+
+[Illustration: MOULDINGS
+(1) Elton, Huntingdonshire
+(2) Austrey, Warwickshire]
+
+At length the glories of the Decorated period pass away and are merged
+and lost in the _Perpendicular_ which held sway from 1375 to 1540. The
+work is now more elaborate and richer, but lacks the majestic beauty of
+the Decorated style. It is easy to distinguish Perpendicular windows.
+They are larger than any which we have seen before; the mullions are
+carried straight up through the head of the window; smaller mullions
+spring from the heads of the principal lights, and thus the windows
+are broken up into panel-like compartments, very different from the
+beautiful curves of the Decorated style. Simple pointed arches are still
+in use, but gradually they become flattened; and the arch, commonly
+known as the Tudor arch, is a peculiar feature of this style. In village
+churches the mouldings of the arch are often continued down the piers
+without any capital or shaft.
+
+[Illustration: MERTON COLLEGE CHAPEL, OXFORD]
+
+Piers are commonly formed from a square or parallelogram with the angles
+fluted, having on the flat face of each side a semicyclindrical shaft.
+The base mouldings are polygonal. The most common doorway is the Tudor
+arch having a square head over it. The doors are often richly
+ornamented. There are a large number of square-headed windows, and so
+proud were these builders of their new style of window that they
+frequently inserted Perpendicular windows in walls of a much earlier
+date. Hence it is not always safe to determine the age of a church by an
+examination of the windows alone. Panel-work tracery on the upper part
+of the interior walls is a distinctive feature of this style.
+
+[Illustration: VESTRY DOOR, ADDERBURY CHURCH, OXON]
+
+[Illustration: ST. ERASMUS' CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY]
+
+The slope of the roof is much lower than before, and often the former
+high-pitched roofs were at this period replaced by the almost flat roofs
+prevalent in the fifteenth century. The parapets are often embattled.
+
+The rose, the badge of the houses of York and Lancaster, is often used
+as an ornamental detail, and also rows of the Tudor flower, composed of
+four petals, frequently occur. One of the most distinctive mouldings is
+the _cavetto_, a wide shallow hollow in the centre of a group of
+mouldings. Also we find a peculiar wave, and a kind of double ogee
+moulding which are characteristic of the style.
+
+[Illustration: WINDOW, CHRISTCHURCH, OXFORD]
+
+Spires of this period are not very common, and usually spring from
+within the parapet. The interiors of our churches were enriched at this
+time with much elaborate decoration. Richly carved woodwork in screens,
+rood-lofts, pulpits, and pews, sculptured sedilia and a noble reredos,
+and much exuberance of decorative imagery and panel-work, adorned our
+churches at this time, much of which was obliterated or destroyed by
+spoliators of the Reformation period, the iconoclastic Puritans of the
+seventeenth century, or the "restorers" of the nineteenth. However, we
+may be thankful that so much remains to the present day of the work of
+our great English church-builders, while we endeavour to trace the
+history of each church written in stone, and to appreciate these relics
+of antiquity which most of our villages possess.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE _DOMESDAY BOOK_
+
+The coming of the Normans--_Domesday Book_--Its objects--Its contents--
+Barkham in _Domesday_--Saxon families--Saxons who retained their
+estates--Despoiled landowners--Village officers and artisans--
+Villeins--_Bordarii_--_Cottarii_--_Servi_--Socmen--Presbyter--Names
+of Normans--The teaching of _Domesday_.
+
+
+There was a great stir in our English villages when the news was brought
+to them that William of Normandy had landed in England, and intended to
+fight for the English Crown. News travelled very slowly in those days.
+First the villeins and the cottiers who were not fighting with their
+lord heard that a great battle had been fought at Stamford Bridge, in
+Yorkshire, in which their gallant King Harold had defeated his own
+brother Tostig, aided by the King of Norway, Hardrada, and a large army.
+Then the news reached them that William of Normandy had arrived, and
+that Harold was marching night and day to meet him. Then they heard of
+the fatal battle of Hastings; and when it was told them that their brave
+King Harold was slain, and that William, the Norman, was the conqueror
+of England and the acknowledged king of the country, all England groaned
+to hear the fatal news. And then, after a few years, they found that
+their old lord had been deprived of his estates, and a new, haughty,
+proud Norman, who talked like a Frenchman, and laughed at their dear old
+Saxon language, came and ruled over them. He brought Norman servants
+with him, who took the best of the land, and made the Saxons do all the
+hard work on the farm, treating them like slaves.
+
+And now we must examine a most valuable document which throws a
+wonderfully clear light on the condition of England just before and
+after the Conquest. I refer to the _Domesday Book_, or survey of the
+country which William caused to be made. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler
+tells us that after a great Council at Gloucester the king "sent his men
+over all England, into every shire, and caused to be ascertained how
+many hundred hides were in the shire, or what land the king himself had,
+and cattle within the land, or what dues he ought to have in twelve
+months from the shire. Also he caused to be written how much land his
+archbishops had, and his suffragan bishops, and abbots, and earls; and
+though I may narrate somewhat prolixly, what or how much each man had
+who was a holder of land in England, in land, or in cattle, and how much
+money it might be worth. So very narrowly he caused it to be traced out,
+that there was not one single hide, nor one yard of land, nor even, it
+is shame to tell, though it seemed to him no shame to do, an ox, nor a
+cow, nor a swine was left that was not set down in his writ. And all the
+writings were brought to him afterwards."
+
+The commissioners appointed by the king, among whom were Remigius,
+Bishop of Lincoln, and Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, were to
+inquire the following details concerning each parish:--
+
+Its name. Who held it in the time of King Edward the Confessor. The
+present possessor. Number of hides in the manor, number of ploughs, of
+homagers, villeins, cottars, free tenants, tenants in socage; how much
+wood, meadow, and pasture; number of mills and fishponds; the value in
+the time of the last king; and its present value.
+
+Such a survey was of immense value. Its object, according to the king,
+was that every man might know and be satisfied with his rightful
+possessions, and not with impunity usurp the property of others. But it
+was also of great service to the king, so that he might know who were
+his vassals, the amount of taxation which he could draw from them, and
+the actual strength of his new kingdom.
+
+The commissioners performed their work with much care and exactness. The
+survey is wonderfully complete, and was compiled in a very short time.
+It is of great value to the historians of subsequent ages. The writing
+of the book is very clear and beautiful, the abbreviations alone
+presenting some difficulty to an unaccustomed reader. No illuminations
+adorn the text. At the head of each page the name of the county is
+written in red ink. The book is preserved in an ancient chest in the
+Public Record Office, where it was removed from the Chapter House at
+Westminster.
+
+As an example we may take the _Domesday_ description of the parish of
+Barkham, which runs as follows:--
+
+"IN CERLEDONE HD.
+
+"Rex ten in dnio Bercheha. AElmer Tenuit de rege. E. Te 7 m  iii hid.
+Tra e iii car. In dnio e una, 7 vi uilli 7 iiii bord cu iii car. Ibi
+v. ac pti. Silua de XL pore. Valuit iiii lib. T.R.E. 7 m: iii. lib."
+
+TRANSLATION.
+
+"In the hundred of Charlton.
+
+"The king holds Barkham in demesne. AElmer held it of King Edward. Then,
+as now, it was rated for three hides. The land is three ploughlands. In
+demesne there is one ploughland. There are six villeins, four borderers
+with three ploughs. There are five acres of pasture. Wood for the
+pasturage of forty hogs. It was worth 4l. in the time of King Edward,
+afterwards, and now, 3l."
+
+King Edward here mentioned was Edward the Confessor. A hide, when it is
+used as a measure of land, may be taken at about one hundred and twenty
+acres. A ploughland was as much land as one plough with oxen could
+plough in a year. The villeins were men who tilled their lord's land,
+and in return for certain services had holdings under him. The borderers
+were cottagers who also worked for their lord and held smaller holdings,
+from one to ten acres. In other entries we find the number of serfs
+recorded, and also mention of the hall of the lord of the manor, where
+the manorial courts were held, the church, the priest's house, the names
+of landowners and tenants, the mill, and of the various officers and
+artisans who made up the village community.
+
+_Domesday_ tells us of the old Saxon families, many of whom lost their
+estates when the Conqueror came, and were supplanted by the favourites
+of the new king. Some of them contrived to weather the storm and retain
+their lands. Almer, or Almar, the lord of Barkham, who succeeded his
+brother Stigand as Bishop of Elmham in 1047, when the latter became
+archbishop, was among the number of the dispossessed, and probably found
+shelter with many of his compatriots in the cloister. Several of
+William's Norman adventurers married the heiresses of the old Saxon
+gentry, and thus became possessed of great estates. Thus Robert D'Oili
+married the daughter of Wigod, lord of Wallingford, and soon gained
+possession of his father-in-law's property.
+
+However, the names of the fortunate Saxons who retained their estates
+are few in comparison with those who were dispossessed. We find Edgar
+Atheling, real heir to the throne, retaining a small estate; but he was
+a feeble prince, and therefore not to be feared by William. His sister
+Cristina had also land in Oxfordshire. Bishop Osbern, of Exeter, a
+kinsman of the late king, also held his estates; and amongst the list we
+find Seward the huntsman, of Oxfordshire; Theodric the goldsmith; Wlwi
+the huntsman, of Surrey; Uluric the huntsman, of Hampshire, who were not
+deprived of their lands, their occupations being useful to the king.
+
+The list of despoiled landowners is a long one, and need not here be
+recorded. One Brictric was very unfortunate. When ambassador to Baldwin
+of Flanders he refused to marry the count's daughter Maud. The slighted
+lady became the Conqueror's consort, and in revenge for her despised
+love caused Brictric to be imprisoned and his estates confiscated, some
+of which were given to the queen. The luckless relations and connections
+of the late royal house were consistently despoiled, amongst them
+Editha, the beautiful queen of King Edward, and daughter of Earl Godwin,
+of whom it was written: "_Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwynus Editham_";
+and Gida, the mother of Harold; Godric, his son; and Gwith, his brother.
+Harold himself--the earl, as he is called, and not the king, who fought
+and died at Senlac, if he did not, as the romance states, end his life
+as a holy hermit at Chester--had vast estates all over England, which
+went to enrich William's hungry followers. Hereward the Wake, the
+English hero, also held in pre-Norman days many fat manors. Few of the
+Saxon landowners were spared, and it is unnecessary here to record the
+names of the Uchtreds, Turgots, Turchils, Siwards, Leurics, who held
+lands "in the time of King Edward," but whose place after Domesday knows
+them no more.
+
+_Domesday_ tells us also the names of the officers and artisans who
+played important parts in the old village communities. The _villani_, or
+villeins, corresponding to the Saxon _ceorls_, were the most important
+class of tenants in villeinage, and each held about thirty acres in
+scattered acre or half-acre strips, each a furlong in length and a perch
+or two in breadth, separated by turf balks. The villein thus supported
+himself and his family, and in return was bound to render certain
+services to the lord of the manor, to work on the home farm, and provide
+two or more oxen for the manorial plough-team. He was not a free tenant,
+could acquire no property, and his lord's consent was needed for the
+marriage of his daughters. But the law protected him from unjust usage;
+his holdings were usually regranted to his son. He could obtain freedom
+in several ways, and by degrees acquired the rights and privileges of a
+free tenant.
+
+Next to the villeins were the _bordarii_, who lived in _bords_ or
+cottages, _i.e._ boarded or wooden huts, and ranked as a lower grade of
+villeins. They held about five acres, but provided no oxen for the
+manorial plough-team. Below them were the _cottarii_, or cottiers, who
+were bound to do domestic work and supply the lord's table. They
+corresponded to the modern labourer, but lacked his freedom. The lowest
+class of all were the _servi_, or serfs, who corresponded to the Saxon
+_theows_. In Norman times their condition was greatly improved; they
+mingled with the cottiers and household servants, and gradually were
+merged with them.
+
+The _sochemanni_, or socmen, our yeomen, who abounded chiefly in the
+Danish district of England, were inferior landowners who had special
+privileges, and could not be turned out of their holdings, though they
+rendered certain services to the lord of the manor, and in this respect
+differed little from the villeins. _Domesday Book_ also mentions a class
+of men called _burs_ or _geburs_, who were the same as _coliberti_; also
+the _commendati_, who received privileges in return for services
+rendered to the lord of the manor.
+
+Each village community was self-contained, and had its own officers.
+Although _Domesday Book_ was not compiled in order to ascertain the
+condition of the Church and its ministers, and frequently the mention of
+a parish church is omitted where we know one existed, the _presbyter_,
+or priest, is often recorded. Archbishop Egbert's _Excerptiones_
+ordained that "to every church shall be allotted one complete holding
+(mansa), and that this shall be free from all but ecclesiastical
+services." According to the Saxon laws every tenth strip of land was
+set aside for the Church, and _Domesday_ shows that in many villages
+there was a priest with his portion of land set apart for his support.
+
+Then there was a _prepositus_, bailiff or reeve, who collected the lord's
+rents, assisted by a _bedellus_, beadle or under-bailiff. _Bovarii_, or
+oxherds, looked after the plough-teams. The _carpentarius_, or carpenter;
+the _cementarius_, or bricklayer; the _custos apium_, or beekeeper; the
+_faber_, or smith; the _molinarius_, or miller--were all important
+officers in the Norman village; and we have mention also of the
+_piscatores_ (fishermen), _pistores_ (bakers), _porcarii_ (swineherds),
+_viccarii_ (cowmen), who were all employed in the work of the village
+community.
+
+_Domesday Book_ enables us to form a fairly complete picture of our
+villages in Norman and late Saxon times. It tells us of the various
+classes who peopled the village and farmed its fields. It gives us a
+complete list of the old Saxon gentry and of the Norman nobles and
+adventurers who seized the fair acres of the despoiled Englishmen. Many
+of them gave their names to their new possessions. The Mandevilles
+settled at Stoke, and called it Stoke-Mandeville; the Vernons at
+Minshall, and called it Minshall-Vernon. Hurst-Pierpont, Neville-Holt,
+Kingston-Lysle, Hampstead-Norris, and many other names of places
+compounded of Saxon and Norman words, record the names of William's
+followers, who received the reward of their services at the expense of
+the former Saxon owners. _Domesday Book_ tells us how land was measured
+in those days, the various tenures and services rendered by the tenants,
+the condition of the towns, the numerous foreign monasteries which
+thrived on our English lands, and throws much light on the manners and
+customs of the people of this country at the time of its compilation.
+_Domesday Book_ is a perfect storehouse of knowledge for the historian,
+and requires a lifetime to be spent for its full investigation.
+
+[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A MANOR]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+NORMAN CASTLES
+
+Castle-building--Description of Norman castle--A Norman household--
+Edwardian castles--Border castles--Chepstow--Grosmont--Raglan--Central
+feature of feudalism--Fourteenth-century castle--Homes of chivalry--
+Schools of arms--The making of a knight--Tournaments--Jousts--Tilting
+at a ring--Pageants--"Apollo and Daphne"--Pageants at Sudeley Castle
+and Kenilworth--Destruction of castles--Castles during Civil War period.
+
+
+Many an English village can boast of the possession of the ruins of an
+ancient castle, a gaunt rectangular or circular keep or donjon, looking
+very stern and threatening even in decay, and mightily convincing of the
+power of its first occupants. The new masters did not feel very safe in
+the midst of a discontented and enraged people; so they built these huge
+fortresses with strong walls and gates and moats. Indeed before the
+Conquest the Norman knights, to whom the weak King Edward the Confessor
+granted many an English estate, brought with them the fashion of
+building castles, and many a strong square tower began to crown the
+fortified mounds. Thence they could oppress the people in many ways, and
+the writers of the time always speak of the building of castles with a
+kind of shudder. After the Conquest, especially during the regency of
+William's two lieutenants, Bishop Odo and Earl William Fitz-osbern, the
+Norman adventurers who were rewarded for their services by the gift of
+many an English manor, built castles everywhere. The wretched men of
+the land were cruelly oppressed by forced labour in erecting these
+strongholds, which were filled "with devils and evil men." Over a
+thousand castles were built in nineteen years, and in his own castle
+each earl or lord reigned as a small king, coining his own money, making
+his own laws, having power of life and death over his dependants, and
+often using his power most violently and oppressively.
+
+[Illustration: OLD SARUM]
+
+The original Norman castle consisted of a keep, "four-square to every
+wind that blew," standing in a bailey court. It was a mighty place with
+walls of great thickness about one hundred and fifty feet high. It
+contained several rooms, one above the other. A deep well supplied the
+inhabitants with water. Spiral stone steps laid in the thickness of the
+wall led to the first floor where the soldiers of the garrison resided.
+Above this was the hall, with a chimney and fireplace, where the lord
+of the castle and his guests had their meals, and in the thickness of
+the wall there were numerous chambers used as sleeping-apartments and
+garderobes, and the existence of a piscina in one of these shows that it
+was a small chapel or oratory. The upper story was divided by wooden
+partitions into small sleeping-rooms; and unlike our modern houses, the
+kitchen was at the top of the keep, and opened on the roof.
+
+Descending some stone steps which led from the ground floor in ancient
+time we should visit the dungeons, dark, gloomy, and dreadful places,
+where deep silence reigns, only broken by the groans of despairing
+captives in the miserable cells. In one of these toads and adders were
+the companions of the captive. Another poor wretch reposed on a bed of
+sharp flints, while the torture-chamber echoed with the cries of the
+victims of mediaeval cruelty, who were hanged by their feet and smoked
+with foul smoke, or hung up by their thumbs, while burning rings were
+placed on their feet. In Peak Castle, Derbyshire, a poor, simple squire,
+one Godfrey Rowland, was confined for six days without either food or
+drink, and then released from the dungeon with his right hand cut off.
+In order to extract a heavy ransom, to obtain lands and estates, to
+learn the secrets of hidden treasure, the most ingenious and devilish
+tortures were inflicted in these terrible abodes.
+
+[Illustration: A NORMAN CASTLE
+(1) The dungeon.
+(2) Chapel.
+(3) Stable.
+(4) Inner bailey.
+(5) Outer bailey.
+(6) Barbican.
+(7) Mount.
+(8) Soldiers' lodgings.]
+
+The same style of castle-building continued for a century and a half
+after the Norman Conquest. It is possible to distinguish the later keeps
+by the improved and fine-jointed ashlar stonework, by the more frequent
+use of the stone of the district, instead of that brought from Caen, by
+the ribs upon the groins of the vaulting of the galleries and chambers
+in the walls, and by the more extensive use of ornaments in the bosses,
+windows, doors, and fireplaces. The style of the decoration approaches
+the Early English character.
+
+The walls of the keep were not the only protection of the fortress. A
+moat surrounds the whole castle, crossed by a drawbridge, protected
+on the side remote from the castle by a barbican. High walls with an
+embattled parapet surround the lower court, or ballium, which we enter
+by a gate defended by strong towers. A portcullis has to be raised, and
+a heavy door thrown back, before we can enter; while above in the stone
+roof of the archway there are holes through which melted lead and pitch
+can be poured upon our heads, if we attempt to enter the castle as
+assailants. In the lower court are the stables, and the mound where the
+lord dispenses justice, and where criminals and traitors are executed.
+Another strong gateway flanked by towers protects the inner court, on
+the edge of which stands the keep which frowns down upon us as we enter.
+
+An immense household was supported in every castle. Not only were there
+men-at-arms, but also cooks and bakers, brewers and tailors, carpenters,
+smiths, masons, and all kinds of craftsmen; and all the crowd of workers
+had to be provided with accommodation by the lord of the castle. Hence
+a building, in the form of a large hall, was erected sometimes of stone,
+usually of wood, in the lower or upper court for these soldiers and
+artisans, where they slept and had their meals.
+
+A new type of castle was introduced during the reigns of the three
+Edwards. The stern, massive, and high-towering keep was abandoned, and
+the fortifications arranged in a concentric fashion. A fine hall with
+kitchens occupied the centre of the fortress; a large number of chambers
+was added, and the inner and outer courts both defended by walls, as we
+have already described, were introduced. The Edwardian castles of
+Caernarvon and Beaumaris belong to this type of fortress.
+
+[Illustration: BROUGHTON CASTLE]
+
+The border counties of Wales are remarkable for the number and beauty
+of their ancient castles. On the site of British earthworks the Romans
+established their camps. The Saxons were obliged to erect their rude
+earthen strongholds in order to keep back the rebellious Welsh, and
+these were succeeded by Norman keeps. Monmouthshire is famous for its
+castles; out of the eleven hundred erected in Norman times twenty-five
+were built in that county. There is Chepstow Castle, with its early
+Norman gateway spanned by a circular arch flanked by round towers. In
+the inner court there are the gardens and ruins of a grand hall, and in
+the outer the ruins of a chapel with evidences of beautifully groined
+vaulting, and also a winding staircase leading to the battlements. In
+the dungeon of the old keep at the south-east corner of the inner court
+Roger de Britolio, Earl of Hereford, was imprisoned for rebellion
+against the Conqueror, and in later times Henry Martin, the regicide,
+lingered as a prisoner for thirty years, employing his enforced leisure
+in writing a book in order to prove that it is not right for a man to be
+governed by one wife. Then there is Grosmont Castle, the fortified
+residence of the Earl of Lancaster; Skenfrith Castle; White Castle, the
+_Album Castrum_ of the Latin records, the Landreilo of the Welsh, with
+its six towers, portcullis, and drawbridge flanked by massive tower,
+barbican, and other outworks; and Raglan Castle, with its splendid
+gateway, its Elizabethan banqueting-hall ornamented with rich stone
+tracery, its bowling-green, garden terraces, and spacious courts, an
+ideal place for knightly tournaments in ancient days. Raglan is
+associated with the gallant defence of the castle by the Marquis of
+Worcester in the Civil War.
+
+The ancient castles of England were the central feature of feudal
+society. They were the outward and visible sign of that system. M.
+Guizot in his _History of Civilisation_ says, "It was feudalism which
+constructed them; their elevation was, so to speak, the declaration of
+its triumph." On the Continent they were very numerous long before
+castle-building became the fashion in England, and every suzerain saw
+with displeasure his vassal constructing his castle; for the vassal thus
+insured for himself a powerful means of independence. The Norman barons
+in the troublous times of Stephen lived a life of hunting and pillage;
+they were forced to have a fortified retreat where they might shut
+themselves up after an expedition, repel the vengeance of their foes,
+and resist the authorities who attempted to maintain order in the
+country.
+
+Others followed the example of the barons. The townsfolk fortified their
+towns, monks their monasteries; and even within the town-walls many
+houses had their towers and gates and barriers in order to keep back
+troublesome visitors.
+
+Here is a description of a French castle in the fourteenth century:--
+
+"First imagine to yourself a superb position, a steep mountain,
+bristling with rocks, furrowed with ravines and precipices; upon the
+declivity is the castle. The small houses which surround it set off its
+grandeur; the river seems to turn aside with respect; it forms a large
+semicircle at its feet. This castle must be seen when, at sunrise, the
+outward galleries glimmer with the armour of the sentinels, and the
+towers are shown all brilliant with their large new gratings. Those high
+buildings must be seen, which fill those who defend them with courage,
+and with fear those who should be tempted to attack them.
+
+"The door presents itself covered with heads of boars or wolves, flanked
+with turrets and crowned with a high guard-house. Enter, there are three
+inclosures, three moats, three drawbridges to pass. You find yourself in
+a large square court, where are cisterns, and on the right and left the
+stables, hen-houses, pigeon-houses, coach-houses; the cellars, vaults,
+and prisons are below; above are the dwelling-apartments; above these
+are the magazines, larders, or salting-rooms, and arsenals. All the
+roofs are bordered with machicolations, parapets, guard-walks, and
+sentry-boxes. In the middle of the court is the donjon, which contains
+the archives and the treasure. It is deeply moated all round, and can
+only be entered by a bridge, almost always raised. Although the walls,
+like those of the castle, are six feet thick, it is surrounded up to
+half its height with a chemise, or second wall, of large cut stones.
+This castle has just been rebuilt. There is something light, fresh,
+laughing about it, not possessed by the heavy massive castles of the
+last century."
+
+One would scarcely expect to hear a castle described as "light, fresh,
+laughing"; yet so a fourteenth-century castle seemed to eyes accustomed
+to the gloomy, stern, and massive structures of the eleventh and twelfth
+centuries. In these no beauty or display of art was attempted. Defence
+and safety were the only objects sought after in the construction of our
+ancient strongholds.
+
+Strange as it may seem, these castles were the birthplaces and homes of
+chivalry. Women were raised to an exalted position, and honoured and
+reverenced by knights and warriors. A prize won in a tournament was
+esteemed of vastly greater value, if it were bestowed upon the
+successful combatant by some lady's hand. "Queens of Beauty" presided at
+these contests of knightly skill and daring. The statutes and ordinances
+for jousts and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, at
+the command of Edward IV., conclude thus: "Reserving always to the
+queenes highness and the ladyes there present, the attributing and gift
+of the prize after the manner and forme accustomed." If a knight was
+guilty of any impropriety of conduct, he was soundly beaten by the other
+knights, in order to teach him to respect the honour of the ladies and
+the rights of chivalry.
+
+In the days of chivalry a knight vowed in somewhat extravagant language
+eternal love to his particular lady fair, wore her glove or her guerdon
+on his helmet, and swore to protect it with his life. Family ties and
+domestic joys were cultivated. The wife of a knight was often herself a
+warrior. Fair ladies have donned armour and followed their lords to the
+Crusades; and often during her lord's absence at the wars in France, or
+Scotland, or the Holy Land, the wife would defend his fief and castle,
+and sometimes was called upon to withstand a siege, when some
+neighbouring lord coveted the fair estates of the absent warrior, and
+sought to obtain them by force of arms.
+
+The castles also were schools, not of learning, but of arms and
+chivalry, where the sons of vassals were trained in all the qualites
+that become a knight. The sons of vassals were sent to the castle of the
+suzerain to be brought up with his sons. Numerous reasons have been
+assigned for the origin of this custom, which we need not now enumerate.
+The practice, however, became general, and concerning it an ancient work
+entitled _L'ordre de la Chevalerie_ records:--
+
+"It is fitting that the son of the knight, while he is a squire, should
+know how to take care of a horse; and it is fitting that he should serve
+before and be subject to his lord; for otherwise he will not know the
+nobleness of his lordship when he shall be a knight; and to this end
+every knight shall put his son in the service of another knight, to the
+end that he may learn to carve at table and to serve, and to arm and
+apparel a knight in his youth. According as to the man who desires to
+learn to be a tailor or a carpenter, it is desirable that he should have
+for a master one who is a tailor or a carpenter; it is suitable that
+every nobleman who loves the order of chivalry, and wishes to become and
+be a good knight, should first have a knight for a master."
+
+When the young squire attained the age of manhood he was admitted to the
+honour of knighthood, which was bestowed upon him with much ceremony and
+dignity. First he was divested of his garments and put in a bath, a
+symbol of purification; then they clothed him in a white tunic, a symbol
+of purity, in a red robe, a symbol of the blood which he was bound to
+shed in the service of the faith; and then in a close black coat, a
+reminder of the death which awaited him. Then he was obliged to observe
+a fast for twenty-four hours, and in the evening entered the church and
+there passed the night in prayer. On the morrow after confession and the
+receiving of Holy Communion, he heard a sermon upon the duties of
+knighthood, and then advancing to the altar presented his sword to the
+priest, who blessed it. Kneeling before his lord he was asked, "With
+what design do you desire to enter into the order? If it is in order to
+become rich, to repose yourself, and to be honoured without doing honour
+to chivalry, you are unworthy of it, and would be to the order of
+chivalry what the simoniacal priest is to the prelacy."
+
+His answers being satisfactory, knights, or ladies, advance and clothe
+him with the equipments of his order, spurs, the hauberk or coat of
+mail, the cuirass, the vambraces and gauntlets, and lastly his sword.
+Then his lord gives him three blows of a sword on his shoulder, saying,
+"In the name of God, of Saint Michael, and Saint George I dub thee
+knight," adding, "Be brave, adventurous, and loyal." He then mounts his
+horse, caracoles about, brandishing his lance, and afterwards in the
+courtyard he repeats the performances before the people ever eager to
+take part in the spectacle.
+
+[Illustration: TOURNAMENT]
+
+The young knight was now able to take part in the jousts, and all kinds
+of chivalric displays, which were common and frequent. Many castles
+have, like that at Carisbrooke, a tilting-ground within the walls; but
+great and important tournaments were held outside the castle. Richard I.
+appointed five special places for the holding of tournaments, namely
+between Sarum and Wilton, between Stamford and Wallingford, between
+Warwick and Kenilworth, between Brakely and Mixeberg, and between Blie
+and Tykehill. There was much pomp and ceremony attached to these
+knightly exercises. The lists, as the barriers were called which
+inclosed the scene of combat, were superbly decorated, and surrounded by
+pavilions belonging to the champions, ornamented with their arms and
+banners. The seats reserved for the noble ladies and gentlemen who came
+to see the fight were hung with tapestry embroidered with gold and
+silver. Everyone was dressed in the most sumptuous manner; the minstrels
+and heralds were clothed in the costliest garments; the knights who were
+engaged in the sports and their horses were most gorgeously arrayed. The
+whole scene was one of great splendour and magnificence, and, when the
+fight began, the shouts of the heralds who directed the tournament, the
+clashing of arms, the clang of trumpets, the charging of the combatants,
+and the shouts of the spectators, must have produced a wonderfully
+impressive and exciting effect upon all who witnessed the strange
+spectacle.
+
+The regulations and laws of the tournament were very minute. When many
+preliminary arrangements had been made with regard to the examination of
+arms and helmets and the exhibition of banners, etc., at ten o'clock on
+the morning of the appointed day, the champions and their adherents were
+required to be in their places. Two cords divided the combatants, who
+were armed with a pointless sword and a truncheon hanging from their
+saddles. When the word was given by the lord of the tournament, the
+cords were removed, and the champions charged and fought until the
+heralds sounded the signal to retire. It was considered the greatest
+disgrace to be unhorsed. A French earl once tried to unhorse our King
+Edward I., when he was returning from Palestine, wearied by the journey.
+The earl threw away his sword, cast his arms around the king's neck, and
+tried to pull him from his horse. But Edward put spurs to his horse and
+drew the earl from the saddle, and then shaking him violently, threw him
+to the ground.
+
+The joust (or just) differed from the tournament, because in the former
+only lances were used, and only two knights could fight at once. It was
+not considered quite so important as the grand feat of arms which I have
+just described, but was often practised when the more serious encounter
+had finished. Lances, or spears without heads of iron, were commonly
+used, and the object of the sport was to ride hard against one's
+adversary and strike him with the spear upon the front of the helmet, so
+as to beat him backwards from his horse, or break the spear. This kind
+of sport was of course rather dangerous, and men sometimes lost their
+lives at these encounters. In order to lessen the risk and danger of the
+two horses running into each other when the knights charged, a boarded
+railing was erected in the midst of the lists, about four or five feet
+high. The combatants rode on separate sides of this barrier, and
+therefore they could not encounter each other except with their lances.
+Sometimes two knights would fight in mortal combat. If one knight
+accused the other of crime or dishonour, the latter might challenge him
+to fight with swords or lances; and, according to the superstition of
+the times, the victor was considered to be the one who spoke the truth.
+But this ordeal combat was far removed from the domain of sport.
+
+When jousts and tournaments were abandoned, tilting on horseback at a
+ring became a favourite courtly amusement. A ring was suspended on a
+level with the eye of the rider; and the sport consisted in riding
+towards the ring, and sending the point of a lance through it, and so
+bearing it away. Great skill was required to accomplish this surely and
+gracefully. Ascham, a writer in the sixteenth century, tells us what
+accomplishments were required from the complete English gentleman of the
+period:--
+
+"To ride comely, to run fair at the tilt or ring, to play at all
+weapons, to shoot fair in bow, or surely in gun; to vault lustily, to
+run, to leap, to wrestle, to swim, to dance comely, to sing, and play of
+instruments cunningly; to hawk, to hunt, to play at tennis, and all
+pastimes generally which be joined to labour, containing either some fit
+exercises for war, or some pleasant pastime for peace--these be not only
+comely and decent, but also very necessary for a courtly gentleman to
+use."
+
+In the days of pageants and royal progresses these old castles were the
+scenes of very lively exhibitions of rustic histrionic talent. The
+stories of Greek and Roman mythology were ransacked to provide scenes
+and subjects for the rural pageant. Shepherds and shepherdesses, gods
+and goddesses, clowns and mummers, all took part in the rural drama
+which kings and queens delighted to honour. When Queen Elizabeth visited
+the ancient and historic castle of Sudeley, great preparations were made
+for the event, and a fine classical pageant was performed in her
+presence, a sketch of which may not be without interest.
+
+The play is founded on the old classical story of Apollo and Daphne. The
+sun-god Apollo was charmed by the beauty of the fair Daphne, the
+daughter of a river-god, and pursued her with base intent. Just as she
+was about to be overtaken, she prayed for aid, and was immediately
+changed into a laurel tree, which became the favourite tree of the
+disappointed lover. The pageant founded on this old classical legend
+commenced with a man who acted the part of Apollo, chasing a woman who
+represented Daphne, followed by a young shepherd bewailing his hard
+fate. He, too, loved the fair and beautiful Daphne, but Apollo wooed her
+with fair words, and threatened him with diverse penalties, saying he
+would change him into a wolf, or a cockatrice, or blind his eyes. The
+shepherd in a long speech tells how Daphne was changed into a tree, and
+then Apollo is seen at the foot of a laurel tree weeping, accompanied by
+two minstrels. The repentant god repeats the verse:--
+
+  "Sing you, play you; but sing and play my truth;
+  This tree my lute, these sighs my note of ruth:
+  The laurel leaf for ever shall be green,
+  And chastity shall be Apollo's queen.
+  If gods may die, here shall my tomb be placed,
+  And this engraven, 'Fond Phoebus, Daphne chaste.'"
+
+A song follows, and then, wonderful to relate, the tree opens, and
+Daphne comes forth. Apollo resigns her to the humble shepherd, and then
+she runs to Her Majesty the Queen, and with a great deal of flattery
+wishes her a long and prosperous reign.
+
+Such was the simple play which delighted the minds of our forefathers,
+and helped to raise them from sordid cares and the dull monotony of
+continual toil. In our popular amusements the village folk do not take
+part, except as spectators, and therefore lose half the pleasure;
+whereas in the time of the Virgin Queen the rehearsals, the learning the
+speeches by heart, the dresses, the excitement, all contributed to give
+them fresh ideas and new thoughts. The acting may not have been very
+good; indeed Queen Elizabeth did not always think very highly of the
+performances of her subjects at Coventry, and was heard to exclaim,
+"What fools ye Coventry folk are!" But I think Her Majesty must have
+been pleased at the concluding address of the players at Sudeley. After
+the shepherds had acted a piece in which the election of the King and
+Queen of the Bean formed a part, they knelt before the real queen, and
+said--
+
+"Pardon, dread Sovereign, poor shepherds' pastimes, and bold shepherds'
+presumptions. We call ourselves kings and queens to make mirth; but when
+we see a king or queen we stand amazed. At chess there are kings and
+queens, and they of wood. Shepherds are no more, nor no less, wooden.
+In theatres workmen have played emperors; yet the next day forgotten
+neither their duties nor occupation. For our boldness in borrowing their
+names, and in not seeing Your Majesty for our blindness, we offer these
+shepherds' weeds; which, if Your Majesty vouchsafe at any time to wear,
+it shall bring to our hearts comfort, and happiness to our labours."
+
+When the queen visited Kenilworth Castle, splendid pageants were
+performed in her honour. As she entered the castle the gigantic porter
+recited verses to greet Her Majesty, gods and goddesses offered gifts
+and compliments on bended knee, and the Lady of the Lake, surrounded
+by Tritons and Nereids, came on a floating island to do homage to the
+peerless Elizabeth and to welcome her to all the sport the castle could
+afford. For an account of the strange conduct of Orion and his dolphin
+upon this occasion, we refer our readers to Sir Walter Scott's
+_Kenilworth_; and the lover of pageants will find much to interest him
+in Gascoigne's _Princely Progress_.
+
+The glories of our ancient castles have passed away; some indeed are
+preserved, and serve as museums, or barracks, or the country house of
+some noble lord; but most of them are in ruins. All traces of many a
+Norman castle have completely vanished. There was once a castle at
+Reading, but the only relics of it are the names Castle Hill and Castle
+Street. The turbulent barons made such terrible use of their fortresses
+during the troublous times of the civil war in Stephen's reign that in
+the more settled reign of Henry II. they were deprived of this means of
+oppression and their castles destroyed wholesale. The civil war in the
+reign of Charles I. was also another great cause of the destruction of
+these old fortresses. They were of great service during the progress of
+the war to those who were fortunate enough to possess them, and many of
+them in spite of Cromwell's cannon were most gallantly held and stoutly
+defended. Donnington Castle, Berkshire, was bravely held in spite of a
+prolonged siege during all the time that the war lasted by gallant
+Colonel Boys, who beat off the flower of the Parliamentary army; and
+when in obedience to the King's command he yielded up the castle, he and
+his brave garrison marched out with all the honours of war, having
+earned the respect of both friend and foe. Many other castles could tell
+the story of similar sieges in the days when "the gallants of England
+were up for the King."
+
+But these brave sieges were the cause of their destruction. Cromwell
+when in power recognised their strength; they were too dangerous, these
+castles, and must be destroyed. His cannon-balls had rattled against
+their stone walls without much effect during the war; but their fate was
+sealed with that of their King, and the gunpowder of Cromwell's soldiers
+was soon employed in blowing up the walls that resisted him so long, and
+left them battered and smoking ruins.
+
+Since then the ivy has grown over them to hide their nakedness. Forlorn
+and lonely the ruined castle stands. Where once loud clarion rang, the
+night owls hoot; vulgar crowds picnic where once knights fought in all
+the pride and pomp of chivalry. Kine feed in the grass-grown bailey
+court; its glory is departed. We need no castles now to protect us from
+the foes of our own nation. Civil wars have passed away, we trust, for
+ever; and we hope no foreign foeman's foot may ever tread our shores.
+But if an enemy threatened to attack England her sons would fight as
+valiantly as in the brave days of old, though earthen ramparts have
+replaced the ancient castles and iron ships the old wooden walls of
+England.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MONASTERIES
+
+Beautiful surroundings--Benefits conferred by monasteries--Charity--
+Learning--Libraries--Monks not unhappy--Netley--Cluny--Alcuin--
+Monastic friendships--St. Bernard--Anselm--Monks shed happiness
+around them--Desecration--Corruption of monasteries--Chaucer's
+prior--Orders of monks--Plan of a monastery--_Piers Ploughman's_
+description of a monastery--A day in a monastery--Regulations as
+regards blood-letting--The infirmary--Food--Hospitium--Chapter-house.
+
+
+In the neighbourhood of many of our villages stand the ruins of an old
+monastery. Who were the builders of these grand and stately edifices?
+What kind of men lived within those walls? What life did they lead? We
+will try to picture to ourselves the condition of these noble abbeys, as
+they were in the days of their glory, before the ruthless hands of
+spoilers and destroyers robbed them of their magnificence.
+
+It has often been remarked that the monks knew well how to choose the
+most beautiful spots for their monastic houses, establishing them by the
+banks of some charming river, surrounded by beautiful scenery and
+fertile fields.
+
+They loved the beauties of nature, and had a keen sense for discovering
+them. They had a delicate and profound appreciation of the delights of
+the country, and loved to describe the beauties that surrounded their
+habitations. Nature in its loveliness and wild picturesqueness was a
+reflection of God's beauty, a temple of His light and goodness. Moreover
+they built their monasteries amidst forests and wild scenery, far from
+the haunts of men, seeking solitude, wherein they could renew their
+souls by the sweetness of a life of contemplation, and consecrate their
+energies to the service of God. In the days of war and bloodshed, of
+oppression and lawlessness, holy men found it very difficult to be "in
+the world and yet not of it." Within the monastic walls they found
+peace, seclusion, solitude; they prayed, they worked, they wrote and
+studied. They were never idle. To worship, to labour, to fight as the
+_milites Christi_ with weapons that were not carnal, these were some of
+the duties of the monks.
+
+The world owes much to these dwellers in monasteries. They rescued the
+people from barbarism, and uplifted the standard of the cross. They
+emerged from their cells to direct councils, to preach and teach at the
+universities, to build churches and cathedrals, and astonish the world
+by their skill and learning. Who can tell what services they rendered to
+their nation and to all mankind by pouring forth that ceaseless stream
+of intercession day and night for the averting of the judgments of
+divine wrath which the crimes and follies of men so richly deserved?
+"What the sword is to the huntsman, prayer is to the monk," says St.
+Chrysostom; and well did they use this weapon for the spiritual and
+material benefit of all.
+
+Another great benefit they conferred upon the world was that of charity.
+They were the true nurses of the poor. There were no poor laws, and
+union workhouses, and hospitals. The monks managed to supply all the
+wants of all who suffered from poverty, privation, and sickness. "The
+friendship of the poor constitutes us the friends of kings," says St.
+Bernard; "but the love of poverty makes kings of us." They welcomed in
+their ranks poor men, who were esteemed as highly as those of noble
+birth on entering the cloister. All men were equal who wore the monk's
+robe.
+
+Amongst other services the monks rendered was the cultivation of
+learning and knowledge. With wonderful assiduity they poured forth
+works of erudition, of history, of criticism, recorded the annals of
+their own times, and stored these priceless records in their libraries,
+which have done such good service to the historians of modern times. The
+monasteries absorbed nearly all the social and intellectual movement of
+the thirteenth century. Men fired with poetical imagination frequently
+betook themselves to the cloister, and consecrated their lives to the
+ornamentation of a single sacred book destined for the monastery which
+gave them in exchange all the necessaries of life. Thus the libraries of
+the monastic houses were rich in treasures of beautifully illuminated
+manuscripts, which were bound by members of the community. The Abbot of
+Spanheim in the fifteenth century gives the following directions to his
+monks:--
+
+"Let that one fasten the leaves together, and bind the book with boards.
+You, prepare those boards; you, dress the leather; you, the metal
+plates, which are to adorn the binding."
+
+[Illustration: NETLEY ABBEY, SOUTH TRANSEPT]
+
+Terrible is it to think of the dreadful destruction of these libraries
+at the time of the spoliation of monasteries and of the priceless
+treasures which they contained.
+
+We are apt to suppose that the lives of the monks were gloomy, hard,
+severe, and that few rays of the sunshine of happiness could have
+penetrated the stern walls of the cloister. But this does not appear to
+have been the case. The very names of monasteries show that they
+rejoiced in their solitude and labour. Netley Abbey was called the
+Joyous Place, _loeto loco_; and on the Continent there are many names
+which bear witness to the happiness that reigned in the cloister.
+Moreover the writings of the monks proclaim the same truth. Cluny is
+called by Peter Damien his _hortus deliciarum_ (garden of delights), and
+it is recorded that when Peter de Blois left the Abbey of Croyland to
+return to France he stopped seven times to look back and contemplate
+again the place where he had been so happy. Hear how Alcuin laments on
+leaving the cloister for the Court of Charlemagne:--
+
+"O my cell! sweet and well-beloved home, adieu for ever! I shall see no
+more the woods which surround thee with their interlacing branches and
+aromatic herbs, nor thy streams of fish, nor thy orchards, nor thy
+gardens where the lily mingles with the rose. I shall hear no more those
+birds who, like ourselves, sing matins and celebrate their Creator, in
+their fashion--nor those instructions of sweet and holy wisdom which
+sound in the same breath as the praises of the Most High, from lips and
+hearts always peaceful. Dear cell! I shall weep thee and regret thee
+always."
+
+The life was very peaceful, entirely free from care, and moreover
+lighted by the whole-hearted friendships which existed between the
+brethren. A chapter might be written on the love of the cloister, which
+like that of David for Jonathan, was "wonderful, passing the love of
+women." Thus St. Bernard burst out in bitter grief at the loss of a
+brother monk:--
+
+"Flow, flow, my tears, so eager to flow! he who prevented your flowing
+is here no more! It is not he who is dead, it is I who now live only to
+die. Why, oh, why have we loved, and why have we lost each other?"
+
+The letters of Anselm to Lanfranc and Gondulph, his dearest friends,
+abound in expressions of the most affectionate regard and deep true
+friendship. He writes:--
+
+"How can I forget thee? Can a man forget one who is placed like a seal
+upon his heart? In thy silence I know that thou lovest me; and thou
+also, when I say nothing, thou knowest that I love thee. What can my
+letter tell thee that thou knowest not already, thou who art my second
+soul?"
+
+The monks' lot was not sad and melancholy. They loved God and His
+service, and rejoicing in their mutual regard and affection were happy
+in their love and work. Orderic Vitalis writes, "I have borne for
+forty-two years with happiness the sweet yoke of the Lord." Moreover
+they shed happiness on those who dwelt around them, on the crowds of
+masons and carpenters, traders and workmen, who dwelt under the shadow
+of the monastery or farmed the fields of the monastic estates. No
+institution was ever more popular; no masters more beloved. They took a
+hearty interest in the welfare of all their tenants, and showed an
+active sympathy for all. The extent of their charity was enormous. In a
+French abbey, when food was scarce, they fed 1,500 to 2,000 poor in the
+course of the year, gave monthly pensions to all the families who were
+unable to work, entertained 4,000 guests, and maintained eighty monks--a
+wonderful record truly.
+
+The influence of the monastery was felt in all the surrounding
+neighbourhood--the daily services, the solemn and majestic chants, the
+processions, must have created a deep impression on the minds of people.
+Many of the great writers and thinkers of subsequent ages have
+appreciated the wonderful labours of the monks. Dr. Johnson wrote:--
+
+"I never read of a hermit, but in imagination I kiss his feet; never of
+a monastery, but I fall on my knees and kiss the pavement."
+
+And now these noble buildings, hallowed by a thousand memories, exist
+only as dishonoured ruins. Some have been pulled down entirely, and the
+site used for gaols or barracks. Convicts labour where once monks
+prayed. The renowned abbey of Cluny is a racing stable, and Le Bec, the
+home of Anselm, has suffered a like profanation. Factories have invaded
+some of these consecrated sites. Many have been used as quarries for
+generations. All the carved and wrought stone has been cut off, and used
+for making bridges and roads and private houses. Nature has covered the
+remains with clinging ivy, and creeping plants, and wild flowers, and
+legends cluster round the old stones and tell the story of their
+greatness and their ruin. The country folk of western Ireland show the
+marks on the stones furrowed by the burning tears of the monks when they
+were driven out of their holy home. I am describing the condition of the
+monasteries in the days of their glory, when the spirit of the religious
+orders was bright and pure and enthusiastic. It cannot be denied that
+often the immense wealth which kings and nobles poured into the treasury
+of the monks begat luxury and idleness. Boccaccio in Italy, and even
+Dante, and our own Chaucer, write vigorously against the corruption of
+the monks, their luxury, love of sport, and neglect of their duty. Thus
+Chaucer wrote of a fourteenth-century prior:--
+
+  "Therefore he was a prickasoure a right:
+  Greihounds he hadde as swift as foul of flight:
+  Of pricking and of hunting for the hare
+  Was all his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.
+  I saw his sleves purfiled at the hond
+  With gris, and that the finest in the loud.
+  And for to fasten his hood under his chinne,
+  He hadde of gold ywrought a curious pinne:
+  A love-knotte in the greter end ther was.
+  His head was balled, and shone as any glas,
+  And eke his face, as it had been anoint.
+  He was a lord full fat and in good point
+  His eye stepe, and rolling in his bed,
+  That stemed as a forneis of led.
+  His botes souple, his hors in gret estat,
+  Now certainly he was a fayre prelat.
+  He was not pale as a forpined gost.
+  A fat swan loved he best of any rost.
+  His palfrey was as broune as is a bery."
+
+Many were the efforts to reform the abuses which crept into the monastic
+houses. Holy men grieved over the scandals of the times in which they
+lived. Many monasteries remained until the end homes of zeal and
+religion, and the unscrupulous tools of Henry VIII. could find naught
+to report against them. The only charge they could fabricate against
+one monastery was "that the monks would do evil, if they could."
+
+The foundation of the various orders of monks shows the efforts which
+were from time to time made by earnest men to revive the zeal and
+religious enthusiasm characteristic of the early dwellers in
+monasteries. The followers of St. Benedict and St. Columba were the
+first monks of the western Church who converted the peoples of England,
+Germany, Belgium, and Scandinavia. The Benedictines had many houses in
+England in Saxon times. In the tenth and eleventh centuries flourished
+a branch of the Benedictines, the order of Cluny, who worked a great
+religious revival, which was continued in the twelfth by the order of
+the Cistercians, founded at Citeaux in Burgundy. Some of our most
+beautiful English abbeys--Fountains, Kirkstall, Rievaulx, Tintern,
+Furness, and Byland--all belonged to this order. In the thirteenth and
+fourteenth centuries the new orders of preaching friars founded by St.
+Francis and St. Dominic arose, and exercised an immense influence in
+the world. They did not shut themselves up in the cloister, but went
+everywhere, preaching in the market-places, and tending the sick, the
+lepers, and the outcasts. At first they were immensely popular, but
+the orders degenerated like their predecessors, and long before the
+Reformation laid themselves open to the derision and the scoffs of the
+more enlightened men of the age. Since the days of the Friars there
+has been no building of monasteries in England. Wealth, luxury, and
+corruption had destroyed the early piety of the monks, and rich men
+preferred to give their wealth for the purpose of founding colleges
+and hospitals, rather than in increasing the number of religious houses.
+
+[Illustration: A MONK TRANSCRIBING]
+
+We will now visit these monasteries, and try to picture them as they
+stood in the days of their glory, and see the daily life which the monks
+led. The rules of the orders differed somewhat, some being stricter than
+others; and likewise the arrangements of the buildings were not all
+based upon one plan. The Carthusian monasteries differ widely from those
+of the other orders, owing to the rule that each monk should have his
+separate cell, wherein he lived and had his food, and only met his
+brethren in church and in the chapter-house. We will examine the usual
+plan of a monastery, the main buildings of which clustered round the
+cloister-court. This was called the paradise, around which was a covered
+ambulatory. Here the monks read and wrote, and sometimes had little
+spaces partitioned off for studies, with bookstands and cupboards. It
+was the great centre of the monastic life. The earlier ambulatories were
+open, but in the fourteenth century they had windows looking on to the
+cloister-court, filled with stained glass. The monks must have found the
+open cloister a somewhat chilly place for writing, and although their
+fingers were endured to hardness, had sometimes to abandon their tasks.
+Orderic Vitalis tells us that his fingers were so numbed by the cold in
+a hard winter that he was obliged to leave his writing until a more
+congenial season.
+
+On the north of the cloister-court stood the monastic church, the
+grandest and noblest of the monastic buildings, adorned with shrines,
+and tombs, and altars. Several of our cathedrals were monastic churches,
+and afford us some idea of the splendour and magnificence of these
+stately buildings. Many other churches built by the monks, quite as
+large and noble as any of our cathedrals, are now in ruins, with only a
+wall or a buttress remaining to mark the site of the once noble minster.
+The church was usually cruciform, with nave and aisles. East of the
+high altar in the choir stood the lady-chapel, and round the choir a
+retro-choir, or presbytery. There was a door on the south side of the
+church, opposite the eastern ambulatory, for the entrance of the monks.
+The south transept formed part of the eastern side of the cloister. On
+the same side stood the chapter-house, a large chamber richly ornamented
+with much architectural detail, and adorned with mural paintings.
+Between the chapter-house and the church there is a narrow room, which
+was the sacristy, and on the south of the chapter-house a building in
+two stories, the ground floor being the frater-house, where the monks
+retired after meals to converse, the upper room being the dortor, or
+dormitory, where they slept. A passage often separated the chapter-house
+from this building.
+
+On the south side of the cloister-court stood the refectory, a long
+room in which the monks took their meals; and on the west was a range
+of buildings the use of which differed in various monasteries, in some
+for cellars and larders, in others for dormitories. Sometimes this
+western building was the _domus conversorum_, or house of the lay
+brethren. The abbot's lodging was a fine house, consisting of hall,
+chambers, kitchen, buttery, and cellars, capable of entertaining a
+large number of guests, and frequently stood on the east side of the
+chapter-house quite separate from the other buildings. In small monastic
+houses governed by a prior his residence often formed the western side
+of the cloister-court. The farmery, or infirmary, where sick monks were
+nursed during illness, was a separate building, having its own kitchen,
+refectory, and chapel. The hospitium was also a separate building near
+the outer gate of the abbey, and consisted of a hall, dormitories, and a
+chapel, in which each night a goodly company of guests were entertained
+and courteously welcomed by the hospitaller. A high wall surrounded the
+abbey precincts, in which was the outer gate, consisting of a porter's
+lodge, a prison, and a large room in which the manorial court was held,
+or the abbot met the representatives of the townsfolk in order to direct
+their affairs and choose their chief magistrate or settle their
+differences.
+
+The author of _Piers Ploughman_ gives a description of the appearance of
+a monastery in the fourteenth century. As he approached the monastic
+buildings he was so bewildered by their greatness and beauty that for a
+long time he could distinguish nothing certainly but stately buildings
+of stone, pillars carved and painted, and great windows well wrought. In
+the centre quadrangle he notices the stone cross in the middle of grass
+sward. He enters the minster, and describes the arches as carved and
+gilded, the wide windows full of shields of arms and merchants' marks on
+stained glass, the high tombs under canopies, with armed effigies in
+alabaster, and lovely ladies lying by their sides in many gay garments.
+He passes into the cloister, and sees it pillared and painted, and
+covered with lead, and conduits of white metal pouring water into bronze
+lavatories beautifully wrought. The chapter-house was like a great
+church, carved and painted like a parliament-house. Then he went into
+the refectory, and found it a hall fit for a knight and his household,
+with broad tables and clean benches, and windows wrought as in a church.
+And then he wandered and wondered at "the halls full high and houses
+full noble, chambers with chimneys and chapels gay," and kitchens fit
+for a king in his castle, and their dorter or dormitory with doors full
+strong, their fermerye (infirmary) and frater, and many more houses, and
+strong stone walls, enough to harbour the queen. The author was
+evidently amazed at all the sights which he witnessed in the monastery.
+
+We will now see the monks at work, and spend a day with them in their
+monastic home. It is not easy definitely to map out a monk's day. The
+difficulty arises in a measure from the want of distinct marks of time.
+A monastic day was divided into twelve hours of uncertain length,
+varying according to the season; but the religious observances began at
+midnight, when the brethren rose at the sound of a bell in the dortor
+for the continuous service of Mattins and Lauds. They then retired to
+sleep, until the bell again summoned them at sunrise, when Prime was
+said, followed by the morning Mass, private masses and confessions, and
+the meeting of the Chapter; after this, work; then Tierce; then High
+Mass, followed by Sext. A short time was then devoted to reading, during
+which the _ministri_ and the reader at table dined; and then the monks
+sat down to dinner. This was the first food of the day, though the
+weaker brethren were allowed to sustain themselves with wine and water,
+or bread steeped in wine. Dinner was followed by a brief rest in the
+dormitory. If the monks did not wish to sleep they could read in the
+dorter; but they were to be careful not to disturb their resting
+brethren by any noise, such as that caused by turning over the leaves of
+their books. At one o'clock the bell rang for None, a short service
+consisting of a hymn, two psalms, some collects, the Lord's Prayer, and
+versicles. Then the brethren washed themselves, had a stoup of wine in
+the frater, and worked until Evensong, which was followed by supper.
+After supper they read in the cloister until the bell rang for
+Collation, which consisted of a reading in the chapter-house, whence
+they retired to the fratery for a draught of wine or beer. Then followed
+Compline, and then the monks were ready for bed, and retired to the
+dortor. Even there rules followed them, and directed them how they were
+to take off their shoes, and "to behave with more quiet, self-restraint,
+and devotion than elsewhere."
+
+I have not exhausted all the services which the monks attended. In
+addition to the principal ones there were several minor functions, at
+which devotion to the Blessed Virgin was the chief feature. The life was
+hard and the discipline severe; and lest the animal spirits of the monks
+should rise too high, the course of discipline was supplemented by
+periodical blood-letting. The doctors of the day were firm believers in
+the utility of this practice, and perhaps it had special advantages for
+dwellers in monasteries. According to the mediaeval metrical treatise on
+medicine, _Flos Medicinae_, or _Regimen Sanitatis Salerni_--
+
+  "Spiritus uberior exit per phlebotomaniam."
+
+  "It maketh cleane your braine, releeves your eie,
+  It mends your appetite, restoreth sleep,
+  Correcting humours that do waking keep;
+  And inward parts and sences also clearing
+  It mends the voyce, touch, smell, taste, hearing."
+
+According to the _Observances_ of the Augustinian Priory at Barnwell,
+Cambridge, each brother was compelled to be bled seven times a year. It
+was probably a welcome duty, as the monks enjoyed a regular holiday, and
+were solaced with unwonted good fare.
+
+Those who wished to be bled asked leave in Chapter, and having received
+a formal licence, attended High Mass. After the gospel they left the
+quire, and were bled in the farmery, where they remained three days.
+During this period they were excused attendance at the daily services,
+except on very special occasions; and minute directions are given for
+their personal comfort. They were allowed fire and lights, with suitable
+food, eggs and vegetables being specially mentioned; and they might take
+exercise within the precincts, and even beyond them, should the prelate
+give them leave. The infirmary seems to have been the most cheerful
+place in the monastery. Its inmates were "to lead a life of joy and
+freedom from care, in comfort and happiness." Conversation was freely
+permitted, though sarcastic and abusive language was strictly forbidden.
+"Games of dice and chess, and other games unsuitable to those who lead a
+religious life, were forbidden"; "because beyond all doubt they are
+offensive to God, and frequently give occasion to strife and contention
+among those who play them." We notice that invalids were allowed to walk
+in the "vineyards"; evidently the monks grew their own grapes, and made
+their own wine. The infirmary must have been well frequented. The
+complaints which are often specially mentioned as likely to compel the
+monks to resort to it are "irksomeness of life in the cloister," "long
+continuance of silence," "fatigue in the quire or extension of fasting,"
+and "sleeplessness and overwork."
+
+With regard to blood-letting the various orders had different customs.
+The Benedictines and Cluniacs had no stated times or seasons for the
+operation. The Cistercians prescribe bleeding four times in the year.
+The Carthusians were bled five times, and the Dominicans four times in
+the year.
+
+The food of the monastery was varied and plentiful. Fish and flesh were
+brought to the table, the former being obtained from the monastic
+stew-ponds. Fruit was supplied, both raw and cooked, and a good supply
+of beer and wine. Wine seems to have been very commonly used, and some
+relaxation was evidently permitted in the matter of drink.
+
+The hospitium, or guest-house, is worthy of a visit. Thither flocked a
+mixed crowd of knights and dames, monks and clerks, palmers, friars,
+traders with their wares, minstrels with their songs, and beggars,
+enjoying to the full the hospitality of the monks, who recognised it as
+one of their duties "to entertain strangers." The religious houses were,
+to a great extent, the inns of the Middle Ages; and when they were
+situated on the high roads, the guests were numerous and their
+entertainment costly. We are reminded, however, by the _Observances_ of
+Barnwell Priory that "by showing hospitality to guests the reputation of
+the monastery is increased, friendships are multiplied, animosities are
+blunted, God is honoured, charity is increased, and a plenteous reward
+in heaven is promised." It was enjoined that the hosteller, or brother
+in charge of the hospitium, should have "facility of expression, elegant
+manners, and a respectable bringing up; and if he have no substance to
+bestow he may at any rate exhibit a cheerful countenance and agreeable
+conversation, for friends are multiplied by agreeable words." He had to
+provide clean cloths and towels, cups without flaws, spoons of silver,
+mattresses, blankets and untorn sheets, pillows, quilts, etc. His duties
+are laid down with much minuteness; every morning he was required to go
+through the inventory, lest anything should be missing.
+
+The meeting in the chapter-house we must not omit to describe. When all
+the brethren had taken their seats, one monk went to the pulpit and read
+aloud the martyrology for the day. Then some psalms and collects were
+read, and a portion of the monastic rule, and briefs announcing the
+deaths of persons in whom the brethren were interested. The _tabula_, or
+notice-board, recording the names of those who were responsible for
+certain duties, was read; and a sermon followed. After the precentor had
+given minute instructions with regard to the reading and singing of the
+services for the day, the abbot said: "Speak of your own order." This
+was the call to confession; and any brother who was conscious that he
+had transgressed any rule, or neglected his duty, came forward and asked
+pardon for his fault. This was followed by the report of the _circator_,
+whose duty was to play the spy, and discover the faults of the monks.
+And after this the brethren accused each other. One brother started up
+saying: "I accuse ---- a brother." The accused came forward and stood
+before the abbot, waiting patiently for the charge. The accuser then
+stated the charge, which was admitted, or denied, by the accused. If the
+abbot judged him to be flogged, the culprit might not be flogged by his
+accuser. He rose from his knees and modestly divested himself of his
+garments, remaining covered from his girdle downwards; and he who
+flogged him might not cease till the abbot bade him. Then he helped the
+brother to put on his clothes, who bowed to the abbot and went back to
+his place. The Chapter, after this exciting interlude, proceeded to
+transact the temporal business of the house, and then adjourned.
+
+The chapter-house was often the scene of great events in the history of
+England. At Reading Abbey in this noble chamber parliaments were held.
+Here Heraclius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, presented to Henry II. the
+keys of the Holy Sepulchre, and invoked his aid in the crusade against
+the Saracens. Here the bishops assembled and excommunicated Longchamp,
+Chancellor and Regent of the country. Here the marriage contract between
+John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster was signed, when there were great
+rejoicings in the ancient town, and tilts and tournaments took place
+daily. These gay scenes must have greatly disturbed the tranquil life of
+the monks, and contrasted strangely with their normal condition.
+
+The picture of monastic life, which a study of the records of a
+monastery brings before us, is strange and alien to our present ideas;
+but it is brightened by a spirit of sincere religion and true charity,
+and helps us to understand the attraction of the convent walls in
+turbulent and troublous times.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE MANOR-HOUSE
+
+Evolution of a country house--Saxon house--Addition of separate
+sleeping-chambers--Castles--Tudor houses--Old manor-houses--Secret
+chambers--Rectories and vicarages--Duty of hospitality--Kelvedon
+Rectory--Allington--Tithe-barns--Alfriston clergy-house--Almshouses--
+Hermitages--Little Budworth--Knaresborough--Reclusorium or anchor-hold--
+Laindon--Rattenden--Female recluses--Whalley.
+
+
+The two principal houses in an English village are the manor-house and
+the rectory, wherein according to the theories of the modern political
+Socialist and agitator "the two arch-tyrants" of the labourers dwell,
+the squire and the parson. There is much of interest in the growth and
+evolution of the country house, which resulted in the construction of
+these old, pleasant, half-timbered granges and manor-houses, which form
+such beautiful features of our English villages.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTHCOTE MANOR SHOWING MOAT AND PIGEON-HOUSE]
+
+[Illustration: OCKWELLS MANOR-HOUSE]
+
+In our description of the village in Anglo-Saxon times we gave a picture
+of a house of a Saxon gentleman, which consisted mainly of one large
+hall, wherein the members of the household lived and slept and had their
+meals. There was a chapel, and a kitchen, and a ladies' bower, usually
+separated from the great hall, and generally built of wood. In Norman
+times the same plan and arrangements of a country house continued. The
+fire still burnt in the centre of the hall, the smoke finding its way
+out through a louvre in the roof. Meals were still served on tables laid
+on trestles, which were removed when the meal was finished. The lord and
+lady, their family and guests, dined at the high table placed on the
+dais, as in a college hall, the floor of which was boarded. The
+household and retainers dined in the space below, which was strewn with
+rushes and called "the marsh," which, according to Turner's _History of
+Domestic Architecture_, "was doubtless dirty and damp enough to deserve
+that name." The timbers of the roof in the better houses were moulded,
+the walls hung with tapestry, and at the lower end of the hall was a
+screen, above which in later times was the minstrels' gallery. The
+screen formed a passage which led into a separate building at right
+angles to the hall, containing the cellar, buttery, and kitchen.
+Parallel with this at the upper end of the hall was a building of two
+stories, one used as a parlour, and the other was called the "great
+chamber," where the lady and her guests retired after dining in the
+hall.
+
+[Illustration: RICHMOND PALACE]
+
+Later on a greater refinement of domestic customs was introduced. In the
+twelfth century a separate sleeping-chamber for the lord was added. The
+next century saw him and his lady dining in a room apart from his
+servants, a custom which was much satirised by the author of _Piers
+Ploughman_, who wrote--
+
+  "Now hath each rich a rule
+  To eaten by themselve,
+  In a privy parlour
+  For poor man sake,
+  Or in a chamber with a chimney;
+  And leave the chief hall,
+  That was made for meals
+  Men to eaten in."
+
+Evidently the author did not approve of the new fashion. But the
+advantages of the custom were much appreciated by the squires and ladies
+of the day, and this process of development led to a multiplication of
+rooms, and the diminution of the size of the great hall. The walls were
+raised, and an upper room was formed under the roof for sleeping
+accommodation. There are many old farmhouses throughout the country,
+once manor-houses, which retain in spite of subsequent alterations the
+distinguishing features of this mediaeval style of architecture.
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY AND STAIRCASE, UFTON COURT]
+
+The nobles built their castles as late as the fourteenth century; but
+under the Tudor monarchs, when the government of the country was strong
+and more settled, fortified dwellings were deemed no longer necessary,
+and the great landowners built splendid country houses. English domestic
+architecture then reached the period of its highest perfection. Instead
+of castles men built palaces, the noblest specimens of our English
+style, before it became corrupted. Hatfield House and Hampton Court are
+its best examples.
+
+During the fifteenth century the common hall had decreased in
+importance; and now in smaller houses it disappeared altogether, and a
+grand entrance hall usually took its place. The number of rooms was
+increased enormously, and corridors were introduced. The principal
+features of an Elizabethan house are the gallery and noble staircase.
+
+[Illustration: THE PORCH, UFTON COURT]
+
+Early in the seventeenth century Inigo Jones introduced the revived
+classic style of architecture into England, and entirely altered the
+appearance and arrangement of our manor-houses. Palladio was the
+originator of this style. The old English model was declared obsolete,
+and fashion dictated that Italian villas must supersede the old houses.
+These new buildings were very grand with their porticos and colonnades;
+but the architects cared little for comfort and convenience. Indeed a
+witty nobleman suggested to the owner of one of these new houses that
+he had better hire a lodging over the way and look at it.
+
+[Illustration: OLD MANOR HOUSE, UPTON COURT]
+
+The old manor-houses are often surrounded by a moat, and not unfrequently
+contain secret rooms and underground passages, which were often used as
+places of refuge in troublous times. Those held by recusants usually had
+two or three hiding-places ingeniously contrived, which must have baffled
+all pursuers, and were needed for the concealment of the Roman Catholic
+priest, in the days when his services were proscribed. There are two
+cleverly designed hiding-places at Ufton Court, Berkshire, which was held
+by the Roman Catholic family of Perkins. In a subterranean vault under an
+old house at Hurley, in which the bones of monks were discovered, the
+supporters of William of Orange used to meet to plan his succession to
+the English Crown. The walls of many of the manor-houses and halls in
+Lancashire and Yorkshire could tell of many a plot for the restoration
+of the Stuarts to the throne, and of many a deep health drunk to "Bonnie
+Charlie," while the chorus rang--
+
+  "He's over the seas and far awa',
+  He's over the seas and far awa',
+  But of no man we'll stand in awe,
+  But drink his health that's far awa'."
+
+The rectories and vicarages scattered over the country have passed
+through the same transformation as the manor-houses, which they much
+resembled. The rectory was often surrounded by a moat, with an entrance
+protected by a gatehouse. The duty of entertaining strangers and
+travellers was always duly recognised by the clergy, and entailed a
+heavy charge upon their income. Those who lived off the main roads used
+to provide accommodation for an occasional guest, but the rectors in the
+more frequented districts had frequently to entertain many travellers.
+There _is_ a description of the rectory-house of Kelvedon, Essex, in a
+deed dated 1356, which runs as follows:--
+
+"One hall situate in the manor of the said abbot and convent
+[Westminster] near the said church, with a soler and chamber at one end
+of the hall, and with a buttery and cellar at the other. Also one other
+house in three parts, namely a kitchen with a convenient chamber in the
+end of the said house _for guests_, and a bakehouse. Also one other
+house in two parts next the gate at the entrance of the manor for a
+stable and cow-house. He [the vicar] shall also have a convenient
+grange, to be built within a year at the expense of the prior and
+convent. He shall also have the curtilage with the garden adjoining the
+hall on the north side enclosed as it is with hedges and ditches."
+
+[Illustration: WINDOW OF SOUTH WING, UFTON COURT]
+
+Here the house for guests is an important feature of the clergyman's
+house; and about the same date, in 1352, we find the Bishop of
+Winchester ordering the prior and convent of Merton to provide "a
+competent manse for the vicar, viz. a hall with two rooms, one at one
+end of the hall, and the other at the other end, with a drain to each,
+and a suitable kitchen with fireplace and oven, and a _stable for six
+horses_, all covered with tiles, and completed within one year, such
+place to remain to the use of the said vicar and his successors." Unless
+the vicar was a very sporting parson he would not require a stable for
+six horses, and this was doubtless intended for the accommodation of the
+steeds of his guests.
+
+The descriptions of these old rectory-houses are interesting. The Rector
+of Allington, Kent, possessed a house consisting of "a hall, parlour,
+and chamber over the parlour, stairs-head, beside the parson's
+bedchamber, parson's lodging-chamber, study, chamber behind the chimney,
+chamber next adjoining westward, buttery, priest's chamber, servants'
+chamber, kitchen, mill-house, boulting-house, larder, entries, women's
+chamber; gatehouse, still beside the gate, barn next the gate; cartlage,
+barn next the church, garden-house, court." The barn next the church was
+probably the tithe-barn. Tithe was then paid in kind; hence a barn was
+required to contain the dues of the parishioners. Sometimes these
+tithe-barns are very large and long, especially when the tithe-owner was
+the abbot of some monastery. Near Reading there is still standing the
+barn of the abbey, and at Cholsey, in Berkshire, there is one of the
+finest specimens of the kind in England.
+
+[Illustration: STONE TITHE BARN, BRADFORD-ON-AVON]
+
+There still remain several of these old pre-Reformation parsonages and
+rectories. The most noted is the clergy-house at Alfriston, Sussex,
+which has been carefully preserved. It follows the usual type of
+fourteenth-century house, and consists of a fine hall, the lower part
+divided off by a screen, a soler of two stories at one end, and a
+kitchen at the other. It is built of oak framework, filled in with
+"wattle and daub." There is a large chimney and grate in the hall, and
+huge beams support the thatched roof. Parsonages of mediaeval times
+remain at West Dean, Sussex; at King's Stanley and Notgrove,
+Gloucestershire; Wonstone, Hants; Helmsley, Yorkshire; and at several
+other places. The Rectory of Shellingford, Berks, though much disguised
+by modern additions, is an original fourteenth-century house.
+
+In many villages there are old almshouses founded by pious benefactors
+for "poor brethren and sisters." As we enter the quiet courtyard paved
+with cobble stones, the spirit of olden days comes over us. The chapel
+where daily prayer is said morning and evening; the panelled
+dining-hall, with its dark oaken table; the comfortable rooms of the
+brethren; the time-worn pump in the courtyard--all recall the memory of
+old times, when life was more tranquil, and there was less hurry and
+busy bustling.
+
+Sometimes we meet with a curious little house built of stone or timber,
+erected along the great highways, near some bridge or ford, wherein a
+"holy hermit" once dwelt, and served his generation by directing
+travellers to the nearest monastery or rectory, and spent his days in
+seclusion and prayer. Such indeed is the traditional idea of the
+hermit's life; but the real hermit of the Middle Ages did not always
+live a very lonely or ascetic life. He was supported by the alms of the
+charitable and did no work, but lived an idle life, endured no
+hardships, and escaped not the scoffs of the satirical. _Piers
+Ploughman_ tells us of workmen--"webbers and tailors, and carters'
+knaves, and clerks without grace, who liked not long labour and light
+wages; and seeing that lazy fellows in friars' clothing had fat cheeks,
+forsook their toil and turned hermits. They lived in boroughs among
+brewers and begged in churches." They had a good house, with sometimes a
+chaplain to say daily Mass for them, a servant or two to wait on them,
+and plenty of food and drink provided by a regular endowment or the
+donations of the charitable. They did not shut themselves up in their
+cells and hold no intercourse with their fellow-men; and herein they
+differed from the recluses who were not supposed to go outside the doors
+of their anchorages. Both males and females were enrolled as recluses,
+but only the latter seem to have taken upon themselves the vows of
+complete seclusion.
+
+Several of these hermitages remain. There is one at Little Budworth, in
+Cheshire, in the park of Sir Philip Egerton. Warkworth has a famous one,
+consisting of a chapel hewn out of the rock, with an entrance porch, and
+a long, narrow room with a small altar at the east end, wherein the
+hermit lived. At Knaresborough, Yorkshire, there is a good example of a
+hermitage, hewn out of the rock, consisting of a chapel, called St.
+Robert's Chapel, with groined roof, which was used as the living-room of
+the hermit. This chapel was the scene of Eugene Aram's murder. At
+Wetheral, near Carlisle; Lenton, near Nottingham; on the banks of the
+Severn, near Bewdley, Worcestershire, there are anchorages, and also at
+Brandon, Downham, and Stow Bardolph, in Norfolk. Spenser in the _Faery
+Queen_ gives the following description of a hermit's cell:--
+
+  "A little lowly hermitage it was,
+  Down by a dale, hard by a forest's side,
+  Far from resort of people that did pass
+  In traveill to and froe; a little wyde
+  There was an holy Chappell edifyde,
+  Wherein the hermite dewly wont to say
+  His holy things, each morne and eventyde;
+  Hereby a chrystall streame did gently play,
+  Which from a sacred fountaine welled forth alway."
+
+Within the churchyard of many a town or village church, and usually
+attached to the church, stood a reclusorium, or anchor-hold, wherein a
+recluse, male or female, once resided. At Laindon Church, Essex, there
+is a fine specimen of a house of this kind attached to the west end.
+Generally the anchor-hold was a small room, built of wood, connected
+with the church. Frequently there is a room over the porch of a church
+which may have been used for this purpose, the recluse living usually in
+the church. At Rettenden, Essex, there is a room over the vestry which
+has evidently been an anchor-hold. There was a window, now blocked up,
+through which the recluse could see the high altar, and the celebration
+of the holy mysteries, and another for him to look out, hold converse
+with his friends, and receive their alms. The church of St. Patricio,
+near Crickhowel, South Wales, has an anchor-hold; also Clifton Campville
+Church, Staffordshire; Chipping Norton Church, Oxfordshire; Warmington
+Church, Warwickshire; and many churches have rooms over the porch which
+were formerly used by recluses. The church itself was frequently the
+habitation of the anchorite. There is a notice of a hermit who lived in
+St. Cuthbert's Church, Thetford, and performed divine service therein.
+
+Of female recluses we gather many details in the _Ancren Riewle_ of
+Bishop Poore of Salisbury, who left very minute directions for the
+regulation of their austere and solitary lives. The little cell had an
+altar where the anchoress frequently prayed, and through a window saw
+the elevation of the Host in the daily Mass. The walls were covered
+with mural paintings. There was a table, a fire, and a cat lying before
+it. An unglazed window with a shutter was covered by a black curtain,
+through which she could converse with anyone outside without being seen.
+She was not allowed to put her head out of the open window. "A peering
+anchoress, who is always thrusting her head outward, is like an untamed
+bird in a cage," says the good bishop. The long hours of solitude were
+spent in devotion, working embroidery, reading her few books, talking to
+her servant or to those who desired to speak with her through the
+curtained window.
+
+The poor caged birds must often have wished to break the bars of their
+cage, and occasionally they escaped from their solitary confinement. In
+the churchyard of Whalley, Lancashire, there are two cottages which
+stand upon the site of a reclusorium, founded by Henry, Duke of
+Lancaster, in 1349. Here in the reign of Henry VI. lived one Isole de
+Heton, who wearied of her lot, and left the anchor-hold, an example
+which was followed by several of her successors. A scandal having
+arisen, the hermitage was dissolved.
+
+Many a sad story of ruined hopes and broken hearts could these walls
+tell, which were the living tombs of many a devout or erring sister,
+who, wounded in the world's war, sought the calm seclusion of a cell,
+and found there the peace which elsewhere they had failed to find.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+PARISH CHURCHES
+
+The Porch--Font--Stone benches--Pews--Pulpits--Rood-lofts--Destruction
+of--Screens--Royal arms--Chancel--Stalls--_Misereres_--Lectern--High
+altar and its furniture--Piscina--Credence--Aumbry--Sedilia--Easter
+sepulchre--Reredos--Shrines--Numerous altars--Chantry chapels--
+Hagioscopes--Images--Low side windows--Vestries--Vestments--Churches
+in olden times--Reading pews--Galleries--Destruction and profanation--
+Evils of "restoration."
+
+
+In the centre of our village stands the church, always the most
+important and interesting building in the place. We will suppose that
+it has not suffered overmuch at the hands of the "restorers" of the
+nineteenth, or the Puritans of the seventeenth, or the spoliators of
+an earlier century, so that we may observe all those details which
+characterise an ancient church. In spite of all the vandalism which has
+taken place, in spite of the changes in ceremonial and forms of worship,
+our beautiful old churches still retain relics of the past which time
+has spared.
+
+We will enter the church and notice first the porch, often a large
+structure with a chamber above. Why was it made so large? According to
+the Sarum use several services took place in the porch. Parts of the
+baptismal service and of the marriage service and the churching of women
+were there performed; hence the porch was an important building, and
+it was necessary to make it rather large. Above the door there is
+frequently a niche for the image of the patron saint of the church,
+which has not usually escaped the destructive hand of the Puritan. The
+room over the porch was frequently inhabited by a recluse, as I have
+already recorded in the previous chapter. Near the door always stands
+the font, signifying that baptism is the entrance to the Church of
+Christ. Ancient fonts are large enough to allow the infant to be totally
+immersed, and are made of stone or lead. Childrey Church, in our county
+of Berks, has a fine cylindrical, leaden font, of Norman date, carved
+with figures of bishops. Norman fonts are frequently carved, the
+favourite subjects being the Baptism of our Lord, the Twelve Apostles,
+and the evangelistic symbols. Early English and Decorated fonts are not
+usually carved, but in the Perpendicular style they are rich with
+ornamentation, the Seven Sacraments being a not uncommon design. We have
+sometimes noticed the symbols of Freemasonry carved on fonts, as at
+Bray, in Berkshire. To the same period belong the splendid spire-shaped
+font-covers, of immense weight, of which I am sometimes a little
+fearful, lest the mechanism by which they are raised should become
+damaged, and terrible disaster follow during the progress of a baptismal
+service. At Sonning, Berks, there is a small stone desk attached to a
+pillar for the service-book to rest on.
+
+The nave of the church is now filled with seats for the use of the
+congregation. In early times they do not seem to have been considered
+necessary, and until the fourteenth century the stone benches ranged
+against the walls were the only seats provided. Even as late as the
+fourteenth century it does not appear that many churches had pews, but
+in the fifteenth they became general. The hideous monstrosities of
+post-Reformation times did not then disfigure our churches. The pews
+were low open seats made of oak, sometimes carved at the back, and
+panelled, with the ends higher than the rest, and often richly carved.
+Many rich men left money in their wills for the _puying_ of churches.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT PEW-WORK, TYSOE CHURCH, WARWICKSHIRE]
+
+It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that the
+fashion of erecting high pews set in, which so disfigured our churches,
+and were frequently censured by the authorities. Some of these (as at
+Whalley) resemble four-posted beds; others are like cattle-pens, large
+square boxes with seats all round, wherein the occupants sit and sleep,
+screened from the rest of the congregation. The carving of the woodwork
+of these erections is often very elaborate. Modern pews are happily
+based upon the more primitive fashion.
+
+Preaching not being considered such an important part of the service in
+pre-Reformation times, pulpits in churches of that period were not so
+usual as in modern churches. Monastic refectories had pulpits, which the
+reader occupied when he read to his brethren during meals. Beaulieu
+Abbey has the most ancient pulpit in this country, which evidently
+belongs to the thirteenth century.
+
+The churches of Devonshire and Norfolk have wooden pulpits of the
+fifteenth century, which were painted and gilded, the figures of the
+four doctors of the church--SS. Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, and
+Jerome--being the favourite subjects. In 1603 the churchwardens were
+ordered to provide in every church "a comely and decent pulpit." Hence
+most of our pulpits date from this period. The sides were panelled and
+carved with scrollwork; and at the same time a sounding-board was
+introduced. Occasionally the hour-glass which regulated the length of
+the preacher's discourse remains, with its beautiful scroll-worked
+stand.
+
+The most striking feature of the pre-Reformation Church was the
+rood-loft, a narrow long gallery above the beautifully decorated screen,
+which separated the chancel from the nave. In this loft was erected the
+rood, or figure of our blessed Lord on the cross, together with figures
+of the Virgin and St. John on each side. Both the screen and the loft
+were richly panelled and ornamented with tracery and carvings, and
+before them hung one or more lamps. Sometimes tall candlesticks stood on
+pillars on each side of the figures. A staircase of stone, constructed
+in the wall near the chancel-arch, led to the rood-loft, and the
+blocked-up archway of this rood-stair frequently remains. The priest
+stood in the rood-loft to read the gospel and epistle, and sometimes
+preached there; official notices were read, and from it the bishop used
+to give the Benediction. The rood-cloth, or veil, hid the rood during
+Lent, and in some churches we have seen the roller which was used to
+raise this veil. A special altar, called the rood-altar, used to stand
+under the screen.
+
+[Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH SCREEN, THURCASTON, LEICESTERSHIRE]
+
+The Reformers played havoc with these old rood-lofts and screens, which
+were regarded as monuments of idolatry and superstition. The
+churchwardens' account-books of many churches bear witness to this
+destruction. Those of St. Giles', Reading, tell of certain _items_ "for
+pulling down the rood and carting away the rubbish." Instead of the
+figure of our Lord they put up the royal arms; and one John Serjente, of
+Hytchen, is licensed in 1614--
+
+"to paynte in all the Churches and Chappells, within this Realme of
+England, the Kinges Majesties armes in due forme with helme creste
+mantell and supporters as they oughte to be--and to wright in fayre text
+letters the tenn commandments, the beliefe, and the Lord's prayer, with
+some other fruitefull and profitable sentences of holye scripture."
+
+In spite of this destruction of the ancient roods, several lofts still
+remain, _e.g._ at Bradninch, Cullompton, Dartmouth, Hartland, Kenton,
+Ugborough, and Plymtree, in Devonshire; in several places in
+Somersetshire, and at Charlton-on-Otmoor (erected in 1485) and
+Handborough, Oxfordshire. A very large number of the old screens remain,
+ornamented with the arms of Elizabeth or James I.
+
+Proceeding eastward we enter the chancel, so called because it is
+inclosed with _cancelli_, or the lattice-work of the screen. If the
+church was formerly connected with some monastery we shall see some
+beautifully carved wooden stalls with rich canopies over them. The seats
+are curiously constructed. They can be turned up, and beneath the seats
+is a projecting bracket of wood, commonly adorned with carved
+work--animals, birds, leaves, and flowers, and often with grotesque,
+satirical, and irreverent devices. They are called miserere-stalls, and
+were used by the monks or canons to lean against during the portions of
+the long mediaeval services, when they were not allowed to be seated. As
+this practice was a concession to human weakness or infirmity, the seats
+were called in France _misericordes_, and in England _misereres_. The
+subjects of the sculptures are often extremely curious. Domestic scenes,
+fables, such as the "Fox and the Grapes," demons carrying off monks,
+"The Seven Deadly Sins," are some of these subjects. Miss Phipson has
+published a learned work on _Choir Stalls and their Carvings_, which
+contains reproductions of three hundred of her sketches of curiously
+wrought _misereres_.
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE CHURCH IN THE VALE]
+
+The lectern formerly stood in the chancel; and then, as now, was often
+in the form of a large eagle, emblematic of St. John. Most of these
+reading-desks belong to the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and are
+made of wood, latten, iron, or stone, as well as of brass. There is a
+very curious wooden one at East Hendred, Berks, representing a foot
+resting on the head of a dragon, emblematic of the word of God
+conquering the powers of evil. Ancient wooden double reading-desks are
+not uncommon. The ornamentation usually denotes the period when they
+were constructed.
+
+And now we approach the high altar of the church, made of stone, covered
+with a beautifully worked frontal and cloth, and inclosed at the sides
+with curtains suspended on iron rods projecting from the wall. A
+crucifix hangs above the altar, and two candlesticks stand, one on each
+side. The furniture and accessories of the altar in pre-Reformation
+times were numerous. There was the pyx, a box or vessel of precious
+metal, in which the Host was reverently preserved for the purpose of
+giving communion to the sick and infirm. There were two small cruets or
+vessels for containing the wine and water used in Holy Communion, one
+engraved with the letter "V" (_vinum_), and the other "A" (_aqua_). An
+_osculatorium_, or pax tablet, of ivory or wood, overlaid with gold, was
+used for giving the kiss of peace during the High Mass just before the
+reception of the Host. Of church plate generally we shall write in a
+subsequent chapter.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN PISCINA, ROMSEY CHURCH, HANTS]
+
+On the south we see the piscina, which is contained in a beautifully
+carved niche--a hollow basin with a stone drain, wherein the priest
+washed his hands before consecrating the elements, and poured the water
+from the rinsed chalice. Above it in the niche was the credence, a shelf
+of stone, on which were placed the chalice and paten and all things
+necessary for the celebration. In some churches there is a separate
+credence table. On the north side was the aumbry, or locker, where the
+sacred vessels, altar linen, and service books were kept, guarded by a
+strong wooden door. The doors have usually disappeared, but a very large
+number of churches have the hole in the wall which was formerly the
+aumbry.
+
+On the south side are the sedilia, or stone seats, for the assistant
+clergy, frequently with canopies richly carved, and usually three in
+number. Opposite to the sedilia in the north wall is a large arch,
+within which the holy sepulchre was set up at Easter. This was a wooden
+structure made for the deposition of the consecrated elements of the
+Eucharist from the evening of Good Friday until the morning of Easter
+Day; during which time it was watched by a quasi-guard, after the manner
+of our Lord's sepulchre. The books of St. Lawrence, Reading, record:--
+
+"Anno 1498. In primis payed for Wakyng of the Sepulchre viii'd."
+
+"Anno 1510. It. payed to Walter Barton to the new Sepulchur iiii'li
+xiii's x'd."
+
+As this sum of money was a considerable one at that period, the
+sepulchre must have been an object of unusual magnificence. Sometimes
+it was a permanent structure of stone, carved with figures of soldiers
+watching the tomb of our Lord. Behind the altar was the reredos. In
+village churches these screens were made up of recessed stone panels,
+surrounded by sculptured wallflowers and other devices; but in large
+churches they were very ornate, enriched with niches, statues,
+tabernacle-work, and other adornments. Many of them were destroyed at
+the Reformation, together with the stone altars. Some were covered up
+and concealed by plaster, in order to preserve them from iconoclastic
+violence. They were buried and forgotten, until by some happy accident
+their existence was revealed in modern times. Nearly all large churches,
+and some village churches, especially those connected with a monastery,
+had shrines, or receptacles for the body or relics of a saint. Some
+of them were fixed, and made of stone or wood, adorned with rich
+tabernacle-work, such as the shrine of St. Cuthbert at Durham, or of St.
+Frideswide at Oxford; and others were portable, shaped like coped boxes,
+covered with precious metal, enamels, and engraving. Sculptured stones
+in the walls of our churches often mark the spot in the building where
+relics were stored.
+
+It is evident from the existence of niches and piscinas in other parts
+of the church, besides in the south wall near the high altar, that there
+formerly existed many altars in the sacred building. At the east end of
+each aisle we usually find these indications of the existence of an
+altar, which belonged to a chantry chapel, separated from the rest of
+the church by a screen. Here a priest said Mass daily for the soul of
+the founder of the chantry, his ancestors, and posterity. Ancient stone
+altars still remain in some of our churches. Sometimes they have been
+removed from their place, and used as tombstones, or in paving the floor
+of the church. They can be recognised by the five crosses engraved on
+them, one at each corner, and one in the centre of the stone.
+
+Hagioscopes, or squints, are openings in the thickness of the wall,
+enabling worshippers in the chantry chapels to witness the elevation of
+the Host at the high altar. They are usually plain; but in some churches
+we find these curious apertures moulded and decorated with architectural
+designs.
+
+Pre-Reformation churches had several wooden images of saints, most of
+which were destroyed by the iconoclastic zeal of the Reformers or
+Puritans. The brackets on which these figures stood often remain, though
+the images have disappeared.
+
+[Illustration: LOW SIDE WINDOW, DALLINGTON CHURCH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE]
+
+Low side windows, commonly called "Lepers' windows," are very frequently
+found in our churches, and usually on the south wall of the chancel.
+Their object has been, and is, much disputed among antiquaries. The
+vulgar idea is that poor lepers used to come to this window to see the
+celebration of the Mass; but unfortunately it is quite impossible in
+many cases to see the high altar through this window, and moreover
+lepers were not allowed to enter a churchyard. Another idea is that
+they were used as confessionals, the priest in the church hearing the
+confession of the penitent who knelt on the grass in the churchyard.
+A more inconvenient arrangement could not have been devised; and this
+idea might be at once dismissed, were it not that one of Henry's
+commissioners for suppressing monasteries and chantries wrote: "We think
+it best that the place where these friars have been wont to hear outward
+confession of all-comers at certain times of the year, be walled up, and
+that use to be done for ever." It appears that sometimes at any rate the
+low side windows were used for this purpose. However, I am inclined to
+think that they were intended for the use of the anchorites or recluses,
+who dwelt in churches. The windows were not glazed, but had iron bars on
+the outside, and a wooden shutter on the inside of the church. These
+windows were probably their means of communication with the outside
+world.
+
+Many village churches then, as now, had no vestry. Where a _vestiarium_
+existed it was usually on the north side of the chancel, and its
+contents were more elaborate than the plain surplice stole and hood of
+recent times. In the vestry press we should find an alb of fine white
+linen, somewhat similar to a surplice, ornamented with "apparels,"
+_i.e._ embroidery, on the cuffs and skirts; a girdle made of white silk
+embroidered with colours; an amice, or oblong piece of fine linen, worn
+on the head or as a collar; a stole with embroidered ends; a maniple, or
+strip of ornamented linen worn by the priest in his left hand during
+celebrations; dalmatic, chasuble and other vestments which the ornate
+ritual of the mediaeval church required.
+
+Before the Reformation the appearance of our churches was certainly
+splendid, and differed much from the Puritan simplicity of later times.
+The walls were covered with mural paintings. The windows, soon to be
+
+"Shorn of their glass of a thousand colourings,
+Through which the deepened glories once could enter,"
+
+were then resplendent with stained glass. Above, the rood looked down on
+all the worshippers. Everywhere there was beautifully carved woodwork,
+gilded and painted, tombs of knights and dames all painted and adorned,
+altars with rich embroidered hangings. The floor was composed of
+encaustic tiles, and had many memorial brasses. Armour, crests, and
+banners hung upon the walls. Lights burned before numerous images, and
+the whole appearance of our churches was gorgeous and magnificent.
+
+Many changes have taken place since. Coatings of whitewash hide the
+mural paintings. Sacrilegious hands "have broken down all the carved
+work with axes and hammers." The stone altars have disappeared, and
+instead we have "an honest table decently covered." Reading-pews for the
+clergy were set up, and in the last century the hideous "three decker,"
+which hid the altar and utterly disfigured the sacred building. Instead
+of the low open seats great square high pews filled the nave. Hideous
+galleries were erected which obstructed the windows and hid the
+architectural beauties of former days. The old timber roofs were
+covered, and low flat ceilings substituted. Brasses were torn up and
+sold by dishonest churchwardens, and old monuments broken and defaced.
+The old stained-glass windows were destroyed. The Communion table was
+taken from the east end of the chancel, and seats erected round it.
+Crosses were defaced everywhere, and crucifixes destroyed. Puritan
+profanation and wanton destruction devastated our churches to a degree
+which has never been equalled since the hordes of heathens and barbaric
+Danish invaders carried fire and sword into the sanctuaries of God.
+
+[Illustration: READING-PEW, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, LANGLEY CHAPEL, SALOP]
+
+Much harm was done by the Goths and Vandals of the nineteenth century.
+Many old churches, replete with a thousand memories of the past, were
+pulled down entirely, and modern structures of "Victorian Gothic" style
+erected in their place, which can have none of the precious associations
+which the old churches had. Much harm was done to the old features of
+many churches by so-called "restoration," carried out by men ignorant of
+architecture and antiquities. But we are learning better now. The
+Society of Antiquaries has done much to prevent injudicious restoration
+and the destruction of our old churches, and if any incumbent and his
+parishioners are thinking of restoring their church, they cannot do
+better than to consult the secretaries of that learned body, who will
+show how best to preserve the interesting memorials of the past which
+time has spared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+CHURCH PLATE
+
+Spoliation--Few remains of pre-Reformation plate--Testimony of
+inventories--Plate found in graves of bishops--Characteristics of
+chalices in different periods--Inscriptions--Devices on patens--
+Censers--Pyx--Monstrance--Chrismatory--Pax--Sacring bell--Elizabethan
+chalice--Bridal cup--Post-Reformation plate--Hall marks.
+
+
+We have already mourned over the wanton destruction of much that was of
+intense interest and value in our churches; but the most systematic
+robbery and spoliation of our church goods at the time of the
+Reformation were carried out in the matter of church plate. Henry VIII.
+stripped our cathedrals and conventual churches of almost all that was
+valuable, and the unscrupulous commissioners of Edward VI. performed a
+like office for our parish churches and chantries. A large number of
+the old chalices were also melted down and converted into Communion
+cupsduring the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth. Hence of all the
+vast store of church plate which our churches possessed before the
+Reformation, at the present time throughout all England only thirty-four
+chalices and seventy-three patens remain. It is true that not all the
+ancient vessels fell into the hands of the commissioners of the king. In
+the churchwardens' account books of the period we read of sundry sales
+of church plate. Evidently the parishioners had some presentiment of the
+coming spoliation; so they sold their valuables, and kept the proceeds
+of the sale for "the paving of the streets," or other parochial
+necessities.
+
+The ancient inventories of church goods show the deplorable loss of the
+valuables of the church which has taken place. Thus at the church of St.
+Lawrence, Reading, in the year 1517, the inventory tells us of the
+following: a cross of silver and gilt; a censer of silver gilt; another
+censer; a ship of silver for holding incense; another ship of silver;
+two candlesticks of silver; two books bound in silver; two basins of
+silver; a pyx of silver gilt, with a silver pin; a monstrance of silver
+gilt; a silver gilt chrismatory for the holy oil; a pax; two cruets; a
+bell; a chalice, with a crucifix enamelled on the foot and the Trinity
+on the paten; another chalice, with a crucifix engraved on the foot
+and a hand on the paten; another chalice similarly described; another
+similar to first chalice; and two others, with a crucifix on the foot
+and a vernicle, or _vera icon_ (a representation of our Lord's face
+miraculously delineated on the napkin of St. Veronica). All these
+vessels were made of silver or silver gilt. Nor were these all the
+treasures. There were several reliquaries of silver gilt containing
+parts of the holy cross; a gridiron, with a bone of St. Lawrence, and
+other articles contained in silver boxes; and many books bound with
+silver clasps. The total weight of silver in this church amounted to
+seven hundred ounces.
+
+Village churches were, of course, less sumptuously furnished than this
+important town church, which being situated under the shadow of one of
+the largest and most important abbeys in the kingdom, would receive many
+costly gifts and benefactors. But the inventories of village churches
+show that there was no lack of plate, rich altar hangings, copes, and
+vestments, which helped to swell the goodly heap of spoil. In country
+churches in Oxfordshire there were silver chalices and patens, pyxes,
+censers, candlesticks, chrismatories, crosses, sanctus bells, and other
+articles of plate.
+
+It was the practice in mediaeval times to place in the coffin of a
+bishop a chalice and paten; hence some of the earliest specimens of
+church plate which we possess have been recovered from episcopal
+graves.[3] The Rites of Durham enjoin that on the death of a bishop
+he was to be buried "with a little chalice of silver, other metal, or
+wax" aid upon his breast within the coffin.[4] Most of these were made
+of pewter or lead, but some have been found of silver gilt, latten,
+and tin. It is perhaps scarcely necessary for our present purposes to
+describe these early specimens of sacred vessels, as the number of them
+is so limited; and few of my readers will be able to discover any
+mediaeval examples amongst the plate of their own church. However, I
+will point out a few peculiarities of the plate of each period.
+
+The earliest chalice, used in the church of Berwick St. James, Wilts,
+until a few years ago, and now in the British Museum, dates from the
+beginning of the thirteenth century. Its bowl is broad and shallow, the
+stem and knot (by which the vessel was held) and foot being plain and
+circular. Then the makers (from 1250 to 1275) fashioned the stem and
+knot separately from the bowl and foot, and shaped them polygonally.
+During the remaining years of the century the foot was worked into
+ornate lobes. Then the bowl is deepened and made more conical. About
+1350 the custom arose of laying the chalice on its side on the paten to
+drain at the ablutions at Mass; and as the round-footed chalices would
+have a tendency to roll, the foot was made hexagonal for stability.
+Henceforth all the mediaeval chalices were fashioned with a six-sided
+foot. By degrees the bowl became broader and shallower, and instead of
+the base having six points, its form is a sexfoil without any points.
+Several old chalices are engraved with the inscription--
+
+Calicem salutaris accipiam et nomen Domini inbocabo.
+
+[Illustration: CHALICE AND PATEN, SANDFORD, OXFORDSHIRE
+_Circa_ A.D. 1301]
+
+In one of the compartments of the base there was a representation of a
+crucifix, or the Virgin, or ihc, or xpc.
+
+The usual devices on ancient patens were the _Manus Dei_, or hand of
+God, in the act of blessing; on later ones the vernicle, or face of our
+Lord; the Holy Trinity; the Holy Lamb; the sacred monogram. The oldest
+paten in existence is that found at Chichester Cathedral in a coffin,
+and its date is about the year 1180. In the centre is a rude engraving
+of the _Agnus Dei_, and it bears the inscription--
+
+Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi miserere nobis.
+
+[Illustration: PRE-REFORMATION PLATE
+(1) 13th Century
+(2) Early 16th Century
+(3) Elizabethan
+(4) Manus Dei
+(5) Vernicle]
+
+The grave of Bishop Grostete at Lincoln yielded up an ancient paten
+(1230-53), which has the figure of a bishop vested, the right hand
+raised in the act of blessing, the left holding a crozier. The oldest
+piece of church plate still in use is a remarkable paten at Wyke Church,
+near Winchester, the date of which is about 1280. It bears an engraving
+of the _Agnus Dei_ holding a banner, and around the rim is the legend--
+
+CUNTA: CREO: VIRTUTE: REGO: PIETATE REFORMO.
+
+Another favourite inscription was _Benedicamus patrem et filium cum
+spiritu sancto_; but on the paten in the church of Great Waltham, Essex,
+the important word _spiritu_ is omitted for want of room.
+
+[Illustration: CENSER OR THURIBLE]
+
+We have already mentioned several of the important pieces of church
+plate which were in use in mediaeval times. Censers, or thuribles, were
+common in all our ancient parish churches, sometimes of gold or silver,
+more usually of brass or latten, and were in the shape of a covered vase
+or cup, perforated so as to allow the fumes of burning incense to
+escape. Most of our English censers are now in museums, but several
+ancient ones are still in use in the private chapels of Roman Catholic
+families.
+
+Old inventories always mention a pyx, a box or vessel of gold or silver,
+in which the Host was reserved for the sick and infirm. It often
+resembles a chalice, except that instead of the bowl there is a covered
+receptacle for the Host. A beautiful specimen was dug up a few years ago
+in the churchyard of Yateley, Hants. Another vessel was the monstrance,
+in which the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession, and exposed
+on the altar. The form varied. Sometimes monstrances were made in
+the shape of a tower, or a covered chalice; sometimes in the form of
+images carrying silver pyxes, elaborately ornamented with many jewels.
+Processions were always a great feature of mediaeval worship; hence the
+monstrance was frequently in use, especially on such occasions as the
+celebrations of Corpus Christi Day.
+
+Holy oil was much used in the services, as in the Roman Catholic Church
+at the present time. It was blessed by a bishop on Maundy Thursday, and
+used in Baptism, Confirmation, and Extreme Unction, as well as at the
+Consecration of Churches, Ordination, and the Coronation of Kings. The
+vessel for holding the oil was an important piece of church plate, and
+was called a chrismatory. Usually there were three distinct vessels, one
+for holding the oil for the sick, a second for use at confirmations, and
+a third for the baptismal oil. Sometimes these vessels are labelled with
+the words EXT. UNC., CAT., and CHR., according to the recommendation of
+St. Charles Borromeo, in order that each oil might be kept for its
+proper use, and that no confusion might arise.
+
+The pax was a small tablet of silver or other precious metal, used for
+giving the kiss of peace during High Mass. The celebrant kissed the
+tablet, and held it aloft before all the people. It was usually adorned
+with a representation of the _Agnus Dei_. Of the cruets containing wine
+and water for the celebration we have already written. Then there was a
+sacring bell, often made of silver, which was rung during the service at
+the time of the elevation of the Host, and at the sound the congregation
+knelt.
+
+We have now examined the aumbry, and noted its contents, upon which the
+commissioners in the reign of Edward VI. made such shameful inroads.
+Henceforth the plate was confined to a chalice and paten, alms-dish, and
+usually a large silver flagon. The form of the chalice was entirely
+changed. As we have noticed, the bowl of the pre-Reformation chalices
+became smaller and shallower, on account of the gradually introduced
+practice of refusing the wine to the laity. Now in the year 1562 the
+size of the bowl was greatly enlarged, and the "Communion cup" took
+the place of the "Massing chalice." Some poor parishes were obliged to
+content themselves with pewter vessels. St. Lawrence's Church, Reading,
+had a curious bridal cup, which was carried before all brides who
+were married in that church. The custom of drinking wine in the church
+at marriages is enjoined in the Hereford Missal, and the Sarum
+Missal ordered that the bread immersed in the wine, and consumed by
+the company, should first be blessed by the priest. Some of these
+post-Reformation vessels are extremely interesting. They record the
+thankofferings of pious donors on the occasion of some great event in
+the national annals, such as the Restoration, or of some private mercy
+vouchsafed to the individual. They record the connection of some family
+with the parish, the arms they bore; and the Hall marks tell us of their
+date, which is often anterior to the date of the inscription.
+
+Hall marks were first introduced in 1300 by Edward I. in order to keep
+up the purity of silver, and consisted of the lion's or leopard's head
+crowned. This was called the king's mark. The maker's mark was
+introduced in 1363, and was some initial or badge chosen by the
+silversmith. To these were added in 1438 the year letter or assayer's
+mark, a different letter being chosen for each year. When the alphabet
+was exhausted, another with differently shaped letters was begun. In
+1545 the lion passant was introduced, and since 1784 the portrait of the
+reigning sovereign has appeared. With the assistance of Mr. Cripps' _Old
+English Plate_, which contains a list of the alphabets used in marking
+plate, it is not very difficult to discover the date of any piece of
+silver. Inventories of church plate are being made in many counties and
+dioceses, and no more useful work can be undertaken by our local
+antiquarian societies.
+
+
+[3] _Mediaeval Chalices and Patens_, by W.H. St. John Hope and
+T.M. Fallow.
+
+[4] Surtees Society, vol. xv. pp. 45, 49.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES
+
+Reverence for the dead--Cists--Stone coffins--Devices--Introduction
+of effigies--Cross-legged effigies--Wooden effigies--Incised
+effigies--Brasses--Essentially English--Vast number of brasses--
+Palimpsests--Destruction--Costumes and fashions--Ecclesiastics--
+Lawyers--Soldiers--Canopies and inscriptions--Punning inscriptions--
+Contractions--Emblems--Heraldry.
+
+
+The pious care which we all love to bestow on the mortal remains of our
+nearest and dearest, and the respect and honour with which all men
+regard the bodies of departed heroes, kings, saints, and warriors, have
+produced a remarkable series of sepulchral monuments, examples of which
+may be found everywhere. The cairns and tumuli of the primitive races
+which inhabited our island were the results of the same feelings of
+reverent regard which inspired the beautifully carved mediaeval
+monuments, the memorial brass, or the cross-shaped tombstone of to-day.
+
+I have already mentioned the cromlechs and barrows and other memorials
+of the early inhabitants of Britain. We have seen the cists of Saxon
+times, the coffins formed of several stones placed together in the form
+of a table. The Normans introduced stone coffins for the sepulchre of
+their great men, many of which may be seen in our cathedrals and old
+conventual churches. On the lids of their coffins they frequently cut a
+single cross. When the style of architecture changed to that of the
+Early English and Decorated periods, monumental slabs were ornamented
+with much greater richness and elaboration, and inscriptions were added,
+and also some device which showed the trade, rank, or profession of the
+departed. Thus the chalice and paten denoted a priest; a sword showed
+the knight; an axe, a forester; an ink-horn, a notary; shears, a wool
+merchant.
+
+At the beginning of the thirteenth century it occurred to someone to
+preserve the likeness of his departed friend as well as the symbols of
+his rank and station. So effigies were introduced upon the surface of
+the slabs, and were carved flat; but ere fifty years had passed away the
+art of the sculptor produced magnificent monumental effigies. Knights
+and nobles lie clad in armour with their ladies by their sides. Bishops
+and abbots bless the spectators with their uplifted right hands. Judges
+lie in their official garb, and merchants with the emblems of their
+trade. At their feet lie animals, usually having some heraldic
+connection with the deceased, or symbolical of his work--_e.g._ a dragon
+is trodden down beneath the feet of a bishop, signifying the defeat of
+sin as the result of his ministry. The heads of effigies usually rest on
+cushions, which are sometimes supported by two angels.
+
+A peculiar characteristic of the military effigies in England is that
+the knights are often represented with the legs crossed. Many
+speculations have been made with regard to the meaning of this fashion
+of cross-legged effigy. It is a popular superstition, in which for some
+years the writer shared, that such effigies represented Crusaders. We
+were told in our young days that when the knight had his legs crossed at
+the feet he had gone to the Crusades once; when at the knees, that he
+had been to two Crusades; and when crossed at the thighs, he had been
+thrice to rescue the Holy City from the hands of the infidels. All this
+seemed very plausible and interesting, but it is undoubtedly a myth.
+Many known Crusaders have their effigies with uncrossed legs, and many
+who never went to the Crusades have cross-legged effigies. Moreover,
+there are no such monuments in any foreign country which swelled the
+army of Crusaders. Hence we must abandon the pleasing superstition, and
+reconcile ourselves to the fact that no particular signification can be
+assigned to these cross-legged effigies, and that only fashion prompted
+the mediaeval sculptors to adopt this attitude for their figures. This
+mode prevailed until about the year 1320.
+
+At the close of the fifteenth century the art of making monumental
+effigies degenerated together with the skill of the architects of that
+period. We see the husband and wife kneeling facing each other, with a
+faldstool before each figure. A company of small figures below the
+effigies represent the children, the boys on one side, the girls on the
+other.
+
+Early wooden effigies were also in use. There is one much battered by
+the careless hands of former generations of villagers in the rural
+church of my parish of Barkham. The artists often used much colour,
+gilding, and enamel in making these effigies; and often rich canopies
+were erected over them, containing fine tabernacle-work and figures of
+saints in niches.
+
+Another form of effigy was commonly in use, in addition to the figures
+just described. These are called incised effigies, which were cut
+in outline upon flat slabs of stone, the lines being filled in with
+enamelled metals. Thorton Abbey, Lincolnshire, and Brading, in the Isle
+of Wight, have examples of this work. But the great expense of these
+enamels, and also their frailty when exposed in the pavements of
+churches, led to the use of brass; and hence arose the introduction of
+memorial brasses for which our country is famous.
+
+We owe the application of brass to memorial tablets to the artists of
+Flanders, and the date of their introduction is about the middle of the
+thirteenth century. The execution of almost all of our English brasses
+is due to native artists. Foreign brasses are usually of great size,
+and consist of a quadrangular sheet of metal, on which is engraved
+the figure, usually under a canopy, the background being ornamented
+with rich diaper, foliage, or scrollwork, and the incisions filled
+with colouring. Several brasses in England conform to this style of
+workmanship, and are evidently the production of foreign artists. The
+English brasses, on the contrary, consist of separate pieces, with an
+irregular outline, corresponding with that of the figure. They have no
+brass background; and for delicacy of engraving and general appearance
+the English brasses are by far the best.
+
+The names of the makers of brasses have been almost entirely lost. Two
+only bear marks which are supposed to be those of the engraver. No other
+country can boast of so large a number of these memorials as England, in
+spite of the hard usage they have received and their wanton destruction.
+About four thousand remain; and constantly we find the matrices cut in
+stone slabs, from which brasses have been torn; so that we may assume
+that quite as many have been destroyed as those which survive. The
+southern and eastern counties are most richly furnished with these
+monuments, whereas the western and northern counties have but few
+brasses. Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent are the most rich in this
+respect. The earliest brass of which we have any record is that of
+Simon de Beauchamp, who died before 1208. This is mentioned by Leland.
+The earliest brass now in existence is that of Sir John D'Aubernown at
+Stoke Dabernon, Surrey, which was fashioned in 1277. In the fourteenth
+century a very large number of brasses, remarkable for their beauty of
+form and execution, were made. The artistic workmanship began to decline
+in the fifteenth century, and in the following became utterly degenerate.
+
+It was not an uncommon practice for subsequent generations to appropriate
+the memorials of their predecessors. Such brasses are called palimpsests.
+By the carelessness of churchwardens, by fraud, or spoliation, brasses
+were taken from the churches, and acquired by some maker in the town.
+When a new one was required, the tradesman would take from his stock,
+and on the reverse engrave the figure of the individual whose memory he
+was called upon to perpetuate. Hence when brasses are taken up from the
+pavements, frequently the remains of a much earlier memorial are found on
+the reverse side. There is an example of this curious method of procedure
+at St. Lawrence's Church, Reading, where on the reverse of a brass to the
+memory of Walter Barton was found the remains of the brass of Sir John
+Popham, who was buried at the Charterhouse, London. This monastery was
+dissolved in 1536, the monuments sold, Sir John Popham's brass among them,
+which was evidently soon converted into a memorial of Walter Barton.
+
+Sometimes the original brass was appropriated as it lay, the figure
+being slightly altered to suit the style of costume prevalent at the
+later date. In other cases the engraver did not even trouble himself to
+alter the figure, and simply added a new inscription and shield of arms.
+
+The wanton destruction and gross neglect of churchwardens, both before
+and after the Reformation, were very great. At St. Mary's Church,
+Reading, the accounts tell a sad tale of the disgraceful damage in the
+year 1547:--
+
+"Receyvid of John Saunders for iii cwt lacking ix'li of metall that was
+taken upp of the graves, and of olde candlestycks at vi's the hundred
+xlvj's ii'd."
+
+Evidently a clean sweep was made of most of the memorial brasses in the
+church, and few escaped destruction. The tale is too familiar. Most
+churches have suffered in the same way.
+
+The study of brasses throws much light upon the costumes and fashions of
+the day when they were engraved. We see priests, who may be recognised
+by the tonsure and vestments, amongst which we find the alb, amice,
+stole, maniple, and chasuble. The pastoral staff, ring, mitre, sandals,
+tunic, dalmatic, and gloves mark the graves of bishops and mitred
+abbots.
+
+A close skull-cap, a long robe with narrow sleeves, a hood, tippet, and
+mantle buttoned on the right shoulder, compose the dress of judges and
+officers of the law, as depicted on brasses. The changes in the fashion
+and style of armour, which took place between the fourteenth and the
+seventeenth centuries, are all accurately represented in these
+memorials; and also the picturesque costumes of ladies with their
+curious headgear; and the no less various fashions of the male
+civilian's dress. A study of brasses is an admirable guide to the
+prevailing style of dress during the periods of their construction.
+
+The beautiful canopies over the heads of the figures are well worthy of
+attention, and also the inscriptions. These usually take the form of
+Latin verses; and although many were written by learned abbots and
+scholars, the classical knowledge displayed is somewhat faulty. Here
+are a few examples:--
+
+Respice quid prodest precentis temporis aebum
+Omne quod est, nichil est, preter amare deum.
+
+Sometimes the author of the inscription recorded his name, as did the
+learned Dame Elizabeth Hobby on a brass at Shottesbrooke, which runs--
+
+O multum dilecte senex, pater atqz bocate,
+  Del quia grandaebis, bel quia probus eras.
+Annos bixisti nobies decem, atqz satelles
+  Fidus eras regum, fidus erasqz tuis.
+Iam satis functus baleas, sed tu, deus alme,
+  Sic mihi concedas bibere siqz mori.
+
+Variety was added sometimes by jumbling together various languages,
+Norman-French, Latin, and English being often oddly combined.
+
+People in the Middle Ages loved punning and playing upon the sound of
+words. Thus a brass to the memory of Thomas Hylle (or Hill) has some
+verses beginning "_Mons_ in valle jacet." John Day, the printer, had a
+very extravagant and jocular epitaph beginning--
+
+"Here lies the Daye that darkness could not blynd."
+
+"He set a Fox to wright how Martyrs runne
+By death to lyfe"--
+
+alluding to his publication of Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_. His widow
+probably married a man named Stone. Hence we read--
+
+"Als was the last encreaser of his store,
+Who mourning long for being left alone,
+Sett upp this tombe, her self turned to a Stone."
+
+"Orate pro anima," or "of your charite pray for the soul of ----" were
+usual inscriptions.
+
+It is somewhat difficult for the unpractised eye to read inscriptions on
+brasses, owing to the contractions and omissions of letters. Thus _m_
+and _n_ are often omitted, and a line is placed over the adjoining
+letter to indicate the omission. Thus a=ia stands for _anima_, leg=u for
+_legum_. The letter _r_ is also left out. Z stands for _que_, and there
+are many other contractions, such as D=ns for _Dominus_, D=s for _Deus_,
+E=ps for _Episcopus_, g=ia for _gratia_, m=ia for _misericordia_, and
+many others.
+
+The study of the emblems and devices is full of interest. Of
+ecclesiastical emblems we have the symbols of the Holy Trinity--God the
+Father represented as an aged person, holding a crucifix on which the
+dove, an emblem of the Holy Spirit, is alighting--representations of our
+Lord, angels, saints,[5] evangelists, the fylfot cross, roses, and
+figures of Death. Sometimes the figure on the brass holds a heart in his
+hand, which indicates a response on the part of the deceased to the old
+invitatory "Sursum corda."
+
+The armorial bearings of the deceased are usually represented on
+brasses, and also personal or professional devices. The founders of
+churches hold representations in miniature of the churches which they
+founded. Bishops and abbots have a pastoral staff; priests, a chalice,
+or a book; wool merchants have woolpacks beneath their feet, and other
+tradesmen have similar devices denoting their special calling.
+Merchants' marks also frequently appear; and the mediaeval taste for
+punning is shown by frequent rebuses formed on the names of the
+deceased, _e.g._ a peacock, for one named Pecok; a fox, for a Foxley;
+four tuns and a cross, for Master Croston.
+
+England may well be proud of the brass memorials of her worthy sons and
+daughters. It is, however, terribly sad to see the destruction which
+fanatical and greedy folk have wrought on these beautiful monuments.
+As we have already noticed, the spoliators of the Reformation period
+accomplished much wanton destruction, and removed tombs "for greedinesse
+of the brasse." Cromwell's soldiers and commissioners did a vast deal
+more damage, violating sepulchres and monuments, and destroying brasses
+everywhere. A third cause of the defacement and loss of these valuable
+memorials has been the gross carelessness of churchwardens and
+incumbents, who during any alterations or restoration of their churches
+have allowed them to be sold, destroyed, or appropriated by the
+builders. Truly we have entered upon a diminished inheritance. It
+behoves us to preserve with the utmost vigilance and care the memorials
+which fanaticism, greed, and carelessness have spared.
+
+
+[5] The following are the principal emblems of the Apostles:--
+St. Andrew, a cross saltier; St. Bartholomew, a knife; St. James the
+Great, a pilgrim's staff, wallet, escallop shell; St. James the Less, a
+fuller's bat, or saw; St. John, a chalice and serpent; St. Jude, a boat
+in his hand, or a club; St. Matthew, a club, carpenter's square, or
+money-box; St. Matthias, a hatchet, battle-axe, or sword; St. Paul, a
+sword; St. Peter, keys; St. Philip, a tau cross, or a spear; St. Simon,
+fishes; St. Thomas, an arrow or spear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE PARISH CHEST
+
+Contents of the parish chest--Parish registers--Effect of Civil War--
+Burials in woollen--"Not worth £600"--Care bestowed upon registers--
+Curious entries--Astrology--Gipsies--Jester--Heart-burial--Plagues--Royal
+visits--Licences for eating flesh, for to be touched for king's evil--
+Carelessness of custody of registers--Churchwardens' account books--Their
+value--Curious entries--Sports and pastimes--Paschall money--Brief
+books--Strange entries in registers and account books--Dog-whippers--
+King's evil--Treating bishops and poor scholars of Oxford.
+
+
+The parish chest in the vestry usually contains many documents, which
+are of profound interest to the student of village antiquities. It
+contains the old churchwardens' account books, the parish registers,
+lists of briefs, and often many other papers and records which bear on
+the history of the parish. The old register books record the names of
+past generations of villagers, and many curious facts about the parish
+and its people, which are not found in the dull dry columns of our
+modern books.
+
+Parish registers were first ordered by Thomas Cromwell in the year 1538,
+and from that date many of our registers begin.[6] But all vicars did
+not obey the injunctions of Viceregent Cromwell; they were renewed by
+Edward VI. in 1547 and by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and most of our old
+register books begin with this date. James I. ordered that the registers
+should be written over again in a parchment book, the entries previously
+having been recorded on paper. Hence many of our books, although they
+begin with the year 1538, are really copies of the paper records made
+previous to 1603.
+
+The disturbances of the Civil War period caused much neglect in the
+keeping of the registers. The incumbent was often driven away from his
+flock, and parish registrars were chosen by the parishioners and
+approved and sworn before a justice of the peace. Here is a record of
+this business taken from the books of this parish:--
+
+"Whereas Robtr Williams of the prish of Barkham in the County of Berks
+was elected and chosen by the inhabitants of the same prish to be there
+prish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms was approved and sworne this
+sixteenth day of November 1653. Ri: Bigg, J.P."
+
+Henceforth the children are registered as having been _born_, not
+_baptised_, until the Restoration brought back the clergyman to his
+flock again, and the entries are written in a scholarly hand, and the
+disorder of the previous years ceases.
+
+In 1679 an Act was passed requiring that the dead should be buried in
+woollen, the purpose being to lessen "the importation of linen from
+beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper
+manufacturers of this kingdom." A penalty of £5 was inflicted for a
+violation of this Act; and as frequently people preferred to be buried
+in linen, a record of the fine appears--_e.g._ at Gayton,
+Northamptonshire, where we find in the register--
+
+"1708. Mrs. Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5, in _Linnen_, and the
+forfeiture of the Act payd fifty shillings to ye informer and fifty
+shillings to ye poor of the parishe."
+
+Pope wrote the following lines on the burial of Mrs. Oldfield, the
+actress, with reference to this custom:--
+
+  "Odious! in woollen! 'twould _a_ saint provoke
+  (Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke);
+  No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace
+  Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face."
+
+Sometimes after the name in the register is added the words, "Not worth
+£600." This refers to the Act of William III. in 1694, which required
+that all persons baptised, married, or buried, having an estate of that
+value, should pay a tax of twenty shillings. The money was required for
+carrying on the war with France, and the Act was in force for five
+years. This description of the personal estate was not intended to be
+invidious, but was of practical utility in enforcing the Act.
+
+The parish registers reflect with wonderful accuracy the life of the
+people, and are most valuable to the student of history. Clergymen took
+great pride in recording "the short and simple annals of the poor." A
+Gloucestershire rector (1630 A.D.) wrote in his book the following good
+advice which might with advantage be taken in many other villages:--
+
+"If you will have this Book last, bee sure to aire it att the fier, or
+in the Sunne, three or four times a yeare--els it will grow dankish and
+rott, therefore look to it. It will not be amisse when you find it
+dankish to wipe over the leaves with a dry wollen cloth. This Place
+is very much subject to dankishness; therefore I say looke to it."
+
+A study of the curious entries which we occasionally find conveys much
+remarkable information. Sometimes, in the days of astrology, in order
+to assist in casting the nativity, it is recorded that at the time of
+the child's birth "the sun was in Libra," or "in Taurus." Gipsies were
+evidently numerous in the sixteenth century, as we constantly find
+references to "the roguish AEgyptians." The domestic jester finds
+his record in the entry: "1580. March 21, William, fool to my Lady
+Jerningham." The suicide is "infamously buried." Heart-burial is often
+recorded, as at Wooburn, Bucks: "1700. Cadaver Edi Thomas, equitis
+aurati, hic inhumatum fuit vicessimo tertio die Junii."
+
+Records of the visitations of the plague are very numerous in all parts
+of England, as at Egglescliffe, Durham: "1644. In this year there died
+of the plague in this towne one and twenty people; they are not all
+buried in the churchyard, and are not in the Register." Sometimes masses
+of human bones are found buried in fields outside towns and villages,
+memorials of this devastating plague.
+
+Parish clerks have not always had very musical voices when they shout
+out the "Amens." The Rector of Buxted, Sussex (1666 A.D.), records with
+a sigh of relief the death of his old clerk, "whose melody warbled forth
+as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone."
+
+Sometimes royal visits to the neighbourhood are recorded, even a royal
+hunt, as when James I. hunted the hare at Fordham, Cambridgeshire. The
+register of Wolverton gives "a license for eating flesh on prohibited
+days granted to Sir Tho. Temple, on paying 13s. 4d." Storms,
+earthquakes, and floods are described; and records of certificates
+granted to persons to go before the king to be touched for the disease
+called the king's evil.
+
+The Civil War is frequently mentioned, and also caused the omission of
+many entries. At Tarporley, Cheshire, there is a break from 1643 to
+1648, for which the rector thus accounts:--
+
+"This intermission hapned by reason of the great wars obliterating
+memorials, wasting fortunes, and slaughtering persons of all sorts."
+
+Parish registers have fared ill and suffered much from the gross
+carelessness of their custodians. We read of the early books of Christ
+Church, Hants, being converted into kettle-holders by the curate's wife.
+Many have been sold as waste paper, pages ruthlessly cut out, and
+village schoolbooks covered with the leaves of old registers. The
+historian of Leicestershire writes of the register of Scraptoft:--
+
+"It has not been a plaything for young pointers--it has not occupied a
+bacon scratch, or a bread and cheese cupboard--it has not been scribbled
+on within and without; but it has been treasured ever since 1538, to the
+honour of a succession of worthy clergymen."--_O si sic omnes_!
+
+The churchwardens' account books are even of greater value to the
+student of history than the registers, priceless as the latter are
+for genealogical purposes. The Bishop of Oxford states that "in the
+old account books and minute books of the churchwardens in town and
+country we possess a very large but very perishable and rapidly
+perishing treasury of information on matters the very remembrance
+of which is passing away, although their practical bearing on the
+development of the system of local government is indisputable, and
+is occasionally brought conspicuously before the eye of the people
+by quaint survivals.... It is well that such materials for the
+illustration of this economic history as have real value should be
+preserved in print; and that the customs which they illustrate should
+be reclaimed by History from the misty region of folklore, whilst they
+can." Many of these account books date from pre-Reformation times,
+and disclose the changes which took place in the fabric of our churches,
+the removal of roods and other ecclesiastical furniture, during the
+Reformation. They are usually kept with great exactness, and contain
+an accurate record of the receipts and expenditure for each year. Some
+of the entries are very curious, and relate to the sports and pastimes
+of our ancestors, the mystery plays, and church ales, which were all
+under the patronage of the churchwardens. The proceeds of these
+entertainments were devoted to the maintenance of the church, and
+were included in the accounts, as well as the necessary cost of the
+merry diversions. Thus in the books of St. Lawrence's Church, Reading,
+we find such items as the following:--
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"1499. Paid for a coat for Robin Hood             5  4
+         "  for a supper to Robin Hood and
+               his company                        1  6
+         "  for making the church clean
+               against the day of drinking
+               in the said church                    4"
+
+"1531. Paid for five ells of canvass for a coat
+            for Maid Marian                       1  6-1/4"
+
+"Bells for the Morris dancers," "liveries and coats," "bread and ale,"
+"horse-meat of the horses for the kings of Colen on May Day," are some
+of the items which appear in these books.
+
+Another book tells us about the "Gatherings" at Hock-tide, when on one
+day the men stopped the women, and on the next the women the men, and
+refused to let them go until they gave money. The women always succeeded
+in collecting the most money.
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"It'm.  receyved of the men's gatherynge          7  3
+   "       "       "    women's gatherynge       37  5"
+
+Traces of this custom are still found in many country places. The
+practice of "hocking" at Hungerford and "lifting" in Lancashire subsist
+still, but the money collected is no longer devoted to any pious uses.
+
+The item "Paschall money at Easter" frequently occurs. This was
+originally a collection for the Paschal taper, which burned before the
+high altar at Eastertide. When, in the reign of Elizabeth, the taper was
+no longer used, the money was devoted to buying the bread and the wine
+for the Easter Communion. Another item which often appears is a payment
+of "Smoke farthings" to the bishop of the diocese at his Visitation
+Court. This is another name for Peter's pence, formerly given to the
+Pope. In the accounts of Minchinhampton we find the entry under the year
+1576: "For Pentecost money, otherwyse peter pence, sometyme payed to
+Antecryst of Rome xvi'd." After the Reformation the tax was collected,
+but given to the bishop.
+
+There are very many other points of interest which a study of the
+churchwardens' books presents. In more recent times we find constant
+payments for the slaughter of sparrows, and many other items which
+scarcely come under the head of ecclesiastical charges.[7] But of course
+the vestry was then the council chamber of the parish, which managed all
+the temporal affairs of the village community. Possibly, in these days
+of Poor Law Unions, District and County Councils, our affairs may be
+managed better; but there is much to be said in favour of the older
+system, and Parish Councils are not much of an improvement on the old
+vestries.
+
+Another book which our parish chest contains is the Brief Book. Briefs
+were royal letters which were sent to the clergy directing that
+collections be made for certain objects. These were very numerous and
+varied. The building of St. Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire, a
+fire at Drury Lane Theatre, rebuilding of churches, the redemption of
+English slaves taken by pirates, the construction of harbours in
+Scotland, losses by hail, floods, French refugees, Reformed Episcopal
+churches in Great Poland and Polish Prussia, Protestants in Copenhagen,
+loss by fire, colleges in Philadelphia--these and many other objects
+were commended to the liberality of Churchmen. The sums collected were
+usually very small, and Pepys wrote in his _Diary_, June 30th, 1661:--
+
+"To church, when we observe the trade of briefs is come now up to so
+constant a course every Sunday that we resolve to give no more to them."
+
+The granting of briefs gave rise to much abuse, and they were finally
+abolished by the advice of Lord Palmerston.
+
+The contents of the parish chest afford an unlimited mass of material
+for those who love to study the curious customs of our forefathers and
+their strange usages. Here is a record of a much-married person:--
+
+"Mary Blewitt, ye wife of nine husbands successively, buried eight of
+ym, but last of all ye woman dy'd and was buried, May 7th 1681."
+
+In the margin of the register is written, "This was her funeral text."
+
+The register of Sparsholt, Berks, records an instance of the body of a
+dead man being arrested for debt. The entry is:--
+
+"The corpse of John Matthews, of Fawler, was stopt on the churchway for
+debt, August 27, 1689. And having laine there fower days, was by
+Justices warrant buryied in the place to prevent annoyances--but about
+sixe weekes after it was by an order of Sessions taken up and buried in
+the churchyard by the wife of the deceased."
+
+A dog-whipper was an ancient parish official, whose duty was to drive
+out all dogs from the church. The Wakefield accounts contain the
+items:--
+
+"1616. Paid to Gorby Stork for whippinge          s. d.
+    doggs                                         2  6"
+
+"1703. For hatts shoes and hoses for sexton
+    and dog-whipper                              18  6"
+
+Another official was the person appointed to arouse members of the
+congregation from their slumbers during divine service. The parish
+accounts of Castleton record:--
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"1702. Paid to sluggard waker                    10  0"
+
+Sometimes the cost of a journey to London was
+defrayed by the parish in order to enable a sufferer
+to be touched for the king's evil. The Ecclesfield
+accounts contain the following entry relating to this
+custom:--
+
+"1641. Given to John Parkin wife towards her
+    travell to London to get cure of his Majestie
+    for the disease called the Evill, which her   s. d.
+    Sonen Thorn is visited withall                6  8"
+
+The clergymen were required to keep a register of all who were so
+touched, in order that they might not again go to the king and receive
+the bounty which accompanied the touch. Hence we read in the register of
+Hambleden, Bucks:--
+
+"1685. May 17, Mary Wallington had a certificate to goe before the King
+for a disease called the King's Evil."
+
+The treating of bishops and clergy is often noticed in the accounts.
+Sometimes a sugar-loaf was presented, as at St. James', Bristol:--
+
+"1629. Paid for a sugar loaf for the Lord Bishop 15's 10'd"
+
+Sometimes items relate to their refreshment:--
+
+"1593. Pd for a galland of beer given to the
+    Beishopp of Hereford                            iiii'd"
+
+"1617. Pd for a quart of wine and sugar bestowed
+    upon two preachers                                 x'd"
+
+The status of students at the Universities was not so high in former
+days as at present, and poor scholars used to beg their way to Oxford
+and Cambridge, and receive the assistance of the charitable. Hence we
+read in the Leverton accounts:--
+
+"1562. Gave to a pore scholar at Oxford.            2s. 0d."
+
+With this record of "a pore scholar" we must leave our study of the
+contents of the parish chest, which afford such valuable and accurate
+information about village and town life of ancient times.
+
+
+[6] 812 registers begin in 1538, 40 of which contain entries prior to
+that date. 1,822 registers date from 1538 to 1558, and 2,448 from
+1558 to 1603.
+
+[7] In the Whitchurch books we find: "1671. Paide for a coate and
+wastcoate for good wife Clarke 13s., also for linen and shoes; to the
+Chiurgeons for looking at Ezechiell Huller's legg £3." And such-like
+entries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS
+
+Destruction of old windows--Wilfrid's glass-window makers--Glass,
+stained and painted--Changes in style--Work of foreign artists--Inlaid
+tiles--Ironwork on doors and screens--Norman hinges--Mediaeval
+plumbing work--Mural decoration, frescoes, and wall-painting--Cause
+of their destruction--St. Christopher--Consecration crosses--Norman
+art--Favourite subjects--Yew trees in churchyards--Lich-gates--The
+churchyard--Curious epitaphs.
+
+
+No branch of archaeology is more interesting than the study of our
+stained-glass windows, which illustrate so clearly the faith, history,
+and customs of our ancestors. We have again to thank the fanatics of
+the Reformation and Cromwellian periods for the shameful destruction
+of so many beautiful windows. How great has been the loss to art and
+history caused by their reckless demolition! And in addition to this
+miserable violence our windows have suffered greatly from the ignorant
+indifference of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which allowed
+priceless examples of old glass to be removed and replaced by the
+hideous specimens of the modern glass-painters.
+
+In Saxon times this art found a home in England, the _artifices
+lapidearum et vitrearum fenestrarum_ having been invited to this country
+by Wilfrid, Bishop of York, in 709. The earliest specimen of ancient
+glass now in existence is in the choir-aisles of Canterbury Cathedral,
+where it was probably fixed when the cathedral was rebuilt after the
+fire in 1174.
+
+Coloured glass is of two kinds: (1) _Stained glass_, made by mixing
+metallic oxides with the glass when in a state of fusion, the colours
+thus going through the whole mass; (2) _Painted glass_, in which
+colouring is laid upon the white or tinted glass, and fixed by the
+action of fire. As the style of architecture changed, so the art of the
+glass-painter changed with it. In the Early English period the colours
+were very rich, and the designs consisted of medallions containing
+subjects taken from Holy Scripture, or the lives of the saints, upon
+grounds of ruby and blue. Mosaic patterns form the groundwork of the
+medallions, and a border of scrolls and foliage incloses the whole
+design. The outlines of the figures are formed by the lead. In the
+Decorated period the medallions disappear, and in their place we find
+single figures of large size under canopies. Instead of the mosaic
+backgrounds diaper-work in whole colours is used. Lights and shades are
+introduced in the dresses and canopies, and foliage is painted on the
+panes. The artists of this period first introduced heraldic devices into
+the windows. A border of white glass intervenes between the window and
+the medallion.
+
+When the Perpendicular style was in vogue the art of the glass-painter
+degenerated, as did that of the architect. Stained glass was little
+used, and the artists painted with enamel colours their designs upon the
+glass. The figures were larger than before, and the canopies of great
+size and with much architectural detail, landscapes and buildings
+appearing in the background. During this period inscriptions began to be
+used. In the sixteenth century the progress of the art was in the same
+direction. Large figures, and groups of figures, fill the whole window,
+and the existence of mullions is disregarded in the execution of the
+design. Glass-painting flourished until the Civil War period, and then
+died out.
+
+English churches benefited much by the work of foreign artists. The
+great Florentine Francesco di Lievi da Gambassi visited this country.
+There is a letter dated 1434, written "to the master glass-painter
+Gambassi, then in Scotland, and who made works in glass of various
+kinds, and was held to be the best glass-painter in the world." How much
+must we regret the destruction of the windows made by this excellent
+artist in Holyrood chapel and elsewhere by fanatical mobs! The Fairford
+windows are perhaps the finest and most interesting in England. The
+story runs that they were made in Germany for a church in Rome, and that
+the vessel conveying them was captured by an English ship; and as the
+noble church at Fairford was then being built, the glass was sent there
+and given to it. Shiplake Church, Oxfordshire, has some of the beautiful
+glass which once adorned the ruined church of St. Bertin at St. Omer,
+plundered during the French Revolution.
+
+Some good work was accomplished in the seventeenth century by English
+artists, who practised enamel painting, notably by Jervais, who in 1717
+executed from designs by Sir Joshua Reynolds the beautiful west window
+of New College Chapel, Oxford.
+
+The floors of our churches were enriched with inlaid tiles. Various
+patterns and designs were impressed upon them when the clay was moist, a
+metallic glaze covered the surface, and then the tiles were placed in
+the furnace. Many designs are found on ancient tiles, such as heraldic
+devices, monograms, sacred symbols with texts, architectural designs,
+figures, and patterns. The age of the tiles may be determined by
+comparing the designs imprinted upon them with the architectural
+decorations belonging to particular periods. In the sixteenth century
+many Flemish tiles were brought to England, and superseded those of
+English manufacture.
+
+In the Middle Ages no branch of art was neglected. Even the smith, who
+made the ironwork for the doors, locks, and screens, was an artist, and
+took pains to adapt his art to the style of architecture prevailing in
+his time. Norman doors are remarkable for their beautifully ornamented
+hinges. They have curling scrollwork, and a large branch in the form of
+the letter C issuing from the straight bar near the head. Early English
+doors have much elaborate scrollwork, with foliage and animals' heads.
+During the Decorated period the hinges are simpler, on account of the
+carved panelling on the doors, and they continue to become plainer in
+the subsequent period. The knockers on the doors often assume very
+grotesque forms, as at Durham Cathedral. The mediaeval plumber was also
+an artist, and introduced shields of arms, fleur-de-lis, and other
+devices, for the enrichment of spires, and pipes for carrying off water
+from the roof.
+
+[Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION, ENBORNE CHURCH]
+
+No part of the ancient decoration of our churches has suffered more than
+the paintings and frescoes which formerly adorned their walls. In the
+whole of the country there are very few of the ancient edifices which
+retain any traces of the numerous quaint designs and figures painted on
+the inner surfaces of their walls during the Middle Ages. Our ancestors
+used to make free use of colour for the purpose of architectural
+decoration, and employed several means in order to produce the effect.
+They sometimes used fresco, by means of which they produced pictures
+upon the walls covered with plaster while the plaster was wet. Sometimes
+they employed wall-painting, _i.e._ they covered the walls when the
+plaster was dry with some pictorial representation. The distinction
+between fresco and wall-painting is frequently forgotten. Most of the
+early specimens of this art are monochromes, but subsequently the
+painters used polychrome, which signifies surface colouring in which
+various colours are employed. The vaulted ceilings, the timber roof, the
+screens and canopies, the monuments with their effigies, as well as the
+surface of the walls, were often coloured with diaper-work. Colour and
+gilding were marked features in all mediaeval buildings, and even richly
+carved fonts and sculptural monuments were embellished with this method
+of decoration. The appearance of our churches in those times must have
+been very different from what it is now. Then a blaze of colour met the
+eye on entering the sacred building, the events of sacred history were
+brought to mind by the representations upon the walls, and many an
+unlearned rustic acquired some knowledge of biblical history from the
+contemplation of the rude figures with which his village church was
+adorned.
+
+"Even the very walls of this dread place,
+And the tall windows, with their breathing lights,
+Speak to the adoring heart."
+
+The practice of painting the walls of our churches dates as far back as
+Saxon times; but very few fragments of pre-Norman art remain. Of Norman
+work we have numerous examples, and sometimes it is found that the early
+specimens of the art have been painted over in later Gothic times, and
+ruder and larger figures have eclipsed the more careful work of previous
+ages. An example of this was discovered in the church of St. Lawrence,
+Reading, where no less than five distinct series of paintings were
+discovered, painted one over another.
+
+[Illustration: THE CRUCIFIXION, HATFORD, BERKS]
+
+Several circumstances have combined to obliterate these specimens of the
+art of former days. It was not the intention of the Reformers themselves
+to destroy them. They distinguished carefully between "an embossed and
+gilt image, and a process of a story painted with the gestures and
+action of many persons; and commonly the sum of the story written withal
+hath another use in it than one dumb idol or image standing by itself."
+It was left to the Puritans, impelled by fanaticism and ignorance, to
+make "a slanderous desolation of the places of prayer," and it is to
+them we owe much of the destruction of the old mural paintings. At the
+end of the eighteenth century there was a prejudice against these works
+of art; for in 1773 we find the Bishop of London refusing to allow
+Reynolds, West, and Barry to clothe the naked walls of St. Paul's
+Cathedral with pictures painted by themselves. Coated over by layers of
+plaster, or whitewashed until all traces were obliterated, these relics
+of ancient art have remained for generations, and it is only when an old
+church is being restored, and the coats of plaster and whitewash
+removed, that their presence is revealed; and then too often the colours
+fade away on exposure to the air.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PAUL, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+One of the favourite subjects of mural decoration was a figure of St.
+Christopher with the Infant Saviour on his shoulder.[8] He usually has a
+staff, and strange-looking fish swim about his feet as he crosses the
+river; on one side there is a hermitage, with the figure of a hermit
+holding a lantern to guide the saint, and on the other a windmill. This
+figure usually was painted on the wall opposite the principal entrance,
+as it was deemed lucky to see St. Christopher on first entering a
+church. Moreover the sight of the saint was a preservative against
+violent death during the day, and also a preventive against drowsiness
+during the service, as the following verses show:--
+
+  "Christophori sancti speciem quicunque tuetur
+  Illo namque die nullo languore tenetur."
+
+Churchwardens' accounts record the painting of these figures--
+
+"1503-4.  It. payd to mylys paynter for payntyng
+              of Seynt X'fer viii's iiii'd"
+
+"1521.    It. payd to John Payne for payntyng
+              of Sent Leonard left by the wyffs
+              onpaynted xx'd"
+
+A curious order was issued by Edward III. for arresting painters to work
+in St. Stephen's Chapel at Westminster, to which artists of every
+description were liable to surrender as often as the king required their
+services.
+
+[Illustration: ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+In Saxon times Consecration crosses were painted on the interior walls,
+twelve in number, on the spots where the bishop marked the cross with holy
+oil; and sometimes twelve crosses were carved or painted on the exterior
+walls. During Norman times the art made progress, and there are many
+specimens of mural decoration of this period, which correspond with the
+mouldings generally used then; but not many scenes and figures were
+depicted. Representations of bishops, _Agnus Dei_, scenes from the life of
+our Lord, the apostles, the Last Judgment, St. George, scenes from the
+life of St. Nicholas, St. John writing the Apocalypse, were favourite
+subjects. At Copford the painter evidently tried to make the chancel
+figuratively to represent the glories of heaven.
+
+During the reign of Henry III. great progress was made, and travelling
+monks roamed the country leaving behind them in many a village church
+traces of their skill in artistic decoration. The murder of St. Thomas of
+Canterbury now became a favourite subject, also the lives of St. Catherine
+of Alexandria, St. Nicholas, St. Margaret, St. Edmund, the Seven Acts of
+Mercy, and the wheel of fortune. In the fourteenth century the Doom was
+the usual decoration of the space over the chancel arch, and scenes from
+the New Testament, legends of saints, "moralities," etc., were depicted on
+the walls. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the artists paid
+little respect to the work of their predecessors, and frequently painted
+new designs over the earlier mural decorations. They also adorned very
+beautifully the roofs and screens. The arrival of the Flemings in the
+eastern counties is shown by the portraying of subjects and saints not
+usually worshipped in England. The figures of St. George become more
+numerous and also of St. Christopher, who were regarded with much
+superstitious reverence by all classes.
+
+The vanity of human greatness is taught by the morality, "Les Trois Rois
+Morts et les Trois Rois Vifs," representing three kings going gaily
+hunting meeting three skeletons, the remains of kings once as powerful
+as they. "The Dance of Death," so popular abroad, also appears in some
+English churches. The wholesale destruction of so many specimens of
+mediaeval art cannot be too strongly condemned and deplored. If any of my
+readers should be fortunate enough to discover any traces of colouring
+hidden away beneath the coats of whitewash on the walls of their church,
+I would venture to advise them to very carefully remove the covering, and
+then to consult Mr. Keyser's book on _Mural Decorations_, where they will
+find an account of the best methods for preserving these valuable
+specimens of early art.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PETER, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+In the churchyard stands the old weather-beaten yew tree, looking like a
+sentinel keeping watch over the graves of our forefathers. Some of these
+trees are remarkable for their age; the yews at Fountains Abbey, in
+Yorkshire, were probably in a flourishing condition so long ago as the
+year 1132, and some are older still. Why they were planted in churchyards
+it is difficult to ascertain. It has been conjectured that they were
+planted in so secure a spot in order that the men might provide themselves
+with bows, as all the bows used by the English, with which they did such
+execution against their enemies, were made of yew. Others contend that its
+green boughs were used instead of palms on Palm Sunday, or for funerals.
+But I think that they were regarded with veneration by our forefathers
+when they were still heathen, and that some religious symbolism--such as
+of immortality--attached to them; and that when the Christian teachers
+came they made use of this religious sentiment of the people, planted the
+Christian cross by the side of the yew, and under its shade preached
+lessons of true immortality, of which the heathen ideals were only corrupt
+legends and vain dreams.
+
+At the entrance of the churchyard there is often a lich-gate, _i.e._ a
+corpse-gate, where the body may rest while the funeral procession is
+formed. _Lych_ is the Saxon word for a dead body, from which Lich-field,
+"the field of dead bodies," is derived. Bray, in Berkshire, famous for
+its time-serving vicar, is also famous for its lich-gate, which has two
+rooms over it.
+
+"God's acre" is full of holy associations, where sleep "the rude
+forefathers of the hamlet." There stands the village cross where the
+preachers stood in Saxon times and converted the people to Christianity,
+and there the old sundial on a graceful stone pedestal. Sometimes amid
+the memorials of the dead stood the parish stocks. Here in olden days
+fairs were held, and often markets every Sunday and holiday, and minstrels
+and jugglers thronged; and stringent laws were passed to prevent "improper
+and prohibited sports within the churchyard, as, for example, wrestling,
+football, handball under penalty of twopence forfeit." Here church ales
+were kept with much festivity, dancing, and merry-making; and here
+sometimes doles were distributed on the tombstones of parochial
+benefactors, and even bread and cheese scrambled for, according to the
+curious bequests of eccentric donors.
+
+And then there are the quaint epitaphs on the gravestones, of which many
+have made collections. Here is one to the memory of the driver of a
+coach that ran from Aylesbury to London:--
+
+  "Parker, farewell! thy journey now is ended,
+  Death has the whip-hand, and with dust is blended;
+  Thy way-bill is examined, and I trust
+  Thy last account may prove exact and just,
+  When He who drives the chariot of the day,
+  Where life is light, whose Word's the living way,
+  Where travellers, like yourself, of every age,
+  And every clime, have taken their last stage,
+  The God of mercy and the God of love,
+  Show you the road to Paradise above."
+
+Here is another to the memory of a once famous Yorkshire actor, buried
+at Beverley:--
+
+"In memory of Samuel Butler, a poor player that struts and frets his
+hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. Obt. June 15th, 1812,
+Aet. 62."
+
+Here is a strange one from Awliscombe, Devon:--
+
+"Here lie the remains of James Pady, brickmaker, late of this parish,
+in hopes that his clay will be remoulded in a workmanlike manner, far
+superior to his former perishable materials.
+
+  "Keep death and judgment always in your eye,
+  Or else the devil off with you will fly,
+  And in his kiln with brimstone ever fry;
+  If you neglect the narrow road to seek,
+  Christ will reject you like a half-burnt brick."
+
+Those interested in the brave mortals who go down to the sea in ships
+will like to read the following verses which appear on the tomb of
+William Harrison, mariner, buried in Hessle Road Cemetery, Hull:--
+
+  "Long time I ploughed the ocean wide,
+    A life of toil I spent;
+  But now in harbour safe arrived
+    From care and discontent.
+
+  "My anchor's cast, my sails are furled,
+    And now I am at rest;
+  Of all the ports throughout the world,
+    Sailors, this is the best."
+
+The following original epitaph in a neighbouring churchyard compares very
+favourably with the flattering and fulsome inscriptions prevalent at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century, written in what has been called
+"lapidary style ":--
+
+  "He was----
+    But words are wanting to say what;
+  Say what is just and kind,
+    And he was that."
+
+
+[8] At Sedgeford the Infant is portrayed with three heads, illustrating
+the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+CHURCH BELLS
+
+Bell customs and village life--Antiquity of bells--Christening of
+bells--"Ancients"--Inscriptions--Dedications--Inscriptions of
+praise--Leonine verses--Curious inscriptions--Historical events
+recorded--Uses of bells--Passing bell--Pancake bell--Curfew--Guiding
+bells--Names of benefactors--Great bells--Sanctus bell--Sacring
+bell--Frequent ringing of bell--Change-ringing--Care of bells.
+
+
+Bells play an important part in village life, and there are few more
+interesting branches of the study of village antiquities than bell-lore.
+Ringing customs throw much light upon the manners and doings of our
+ancestors. Bells rang to commemorate the great events in history, news
+of which was conveyed to the quiet village; they sounded forth the joys
+and sorrows of the parishioners in their generations, pealed merrily at
+their weddings, and mourned for them at their funerals. As the bell
+"Roland" of Ghent seemed endowed with a human voice, and was silenced
+for ever by Charles V. lest it should again rouse the citizens to arms,
+so these bells in our village steeples seem to speak with living tongues
+and tell the story of our village life.
+
+Bells have great antiquity. Odoceus, Bishop of Llandaff, in 550 A.D.,
+is said to have taken the bells away from his cathedral during a time
+of excommunication. Bede mentions them in the seventh century. In 680
+Benedict, Abbot of Wearmouth, imported some from Italy, and in the tenth
+century St. Dunstan hung many. Ireland probably had bells in the time
+of St. Patrick, who died in 493, and a bell that bears his name is
+preserved at Belfast. The earliest Saxon bells were not cast, but were
+made of plates of iron riveted together, and were probably used as
+hand-bells.
+
+Bells were usually christened. Those of Crowland Abbey were named Pega,
+Bega, Tatwin, Turketyl, Betelin, Bartholomew, and Guthlac. A fire in
+1091 destroyed this peal. Those of the priory of Little Dunmow, Essex,
+according to an old chartulary, were new cast and baptised in 1501.
+
+"Prima in honore Sancti Michaelis Archangeli."
+"Secunda in honore Sancti Johannis Evangelisti."
+"Tertia in honore S. Johannis Baptisti."
+"Quarta in honore Assumptionis beatae Mariae."
+"Quinta in honore Sanctae Trinitatis et omnium sanctorum."
+
+The tenor bell at Welford, Berks, has the inscription, "Missi de celis
+habeo nomen Gabrielis 1596."
+
+Bells dating from before the year 1600 are called "ancients," and it is
+a very pleasant discovery to find one of these in our church tower; and
+still more so if it be a pre-Reformation bell. Unfortunately a large
+number of "ancients" have been recast, owing chiefly to the craze for
+change-ringing which flourished in England between 1750 and 1830. The
+oldest bell in this country is said to be St. Chad's, Claughton, which
+bears the date 1296. Pre-Reformation bells are very seldom dated.
+
+Mediaeval bells have many curious inscriptions on them, which record the
+name of the donor, the bell-founder, together with heraldic and other
+devices. The inscriptions are often written in the first person, the
+bell being supposed to utter the sentiment, as it sends forth its sound.
+A study of the inscriptions on bells is full of interest. The earliest
+are simple dedications of the bell to our Lord, or to some saint. The
+principal inscriptions of this class are: "Jesus," "Jesus Nazarenus Rex
+Judeorum," "Sit nomen IHC benedictum," "Sum Rosa Pulsata Mundi Maria
+Vocata," "Sum Virgo Sancta Maria." The invocation, "Ora pro nobis," very
+frequently is inscribed on bells, followed by the name of some saint,
+and almost every saint in the Calendar is duly honoured in some bell
+inscription.
+
+Bells were always rung on joyful occasions; hence inscriptions
+expressing thankfulness and praise were appropriate. Consequently we
+find such words as "Laus et Gloria Deo," "Laus Deo Gratia
+Benefactoribus," "Alleluja," "Praise God," and other similar
+inscriptions of praise.
+
+Some old bells have Latin hexameter verses inscribed on them, composed
+by monks, which are called Leonine verses, from one Leoninus, a monk of
+Marseilles, who lived in the early part of the twelfth century. A few
+examples of these will suffice:--
+
+  "Est michi collatum ihc illud nomen amaetum."
+  "Protege Virgo pia quos convoco Sancta Maria."
+  "Voce mea viva depello cunta nocina."
+
+This refers to the belief that the ringing of bells drives away all
+demons and tempests, storms and thunders, and all other hurtful things.
+One bell proudly asserts:--
+
+  "Me melior vere non est campana sub ere."
+
+Inscriptions in English are often quaint and curious. Here is one from
+Somerset:--
+
+  "My treble voice
+  Makes hearts rejoice."
+
+Another self-complacent bell asserts--
+
+  "If you have a judicious ear,
+  You'll own my voice is sweet and clear."
+
+Loyal inscriptions are often found, such as--
+
+  "For Church and King
+  We always ring."
+
+  "I was made in hope to ring
+  At the crownacion of our King."
+
+  "Ye people all that hear me ring
+  Be faithful to your God and King."
+
+A bell that has been recast sometimes praises the merits of its new
+founder at the expense of its first maker, as at Badgworth,
+Gloucester:--
+
+  "Badgworth ringers they are mad,
+  Because Rigbe made me bad;
+  But Abel Rudhall you may see
+  Hath made me better than Rigbe."
+
+Sometimes all the bells which compose a peal tell their various uses.
+Thus at Bakewell we find some verses on each bell:--
+
+1. "When I begin our merry Din
+   This Band I lead from discord free;
+   And for the fame of human name,
+   May every Leader copy Me."
+
+2. "Mankind, like us, too oft are found
+   Possess'd of nought but empty sound."
+
+3. "When of departed Hours we toll the knell,
+   Instruction take and spend the future well."
+
+4. "When men in Hymen's Bands unite,
+   Our merry peals produce delight;
+   But when Death goes his dreary Rounds,
+   We send forth sad and solemn sounds."
+
+5. "Thro' grandsires and Tripples with pleasure men range,
+   Till Death calls the Bob and brings on the Last Change."
+
+6. "When Vict'ry crowns the Public Weal
+   With Glee we give the merry Peal."
+
+7. "Would men like us join and agree
+   They'd live in tuneful Harmony."
+
+8. "Possess'd of deep sonorous Tone
+   This Belfry King sits on his throne;
+   And when the merry Bells go round,
+   Adds to and mellows ev'ry Sound;
+   So in a just and well pois'd State,
+   Where all Degrees possess due Weight,
+   One greater Pow'r one greater Tone
+   Is ceded to improve their own."
+
+A Rutland bell has the following beautiful inscription:--
+
+  "Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei."
+  ("Not noise but love sings in the ear of God.")
+
+Historical events are sometimes recorded, as at Ashover, Derbyshire,
+where a recasted bell states:--
+
+  "This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April 1814."
+
+The uses of bells are often shown by their inscriptions. People were
+aroused by their sound each morning in many places, as at St. Ives,
+where a bell is inscribed--
+
+  "Arise and go about your business."
+
+The villagers were summoned to extinguish fires by ringing of bells.
+Thus Sherborne, Dorset, has a bell inscribed--
+
+  "Lord, quench this furious flame:
+  Arise, run, help put out the same."
+
+Bell-ringing customs are very numerous.[9] The passing bell has many
+variants. In some places three times three strokes are sounded for a
+man, three times two for a woman, and three times one for a child. Out
+of the first-named of these practices probably arose the phrase, "Nine
+tailors make a man," which is usually explained as more properly
+signifying "nine tellers make a man." Then we have a pancake bell,
+which formerly summoned people to confession, and not to eat pancakes;
+a gleaning bell, an eight hours' bell rung at 4 a.m., noon, and 8 p.m.
+The curfew bell survives in many places, which, as everyone knows, was
+in use long before William the Conqueror issued his edict. Peals are
+rung on "Oak Apple Day," and on Guy Fawkes' Day, "loud enough to call
+up poor Guy." Church bells played a useful part in guiding the people
+homewards on dark winter evenings in the days when lands were
+uninclosed and forests and wild moors abounded, and charitable folk,
+like Richard Palmer, of Wokingham, left bequests to pay the sexton for
+his labour in ringing at suitable times when the sound of the bells
+might be of service to belated travellers. Names of benefactors often
+find a permanent memorial on the bells which they gave; as at Binstead,
+Hants, where a bell has the inscription--
+
+  "Doctor Nicholas gave five pound
+  To help cast this peal tuneable and sound."
+
+And another bell in the same tower records the name of our famous
+Berkshire bell-founders, the Knight family. The inscription runs:--
+
+  "Samuel Knight made this ring
+  In Binstead steeple for to ding."
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT BELL FOUND AT WARWICK]
+
+The story of our great bells, of "Great Toms," "Big Bens," "Great
+Peters," need not be told here. They wake the echoes of our great
+cities, and are not heard among the hills and dales of rural England.
+Outside the church at the apex of the gable over the chancel arch there
+is sometimes a small bell-cote, wherein the sanctus or saunce bell once
+hung. This was rung during the service of High Mass when the _Ter
+Sanctus_ was sung, in order that those who were engaged at their work
+might know when the canon of the Mass was about to begin, in order that
+they might kneel at the sound and pray to God. At Bosham Harbour the
+fishermen used to so join in the service of the sanctuary, and it is
+said that when George Herbert's sanctus bell sounded for prayers, the
+ploughmen stopped from their work for a few moments and prayed. The
+sanctus bell differed from the sacring bell, which was a hand-bell rung
+inside the church at the elevation of the Host.
+
+Old churchwardens' accounts record the very frequent ringing of bells.
+In addition to the Great Festivals, Corpus Christi Day, Church feasts
+and ales, the occasions of royal visits, of episcopal visitations,
+victories, and many other great events, were always celebrated by the
+ringing of the church bells. In fact by the fondness of English folk
+for sounding their bells this country earned the title in the Middle
+Ages of "the ringing island." Peal-ringing was indeed peculiar to
+England. It was not until the seventeenth century that change-ringing
+became general, and our old bells suffered much at the hands of the
+followers of the new fashion.
+
+In recent years the study of our church bells has made great progress,
+and many volumes have been written upon the bells of various counties.
+Too long have our bells been left to the bats and birds, and the belfry
+is often the only portion of a church which is left uncared for. We are
+learning better now, and the bells which have sounded forth the joys
+and sorrows of our villagers for so many generations are receiving the
+attention they deserve.
+
+
+[9] A collection of these will be found in my book on _Old English
+Customs Extant at the Present Time_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE
+
+Local government--Changes in the condition of villeins and labourers--
+Famine and pestilence--Effects of the Great Plague--Spirit of
+independence--Picture of village life--Church house--Church ales--
+Pilgrimages--Markets--Old English fair--Wars--Hastings--Hereward
+the Wake--Great Civil War--Restoration--Beacons.
+
+
+Let us try to imagine the ordinary life and appearance of a mediaeval
+English village in the "piping times of peace." Of course, no two
+villages are quite alike; each has many distinguishing features; but
+a strong family likeness is observable. In the Middle Ages a village
+was much more independent than it is now. Then there were no Acts of
+Parliament to control its affairs, and it regulated its own conduct
+much to its own satisfaction, without any outside interference. Of
+course, sometimes things were managed badly; but the village knew
+it had only itself to blame, and therefore could not grumble at the
+Government, or the fickleness of members of Parliament, or the
+unreasonable conduct of Local Government Boards. Was not the lord
+of the manor quite capable of trying all criminals? and did not the
+rector and the vestry settle everything to the satisfaction of everyone,
+without any "foreigners" asking questions, or interfering?
+
+The position of the villeins and _cottiers_ has changed considerably
+since the days of William the Norman. The former were now free tenants,
+who paid rent for their land to the lord of the manor, and were not
+bound to work for him, while the latter worked for wages like our
+modern agricultural labourer. There was thus in the twelfth century a
+gradual approximation to modern conditions on many estates; the home
+farm was worked by hired labourers who received wages; while the
+villeins had bought themselves off from the obligation of doing
+customary work by paying a quit-rent.
+
+We should like to know something of the way in which our ancestors
+farmed their land, and fortunately several bailiffs have left us
+their account books very carefully kept, and one Walter de Henley
+in 1250 wrote a book on the _Art of Husbandry_, which gives us much
+information. The rent of land was about sixpence per acre. They
+ploughed three times a year, in autumn, April, and at midsummer, and
+used oxen for their plough-teams. Women helped their husbands in
+ploughing and harvest work. An old writer describes the farmer's wife
+"walking by him with a long goad, in a cutted cote cutted full high."
+Pigs and poultry were numerous on a mediaeval farm, but sheep were the
+source of the farmer's wealth. Large flocks of divers breeds roamed the
+hills and vales of rural England, and their rich fleeces were sent to
+Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent for the manufacture of cloth by the Flemish
+weavers. After the Black Death, a great plague which ravaged the
+country in 1348, the labourers were fewer in number, and their wages
+higher; hence the farmers paid increased attention to their sheep,
+which yielded rich profits, and required few labourers to look after
+them.
+
+Prior to the advent of this grim visitor, the Great Plague, the
+prosperity of our villages had greatly increased. The people were
+better fed and better clothed than any of their neighbours on the
+Continent. Moreover they were free men, and enjoyed their freedom.
+There was much happiness in our English villages in those days, and
+"Merry England" was not a misnomer. There were, however, two causes of
+suffering which for a time produced untold wretchedness--two unwelcome
+visitors who came very frequently and were much dreaded--famine and
+pestilence. There is necessarily a sameness in the records of these
+pestilences.
+
+The chief famine years were 1315 and 1316, but there is hardly any
+period of five years from the death of Edward I. to the coming of
+Henry of Richmond without these ghastly records of the sufferings of
+the people. Disease not only arrested the growth of the population,
+but reduced it considerably. It was mostly of a typhoid nature. The
+undrained soil, the shallow stagnant waters which lay upon the surface
+of the ground, the narrow and unhealthy homes, the filthy and neglected
+streets of the towns, the excessive use of salted provisions and
+absence of vegetables, predisposed the people to typhoid diseases, and
+left them little chance of recovery when stricken down with pestilence.
+
+The Great Plague arrived in England in 1348 from the shores of Italy,
+whither it had been wafted from the East. It was probably carried to
+the port of Bristol by travelling merchants, whence it spread with
+alarming rapidity over the whole land. Whole villages were depopulated,
+and about one-third of the people of England perished. It is difficult
+for us to imagine the sorrow and universal suffering which the plague
+caused. Its effects were, however, beneficial to the villagers who
+survived. Naturally labourers became very scarce and were much sought
+after. Wages rose enormously. The tenants and rustics discovered that
+they were people of importance. Manor lords found it too expensive to
+farm their lands, and were eager to hand them over to their tenants,
+many of whom became much richer and more independent than formerly. The
+spirit of independence pervaded all classes. There came to our village
+many wandering friars, followers of Wiklif, who preached discontent to
+the labouring rustics, told them that the gentry had no right to lord
+it over them, that they were as good as their masters, who ought not to
+live in fine houses in luxury supported by their toil and the sweat of
+their brows. And when oppressive taxes were levied, the rustics
+revolted, and gained much for which they strove. The golden age of the
+English labourer set in, when food was cheap, wages high, and labour
+abundant. A fat pig could be bought for fourpence, and three pounds of
+beef for a penny; and in spite of occasional visits of the plague, the
+villager's lot was by no means unhappy.
+
+Here is a picture of village life in those days. The village church
+stood in the centre of the hamlet, with a carefully made fence around
+it, in order that no swine or foul beast might desecrate the graves.
+Surrounded by the churchyard, with its yew tree and lich-gate, the
+church was very similar to the old building wherein the villagers still
+worship. All the houses had thatched roofs, and chief among the other
+dwellings stood the lord's hall. Near the church was a curious building
+called the church house, which has almost entirely passed away, except
+in the records of old churchwardens' accounts. It was a large building,
+in which could be stored wool, lime, timber, sand, etc., and was often
+let to pedlars, or wandering merchants, to deposit their goods during
+the fair.
+
+In this building there was a long low room with a large fireplace and
+hearth, around which a dozen or more could sit in comfort, except when
+the wind blew the smoke down the wide, open chimney; but our ancestors
+were accustomed to smoky chimneys, and did not mind them. In the centre
+of the room was a large oak table. This was the scene of some very
+festive gatherings. Aubrey thus describes the church house:--
+
+"In every parish was a church house, to which belonged spits, crocks,
+and other utensils for dressing provisions. Here the housekeepers met.
+The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at
+butts, etc., the ancients [_i.e._ old folks] sitting gravely by, and
+looking on."
+
+The churchwardens bought, and received presents of, a large quantity of
+malt, which they brewed into beer and sold to the company. Hence these
+feasts were called "church ales," and were held on the feast of the
+dedication of the church, the proceeds being devoted to the maintenance
+of the poor. Sometimes they were held at Whitsuntide also, sometimes
+four times a year, and sometimes as often as money was wanted or a
+feast desired. An arbour of boughs was erected in the churchyard on
+these occasions called Robin Hood's Bower, where the maidens collected
+money for the "ales," and "all went merry as a marriage bell"--rather
+too merry sometimes, for the ale was strong and the villagers liked it,
+and the ballad-singer was so merry, and the company so hearty--and was
+it not all for a good cause, the support of the poor? The character of
+these festivals deteriorated so much, until at last "church ales" were
+prohibited altogether, on account of the excess to which they gave
+rise.
+
+[Illustration: AN ANCIENT VILLAGE]
+
+There was a large amount of gaiety in the old villages in those days.
+Men were not in so great a hurry to grow rich as they are now. The
+Church authorised many holidays in the course of the year; and what
+with May Day festivities, Plough Mondays, Hocktide and Shrovetide
+sports, harvest suppers, fairs, and "ales," the villagers had plenty of
+amusement, and their lives certainly could not be described as dull.
+Sometimes the village would be enlivened by the presence of a company
+of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury, or
+to Holywell, blessed by St. Winifred, in order to be cured of some
+disease. Although these pilgrims were deemed to be engaged on a
+religious duty, they certainly were not generally very serious or sad.
+Chaucer describes a very joyous pilgrimage in his _Canterbury Tales_,
+how the company met at the Tabard Inn, in Southwark, including the
+knight and the abbot, the prioress and the shipman, the squire and the
+merchant, the ploughman and sompnour (or summoner, "of whose visage
+children were sore afeard"), and rode forth gaily in the spring
+sunshine--
+
+  "The holy blissful martyr for to seek,
+  That them hath holpen when that they were sick."
+
+Pilgrim crosses are numerous all over England, where the pilgrims
+halted for their devotions by the way, and sometimes we find churches
+planted on the roadside far from human habitations, with no
+parishioners near them; and some people wonder why they were so built.
+These were pilgrim churches, built for the convenience of the
+travellers as they wended their way to Canterbury. The villages through
+which they passed must have been much enlivened by the presence of
+these not very austere companies.
+
+The ordinary lives of the farmers were diversified by the visits
+to the weekly markets held in the neighbouring town, where they took
+their fat capons, eggs, butter, and cheese. Here is a curious relic
+of olden times, an ancient market proclamation, which breathes the
+spirit of former days, and which was read a few years ago at
+Broughton-in-Furness, by the steward of the lord of the manor, from
+the steps of the old market cross. These are the words:--
+
+"O yes, O yes, O yes![10] The lord of the manor of Broughton and of
+this fair and market strictly chargeth and commandeth on Her Majesty's
+behalf, that all manners of persons repairing to this fair and market
+do keep Her Majesty's peace, upon pain of five pounds to be forfeited
+to Her Majesty, and their bodies to be imprisoned during the lord's
+pleasure. Also that no manner of person within this fair and market do
+bear any bill, battle-axe, or other prohibited weapons, but such as be
+appointed by the lord's officers to keep this fair or market, upon pain
+of forfeiture of all such weapons and further imprisonment. Also, that
+no manner of person do pick any quarrel, matter, or cause for any old
+grudge or malice to make any perturbation or trouble, upon pain of five
+pounds, to be forfeited to the lord, and their bodies to be imprisoned.
+Also, that none buy or sell in corners, back sides, or hidden places,
+but in open fair or market, upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods
+and merchandise so bought and sold, and their bodies to imprisonment.
+Also, that no manner of persons shall sell any goods with unlawful mete
+or measures, yards or weights, but such as be lawful and keep the true
+assize, upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods and further
+imprisonment. Lastly, if any manner of persons do here find themselves
+grieved, or have any injuries or wrong committed or done against them,
+let them repair to the lord or his officers, and there they shall be
+heard according to right, equity, and justice. God save the Queen and
+the lord of the manor!"
+
+And besides the weekly markets there were the great annual fairs, which
+lasted many days, and were frequented by all classes of the population.
+These fairs were absolutely necessary for the trade of the country in
+the days when few people travelled far from their own homesteads, and
+even the towns with their small number of inhabitants did not afford a
+sufficient market for the farmer's and trader's stock.
+
+The greatest of all English fairs was held in the little village of
+Stourbridge, near Cambridge, now almost absorbed by the University
+town. Hither flocked merchants and traders from all parts of Europe.
+Flemish merchants brought their fine linen and cloths from the great
+commercial cities of Belgium. Genoese and Venetian traders came with
+their stores of Eastern goods. Spaniards and Frenchmen brought their
+wines, and the merchants of the Hanse towns of Germany sold furs and
+flax, ornaments and spices, while in return for all these treasures our
+English farmers brought the rich fleeces of their sheep, their corn,
+horses, and cattle. The booths were planted in a cornfield, and the
+circuit of the fair, which was like a well-governed city, was over
+three miles. The shops were built in streets or rows, some named after
+the various nations that congregated there, and others after the kind
+of goods offered for sale. There were Garlick Row, Bookseller's Row,
+Cook Row; there were a cheese fair, a hop fair, a wool fair, and every
+trade was represented, together with taverns, eating-houses, and in
+later years playhouses of various descriptions. In the eighteenth
+century one hundred thousand pounds' worth of woollen manufactures was
+sold in a week in one row alone. A thousand pack-horses were used to
+convey the goods of the Lancashire merchants to this famous fair. Now
+railways have supplanted the pack-horses; fairs have had their day; the
+trade of the country can now be carried on without them; and their
+relics with their shows and shooting-galleries and steam roundabouts
+have become a nuisance.
+
+The peaceful life of the villagers was sometimes disturbed by the
+sounds and sights of conflict. The exciting tales of war are connected
+with the history of many an English village, and many "little
+Wilhelmines" and labouring "grandsires" have discovered "something
+large and round," traces of these ancient conflicts and "famous
+victories."
+
+  "For often when they go to plough
+  The ploughshare turns them out,
+  'And many thousand men,' quoth he,
+  'Were slain in that great victory.'"
+
+Many a lance and sword, and gilt spur, beautifully enamelled, which
+once decked the heel of a noble knight, have been found in our fields,
+and remind us of those battles which were fought so long ago.
+
+        "The knights are dust,
+         Their good swords rust,
+  Their souls are with the saints, we trust."
+
+Sometimes the spectres of armed knights and warriors are supposed to
+haunt these scenes of ancient slaughter, and popular superstition has
+handed down the memory of the battles which were fought so long ago. It
+tells us of the mythical records of the fights of King Arthur and his
+Knights of the Round Table by the banks of the River Douglas, which ran
+with blood for three days, so terrible was the slaughter. It tells us
+how stubbornly the Britons resisted the Roman armies, so that on one
+occasion not one Briton was left to tell the tale of their defeat.
+
+When we visit the site of some battle with the history book in our hand,
+it is possible to imagine the lonely hillside peopled again with the
+dense ranks of English archers, or hear the clanging of the armour as
+the men-at-arms charged for "St. George and merry England"; and the air
+will be full again of the battle-cries, of the groans of the wounded and
+the shouts of the victors.
+
+Visit the scene of the battle of Hastings. Here on the high ground,
+flanked by a wood, stood the brave English, under the leadership of
+Harold, with his banner, woven with gold and jewels, shining
+conspicuously in the morning sunlight. Here they stood in the form of
+a wedge; there they turned the Normans, and put them to flight. Then
+the Normans rallied, pretended to fly, decoyed the brave English from
+their position, and by stratagem succeeded in defeating them at last.
+Or go to the Madingley Windmill, near Cambridge, and see the fifteen
+miles of rich drained cornfields which intervene between "Ely's stately
+fane" and the spot on which you are standing. Here read Kingsley's
+well-known story of _Hereward; or, The Last of the English_, and instead
+of the rich cornfields you will see that black abyss of mud and bottomless
+slime into which sank the flower of Norman chivalry as they tried to
+cross that treacherous bog to conquer the gallant Hereward and to
+plunder the monastery of Ely, the last stronghold of the English. On
+they came, thousands upon thousands, rushing along the floating bridge
+which they had formed, until at last it gave way beneath the weight, and
+the black slime swallowed up the miserable wretches.
+
+Or let us take our stand on the Round Tower, near the summit of the Edge
+Hill, and see the site of the first battle between the troops of Charles
+I. and the soldiers of the Parliament. The whole of that green lane was
+lined with troops. In a cottage which stood at our feet the king
+breakfasted before the battle; from that mound he surveyed the forces of
+the enemy. Just as the bells in yonder church had ceased to ring for
+service on Sunday afternoon the cannon began to roar, and the fight
+commenced. There Prince Rupert charged with headlong fury, carrying all
+before him. And so we can follow the fortunes of the fight until the
+brave Cavaliers retired to rest--
+
+  "And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered
+  The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die."
+
+The memory of many a fight is recorded in the names of the fields,
+places, and hills on which the battle raged. Lichfield (_i.e._ the
+field of the dead), Battlefield, Battle, Battleflats, Standard Hill,
+Slaughterford, and many others, all tell the tale of war and slaughter.
+
+In some parts of the country, especially in Oxfordshire, there are fine
+avenues of trees, which appear to lead to a large house; but when you
+have walked to the end of the trees there is nothing to be seen. These
+avenues tell the tale of war, of the destruction of the manor-house of
+some old Royalist who fought for his king when the "Roundheads" and
+Cromwell's "Ironsides" were more than a match for the gallant Cavaliers.
+His house was destroyed, he and his sons killed, unless they were
+fortunate enough to escape to France and wait the merry time "when the
+king should enjoy his own again." How many of our uplands and gentle
+vales have been stained with blood, and seen the terrible horrors of
+war, of which we in these favoured days know nothing from our own
+experience! We read about the sad battles and sieges which have taken
+place in other countries, but can hardly imagine the time when hostile
+soldiers were riding through our village lanes, and the noise of the
+cannon was booming in the distance, as on that famous Sunday morning in
+October, 1642, when Richard Baxter was disturbed in his preaching at
+Alcester by that strange sound, and knew that the terrible conflict had
+begun between the king and Parliament. Our English villages suffered
+very much. All farming was stopped, manor-houses destroyed, some of the
+best blood in England spilt, and many a home made desolate. Indeed, in
+some parts of the country the people had literally no bread to eat, and
+no clothing to cover their nakedness; and Cromwell ordered collections
+to be made in London for the relief of the distressed people in
+Lancashire. Then the old clergyman was driven from his flock, and some
+commissioner appointed who wrote in the register-books of the parish the
+names of the children who were born, but did not record their baptism as
+the clergyman did. And then some black-gowned Puritan, with his hair cut
+short, came and took possession of the living, and preached very long
+sermons about Cromwell "girding his sword upon his thigh," and about
+blinded Papists, and about Mahershalal-hash-baz, who made haste to
+divide the spoil.
+
+But in the glorious year 1660 everyone began to throw up his cap and
+welcome right royally the king from over the water; and the long-faced
+Puritan disappeared, and the writing in the register-books changed into
+that of a scholarly hand; and many of our churches were enriched by
+thankofferings of plate and other gifts, because the good people of
+England rejoiced exceedingly that their loved Church and her services
+were restored to them; and "the king at last enjoyed his own again." The
+memory of the adventures of King Charles II., when he was endeavouring
+to escape from England after the last crushing defeat of the royal
+troops at Worcester, called by Cromwell "the crowning mercy," still
+lingers in many of the country villages through which the unfortunate
+monarch passed. The king and a few faithful followers avoided the towns,
+passed the ford of the Salwarp at Hemford Mill, and proceeded by Chester
+Lane to Broadwaters and Kinfare Heath. Presently they reached Brewood
+Forest, where there stood two old hunting-lodges, built by the Giffards
+in troublous times as hiding-places for proscribed Papists. They were
+called White Ladies and Boscobel, and were inhabited by staunch
+Royalists named Penderel; so the king knew he would be safe there. He
+was disguised as a forester with leathern jerkin and trunk hose, his
+long hair cropped, and his hands blackened. All day he lay concealed in
+a coppice, and in the evening, under the name of Will Jackson, he supped
+with the Penderels, and then tried to cross the Severn, but all the
+fords and bridges were guarded. The next day he and Colonel Carlos
+remained concealed in a large oak near Boscobel, and the memory of Royal
+Oak day is still preserved. He had other narrow escapes, and was saved
+by Mistress Jane Lane, the beautiful daughter of Colonel Lane. A pass
+had been obtained for her and her groom to go to Abbot's Leigh, near
+Bristol. The plan was arranged that the king should act as groom; so
+Charles mounted his horse, and Mistress Lane sat behind him on a
+pillion, and together they rode through Warwickshire to Bristol. The
+king was nearly captured at Long Marston, for some troopers of Cromwell
+suspected the party, and came to examine the house where they rested.
+The cook, however, set Charles to wind up the jack, and because he was
+awkward struck him with the basting-ladle just as the soldiers entered
+the kitchen. Their suspicions were thus removed; and in this old house
+the remains of the jack are still preserved. The poor king was
+disappointed of his ship; the skipper unfortunately told his wife that
+he was going to take the king to France, and she was angry, and locked
+him up in his room, so that he could not fulfil his engagement. At last
+Lord Wilmot procured a ship for the fugitive king, who set sail joyfully
+from Shoreham, near Brighton, and reached Paris in safety. There must
+have been great excitement in the villages of England when the troopers
+were scouring the country in all directions, and the unfortunate king
+was known to be wandering about disguised as a servant.
+
+If there are any hills or high ground in your neighbourhood commanding
+an extensive view of the country, it is probable that in olden days a
+beacon was placed there, so that the country might be aroused in case of
+an invasion, and frequently we find that the tower of a church was used
+as a beacon, and occasionally the iron brazier remains, as at Little
+Budworth, Cheshire. When the Spaniards determined to invade England in
+the reign of "Good Queen Bess," and sent the Invincible Armada,
+consisting of an enormous number of ships and men and guns, bonfires
+were placed on every hill; and when a gallant merchant vessel brought
+the news that the Spaniards were coming, the bonfires were lighted, and
+everyone prepared to resist their attack. Macaulay has told us in very
+stirring verse of how the news spread, as each fire was lighted,
+
+  "From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay";
+
+how Beachy Head caught the signal from St. Michael's Mount, and sent it
+swiftly over the country from tower to hill-top,
+
+  "Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile,
+  And the red glare of Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle."
+
+Again, within the memory of the old inhabitants of your village, the
+hill beacons were brought into use when Napoleon I. threatened to invade
+England; and on January 31, 1803, by some mistake, the fire on Hume
+Castle, in Berwickshire, was lighted; other beacons responded, and ere
+morning dawned thousands were marching ankle-deep through the dense mud
+of the winter roads to their appointed stations. The mistake was not
+without its uses, as Napoleon saw that England was ready, and did not
+venture to attack our shores. A similar accident took place in the reign
+of Henry VIII. There was a conspiracy against the king by the Roman
+Catholics, who did not like their monasteries being destroyed, called
+"The Pilgrimage of Grace." Beacons were erected on the heights of
+Pendel, in Lancashire, and on the various hills of Yorkshire and
+Derbyshire; but the beacon on Pendel was fired before the conspirators
+were quite ready for action, and their plot came to nothing.
+
+Once again in the history of our country were these beacon fires
+lighted; but it was not to announce the approach of an enemy, but to
+reflect the gladness of the nation which for so many years had enjoyed
+the reign of so good a ruler as Queen Victoria, who has now passed away
+from us, and whom the whole nation mourns. And as we witnessed the
+sudden blaze of the beacons we thought, perhaps, of other occasions when
+they were used, and were thankful that rejoicings and thanksgivings were
+the cause, and not invasions or conspiracies.
+
+
+[10] This is a corruption of the old Norman-French word _oyez_,
+"hear ye."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES
+
+Decay of old sports--Twelfth Night--Shrovetide--Mothering Sunday--
+Hocktide--May Day--Miracle plays--St. John's Day--Rush-bearing--Beating
+the bounds--Archery--Quintain--Football--Christmas games--Stocks--
+Cucking-stool.
+
+
+It is the custom of some writers to represent the lot of an English
+villager in past ages as having been particularly hard and disagreeable;
+to enlarge upon the scanty wages which he received; and to compare his
+position unfavourably with that of the agricultural labourer of the
+present day. I have already pointed out that the small wages which he
+received are no test of his poverty, because he received so much more in
+lieu of wages; and certainly he had far more opportunities of enjoyment
+and recreation than the present generation has. Now we have scarcely any
+village games or sports, except when some energetic rector or curate
+starts a cricket club. Old social customs, which added such diversity to
+the lives of the rustics two centuries ago, have died out. The village
+green, the source of so much innocent happiness, is no more; and a
+recent writer has observed that the ordinary existence of agricultural
+labourers is so dull that in East Anglia they have almost forgotten how
+to laugh!
+
+We will now try to realise how our village forefathers used to enjoy
+themselves, how they used to spend their holidays, and to picture to
+ourselves the scenes of happy social intercourse which once took place
+in our own hamlet. Every season of the year had its holiday customs and
+quaint manner of observance, some of them confined to particular
+counties, but many of them universally observed.
+
+On the eve of Twelfth Night, January 5th, we see the good farmer and his
+labourers in Devonshire joining hands round his apple trees, and
+singing--
+
+      "Here's to thee, old apple tree!
+  Hence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow!
+  And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
+        Hats full! caps full!
+        Bushel, bushel, sacks full,
+      And my pockets full too! Huzza!"
+
+A hearty supper followed, and with laughter, songs, and good wishes to
+the farmer and his wife, the company passed a very joyous evening. In
+Herefordshire, Yorkshire, and other parts of England similar customs
+prevailed.
+
+[Illustration: ANN HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE]
+
+Then followed Twelfth Night, which was celebrated by great rejoicings
+and merry-makings, a game called the choosing of kings and queens being
+played, and Twelfth Night cakes consumed in plenty. The next Monday was
+called Plough Monday, when the labourers used to draw a plough round
+the parish and receive presents of money, favouring the spectators with
+sword-dancing and mumming, preparatory to beginning to plough after the
+Christmas holidays. The men were decked out with gay ribbons, and were
+accompanied by morris-dancers. The Christmas holidays lasted these
+twelve days, and during them it was customary for the gentlemen to
+feast the farmers, and for the farmers to feast their labourers. Then
+came the Shrovetide festivities, on Shrove Tuesday, when pancakes,
+football, and cock-fighting, and a still more barbarous custom of
+throwing sticks at hens, were generally in vogue. On Mid-Lent Sunday,
+commonly called "Mothering Sunday," it was the pleasing custom for
+servants and apprentices to carry cakes or furmity as presents to their
+mother, and to receive from her a cake with her blessing. This was
+called "going a-mothering." The old poet Herrick alludes to the custom
+in Gloucestershire in these words:--
+
+  "I'll to thee a simnell bring,
+  'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering;
+  So that when she blesseth thee,
+  Half that blessing thou'lt give me."
+
+Then came the diversions of Hocktide, on the second Monday and Tuesday
+after Easter, when the men and women intercepted the public on alternate
+days with ropes, and boldly exacted money for pious purposes. There was
+a Hocktide play, which was acted before Queen Elizabeth, and caused her
+much amusement. She gave the players two bucks and five marks of money,
+which delighted them exceedingly.
+
+Very shortly afterwards the great rural festival of our forefathers
+took place, the glad May Day, when, in the early dawn, the lads and
+lassies left their towns and villages, and going into the woods to the
+sound of music, gathered the may or blossomed branches of the tree,
+and bound them with wreaths of flowers. At sunrise they returned, and
+decorated the lattices and doors with the sweet-smelling spoil of
+their joyous journey, and spent the rest of the day in sports and
+pastimes, and dancing round the Maypole. The setting-up of the
+May-pole was a very joyous ceremony. A long string of oxen, gaily
+decked with flowers, drew to the village green the time-honoured pole,
+decked with streamers, flowers, and flags, where it was raised amidst
+laughter and shouts; and the Queen of the May was enthroned in an
+arbour and all danced round; and the morris-dancers, Robin Hood, Friar
+Tuck, and Maid Marian performed wonderful antics as they led the
+revels. Targets were set up at the other end of the green, and archery
+formed an important part of the day's pleasures. The preachers at the
+time of the Reformation thought the people made an idol of the
+Maypole, and condemned the innocent amusements, which were revived
+again when Charles II. came to the throne. After May Day our villagers
+had not long to wait until the Whitsuntide holiday came round--
+
+    "A day of jubilee,
+    An ancient holiday;
+  When, lo! the rural revels are begun,
+  And gaily echoing to the laughing sky,
+    On the smooth-shaven green,
+    Resounds the voice of mirth."
+
+I have already given a description of these Whitsuntide rejoicings in
+a preceding chapter.
+
+Then there were the miracle plays, or "mysteries," as they were called,
+in June, on Corpus Christi Day, which were performed before the
+Reformation, principally in the neighbourhood of large monasteries;
+Coventry, Chester, London, York being specially renowned for these
+performances. The subjects were taken from Holy Scripture, or from
+the lives of saints, and were intended to teach the people religious
+knowledge, but the scenes were disfigured by many absurdities and
+grotesque perversions. Their history is a curious one, too long to
+enter upon in this chapter; but often in the open fields, at the bottom
+of natural amphitheatres, were these plays performed, very similar in
+construction to the famous passion play performed by the peasants, at
+Ober Ammergau, in Bavaria, the last surviving specimen of the ancient
+religious drama.
+
+Then there were the bonfires to be lighted on St. John's Day upon the
+hillsides, and the dance of the young people around them, the more
+venturesome youths leaping through the flames, all carrying home the
+firebrands and forming a glad procession. Afterwards followed the busy
+harvest-time, when everyone was too hard at work, and too tired at the
+end of the day's labours, to think of holiday-making; but at length
+came the harvest home, when the last sheaf was gathered in, and the
+harvest supper was a very joyous occasion. With light hearts, smiling
+faces, and cheerful shouts, the harvest labourers and their wives and
+children, carrying green boughs, a sheaf of wheat, and rude flags,
+formed a glad procession to the farmer's house, where they found the
+fuelled chimney blazing wide, and "the strong table groaning beneath
+the smoking sirloin." The feast over, they retired to some near
+hillock, and made the welkin ring with their shouts, "Holla, holla,
+holla, largess!"--largess being the presents of money and good things
+which the farmer had bestowed. Such was the harvest home in the good
+old days, a joy and delight to both old and young. Shorn of much of its
+merriment and quaint customs, it still lingers on; but modern habits
+and notions have deprived it of much of its old spirit and
+light-heartedness.
+
+The floors of the old churches were formerly unpaved and unbearded,
+simply made of clay, and were covered over with rushes. Once a year
+there was a great ceremony, called "rush-bearing." Rushes were cut in
+the neighbouring marsh, and made up into long bundles, decked with
+ribands and flowers. Then a procession was formed, everyone bearing a
+bundle of rushes, or placing them in the rush-cart beautifully adorned;
+and with music, drums, and ringing of bells, they marched to the church
+and strewed the floor with their honoured burdens. Long after the
+rushes ceased to be used in church the ceremony was continued, and I
+have myself witnessed a rush-bearing procession such as I have
+described. A village feast, followed by dancing round the May-pole,
+generally formed the conclusion to the day's festivities.
+
+"Beating the bounds" of the parish was another annual ceremony, which
+often took place on Ascension Day and is still in use at Oxford.
+Boundaries of property were not so clearly defined in those days as
+they are now; and hedgerows, walls, and railings were scarce. The
+bounds of the parish were often marked by trees, called "gospel trees,"
+because the clergyman used to read the gospel for the day under their
+shade. The people carried a processional cross and willow wands, and
+boys were generally flogged at the boundaries, or ducked in the river,
+if that constituted a boundary, in order to impress upon their memories
+where the bounds were. The village feast afterwards made some amends to
+them for their harsh treatment.
+
+The village sports were a great source of enjoyment, and were frequently
+indulged in. The time-honoured archery developed the skill of our
+English bowmen, and won for them many a battle before the days of
+gunpowder and cannons. Then there was the very ancient game of the
+quintain, which consisted of an upright post with a cross-post turning
+upon a pin. At one end of the latter was a broad board, at the other a
+heavy sand-bag. The play, which required skill and dexterity, was to
+ride against the broad end with a lance, and pass by before the sandbag,
+swinging round, could strike the player to the ground. This was a common
+sport at wedding festivities. There were also the games of singlestick,
+cudgelling, and wrestling, which had many votaries, and the famous game
+of quarter-staff, so general in Berkshire, and so graphically described
+in _The Scouring of the White Horse_, by Mr. Hughes. An old parishioner
+of mine was the reputed champion of this game, which has now almost died
+out. Football is an ancient sport, and the manner formerly in vogue most
+nearly resembles the game authorised by the Rugby rules. The football
+was thrown down in the churchyard, and the object was to carry it
+perhaps two or three miles, every inch of ground being keenly contested.
+"Touch-downs" were then unknown, but it is evident from old records that
+"scrimmages" and "hacking" were much in vogue. Sack-racing, grinning
+through horse-collars, running after pigs with greased tails, were some
+of the lighter forms of amusement which pleased the villagers.
+
+Then in the winter evenings there were "carols" to be practised for
+Christmas, and each village boasted of its own musicians, who played
+violins, flutes, clarionets, and other instruments in church, before
+the days of harmoniums and organs. Their music might not be of a very
+first-rate order, but they delighted in it, took an interest in it; and
+how pleased they were to take part in the service, and to play over
+their favourite hymn tunes, with a great many twirls and variations, to
+their children during the winter evenings! Christmas brought its
+accustomed merry-makings. In the north every farmer gave two feasts,
+one called "t' ould foaks' neet," and the other "t' young foaks' neet."
+Here is Sir Walter Scott's description of an ancient Christmas:--
+
+  "And well our Christian sires of old
+  Loved when the year its course had roll'd
+  And brought blithe Christmas back again,
+  With all its hospitable train.
+  Domestic and religious rite
+  Gave honour to the holy night:
+  On Christmas Eve the bells were rung;
+  On Christmas Eve the Mass was sung;
+  That only night in all the year
+  Saw the staled priest the chalice rear.
+  The damsel donn'd her kirtle sheen;
+  The hall was dressed with holly green;
+  Forth to the wood did merry men go,
+  To gather in the mistletoe.
+  Then open wide the baron's hall,
+  To vassal, tenant, serf, and all;
+  Power laid his rod of rule aside,
+  And Ceremony doft'd his pride.
+  The heir with roses in his shoes,
+  That night might village partner choose;
+  The lord, underogating, share
+  The vulgar game of 'post and pair.'
+  All hailed with uncontrolled delight
+  The general voice, the happy night,
+  That to the cottage, as the crown,
+  Brought tidings of salvation down.
+
+  "The fire, with well-dried logs supplied,
+  Went roaring up the chimney wide;
+  The huge hall-table's oaken face
+  Scrubb'd till it shone, the day of grace,
+  Bore then upon its massive board
+  No mark to part the squire and lord.
+  Then was brought in the lusty brawn,
+  By old blue-coated serving man;
+  Then the grim boar's head frowned on high
+  Crested with bays and rosemary.
+  Well can the green-garb'd ranger tell
+  How, when, and where the monster fell;
+  What dogs before his death he tore,
+  And all the baiting of the boar;
+  While round the merry wassail bowl,
+  Garnished with ribbons, blithe did trowl.
+  Then the huge sirloin reek'd: hard by
+  Plum-porridge stood, and Christmas pie;
+  Nor fail'd old Scotland to produce
+  At such high time her savoury goose.
+  Then came the merry maskers in,
+  And carols roared with blithesome din;
+  If unmelodious was the song,
+  It was a hearty note, and strong.
+  Who lists may in this mumming see
+  Traces of ancient mystery;
+  White shirts supply the masquerade,
+  And smutted cheeks the visor made;
+  But, oh! what masquers, richly dight,
+  Can boast of bosoms half so light!
+  England was merry England when
+  Old Christmas brought his sports again.
+  'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale;
+  'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale.
+  A Christmas gambol oft would cheer
+  A poor man's heart through half the year."
+
+Such was the manner of keeping Christmas in olden times; and if "the
+mightiest ale" was sometimes too mighty, and although the intemperance
+of our forefathers was a vice much to be deplored, at any rate their
+hearty manner of keeping this annual feast was effectual in promoting
+"goodwill amongst men," and in cheering the hearts of the poor.
+
+In this chapter I have attempted to show the varied amusements and
+recreations in which our village ancestors took part. On the old village
+green, which in too many of our villages has been inclosed and become a
+thing of the past, many of these sports and pastimes once took place.
+There stood the village stocks, in which the refractory paid the penalty
+of their misdeeds; and sometimes, too, a pillory was added, which held
+fast the head, arms, and legs of the culprit, while the villagers, rude
+vindicators of the law, threw stones, rotten eggs, and other missiles at
+the unhappy victim. At the edge of the pond you might have seen a long
+plank which turned on a swivel, with a chair at the end overhanging the
+water. This was called a "cucking-stool," and was used to duck scolds or
+brawlers. The culprit was placed in the chair, and the other end of the
+plank was raised several times, so that the ardour of the culprit was
+effectually cooled by frequent immersions. These were rough methods of
+administering justice, but often very effectual in checking vice.
+
+The social customs which formerly existed in each village, the sports
+and pastimes associated with the village green, the May Day festivals,
+and the Christmas carollings were of great value, inasmuch as they
+tended to infuse some poetical feeling into the minds of the people,
+softened the rudeness of rustic manners, and gave the villagers simple
+pleasures which lightened their labours. They prevented them from
+growing hard, grasping, and discontented with their lot. They promoted
+good feeling between the farmers and their labourers. The customs of
+the town were a poor exchange for the ancient country manners and
+amusements; and it was a sad day for our country when the villagers
+lost their simplicity and the power of appreciating the primitive
+pleasures of rural England.
+
+[Illustration: OLD STOCKS AND WHIPPING POST]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE VILLAGE INN
+
+Monastic inns--Village inns--Highwaymen--Inn signs--Famous inns--
+Man-traps.
+
+
+In almost every village in England there is an inn. Before the
+Reformation there were very few of these hostelries, as travellers
+were always accommodated at the monasteries, each of which, as we have
+seen, had a hospitium, or guest-house, where their wants were attended
+to by special officers appointed for the purpose, and where they could
+remain for several days. But the destruction of the monasteries
+produced many changes in the condition of the country; it introduced
+the necessity of a poor law, for the poor were always relieved by the
+monasteries; it required the erection of schools and places for
+education, as all the education of the country had been carried on in
+these monastic buildings; and when the old guesthouses ceased to
+exist, travellers, merchants, and pedlars required some place in which
+to lodge when they moved about the country, and inns became plentiful
+as time went on. Hence in almost every village in England there is an
+inn, which is generally a landmark; and if you wish to direct a
+stranger to some place where he desires to go, you doubtless tell him
+to turn to the right by "The Bull," or to keep straight on until he
+comes to "The Magpie." Indeed, a friend of mine, who is a strong
+teetotaler, asserts that the only good use inns have is to help people
+to find their road. But old inns have a great history. In former days
+they used to be meeting-places of plotters and conspirators. All the
+distinguished people in the country used to pass through the villages
+and towns on the great roads through the country, and when the horses
+were being changed they used to partake of the good fare which the
+landlord provided. Those were busy times for the old inns, when there
+was stabling for fifty or sixty horses, and the coaches used to rattle
+through the village to the inn door long before the iron horses began
+to drag their freight of passengers along the iron roads, and the
+scream of the engines took the place of the cheerful notes of the
+posthorn.
+
+Sometimes a gentleman would ride to an inn door on a beautiful,
+fleet-looking steed, and receive a hearty welcome from the landlord;
+but the pistols in his belt looked ominous, and presently some
+soldiers would steal noiselessly into the inn where the gentleman was
+refreshing himself, and there would be heard the sounds of vigorous
+fighting; and often, in some wonderful way, Claude Duval or the noted
+Dick would fight his way out, whistle to his steed, jump into the
+saddle, and ride away before his less nimble pursuers had recovered
+from their astonishment. Very many exciting scenes have taken place in
+our old inns, but in these days railways have changed all things; and
+in many streets where the coaches used to rattle along, and the place
+was alive with merry sounds, the moss now grows, and all is silence
+and desolation. We should certainly think it inconvenient to take
+three days to travel from London to Bath, and it would not be pleasant
+to have a visit from Dick Turpin on the way, and to have all one's
+valuables appropriated by that notorious highwayman; but in these days
+of worry and busy bustling it would be refreshing to catch a glimpse
+of those quiet times when people were not so much in a hurry, and to
+hear the sound of the posthorn once more instead of the whistle of the
+steam-engine.
+
+The quaint-looking pictures and curious names which attract our notice
+as we pass an inn door have some queer stories to tell. We notice a very
+curious collection of animals sometimes, and a strange assortment of
+things; and the reason why our ancestors put some of these curious
+things together is somewhat difficult for us to find out. In olden days,
+other houses of tradesmen besides inns had signs. Grocers, tailors,
+candlestick-makers, all had signs; but most of these have disappeared,
+except one belonging to a certain sweep of my acquaintance, whose house
+is adorned with the figure of a man coming out of a globe, with the
+motto, "Help me through the world." Over their doors barbers still have
+their poles, which represented once the fact that the barber was
+prepared to bandage up wounded arms and legs, and to perform the office
+of blood-letting; the stripes on the pole were intended to represent the
+bandages, and the barber was the surgeon of the town. We do not seem to
+have so much blood to spare as our forefathers, as the barber always
+bled his customers once or twice a year, especially in the springtime,
+the operation being considered very beneficial.
+
+One reason for the curious mixture of animals and other things which we
+see on signboards is that an apprentice, when he had finished his time
+and begun to set up for himself, adopted some sign, and then joined with
+it the sign of his old master. This will account for such curiosities as
+"The Lamb and Dolphin," "The Goose and Gridiron," "The Fox and Seven
+Stars," combinations of things for which it would otherwise be difficult
+to account. Another reason is that signs were taken from the armorial
+bearings, or crests, of some popular character, or of some great family
+in the neighbourhood. For example, I may mention "The Bear with the
+Ragged Staff," which was the crest of Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick,
+commonly called "The Kingmaker," who was slain in the battle of Barnet,
+1471 A.D. "The Blue Boar" was one of the badges of the House of York.
+"The Bull" is a very common sign, because it was a very common crest,
+and we have them in all colours--black, red, white; lions also rage in
+blue, white, and red attire. Sometimes we meet with "The Cross Keys,"
+the keeper of which was probably an old servant or tenant of an abbey or
+monastery, and chose his sign from that of the monastery with which he
+was connected. Frequently, in olden times, a cross was erected at the
+meeting of two or three roads, or where the pilgrims to Canterbury used
+to pass; afterwards an inn was built near it, and was, in many cases,
+called the Cross Inn.
+
+One very common cause of curious signs is the way in which the original
+word has been corrupted by ignorant people frequently repeating words
+which they did not understand, and thus changing their whole meaning.
+You may have seen an inn described as "The Swan with Two Necks"--a very
+rare bird indeed. But it was never intended to disfigure the bird by
+giving it two necks; the original sign was "The Swan with Two _Nicks_"
+and nicks were the marks which were cut on a swan's bill to distinguish
+it from other swans, so that it might be known to whom the bird
+belonged. But _nicks_ became _necks_ in course of conversation, until at
+last a fabulous creature with two beautifully curved necks appeared on
+the signboard. This same cause will account for the two strange signs,
+"Bull and Gate" and "Bull and Mouth." The original signs were "Boulogne
+Gate" and "Boulogne Mouth," _i.e._ the gate and harbour of the town of
+Boulogne, in France, which was captured by the English under King Henry
+VIII. in the year 1544. The English were very pleased to hear of the
+defeat of the French, and of the taking of that important town, and
+several inns were named in honour of the event; but the French
+"Boulogne" was too much for our good English mouths to speak, so it
+became "Bull and."
+
+Another name which puzzled our forefathers was "_La Belle Sauvage_"
+("the Beautiful Savage"), which was named after a noted savage beauty
+who was the rage at Paris. Others assert that the name of the landlady
+was Isabella Savage, shortened into Bella Savage. However, in course of
+time the name was altered into "Bell and Savage," and a picture
+representing this odd combination stood over the door. In the same way
+the original sign, "Whip and Nag," between which there is often a very
+close connection, became "Whip and Egg"; and the reason why these two
+articles should be placed together is not so evident. So also there does
+not seem any reason for an inn to be called "Bag o' Nails"; but when we
+are told that the original word was "Bacchanals," _i.e._ followers of
+Bacchus, the old god of wine, we can understand how the corruption, "Bag
+o' Nails," arose. Before the days of licensing, when everyone could sell
+liquor who chose without obtaining any licence from the magistrates, it
+was the custom to put a bush over the doorway, in order to inform the
+passers-by that liquor could be purchased there. This is the origin of
+the saying, "Good wine needs no bush."
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE INN WITH OLD TITHE BARN OF READING ABBEY]
+
+"The Catherine Wheel" tells us the sad story of St. Catherine, who was
+born at Alexandria, and for converting fifty heathen philosophers to
+Christianity was sentenced by the Emperor Maxentius to death on a wheel,
+devised by most ingenious cruelty, armed with knives, saws, and nails.
+It is recorded that she was rescued from this fate, but was afterwards
+beheaded (305 A.D.). It is curious that this instrument of torture and
+the story of St. Catherine's heroism should be recorded on a signboard.
+But it may have been brought before the public by a certain miracle
+play, founded on the life of St. Catherine, which used to be performed
+on festival days. However, the Catherine wheel appears frequently on the
+coats-of-arms of several families, and it may be that the sign was taken
+from these.
+
+"The George," also, is a very popular sign; and the "St. George of
+merry England" is the patron saint of this country, and the battle-cry
+of her knights and yeomen of ancient days. Who does not remember that
+stirring scene on St. George's Mount during the Crusades, described in
+Sir Walter Scott's _Talisman_, when King Richard tore down the Austrian
+banner, which the Austrian monarch had dared to erect beside the Royal
+Standard of England? St George is generally represented as slaying
+a dragon. He was a soldier who served gallantly under the Emperor
+Diocletian, and commanded a legion of soldiers; he was a Christian,
+and by the dragon whom he slew is meant the devil, red with the blood
+of the Christians. So popular a personage as St. George, whose name
+inspired our ancestors with courage, and was often borne by them into
+the heart of the foe, would soon be recorded in paintings and become a
+general sign. "The Goat" is a common sign, and is taken from the crest
+of the Duke of Bedford; but "The Goat and Compasses" has puzzled many
+people as to its origin. It appears to be a corruption of a pious
+expression, "God encompasseth us"; and this shows how strangely words
+may be twisted and converted by ignorant and careless usage.
+
+There are some very noted inns where great events have taken place,
+amongst which I may mention the Bull Inn at Coventry. Here Henry VII.
+was entertained the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, when
+he won for himself the English crown. Here Mary Queen of Scots was
+detained by order of Elizabeth. Here the conspirators of the Gunpowder
+Plot met to devise their scheme for blowing up the Houses of
+Parliament. And when the citizens refused to open their gates to
+Charles I. and his soldiers, no doubt there were great disputings
+amongst the frequenters of "The Bull" as to what would be the result
+of their disloyal refusal.
+
+Some of the inns in remote country places did not enjoy a very enviable
+reputation, and were little better than man-traps, where the
+unfortunate traveller was robbed and murdered. At Blewbury, in
+Berkshire, there was an inn, the landlord of which was suspected of
+murdering his guests with great secrecy and mystery, and no one could
+tell what he did with the bodies of the victims he was supposed to have
+murdered. A few years ago an old tree in the neighbourhood of the inn
+was blown down, and on digging up the roots a skeleton was found among
+them. People wondered how it could have been placed there, but at last
+a very old inhabitant told the story of the mysterious disappearance of
+the bodies of the late landlord's guests, and the mystery was at length
+accounted for. Whenever he slew a man he planted a tree, placing the
+body of the murdered victim beneath it. The constables never thought of
+looking there; and probably under every tree which he planted (and
+there were several), when their roots are dug up, the bones of his
+numerous victims will be discovered.
+
+Another story is connected with the old "Hind's Head" at Bracknell,
+which was another of these mantraps, where many travellers slept to
+rise no more. One winter's night a stout-hearted farmer stayed there,
+and joined several jovial companions round the kitchen fire. They ate
+and drank merrily, and at last the serving-maid showed the traveller
+to his chamber. She told him that he was surrounded by robbers and
+murderers, showed him a trap-door at the side of the bed, on which if
+he stepped he would tumble headlong into a deep well. She directed him
+to tie the bed into a bundle, put it on the trap-door, and escape by
+the window. He did so; down went the bundle, instead of the farmer,
+into the well, and he managed to effect his escape. Rousing the
+neighbourhood he captured the villains, who were all executed, and the
+bones of many of their victims were found in the well. Happily such
+inns were rare.
+
+To describe the conditions of the old inns for which England was
+famous, of the good fare which awaited the travellers by the coach, of
+the spacious corridors, of the comfortable beds hung with silk and
+smelling of lavender; to tell of all the great folk who entered their
+doors--kings, queens, poets, generals, highwaymen, statesmen, grooms,
+conspirators, coachmen--all this would require much space to relate.
+When railways came in, their ancient glory departed; the old stables
+are destroyed; grass grows in the courtyard; and the object of their
+existence has almost ceased to be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
+
+Belief in witches--Survival of water ordeal--Witches turned into hares--
+Cruelties practised on witches--Bishop Jewel on the "evil eye"--
+Fairies--Berkshire popular superstitions--Field-names--Homes of famous
+men--Washington Irving's description of an English village--Rural
+exodus--Conclusion.
+
+
+There is yet another class of subjects connected with old village life,
+of absorbing interest and importance. I refer to the old superstitions
+and folklore which still linger on in the recollections of the "oldest
+inhabitant," and which ought to be at once treasured up, lest they
+should be altogether lost. The generation of those who believed firmly
+in the power of the "evil eye" of the witch, and who feared to disturb
+the revels of the fairies on their rings and mounds, is only just
+passing away. An old gipsy has told me some strange stories of the
+superstitions of former days. He has told me of the witch at Farnham
+who made the cows wild and prevented them from giving milk; of another
+witch who lived at Henley-on-Thames, and who when thrown into the river
+"floated like a cork." Here we have a survival of the old Saxon method
+of trying culprits by the water ordeal, often used in examining
+witches. This particular witch could turn herself into a hare, so my
+venerable gipsy friend, aged one hundred and six years, informed me,
+and the dogs hunted her. He told me of the Tadley witch, who "wished"
+several people, and greatly injured them. It seems to have been a
+common practice of the old witches to turn themselves into hares, in
+order to vex the squires, justices, and country parsons, who were fond
+of hunting, as the old dames could elude the speed of the swiftest
+dogs. An old writer states "that never hunters nor their dogs may be
+bewitched, they cleave an oaken branch, and both they and their dogs
+pass over it." Mary Dore, a witch of Beaulieu, Hampshire, used to turn
+herself into a hare in order to escape detection when caught in the act
+of wood-stealing, to which she was somewhat addicted.
+
+Old women were rather harshly used in the days when people believed in
+the power of witches. If any farmer's cattle died, it was immediately
+concluded that the animals were bewitched; and some wretched old woman
+was singled out, and summarily tried and burnt. If anyone fell ill,
+some "witch" had evidently a waxen image of the sufferer, and stuck
+needles into it; and such was the power of the witch that, wherever the
+person was, he felt the stab of the cruel needle. Hence the witch had
+to be found and burnt. If the corn crops failed, was not witchcraft the
+cause? for had not old Mother Maggs been heard to threaten Farmer
+Giles, and had not her black cat been seen running over his fields?
+Even good Bishop Jewel did not disbelieve in the power of the evil eye.
+In preaching before Queen Elizabeth he said: "It may please Your Grace
+to understand that witches and sorcerers are marvellously increased
+within Your Grace's realm. Your Grace's subjects pine away even unto
+the death, their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is
+benumbed, their senses are bereft. I pray God they never practise
+further than on the subject." To so great an extent did faith in the
+witches' fatal power prevail. Our forefathers used to believe in the
+existence of other, and more pleasant little companions than the old
+toothless witches--the bright little fairies who, on account of the
+neglect which they have received from the present generation of
+Englishmen, have, so it is reported, left our shores in disgust, never
+to return. The previous inhabitants of our villages did not so treat
+them; and did not the fairies always bring them luck? They nailed the
+horseshoe to the stable door to keep out the witches, lest the old
+beldams should ride their steeds by night to the witches' revels; but
+no one wished to exclude the fairies. Did not the dairymaids find the
+butter ready churned, and the cows milked by these kind assistants? Was
+there not an old lady in Yorkshire who knew all about the fairies, had
+often heard them making butter, and had seen the butter smeared all
+over the gate by a little green man with a queer cap who had been seen
+slipping under a culvert? Canon Atkinson told us of this lady who knew
+all these strange things, and of the Hart Hall "Hob" who worked so hard
+with his flail, and of many other curious folk who frequented the
+Yorkshire moors in olden days. The last witch had just died before he
+went to Danby, but he found the whole atmosphere of the folklore
+firmament so surcharged with the being and work of the witch, that he
+seemed able to trace her presence and her activity in almost every nook
+and corner of the neighbourhood.
+
+The wells all over England were haunted by fairies, and is it not
+confidently asserted that "the good people" (as the fairies are called)
+live in wilds and forests, and shun great cities because of the
+wickedness which exists therein? Have they never appeared to the lonely
+traveller, clothed in green, with long hair floating over their
+shoulders, and with faces more blooming than the blush of a summer
+morning? Then there were the fairy rings formed by the dancing of their
+merry feet.
+
+  "Some say the screech-owl, at each midnight hour,
+  Awakes the fairies in yon ancient tower.
+  Their nightly dancing ring I always dread,
+  Nor let my sheep within that circle tread;
+  When round and round all night, in moonlight fair,
+  They dance to some strange music in the air."
+
+Then there were brownies; and knockers, who worked in mines, and showed
+rich veins of silver; and elves--all of whom were included in old
+village superstitions, and many were the tales told of the good deeds
+they did, and the luck they brought. Nor must we forget the story of
+the invisible smith who inhabited Wayland Smith's Cave, in Berkshire.
+Whenever a farmer tied up his horse in the cave, and left the money on
+a particular stone, on his return he found his horse shod by the kind
+efforts of the invisible smith. There is also the old Berkshire story
+of the old witch who lived in a cave by the roadside, and who, by the
+power of her "evil eye," could stop the strongest team of horses, so
+that, however much the carters lashed and swore at them, the animals
+would not budge an inch until she permitted them to go. Here are a few
+of the common superstitions current in Berkshire. If a corpse be kept
+over a Sunday another death will occur before the week is out; should a
+big bumble-bee enter the window, a guest may be expected; and when the
+woodpecker, commonly called the yaffle, laughs, they say the rain is
+coming. When the thick mist lies in the valley, the people say it is
+the White Lady, a belief closely akin to the Dame Blanche, who is said
+in Normandy to haunt streams. If one row of freshly sown seeds or
+potatoes does not come up, it foretells a death in the family. If a
+girl mends her clothes on her back, she risks having a drunken husband.
+A screech-owl is unlucky, and so also is it if a bird fly against the
+window.
+
+A woman came to the rectory a few years ago for a drop of sacramental
+wine, which she wanted for an infant who had "the graspings." This
+complaint I discovered to be a craving for something, accompanied by
+restlessness; and it was supposed that a drop of sacramental wine would
+cure an infant so troubled. If the mother before the child was born
+craved for drink, this craving was communicated to the child, and could
+only be remedied by a drop of wine used in Holy Communion. This
+superstition, which I have met with elsewhere, probably is a relic of
+pre-Reformation days, and of sacramental Reservation.
+
+A tramp was passing through a Hampshire village a short time ago, and
+calling at a house, begged for a glass of water. The woman who lived
+there said that she was sorry she could not give him water to drink, as
+there was a child in the house unbaptised, and therefore it would be
+unlucky. The origin of this superstition it is difficult to trace.
+
+These are some of the legends and superstitions which linger amongst
+us. Every neighbourhood has its stories, its legends, and romantic
+histories. It is a sad pity that these should pass away without any
+record being made. Many curious customs and ceremonies relating to
+christenings, marriages, and burials linger in remote hamlets; and
+charms, curious remedies, and other relics of the quaint superstitions
+of our forefathers, are full of interest to the lover of our English
+villages.
+
+As we walk in the fields, or study the old map of the parish, the names
+of the fields invite our attention. These are full of interest, and
+often tell us about matters which would be entirely forgotten. Some
+names tell us of the great forests which used to exist all over the
+country, when kings and noblemen, outlaws and poachers, used to hunt
+the deer and the wild boars in many a successful run. These forests
+were large tracts of country in its natural state, partly wood, partly
+heather and grass, which were owned by the king, and were especially
+brought under the harsh forest laws of the Norman sovereigns.
+
+Some of our field-names remind us of the existence of these old forests
+where corn now grows, and also of swamps and islands where everything
+now is dry and far removed from water. Sometimes they tell us of the
+old common lands which used to be farmed by the villeins and borderers,
+and of the strange way in which they used to manage their farming. Each
+man used to keep one or more oxen for the village plough until they
+made up the team into eight; then they ploughed the land in strips of
+an acre or half-acre each, divided by a bit of unploughed turf called
+a balk. Each strip was a furlong, _i.e._ a "furrow long," _i.e._ the
+length of the drive of a plough before it is turned. This was forty
+rods, or poles, and four of these furrows made up the acre. These
+pieces of land were called "shots," and there were "headlands," or
+common field-ways, to each shot; and "gored acres," which were corners
+of the fields which could not be cut up into strips, and odds and ends
+of unused land, which were called "No Man's Land," or "Jack's Land." It
+is curious, too, that all the strips belonging to one man did not lie
+together, but were scattered all over the common land, which must have
+been a very inconvenient arrangement for farming purposes. There were
+also in each village community a blacksmith, whose duty it was to keep
+in repair the ironwork of the village ploughs, a carpenter for the
+woodwork, and a pound-keeper, or punder, who looked after the stray
+cattle. Many of the "balks" still remain on the hillsides where these
+old common lands existed, and the names of the fields bear witness to
+the prevalence of this old field system.
+
+They tell us, too, of the way in which attempts were made to force the
+growth of particular crops, and in many parishes you will find a "flax
+piece," which reminds us of a foolish Act of Henry VIII. ordering the
+cultivation of that plant. Metals, too, which have long ago been
+worked out, and trades which no longer exist, have left their traces
+behind in the names of our lanes and fields. Also they speak of the
+early days when the wolf or the bear might be seen in our woods or
+fields, or of the beaver which loved the quietude of our streams, of
+the eagle which carried off the lambs undisturbed by sound of the
+keeper's gun. Sometimes he was disturbed in his thefts by the flight
+of a good strong English arrow, which came from a sturdy English bow
+drawn by a good strong English arm. The English archers were famous
+everywhere, and many a battle has been won by their valour and their
+skill. A law was passed in the reign of Edward IV. that every
+Englishman should have a bow of his own height, and that butts for the
+practice of archery should be set up in every village; and every man
+was obliged to shoot up and down on every feast-day, or be fined one
+halfpenny. Consequently, in some villages we find a field called "The
+Butts," where this old practice took place.[11]
+
+Many villages are associated with the lives of distinguished
+men--authors, soldiers, and statesmen. Perhaps your village may have
+bred other poets besides "the mute inglorious Milton" of Gray's
+_Elegy_. Not far from where I am writing was Pope's early home, the
+village of Binfield, which he calls--
+
+          "My paternal home,
+  A little house, with trees arow,
+  And, like its master, very low."
+
+On the other side lies the village of Three Mile Cross, where Miss
+Mitford lived and wrote "Our Village"; and Arborfield, called in her
+book Arborleigh, about which she tells some pleasant stories, is the
+adjoining parish. Sometimes, as I ride down a grassy lane, a favourite
+haunt of the distinguished authoress, I seem to see her seated on a
+fallen tree weaving her pretty romances, while her favourite dog, which
+she often describes, plays and barks around her. A few miles in another
+direction lies Eversley, the loved abode of Charles Kingsley, about
+whom many stories linger in the countryside. To visit the uncomfortable
+brick-paved study where he wrote, the garden where he used to pace and
+think out his great thoughts, is delightfully refreshing and
+invigorating to a jaded writer.
+
+[Illustration: OLD COTTAGES]
+
+These are only instances of places which have become interesting on
+account of the famous men who once lived in them; and England has many
+heroes of the sword and pen whose lives each Englishman should study;
+and when you visit their dwelling-places you will recall their
+achievements, and perhaps endeavour to imitate their examples. Here is
+an instance of how little the villagers know of the distinguished men
+who once lived amongst them. The great Duke of Wellington did not live
+a very long time ago, and yet some friends of mine who were staying at
+Strathfieldsaye, near the Iron Duke's house, and made inquiries amongst
+the villagers about their recollections of the hero of Waterloo, could
+obtain no information. At last one venerable rustic vouchsafed the
+extraordinary intelligence, "I believe as 'ow 'e were very good at
+war"! What a thing it is to be famous!
+
+Much more remains to be said upon the various subjects which this
+history of our village suggests. But the day is closing, and our walk
+through its sequestered lanes and our thoughts about the various scenes
+which yonder venerable oaks have witnessed, must cease. But enough has
+been said to show what a wealth of interest lies beneath the calm
+exterior of ordinary village life. An American truly observes that
+everything in the rural life of England is associated with ideas of
+order, of quiet, sober, well-established principles, of hoary usage,
+and reverent custom--the growth of ages of regular and peaceful
+existence. The impression which the appearance of an English village
+left on his mind is beautifully described in the following passage:--
+
+"The old church of remote architecture with its low, massive portal,
+its gothic tower, its windows rich with tracery and painted glass,
+its scrupulous preservation, its stately monuments of warriors and
+worthies of olden times, ancestors of the present lords of the soil;
+its tombstones, recording successive generations of sturdy yeomanry,
+whose progeny still plough the same fields, and kneel at the same
+altar; the parsonage, a quaint, irregular pile, partly antiquated,
+but repaired and altered in the tastes of various eyes and occupants;
+the stile and footpath leading from the churchyard, across pleasant
+fields, and along shady hedgerows, according to an immemorial
+right-of-way; the neighbouring village, with its venerable cottages,
+its public green sheltered by trees, under which the forefathers of
+the present race have sported; the antique family mansion, standing
+apart in some little rural domain, but looking down with a protecting
+air on the surrounding scene. All these common features of English
+landscape evince a calm and settled security, and hereditary
+transmission of homebred virtues and local attachments, that speak
+deeply and touchingly for the moral character of the nation."
+
+One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+continual decrease of its population. All our young men flock to the
+towns, attracted by the greater excitement which town life offers, as
+compared with the more homely pleasures of the country. The rural
+exodus is an alarming and very real danger to the welfare of social
+England. Agricultural machinery has greatly diminished the number of
+labourers required on a farm. Agricultural depression and the decreased
+value of land have caused many old country families to close their old
+manor-houses, as they cannot afford to live on their estates.
+
+Let us hope that those whose happy lot it is to live in the quiet
+hamlets of our native land, afar from the noise and din of busy towns,
+will learn to love more deeply their village homes, and interest
+themselves in their surroundings. To those who read the history of
+their native place, each house and field, each stone and tree, will
+tell its story, and recount the wonders it has witnessed. And as the
+stories of wars and fights, of superstition and of crime, fall on our
+ears, we shall be thankful that our lot is cast in more peaceful days,
+when no persecutions, religious or political, disturb the tranquillity
+of our village life. And when we read of the piety and simplicity of
+our forefathers, their veneration of their church, their love of home,
+their innocent joys and social customs, we should strive to imitate
+their virtues which have materially helped to make England a great and
+powerful nation. It is hoped that these chapters upon the old life of
+our country, and the manners and customs of our forefathers, may induce
+many of my readers to read and study history more deeply, may serve to
+create an interest in the relics that remain to us of the past, and to
+preserve the fleeting traditions that Time doth consecrate.
+
+
+[11] In many cases the name "Butts" refers to the fact of the land,
+under the common-field system, _abutting_ on meadows or roads, _e.g._
+"Butt-close," in the parish of St. Mary Bourne.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+
+To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village,
+the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the
+name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and
+old county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor's _Words
+and Places_, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in
+_Domesday_ and old documents. Bede's _History_, the _Anglo-Saxon
+Chronicles_, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may
+contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also
+Kemble's _Saxons in England_. The _Domesday Book_ is, of course, a mine
+of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many documents which will
+be of great service--the _Testa de Neville_ (Edward II.), _Marshall
+Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls,
+Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem_, and the _Feet of Fines_. The
+_Manor Court Rolls_, if they still exist, in the custody of the lord of
+the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local antiquarian
+societies and county histories will of course be examined. The history
+of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The British
+Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of _Heralds'
+Visitations_, and Burke's _Landed Gentry_ and Dugdale's _Baronage_
+are the chief sources of information. Old _wills_ will yield much
+information, many of which are in course of publication by the Index
+Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House and many
+diocesan registries contain the original documents. The Historical
+Manuscripts Commission has published many volumes of borough records
+which are of great service, and the lives of any great men connected
+with the parish may be studied in the _Dictionary of National
+Biography_. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains
+valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and
+its contents should be carefully examined.
+
+The registers of the diocese contain many documents relating to the
+ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a
+list of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any
+monastery, Dugdale's _Monasticon_ will furnish some information. The
+Public Record Office contains the documents _Taxatio Ecclesiastica P.
+Nicholai IV._ and _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, which give an account of the
+value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the sale
+of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the saint
+to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in spite of
+years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some early will
+of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which usually
+gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ in
+stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the
+help of Rickman's _Gothic Architecture_ or Parker's _Glossary of Gothic
+Architecture_. If there has ever been a monastery in the parish,
+Dugdale's _Monasticon_ should be consulted; and if there are any remains
+of a castle, Clark's _Mediaeval Military Architecture in England_ will
+be useful. Prehistoric remains, such as barrows, earthworks, pit
+dwellings, and caves should be described; also any Roman roads and
+villas; the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood, geology, folklore,
+and dialect.
+
+The following books are recommended:--
+
+Evans' _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_.
+Evans' _ Ancient Bronze Implements_.
+Boyd Dawkins' _Cave Hunting_.
+Boyd Dawkins' _Early Man in Britain_.
+Greenwell's _British Barrows_.
+Fergusson's _Rude Stone Monuments_.
+Cox's _How to Write the History of a Parish_.
+Wright's _Essays on Archaeological Subjects_.
+Parker's _Mediaeval Domestic Architecture_.
+Sims' _Manual for the Topographer and Genealogist_.
+Burn's _History of Parish Registers_.
+Seebohm's _English Village Community_.
+Toulmin Smith's _English Gilds_.
+Haine's _Manual of Monumental Brasses_.
+Bloxam's _Principles of Gothic Architecture_.
+Tanner's _Notitia Monastica_.
+Cutts' _Middle Ages_.
+Lee's _Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms_.
+
+
+INDEX
+
+Akeman Street, 60
+Aldhelm, church-builder, 103
+Alfriston clergy-house, 180
+_Alignements_, 46
+Allington rectory, 180
+Almshouses, 181
+Altars, 191
+Amphitheatre, Roman, 67
+Anchoresses, 183
+Anchor-hold, 183
+Anglo-Saxon villages, 74-89
+Archery, 277, 298
+Architecture, English, 102-24
+Arresting a dead body, 227
+Arrow-heads, 20
+_Art of Husbandry_, 255
+Astrology, belief in, 222
+Aumbry, 192
+Avebury cromlech, 46
+
+B
+
+Ball-flower moulding, 118
+Barkham in _Domesday_, 128
+Barnack Church, 106
+Barrows or tumuli, 23-3
+  "    long and round, 25
+  "    near churchyards, 23
+  "    Saxon, 90-3
+  "    their contents, 24, 29
+Basilica, Roman, 66
+Beacons, 268
+Beating the bounds, 276
+Bede, 75
+Bell-ringing customs, 250
+Bells, 245-53
+  "    christening of, 246
+  "    inscription on, 247-50
+Benedict Biscop, 103
+Benedictine monks, 161
+Bewcastle cross, 98
+Bishops, treating of, 229
+Black Death, 255
+Blood-letting, 167-9
+Blowing Stone, 52
+_Bordarii_, 131
+Border castles, 140
+Brachycephalic race, 21
+Brasses, monumental, 212-18
+Bridal cup, 207
+Brief Book, 226
+Brighthampton, pit dwellings at,  33
+British Church, 93
+  "    oppida, 34
+  "    roads, 60, 61
+  "    saints and martyrs, 94
+Bronze Age, 21, 40
+Budworth hermitage, 182
+Burial urns, 29, 30
+  "    urns in woollen, 220
+
+C
+
+Caesar's camps, 50
+Camps, 50-52
+Carthusian monks, 162
+Castles, 135-53
+Cave men, 16
+Celts, 21, 34, 37, 56
+Cemeteries, Saxon, 92
+Censers, 205
+Chancels, 190
+Charles II., adventures of, 267
+Chaucer's satire on monks, 160
+Chepstow Castle, 140
+Chest, parish, 218-29
+Chivalry, 143, 148
+Chrismatory, 206
+Christmas in olden time, 278
+Chun Castle, 51
+Church ales, 258
+Church bells, 245-53
+  "    house, 258
+  "    plate, 200-8
+  "    yard, 243
+Churches, parish, 184 99
+Churchwardens' account books, 223-6
+Cistercian monks, 114, 161
+Civil War, effects of, 153, 220, 265
+Cloister of monastery, 163
+Cluny, monks of, 161
+Consecration crosses, 239
+Conversion of Saxons, 94, 95
+Crannogs, 38
+Cremation, 28, 29, 92
+Cromlechs, 46-9
+Crosses, Saxon, 95-101
+Cross-legged effigies, 211
+Cucking-stool, 280
+
+D
+
+Decay of old sports, 271
+Decorated architecture, 117
+Desecration of monasteries, 159
+Devil's Highway, 61
+Dog-tooth ornament, 116
+Dog-whipper, 228
+Dolichocephalic race, 19
+Dolmen, 49, 50
+_Domesday Book_, 125-34
+Donnington Castle, 152
+Druids, 48, 50
+
+E
+
+Early English architecture, 115-17
+Earthworks, 50-6
+Easter sepulchre, 193
+Edge Hill, battle of, 264
+Edwardian castles, 140
+Emblems on brasses, 217
+Enstone, menhir at, 45
+Eslithic man, 14
+Epitaphs, curious, 243
+Ermyn Street, 60
+"Evil eye," 291-3
+
+F
+
+Fairford windows, 232
+Fairies, 56, 293
+Fairs, 261
+Feudalism, 141
+Field-names, 296-8
+Flint implements, discovery of, 11
+Flint implements, 15, 20
+Fonts, 186
+Food in barrows, 24, 25
+Football, 277
+Force-pump, Roman, 68
+Frescoes, 234
+Friars, preaching, 161
+Future life, belief in, shown by barrows, 24
+
+G
+
+Gambassi, glass-painter, 232
+_Geburs_, 82
+Gentleman, accomplishments of a, 149
+Geological changes, 11-13
+Glaciers in Britain, 12
+Glass, stained, 230-3
+Glastonbury, pit dwellings at, 37, 41, 42
+Green, village, 8, 280
+Grims-dike, 54, 55
+Grosmont Castle, 141
+Guizot on castles, 141
+
+H
+
+Hagioscopes, 194
+Hall marks, 208
+Harvest homes, 275
+Hastings, battle of, 264
+Heart burial, 222
+Hedsor, pile dwellings at, 37, 38
+_Hereivard the Wake_, 264
+Hermits, 181
+Hexham church, 104
+  "    crosses, 99
+Highwaymen, 283
+Hocktide sports, 225, 273
+Homes of famous men, 298
+Hospitium of monastery, 169
+House, evolution of country, 172-7
+Hundreds, origin of, 87
+Hurstbourne, Hants, pit dwellings at, 34
+
+I
+
+Ice Age, 12, 13
+Iknield Street, 60
+Ilkley cross, 99
+Inigo Jones, 176
+Inns, 7, 282-90
+Inventories, 201
+Iron Age, 21
+  "    work in churches, 233
+_Itinerary_ of Antoninus, 59
+
+J
+
+Jervais, glass-painter, 232
+Johnson, Dr., on monasteries, 159
+
+K
+
+Keep of Norman castle, 137
+Kelvedon rectory, 179
+Kenilworth Castle, 151
+King's evil, 228
+Knaresborough hermitage, 182
+Knighthood, admission to, 145
+
+L
+
+Laindon reclusorium, 183
+Lammas lands, 79
+Lecterns, 191
+Legends, 44, 55, 263
+"Lepers' windows," 195
+Lich-gate, 242
+Local Government, 254
+Low side windows, 195
+
+M
+
+Manor-house, 172-7
+Manors, 79, 133
+Man-traps, 289
+Markets, 260
+May Day, 225, 273
+Mediaeval village, 254-70
+Menhir, 45
+"Merry England," 256
+Milestones, Roman, 61
+Miracle plays, 274
+_Misereres_, 191
+Monasteries, Saxon, 102
+  "    154-71
+  "    charity of, 159
+Monastic day, 166, 167
+  "    inns, 282
+Monks, benefits conferred by, 155
+  "    corruption of, 160
+Monstrances, 206
+Monumental effigies, 209-12
+Mothering Sunday, 273
+Mouldings, Decorated, 118, 120
+  "    Early English, 116
+  "    Norman, 112
+  "    Perpendicular, 123
+Mural paintings, 234-41
+
+N
+
+Neolithic man, 15, 18, 20, 37
+Norman architecture, 109-15
+  "    castles, 135-53
+  "    place-names, 132
+  "    villages, 125-34
+Normans, coming of, 125
+
+O
+
+Ockwells manor-house, 173
+Ogee arch, 118
+Organised condition of society among prehistoric races, 31
+Ornaments, Saxon, 91
+_Osculatorium_, 192
+Oxford, poor scholar of, 229
+
+P
+
+Pageants, 149-52
+Paleolithic man, 14
+Palimpsests, 213
+Parish chest, 218-29
+  "    registers, 218-23
+Paschall money, 225
+Pastimes, 271-81
+Pavements, Roman, 71, 72
+Pax, 192, 206
+Perpendicular architecture, 120
+Pews, 187
+_Piers Ploughman_, 165, 174, 181
+Pile dwellings, 37-43
+Pilgrimages, 259
+Piscina, 192
+Pit dwellings, 33-7
+Place-names, 76, 101
+Plague, 255-7
+Plate, church, 200-8
+  "    "    in bishop's coffin, 202
+Ploughman's lament, 84
+Plough Monday, 272
+Porch, 185
+"Pot-boilers," 36
+Pre-Reformation plate, 202-5
+Pulpits, 188
+Pytheas of Marseilles, 10
+Pyx, 191, 206
+
+Q
+
+Quintain, 277
+
+R
+
+Raglan Castle, 141
+Reading Abbey, 171
+Reading-pews, 197
+Reclusorium, 183
+  "    at Rettenden, 183
+Rectories, 177-81
+Registers, parish, 218-23
+Religion of Saxons, 93
+"Restoration," 199
+Rollright Stones, 46, 47
+Roman relics, 57-73
+  "    rig, 54
+  "    roads, 58-62
+  "    villas, 70-3
+Rood-loft, 188
+Royal arms in churches, 190
+Rural exodus, 300
+Rush-bearing, 276
+Ruthwell cross, 97
+Ryknield Street, 60
+
+S
+
+Sacring bell, 252
+St. Christopher, 238
+Salisbury Cathedral, 115
+Saltways, 61
+Sanctus bell, 252
+Saxon architecture, 106-9
+  "    house, 172
+  "    monasteries, 102
+  "    place-names, 76, 77
+  "    relics, 90-101
+Saxons, coming of, 74, 75
+Screens, 189
+Secret chambers, 177
+Settle, Victoria Cave at, 17
+Shires, origin of, 88
+Shrovetide sports, 273
+Signs of inns, 284-8
+Silchester, 54, 62-70
+Slavery under Saxons, 84
+Sluggard waker, 228
+Smoke farthings, 226
+_Socmen_, 83, 131
+Spenser's description of hermitage, 182
+Sports and pastimes, 271-81
+Stocks, 280
+Stonehenge, 46
+Stone monuments, 44-50
+Stourbridge Fair, 261
+Sudeley Castle, pageant at, 149-51
+Sun-worship, relics of, 27
+Superstitions, 44, 295
+Switzerland, pile dwellings in, 38-41
+
+T
+
+"Terraces," 19
+_Tesserae_, 65, 71
+Thanes, 80
+Thane's house, 81
+Thuribles, 205
+Tiles, 233
+Tournaments, 146-9
+Tudor arch, 121
+  "    houses, 175
+Tumuli, _see_ Barrows
+Turf monuments, 53, 54
+Twelfth Night, 272
+Tympana, Norman, 110
+
+U
+
+Uffington, 52-4
+Ufton Court, Berks, 176, 178
+
+V
+
+Vernicle, 201
+Vestry, contents of, 196
+Vicarages, 177-81
+Villas, Roman, 70-3
+Villeins, 130, 255
+
+W
+
+Wars, 262-70
+Watling Street, 60
+Wayland Smith's Cave, 27, 294
+Whalley cross, 96
+  "    reclusorium, 184
+White Castle, 141
+White Horse Hill, 53
+Whittenham Clumps, 52
+Wilfrid, St., 96, 104, 108, 230
+Witches, 291
+  "    turned into hares, 292
+Woollen, burials in, 220
+Worlebury, pit dwellings at, 34
+
+Y
+
+Yeomen, 83, 131
+Yew tree in churchyard, 241
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+***** This file should be named 9197-8.txt or 9197-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/9/1/9/9197/
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders.
+Illustrated HTML version by David Widger
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/9197-8.zip b/9197-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8fd73a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-8.zip
diff --git a/9197-h.zip b/9197-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5f91af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h.zip
diff --git a/9197-h/9197-h.htm b/9197-h/9197-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1972e86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/9197-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,9777 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      ENGLISH VILLAGES, by P. H. Ditchfield
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+    <!--
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    .indent5   { margin-left: 5%;}
+    .indent10  { margin-left: 10%;}
+    .indent15  { margin-left: 15%;}
+    .indent20  { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 100%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    .side      { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 25%; padding-left: 0.8em;
+               border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left;
+               text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;
+               font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;}
+    p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0}
+    span.dropcap         { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 1 }
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+    -->
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+    <h2>
+      <a href="#linkcontents">English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield</a>
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: English Villages
+
+Author: P. H. Ditchfield
+
+Release Date: August 13, 2004 [EBook #9197]
+Last Updated: November 17, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders.
+Illustrated HTML version by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+ <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+
+<h3>Format Choice</h3>
+
+<div class="mynote">
+The present format is best for most <b>laptops</b> and <b>computers</b>, and generates well to <b>.mobi</b> and <b>.epub</b> files. The higher quality images in this file do not reduce in size to fit the small screens of Tablets and Smart Phones&mdash;part of the larger images may run off the side.
+Another format is available by clicking on the following line:<br /><br />
+<i><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9197/old/files/relative.htm">A file with images which automatically accomodate to any screen size; this is the best choice for the small screens of <b>Tablets</b> and <b>Smart Phones</b>.
+</a></i>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+<hr />
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="title.jpg (23K)" src="images/title.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="front.jpg (121K)" src="images/front.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      ENGLISH VILLAGES
+    </h1>
+    <h3>
+      BY
+    </h3>
+    <h2>
+      P.H. DITCHFIELD M.A., F.S.A.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      TO MY WIFE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      PREFACE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Eleven years ago my little book on the antiquities of English villages was
+      published. Its object was to interest our rustic neighbours in their
+      surroundings, to record the social life of the people at various times&mdash;their
+      feasts and fairs, sports and pastimes, faiths and superstitions&mdash;and
+      to describe the scenes which once took place in the fields and lanes they
+      know so well. A friendly reviewer remarked that the wonder was that a book
+      of that kind had never been written before, and that that was the first
+      attempt to give a popular and readable sketch of the history and
+      associations of our villages. In the present work I have attempted to fill
+      in the sketch with greater detail, and to write not only for the villagers
+      themselves, but for all those who by education are able to take a more
+      intelligent interest in the study of the past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the last decade many village histories have been written, and if
+      this book should be of service to anyone who is compiling the chronicles
+      of some rural world, or if it should induce some who have the necessary
+      leisure and ability to undertake such works, it will not have been written
+      in vain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+      continual decrease of the population. The rural exodus is an alarming and
+      very real danger to the welfare of social England. The country is
+      considered dull and life therein dreary both by squire and peasant alike.
+      Hence the attractions of towns or the delights of travel empty our
+      villages. The manor-house is closed and labourers are scarce. To increase
+      the attractions of our villages, to arouse an interest in their past
+      history and social life, is worth attempting; and perhaps this Story may
+      be of some use in fostering local patriotism, and in reconciling those who
+      spend their lives far from the busy hives of men to their lot, when they
+      find how much interest lies immediately around them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The study of archaeology has been pursued with much vigour during recent
+      years, and increased knowledge has overthrown the many wild theories and
+      conjectures which were gravely pronounced to be ascertained facts by the
+      antiquaries of fifty years ago. Gildas, Geoffrey of Monmouth, or Richard
+      of Cirencester are no longer accepted as safe and infallible guides. We
+      know that there were such people as the Druids, but we no longer attribute
+      to them the great stone circles nor imagine them sacrificing on &ldquo;Druid&rsquo;s
+      altars,&rdquo; as our forefathers called the dolmens. The history of
+      Britain no longer begins with the advent of Julius Caesar, nor is his
+      account of the Celtic tribes and their manners accepted as a full and
+      complete statement of all that is known about them. The study of flint
+      implements, of barrows and earthworks, has considerably thrown back our
+      historical horizon and enabled us to understand the conditions of life in
+      our island in the early days of a remote past before the dawn of history.
+      The systematic excavation of Silchester, so ably conducted by the Society
+      of Antiquaries, and of other Roman sites of towns and villas, enables us
+      to realise more clearly the history of Britain under the rule of the
+      Empire; and the study of the etymology of place-names has overthrown many
+      of the absurd derivations which found a place in the old county histories,
+      and are often repeated by the writers of modern guide books. Moreover
+      patient labour amid old records, rolls, and charters, has vastly increased
+      our knowledge of the history of manors; and the ancient parish registers
+      and churchwardens&rsquo; account books have been made to yield their store
+      of information for the benefit of industrious students and scholars. There
+      has been much destruction and much construction; and this good work will
+      doubtless continue, until at length English archaeology may be dignified
+      with the title of an exact science. Destruction of another kind is much to
+      be deplored, which has left its mark on many an English village. The
+      so-called &ldquo;restoration&rdquo; of ancient parish churches, frequently
+      conducted by men ignorant of the best traditions of English architecture,
+      the obliteration of the old architectural features, the entire destruction
+      of many interesting buildings, have wrought deplorable ruin in our
+      villages, and severed the links with the past which now can never be
+      repaired. The progress of antiquarian knowledge will I trust arrest the
+      destroyer&rsquo;s hand and prevent any further spoliation of our
+      diminished inheritance. If this book should be found useful in stimulating
+      an intelligent interest in architectural studies, and in protecting our
+      ancient buildings from such acts of vandalism, its purpose will have been
+      abundantly achieved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I am indebted to many friends and acquaintances for much information which
+      has been useful to me in writing this book; to Sir John Evans whose works
+      are invaluable to all students of ancient stone and bronze implements; to
+      Dr. Cox whose little book on <i>How to Write the History of a Parish</i>
+      is a sure and certain guide to local historians; to Mr. St. John Hope and
+      Mr. Fallow for much information contained in their valuable monograph on
+      <i>Old Church Plate</i>; to the late Dr. Stevens, of Reading; to Mr.
+      Shrubsole of the same town; to Mr. Gibbins, the author of <i>The
+      Industrial History of England</i>, for the use of an illustration from his
+      book; to Mr. Melville, Mr. P.J. Colson, and the Rev. W. Marshall for their
+      photographic aid; and to many other authors who are only known to me by
+      their valuable works. To all of these gentlemen I desire to express my
+      thanks, and also to Mr. Mackintosh for his artistic sketch of a typical
+      English village, which forms the frontispiece of my book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      P.H.D.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      BARKHAM RECTORY<br /> <i>May</i>, 1901
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="linkcontents" id="linkcontents"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> I. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link1">INTRODUCTION</a><br />
+        II. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link2">PREHISTORIC
+        REMAINS</a><br /> III. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link3">TUMULI
+        OR BARROWS</a><br /> IV. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link4">PIT
+        AND PILE DWELLINGS</a><br /> V. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link5">CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS</a><br /> VI. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link6">ROMAN RELICS</a><br /> VII. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link7">ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES</a><br /> VIII. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link8">SAXON RELICS</a><br /> IX. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link9">ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE</a><br /> X. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link10">NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE &ldquo;DOMESDAY BOOK&rdquo;</a><br />
+        XI. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link11">NORMAN CASTLES</a><br />
+        XII. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link12">MONASTERIES</a><br /> XIII.
+        &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link13">THE MANOR-HOUSE</a><br /> XIV. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link14">PARISH CHURCHES</a><br /> XV. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link15">CHURCH PLATE</a><br /> XVI. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link16">MONUMENTAL
+        EFFIGIES AND BRASSES</a><br /> XVII. &nbsp;<a href="#link17">THE PARISH
+        CHEST</a><br /> XVIII. <a href="#link18">STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL
+        PAINTINGS</a><br /> XIX. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link19">CHURCH BELLS</a><br />
+        XX. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link20">THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE</a><br />
+        XXI. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link21">VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES</a><br />
+        XXII. &nbsp;<a href="#link22">THE VILLAGE INN</a><br /> XXIII. <a
+        href="#link23">VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#linkappendix">APPENDIX</a>&mdash;BOOKS
+        AND DOCUMENTS <br />RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#linkindex">INDEX</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /><br /><br /><br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        FULL-PAGE (photographs)
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        [Click on photographs to enlarge]
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link019">An English Village street</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link026">Palaeolithic implements</a><br /> <a href="#link033">Neolithic
+        and bronze implements</a><br /> <a href="#link114">Old market cross</a><br />
+        <a href="#link155">Broughton Castle</a><br /> <a href="#link172">Netley
+        Abbey, south transept</a><br /> <a href="#link189">Southcote Manor,
+        showing moat and pigeon-house</a><br /> <a href="#link194">Old
+        Manor-house&mdash;Upton Court</a><br /> <a href="#link199">Stone Tithe
+        Barn, Bradford-on-Avon</a><br /> <a href="#link210">Village church in the
+        Vale</a><br /> <a href="#link279">An ancient village</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link294">Anne Hathaway&rsquo;s cottage</a><br /> <a href="#link303">Old
+        stocks and whipping-post</a><br /> <a href="#link310">Village inn, with
+        old Tithe Barn of Reading Abbey</a><br /> <a href="#link323">Old cottages</a>
+        <br /><br />
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        IN THE TEXT (drawings
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link032">Barbed and leaf-shaped arrow-heads</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link039">Plan of a tumulus</a><br /> <a href="#link040">Plan of
+        tumulus called Wayland Smith&rsquo;s Cave, Berkshire</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link043">Celtic cinerary urn</a><br /> <a href="#link048">Articles
+        found in pit dwellings</a><br /> <a href="#link051">Iron spear-head found
+        at Hedsor</a><br /> <a href="#link058">Menhir</a><br /> <a href="#link060">Rollright
+        stones (from Camden&rsquo;s <i>Britannia</i>, 1607)</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link062">Dolmen</a><br /> <a href="#link064">Plan and section of
+        Chun Castle</a><br /> <a href="#link066">The White Horse at Uffington</a><br />
+        <a href="#link077">Plan of Silchester</a><br /> <a href="#link079">Capital
+        of column</a><br /> <a href="#link081">Roman force-pump</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link085">Tesselated pavement</a><br /> <a href="#link091">Beating
+        acorns for swine (from the Cotton MS., <i>Nero</i>, c. 4)</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link094">House of Saxon thane</a><br /> <a href="#link096">Wheel
+        plough (from the Bayeux tapestry)</a><br /> <a href="#link098">Smithy
+        (from the Cotton MS., B 4)</a><br /> <a href="#link104">Saxon relics</a><br />
+        <a href="#link118">Consecration of a Saxon church</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link120">Tower of Barnack Church, Northamptonshire</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link121">Doorway, Earl&rsquo;s Barton Church</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link122">Tower window, Monkwearmouth Church</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link124">Sculptured head of doorway, Fordington Church, Dorset</a><br />
+        <a href="#link125">Norman capitals</a><br /> <a href="#link126">Norman
+        ornamental mouldings</a><br /> <a href="#link127">Croyland Abbey Church,
+        Lincolnshire</a><br /> <a href="#link128">Semi-Norman arch, Church of St.
+        Cross</a><br /> <a href="#link129">Early English piers and capitals</a><br />
+        <a href="#link130">Dog-tooth ornament</a><br /> <a href="#link131">Brownsover
+        Chapel, Warwickshire</a><br /> <a href="#link132">Ball-flower mouldings,
+        Tewkesbury Abbey</a><br /> <a href="#link132">Ogee arch</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link133a">Decorated capitals, Hanwell and Chacombe</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link133b">Decorated windows, Merton College Chapel; Sandiacre,
+        Derbyshire</a><br /> <a href="#link134">Decorated mouldings, Elton,
+        Huntingdonshire; Austrey, Warwickshire</a><br /> <a href="#link135">Perpendicular
+        window, Merton College Chapel, Oxford</a><br /> <a href="#link136a">Tudor
+        arch, vestry door, Adderbury Church, Oxon</a><br /> <a href="#link136b">Perpendicular
+        parapet, St. Erasmus&rsquo; Chapel, Westminster Abbey</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link137">Perpendicular moulding, window, Christchurch, Oxford</a><br />
+        <a href="#link147">Diagram of a manor</a><br /> <a href="#link150">Ancient
+        plan of Old Sarum</a><br /> <a href="#link152">A Norman castle</a><br />
+        <a href="#link161">Tournament</a><br /> <a href="#link178">A monk
+        transcribing</a><br /> <a href="#link190">Ockwells manor-house</a><br />
+        <a href="#link191">Richmond Palace</a><br /> <a href="#link192">Doorway
+        and staircase, Ufton Court</a><br /> <a href="#link193">The porch, Ufton
+        Court</a><br /> <a href="#link196">Window of south wing, Ufton Court</a><br />
+        <a href="#link206">Ancient pew-work, Tysoe Church, Warwickshire</a><br />
+        <a href="#link208">Early English screen, Thurcaston, Leicestershire</a><br />
+        <a href="#link212">Norman piscina, Romsey Church, Hants</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link215">Lowside window, Dallington Church, Northamptonshire</a><br />
+        <a href="#link218">Reading-pew, seventeenth century, Langley Chapel,
+        Salop.</a><br /> <a href="#link223">Chalice and paten, Sandford,
+        Oxfordshire</a><br /> <a href="#link224">Pre-Reformation plate</a><br />
+        <a href="#link225">Censer or thurible</a><br /> <a href="#link254">Mural
+        paintings (several)</a><br /> <a href="#link271">Ancient sanctus bell
+        found at Warwick</a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link1" id="link1"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      INTRODUCTION
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Local histories&mdash;Ignorance and destruction&mdash;Advantages of the
+      study of village antiquities&mdash;Description of an English village&mdash;The
+      church&mdash; The manor-house&mdash;Prehistoric people&mdash;Later
+      inhabitants&mdash;Saxons&mdash;Village inn&mdash;Village green&mdash;Legends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To write a complete history of any village is one of the hardest literary
+      labours which anyone can undertake. The soil is hard, and the crop after
+      the expenditure of much toil is often very scanty. In many cases the
+      records are few and difficult to discover, buried amidst the mass of
+      papers at the Record Office, or entombed in some dusty corner of the
+      Diocesan Registry. Days may be spent in searching for these treasures of
+      knowledge with regard to the past history of a village without any
+      adequate result; but sometimes fortune favours the industrious toiler, and
+      he discovers a rich ore which rewards him for all his pains. Slowly his
+      store of facts grows, and he is at last able to piece together the history
+      of his little rural world, which time and the neglect of past generations
+      had consigned to dusty oblivion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In recent years several village histories have been written with varied
+      success by both competent and incompetent scribes; but such books are few
+      in number, and we still have to deplore the fact that so little is known
+      about the hamlets in which we live. All writers seem to join in the same
+      lament, and mourn over the ignorance that prevails in rural England with
+      regard to the treasures of antiquity, history, and folklore, which are to
+      be found almost everywhere. We may still echo the words of the learned
+      author of <i>Tom Brown&rsquo;s Schooldays</i>, the late Mr. Hughes, who
+      said that the present generation know nothing of their own birthplaces, or
+      of the lanes, woods, and fields through which they roam. Not one young man
+      in twenty knows where to find the wood-sorrel, or the bee-orchis; still
+      fewer can tell the country legends, the stories of the old gable-ended
+      farmhouses, or the place where the last skirmish was fought in the Civil
+      War, or where the parish butts stood. Nor is this ignorance confined to
+      the unlearned rustics; it is shared by many educated people, who have
+      travelled abroad and studied the history of Rome or Venice, Frankfort or
+      Bruges, and yet pass by unheeded the rich stores of antiquarian lore,
+      which they witness every day, and never think of examining closely and
+      carefully. There are very few villages in England which have no objects of
+      historical interest, no relics of the past which are worthy of
+      preservation. &ldquo;Restoration,&rdquo; falsely so called, conducted by
+      ignorant or perverse architects, has destroyed and removed many features
+      of our parish churches; the devastating plough has well-nigh levelled many
+      an ancient barrow; railroads have changed the character of rustic life and
+      killed many an old custom and rural festival. Old legends and quaint
+      stories of the countryside have given place to talks about politics and
+      newspaper gossip. But still much remains if we learn to examine things for
+      ourselves, and endeavour to gather up the relics of the past and save them
+      from the destructive hand of Time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A great service may thus be rendered not only to the cause of history, but
+      also to the villagers of rural England, by those who have time, leisure,
+      and learning, sufficient to gain some knowledge of bygone times. It adds
+      greatly to the interest of their lives to know something of the place
+      where they live; and it has been well said that every man&rsquo;s concern
+      with his native place has something more in it than the amount of rates
+      and taxes that he has to pay. He may not be able to write a history of his
+      parish, but he can gather up the curious gossip of the neighbourhood, the
+      traditions and stories which have been handed down from former
+      generations. And if anyone is at the pains to acquire some knowledge of
+      local history, and will impart what he knows to his poorer neighbours, he
+      will add greatly to their interest in life. Life is a burden, labour mere
+      drudgery, when a man has nothing in which he can interest himself. When we
+      remember the long hours which an agricultural labourer spends alone,
+      without a creature to speak to, except his horses or the birds, we can
+      imagine how dull his life must be, if his mind be not occupied. But here,
+      on his own ground, he may find an endless supply of food for thought,
+      which will afford him much greater pleasure and satisfaction than thinking
+      and talking about his neighbours&rsquo; faults, reflecting upon his
+      wrongs, or imitating the example of one of his class who, when asked by
+      the squire what he was thinking so deeply about, replied, &ldquo;Mostly
+      naught.&rdquo; To remove the pall of ignorance that darkens the rustic
+      mind, to quicken his understanding and awaken his interest, are certainly
+      desirable objects; although his ignorance is very often shared by his
+      betters, who frequently hazard very strange theories and manifest many
+      curious ideas with regard to village antiquities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will walk together through the main roads of the village, and observe
+      some of its many points of interest. Indeed, it is no small thing to live
+      in such a &ldquo;city of memories&rdquo; as every village is, when at
+      every turn and corner we meet with something that reminds us of the past,
+      and recalls the pleasing associations of old village life. To those who
+      have lived amid the din and turmoil of a large town, where everybody is in
+      a hurry, and there is nothing but noise, confusion, and bustle, the
+      delicious calm and quietude of an old English village, undisturbed by the
+      world&rsquo;s rude noise, is most grateful. But to live in memory of what
+      has gone before, of the lives and customs of our forefathers, of the
+      strange events that have happened on the very ground upon which we are
+      standing, all this will make us love our village homes and delight in them
+      exceedingly. In most of our large towns the old features are fast
+      disappearing; historical houses have been pulled down to make room for
+      buildings more adapted to present needs, and everything is being
+      modernised; but in the country everything remains the same, and it is not
+      so difficult to let one&rsquo;s thoughts wander into the past, and picture
+      to one&rsquo;s self the old features of village life in bygone times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Most of our villages have the usual common features, and it is not
+      difficult to describe a typical example, though the details vary very
+      much, and the histories of no two villages are identical. We see arising
+      above the trees the church, the centre of the old village life, both
+      religious, secular, and social. It stands upon a site which has been
+      consecrated to the service of God for many centuries. There is possibly in
+      or near the churchyard a tumulus, or burial mound, which shows that the
+      spot was set apart for some religious observances even before Christianity
+      reached our shores. Here the early Saxon missionary planted his cross and
+      preached in the open air to the gathered villagers. Here a Saxon thane
+      built a rude timber church which was supplanted by an early Norman
+      structure of stone with round arches and curiously carved ornamentation.
+      This building has been added to at various times, and now shows, writ in
+      stone, its strange and varied history. The old time-worn registers, kept
+      in the parish chest in the vestry, breathe the atmosphere of bygone times,
+      and tell the stories and romances of the &ldquo;rude forefathers of the
+      hamlet.&rdquo; The tombs and monuments of knights and ancient heroes tell
+      many a tale of valour and old-world prowess, of families that have
+      entirely died out, of others that still happily remain amongst us, and
+      record the names and virtues of many an illustrious house. The windows,
+      brasses, bells, and inscriptions, have all some interesting story to
+      relate, which we hope presently to examine more minutely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nestling amid the trees we see the manor-house, standing probably on the
+      site of a much older edifice; and this building carries our thoughts back
+      to the Saxon and early Norman times, when the lord of the manor had
+      vassals and serfs under him, held his manorial court, and reigned as a
+      king in his own small domain. The history of the old English manor is a
+      very important one, concerning which much has been written, many questions
+      disputed, and some points still remain to be decided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we notice an old farmhouse which has doubtless seen better days, for
+      there are the remains of an ancient moat around it, as if some family of
+      importance once lived there, and wished to guard themselves and their
+      possessions from troublesome visitors. This moat tells of the times of war
+      and lawlessness, of wild and fierce animals roaming the countryside; and
+      if the walls of the old house could speak how many stories could they tell
+      of the strange customs of our ancestors, of bread riots, of civil wars,
+      and disturbances which once destroyed the tranquillity of our peaceful
+      villages!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We shall endeavour to discover the earliest inhabitants of our villages
+      who left their traces behind in the curious stone and bronze weapons of
+      war or domestic implements, and who lived in far remote periods before the
+      dawn of history. The barrows, or tumuli, which contain their dead bodies
+      tell us much about them; and also the caves and lake dwellings help us to
+      form some very accurate notions of the conditions of life in those distant
+      days. We shall see that the Britons or Celts were far from being the naked
+      woad-dyed savages described by Caesar, whose account has so long been
+      deemed sufficient by the historians of our childhood. We shall call to
+      mind the many waves of invaders which rolled over our country&mdash;the
+      Celts, the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans&mdash;all of whom have left
+      some traces behind them, and added sundry chapters to the story of our
+      villages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fields too proclaim their story, and tell us of the Saxon folk who
+      were our first farmers, and made clearings in the forests, and tilled the
+      same soil we work to-day. They tell us too of the old monks who knew so
+      much about agriculture; and occasionally the plough turns up a rusty sword
+      or cannon ball, which reveals the story of battles and civil wars which we
+      trust have passed away from our land for ever. The very names of the
+      fields are not without signification, and tell us of animals which are now
+      extinct, of the manners of our forefathers, of the old methods of farming,
+      and the common lands which have passed away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old village inn, with its curiously painted signboard, has its own
+      story to tell, of the old coaching days, and of the great people who used
+      to travel along the main roads, and were sometimes snowed up in a drift
+      just below &ldquo;The Magpie,&rdquo; which had always good accommodation
+      for travellers, and stabling for fifty horses. All was activity in the
+      stable yard when the coach came in; the villagers crowded round the inn
+      doors to see the great folks from London who were regaling themselves with
+      well-cooked English joints; and if they stayed all night, could find
+      comfortable beds with lavender-scented sheets, and every attention. But
+      the railroads and iron steeds have changed all that; until yesterday the
+      roads were deserted, and the glory of the old inns departed. Bicyclists
+      now speed along in the track of the old coaches; but they are not quite so
+      picturesque, and the bicycle bell is less musical than the cheerful
+      posthorn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the summit of a neighbouring hill we see a curious formation which is
+      probably an earthwork, constructed many centuries ago by the early
+      dwellers in this district for the purpose of defence in dangerous times,
+      when the approach of a neighbouring tribe, or the advance of a company of
+      free-booting invaders, threatened them with death or the destruction of
+      their flocks and herds. These earthworks we shall examine more closely. An
+      ivy-covered ruin near the church shows the remains of a monastic cell or
+      monastery; and in the distance perhaps we can see the outlines of an old
+      Norman keep or castle; all of these relate to the story of our villages,
+      and afford us subjects for investigation and research.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there is the village green where so many generations of the villagers
+      have disported themselves, danced the old country dances (now alas!
+      forgotten), and reared the merry May-pole, and crowned their queen. Here
+      they held their rural sports, and fought their bouts of quarter-staff and
+      cudgel-play, grinned through horse-collars, and played pipe and tabor at
+      many a rustic feast, when life was young and England merry. We shall try
+      to picture to ourselves these happy scenes of innocent diversion which
+      cheered the hearts of our forefathers in bygone times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link019" id="link019"></a><br /> <a
+      href="images/019.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="019h.jpg (38K)" src="images/019h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />AN ENGLISH VILLAGE STREET <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will try to collect the curious legends and stories which were told to
+      us by our grandsires, and are almost forgotten by the present generation.
+      These we should treasure up, lest they should be for ever lost. Local
+      tradition has often led the way to important discoveries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this brief circuit of an ordinary English village we have found many
+      objects which are calculated to excite our imagination and to stimulate
+      inquiry. A closer examination will well repay our study, and reward the
+      labour of the investigator. It is satisfactory to know that all possible
+      discoveries as to the antiquities of our villages have not yet been made.
+      We have still much to learn, and the earth has not yet disclosed all its
+      treasures. Roman villas still remain buried; the sepulchres of many a
+      Saxon chieftain or early nomad Celt are still unexplored; the pile
+      dwellings and cave domiciles of the early inhabitants of our country have
+      still to be discovered; and piles of records and historical documents have
+      still to be sought out, arranged, and examined. So there is much work to
+      be done by the antiquary for many a long year; and every little discovery,
+      and the results of every patient research, assist in accumulating that
+      store of knowledge which is gradually being compiled by the hard labour of
+      our English historians and antiquaries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link2" id="link2"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      PREHISTORIC REMAINS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Pytheas of Marseilles&mdash;Discovery of flint implements&mdash;Geological
+      changes&mdash;Palaeolithic man&mdash;Eslithic&mdash;Palaeolithic
+      implements&mdash; Drift men&mdash;Cave men&mdash;Neolithic man and his
+      weapons&mdash;Dolichocephalic&mdash; Celtic or Brachycephalic race&mdash;The
+      Iron Age.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was customary some years ago to begin the history of any country with
+      the statement, &ldquo;Of the early inhabitants nothing is known with any
+      certainty,&rdquo; and to commence the history of England with the landing
+      of Julius Caesar B.C. 55. If this book had been written forty or fifty
+      years ago it might have been stated that our first knowledge of Britain
+      dates from 330 B.C. when Pytheas of Marseilles visited it, and described
+      his impressions. He says that the climate was foggy, a characteristic
+      which it has not altogether lost, that the people cultivated the ground
+      and used beer and mead as beverages. Our villagers still follow the
+      example of their ancestors in their use of one at least of these drinks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of the history of all the ages prior to the advent of this Pytheas all
+      written record is silent. Hence we have to play the part of scientific
+      detectives, examine the footprints of the early man who inhabited our
+      island, hunt for odds and ends which he has left behind, to rake over his
+      kitchen middens, pick up his old tools, and even open his burial mound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About fifty years ago the attention of the scientific world was drawn to
+      the flint implements which were scattered over the surface of our fields
+      and in our gravel pits and mountain caves; and inquiring minds began to
+      speculate as to their origin. The collections made at Amiens and Abbeville
+      and other places began to convince men of the existence of an unknown and
+      unimagined race, and it gradually dawned on us that on our moors and downs
+      were the tombs of a race of men who fashioned their weapons of war and
+      implements of peace out of flint. These discoveries have pushed back our
+      knowledge of man to an antiquity formerly never dreamed of, and enlarged
+      considerably our historical horizon. So we will endeavour to discover what
+      kind of men they were, who roamed our fields and woods before any
+      historical records were written, and mark the very considerable traces of
+      their occupation which they have left behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The condition of life and the character and climate of the country were
+      very different in early times from what they are in the present day; and
+      in endeavouring to discover the kind of people who dwelt here in
+      prehistoric times, we must hear what the geologists have to tell us about
+      the physical aspect of Britain in that period. There was a time when this
+      country was connected with the Continent of Europe, and the English
+      Channel and North Sea were mere valleys with rivers running through them
+      fed by many streams. Where the North Sea now rolls there was the great
+      valley of the Rhine; and as there were no ocean-waves to cross, animals
+      and primitive man wandered northwards and westwards from the Continent,
+      and made their abode here. It is curious to note that the migratory birds
+      when returning to France and Italy, and thence to the sunny regions of
+      Algiers and other parts of Northern Africa, always cross the seas where in
+      remote ages there was dry land. They always traverse the same route; and
+      it appears that the recollection of the places where their ancestors
+      crossed has been preserved by them through all the centuries that have
+      elapsed since &ldquo;the silver streak&rdquo; was formed that severs
+      England from her neighbours.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the times of which we are speaking the land was much higher than it is
+      now. Snowdon was 600 feet greater, and the climate was much colder and
+      more rigorous. Glaciers like those in Switzerland were in all the higher
+      valleys, and the marks of the action of the ice are still plainly seen on
+      the rocky cliffs that border many a ravine. Moreover we find in the
+      valleys many detached rocks, immense boulders, the nature of which is
+      quite different from the character of the stone in the neighbourhood.
+      These were carried down by the glaciers from higher elevations, and
+      deposited, when the ice melted, in the lower valleys. Hence in this
+      glacial period the condition of the country was very different from what
+      it is now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a remarkable change took place. The land began to sink, and its
+      elevation so much decreased that the central part of the country became a
+      huge lake, and the peak of Snowdon was an island surrounded by the sea
+      which washed with its waves the lofty shoulder of the mountain. This is
+      the reason why shells and shingle are found in high elevations. The Ice
+      Age passed away and the climate became warmer. The Gulf Stream found its
+      way to our shores, and the country was covered by a warm ocean having
+      islands raising their heads above the surface. Sharks swam around, whose
+      teeth we find now buried in beds of clay. The land continued to rise, and
+      attracted by the sunshine and the more genial clime animals from the
+      Continent wandered northwards, and with them came man. Caves, now high
+      amongst the hills, but then on a level with the rivers, were his first
+      abode, and contain many relics of his occupancy, together with the bones
+      of extinct animals. The land appears to have risen, and the climate became
+      colder. The sea worked its relentless way through the chalk hills on the
+      south and gradually met the waves of the North Sea which flowed over the
+      old Rhine valley. It widened also the narrow strait that severed the
+      country from Ireland, and the outline and contour of the island began more
+      nearly to resemble that with which we are now familiar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A vast period of time was necessary to accomplish all these immense
+      changes; and it is impossible to speculate with any degree of certainty
+      how long that period was, which transformed the icebound surface of our
+      island to a land of verdure and wild forests. We must leave such
+      conjectures and the more detailed accounts of the glacial and post-glacial
+      periods to the geologists, as our present concern is limited to the study
+      of the habits and condition of the men who roamed our fields and forests
+      in prehistoric times. Although no page of history gives us any information
+      concerning them, we can find out from the relics of arms and implements
+      which the earth has preserved for us, what manner of men lived in the old
+      cave dwellings, or constructed their rude huts, and lie buried beneath the
+      vast barrows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The earliest race of men who inhabited our island was called the
+      Palaeolithic race, from the fact that they used the most ancient form of
+      stone implements. Traces of a still earlier race are said to have been
+      discovered a few years ago on the chalk plateau of the North Down, near
+      Sevenoaks. The flints have some slight hollows in them, as if caused by
+      scraping, and denote that the users must have been of a very low condition
+      of intelligence&mdash;able to use a tool but scarcely able to make one.
+      This race has been called the Eolithic; but some antiquaries have thrown
+      doubts upon their existence, and the discovery of these flints is too
+      recent to allow us to speak of them with any degree of certainty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link026" id="link026"></a><br /> <a
+      href="images/026.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="026h.jpg (39K)" src="images/026h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />PALAEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The traces of Palaeolithic man are very numerous, and he evidently
+      exercised great skill in bringing his implements to a symmetrical shape by
+      chipping. The use of metals for cutting purposes was entirely unknown; and
+      stone, wood, and bone were the only materials of which these primitive
+      beings availed themselves for the making of weapons or domestic
+      implements. Palaeolithic man lived here during that distant period when
+      this country was united with the Continent, and when the huge mammoth
+      roamed in the wild forests, and powerful and fierce animals struggled for
+      existence in the hills and vales of a cold and inclement country. His
+      weapons and tools were of the rudest description, and made of chipped
+      flint. Many of these have been found in the valley gravels, which had
+      probably been dropped from canoes into the lakes or rivers, or washed down
+      by floods from stations on the shore. Eighty or ninety feet above the
+      present level of the Thames in the higher gravels are these relics found;
+      and they are so abundant that the early inhabitants who used them must
+      have been fairly numerous. Their shape is usually oval, and often pointed
+      into a rude resemblance of the shape of a spear-head. Some flint-flakes
+      are of the knifelike character; others resemble awls, or borers, with
+      sharp points evidently for making holes in skins for the purpose of
+      constructing a garment. Hammer-stones for crushing bones, tools with
+      well-wrought flat edges, scrapers, and other implements, were the
+      stock-in-trade of the earliest inhabitant of our country, and are
+      distinguishable from those used by Neolithic man by their larger and
+      rougher work. The maker of the old stone tools never polished his
+      implements; nor did he fashion any of those finely wrought arrowheads and
+      javelin points, upon which his successor prided himself. The latter
+      discovered that the flints which were dug up were more easily fashioned
+      into various shapes; whereas Palaeolithic man picked up the flints that
+      lay about on the surface of the ground, and chipped them into the form of
+      his rude tools. However, the elder man was acquainted with the use of
+      fire, which he probably obtained by striking flints on blocks of iron
+      pyrites. Wandering about the country in families and tribes, he contrived
+      to exist by hunting the numerous animals that inhabited the primeval
+      forests, and has left us his weapons and tools to tell us what kind of man
+      he was. His implements are found in the drift gravels by the riversides;
+      and from this cause his race are known as drift men, in order to
+      distinguish them from the <i>cave men</i>, who seem to have belonged to a
+      little later period.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first dwellings of man were the caves on the hillsides, before he
+      found out the art of building pile huts. In Palaeolithic times these caves
+      were inhabited by a rude race of feral nomads who lived by the chase, and
+      fashioned the rude tools which we have already described. They were,
+      however, superior to the drift men, and had some notion of art. The
+      principal caves in the British islands containing the relics of the cave
+      folk are the following: Perthichoaren, Denbighshire, wherein were found
+      the remains of Platycnemic man&mdash;so named from his having sharp
+      shin-bones; Cefn, St. Asaph; Uphill, Somerset; King&rsquo;s Scar and the
+      Victoria Cave, Settle; Robin Hood&rsquo;s Cave and Pinhole Cave,
+      Derbyshire; Black Rock, Caldy Island, Coygan Caves, Pembrokeshire; King
+      Arthur&rsquo;s Cave, Monmouth; Durdham Downs, Bristol; and sundry others,
+      near Oban, in the valleys of the Trent, Dove, and Nore, and of the Irish
+      Blackwater, and in Caithness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In these abodes the bones of both men and animals have been found; but
+      these do not all belong to the same period, as the Neolithic people, and
+      those of the Bronze and Iron Ages, followed the occupation of the earlier
+      race. The remains of the different races, however, lie at various depths,
+      those of the earlier race naturally lying the lowest. An examination of
+      the Victoria Cave, Settle, clearly shows this. Outside the entrance there
+      was found a layer of charcoal and burnt bones, and the burnt stones of
+      fireplaces, pottery, coins of the Emperors Trajan and Constantine, and
+      ornaments in bone, ivory, bronze and enamel. The animal remains were those
+      of the <i>bos longifrons</i> (Celtic ox), pig, horse, roe, stag, fowl
+      (wild), and grouse. This layer was evidently composed of the relics of a
+      Romano-British people. Below this were found chipped flints, an adze of
+      melaphyre, and a layer of boulders, sand, and clay, brought down by the
+      ice from the higher valley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inside the cave in the upper cave earth were found the bones of fox,
+      badger, brown bear, grizzly bear, reindeer, red deer, horse, pig, and
+      goat, and some bones evidently hacked by man. In the lower cave earth
+      there were the remains of the hyena, fox, brown and grizzly bears,
+      elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, urus, bison, and red deer, the hacked
+      bones of a goat, and a small leg-bone of a man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some idea of the time which has elapsed since primitive man inhabited this
+      rude dwelling may be formed from these excavations. Two feet below the
+      surface lay the Romano-British layer, and we know therefore that about
+      1,600 years was required for the earth to accumulate to that depth. The
+      Neolithic layer was six feet below this; hence 4,800 years would be
+      necessary to form this depth of earth. So we may conclude that at least
+      6,400 years ago Neolithic man used the cave. A long time previous to this
+      lived the creatures of the lower cave earth, the bison, elephant, and the
+      hyena with the solitary human bone, which belonged to the sharp-shinned
+      race (Platycnemic) of beings, the earliest dwellers in our country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is doubtful whether Palaeolithic man has left any descendants. The
+      Esquimaux appear to somewhat resemble them. Professor Boyd Dawkins, in his
+      remarkable book, <i>Cave Hunting</i>, traces this relationship in the
+      character of implements, methods of obtaining food and cooking it, modes
+      of preparing skins for clothing, and particularly in the remarkable skill
+      of depicting figures on bone which both races display. In carving figures
+      on bone and teeth early man in Britain was certainly more skilful than his
+      successor; but he was a very inferior type of the human race, yet his
+      intelligence and mode of life have been deemed not lower than those of the
+      Australian aborigines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The animals which roamed through the country in this Pleistocene period
+      were the elk and reindeer, which link us on to the older and colder period
+      when Arctic conditions prevailed; the Irish deer, a creature of great size
+      whose head weighed about eighty pounds; bison, elephant, rhinoceros,
+      hippopotamus, lion, wolf, otter, bear, horse, red deer, roe, urus or
+      gigantic ox, the short-horned ox (<i>bos longifrons</i>), boar, badger and
+      many others which survive to the present day, and have therefore a very
+      long line of ancestors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The successor of the old stone implement maker was Neolithic man, to whom
+      we have already had occasion to refer. Some lengthy period of geological
+      change separates him from his predecessor of the Old Stone Age. Specimens
+      of his handiwork show that he was a much more civilised person than his
+      predecessor, and presented a much higher type of humanity. He had a
+      peculiarly shaped head, the back part of the skull being strangely
+      prolonged; and from this feature he is called <i>dolichocephalic</i>. He
+      was small in stature, about 5 feet 6 inches in height, having a dark
+      complexion, and his descendants are the Iberian or Basque races in the
+      Western Pyrenees and may still be traced in parts of Ireland and Wales.
+      The long barrows or mounds, the length of which is greater than the
+      breadth, contain his remains, and we find traces of his existence in all
+      the western countries of Europe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had made many discoveries which were unknown to his Old Stone
+      predecessor. Instead of always hunting for his food, like an animal, he
+      found out that the earth would give him corn with which he could make
+      bread, if only he took the trouble to cultivate it. Instead of always
+      slaying animals, he found that some were quite ready to be his servants,
+      and give him milk and wool and food. He brought with him to our shores
+      cows and sheep and goats, horses and dogs. Moreover he made pottery,
+      moulding the clay with his hand, and baking it in a fire. He had not
+      discovered the advantages of a kiln. He could spin thread, and weave
+      stuffs, though he usually wore garments of skins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His dwellings were no longer the caves and forests, for he made for
+      himself rude pit huts, and surrounded himself, his tribe, and cattle with
+      a circular camp. Traces of his agricultural operations may still be found
+      in the &ldquo;terraces,&rdquo; or strips of ground on hillsides, which
+      preserve the marks of our early Neolithic farmers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link032" id="link032"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="032.jpg (37K)" src="images/032.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their implements are far superior to those of the Old Stone men, and are
+      found on the surface of our fields, or on hillsides, where they tended
+      their flocks, or dug their rude pit shelters. Their weapons and tools are
+      highly polished, and have evidently been ground on a grindstone. They are
+      adapted for an endless variety of uses, and are most skilfully and
+      beautifully fashioned. There are finely wrought arrowheads, of three
+      shapes&mdash;barbed, tanged and barbed, and leaf-shaped; axes, scrapers
+      for cleansing and preparing skins for clothing, hammer stones, wedges,
+      drills, borers, knives, and many other tools. In the Reading Museum may be
+      seen a heavy quartzite axe and chipped flint hatchet, which were found
+      with some charred timber on an island in the Thames, and were evidently
+      used for scooping out the interior of a boat from a tree with the aid of
+      fire. So this New Stone man knew how to make boats as well as a vast
+      number of other things of which we shall presently speak more
+      particularly. His descendants linger on in South Wales and Ireland, and
+      are short in stature, dark in complexion, and narrow-skulled, like their
+      forefathers a few thousand years ago.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link033" id="link033"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/033.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="033h.jpg (35K)" src="images/033h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE IMPLEMENTS <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another wave of invaders swept over our land, and overcame the long-headed
+      Neolithic race. These were the Celtic people, taller and stronger than
+      their predecessors, and distinguished by their fair hair and rounded
+      skulls. From the shape of their heads they are called Brachycephalic, and
+      are believed to have belonged to the original Aryan race, whose birthplace
+      was Southern Asia. At some remote period this wave of invaders poured over
+      Europe and Asia, and has left traces behind it in the languages of all
+      Indo-European nations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their weapons were made of bronze, although they still used polished stone
+      implements also. We find chisels, daggers, rings, buttons, and
+      spear-heads, all made of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, and fashioned
+      by the skilled hands of these early Celtic folk. As they became more
+      civilised, being of an inventive mind, they discovered the use of iron and
+      found it a more convenient metal for fashioning axes to cut down trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Caesar came to Britain he found that the inhabitants knew the use of
+      iron, even the less civilised early Celtic settlers driven northwards and
+      westwards by the Belgae, had iron weapons, and the wild Caledonians in the
+      time of Severus, although they were naked, woad-dyed savages, wore iron
+      collars and girdles and were armed with metal weapons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such are some of the relics of antiquity which the soil of our native land
+      retains, as a memorial of the primitive people who first trod upon it.
+      Concerning their lives and records history is silent, until the Conqueror
+      tells us something of our Celtic forefathers. From the scanty remains of
+      prehistoric races, their weapons and tools, we can gather something of the
+      earliest inhabitants of our island, and try to realise their habits and
+      mode of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link3" id="link3"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      TUMULI OR BARROWS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Barrows near churchyards&mdash;Their universality&mdash;Contents&mdash;Food
+      in barrows&mdash;Curious burial customs&mdash;Belief in future life&mdash;Long
+      and round barrows&mdash;Interior of barrow&mdash;Position of bodies&mdash;Cremation&mdash;
+      Burial urns&mdash;Articles of dress and ornament&mdash;Artistic
+      workmanship&mdash; Pottery&mdash;Remains of agriculture&mdash;Organised
+      condition of society among prehistoric people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Throughout the country we find many artificial mounds which are called <i>tumuli</i>
+      or barrows, or in the neighbourhood of Wales, &ldquo;tumps.&rdquo; These
+      are the ancient burial-places of the early inhabitants of our island, the
+      word &ldquo;barrow&rdquo; being derived from the Anglo-Saxon <i>beorh</i>,
+      a hill or grave-mound. It is not unusual to see a barrow in the centre, or
+      near, an old churchyard, as at Taplow, Bucks. The church was built, of
+      course, much later than the erection of the mound; but doubtless the early
+      preachers of the gospel took advantage of the reverence which was paid to
+      these ancient tombs, proclaimed there the story of the cross, and on the
+      spots so consecrated churches were ultimately built.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These mounds have much to tell us of the early inhabitants. To cover the
+      dead with a mound of earth was a custom common to all nations. All over
+      Europe, in Northern Asia, India, and in the new world of America, we find
+      burial-mounds. The pyramids of Egypt are only glorified mounds; and our
+      islands can boast of an endless variety, sometimes consisting of cairns,
+      or heaps of stones, sometimes of huge hills of earth, 130 feet in height,
+      as at Silbury, Wilts, and covering five acres; while others are only small
+      heaps of soil a few feet high.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The contents of the tumuli differ also. Sometimes the bodies were burnt
+      and the ashes preserved in rude urns; sometimes they were not cremated.
+      Sometimes they were buried in stone cists, or in the hollowed trunk of
+      trees; sometimes without any covering save that of the earth. In nearly
+      all cases we find numerous articles buried with the dead, such as personal
+      ornaments, weapons, pottery, and food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The presence of food in the tumuli testifies to the natural instinct
+      implanted by the Creator in the human heart with regard to a future
+      existence. The idea that the soul of the departed is about to take a long
+      journey is constant and deeply rooted; the rainbow and the milky way have
+      often been supposed to be the paths trod by the departed, who require
+      sustenance for so long a journey. The Aztecs laid a water-bottle beside
+      the bodies to be used on the way to Mictlan, the land of the dead. Bow and
+      arrows, a pair of mocassins with a spare piece of deerskin to patch them
+      if they wear out, and sinews of deer to sew on the patches with, together
+      with a kettle and provisions, are still placed in the graves by the North
+      American Indians. The Laplanders lay beside the corpse flint, steel, and
+      tinder, to supply light for the dark journey. A coin was placed in the
+      mouth of the dead by the Greeks to pay Charon, the ferryman of the Styx,
+      and for a similar purpose in the hand of a deceased Irishman. The
+      Greenlanders bury with a child a dog, for they say a dog will find his way
+      anywhere. In the grave of the Viking warrior were buried his horn and
+      armour in order that he might enter the halls of Valhalla fully equipped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These and many other examples might be quoted showing the universality of
+      the belief in a future life, a belief that was evidently shared with other
+      nations by the primeval races who inhabited our islands in prehistoric
+      times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The presence of food and drinking vessels in the tumuli clearly shows
+      this, and also the store of weapons and implements, adzes, hammers,
+      scrapers, and other tools which the barrows have preserved through so many
+      ages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These barrows are not confined to one period or one race, as their shape
+      denotes. Some are long, measuring 200 to 400 feet in length by 60 or 80
+      feet wide; others are circular. The former were made by the long-headed
+      (dolichocephalic) race of whom we have already spoken; the latter by the
+      round-headed (brachycephalic), conquerors of their feebler long-skulled
+      forerunners. When we consider the poor tools used by these primitive
+      peoples, we may wonder at the amount of labour they must have expended on
+      the construction of these giant mounds. Picks made of deer&rsquo;s horns
+      and pointed staves enabled them to loosen the earth which was then
+      collected in baskets and thrown on the rising heap. Countless toilers and
+      many years must have been needed to produce such wonderful memorials of
+      their industry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link039" id="link039"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="039.jpg (64K)" src="images/039.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With better tools we will proceed to dig into these mounds and discover
+      what they contain. First we notice an encircling trench and mound
+      surrounding the barrow, the purpose of which is supposed to have been to
+      keep the dead person in the tomb, and prevent it from injuring the living.
+      After much digging in the centre of the barrow we find a single stone
+      chamber, entered by a passage underneath the higher and wider end of the
+      mound. Sometimes the chamber is divided into three parts, the centre one
+      being covered by a dome, formed by the overlapping of the stones in the
+      upper parts of the walls. The passage leading to the centre chamber is
+      also built with large stones erected with much care and skill. The
+      contents of these long barrows are not so interesting, or numerous, as
+      those contained in the round barrows. The skeletons are usually found in
+      irregular positions, and few weapons or ornaments accompany the buried
+      bones. Derbyshire possesses many barrows; wherever in a place-name the
+      suffix <i>low</i> occurs, derived from the Anglo-Saxon <i>hlow</i>,
+      signifying a small hill or mound, a barrow is generally to be found. The
+      long barrow is usually about 200 feet in length, 40 feet wide, and 8 to 12
+      feet high. They run east and west, frequently north-east by south-west,
+      the principal interment being usually at the eastern and higher end. The
+      bodies are often found in a cist or box made of large stones, and several
+      were buried in one mound, generally on the south and east sides, so that
+      they might lie in the sun. This practice may have been connected with
+      sun-worship; and the same idea prevailed in modern times, when the south
+      side of the churchyard was considered the favoured portion, and criminals
+      and suicides were relegated to the colder north side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link040" id="link040"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="040.jpg (26K)" src="images/040.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The position of the bodies varied, but usually they were buried in a
+      crouching position, with knees bent and head drawn towards the knees. This
+      was probably the natural position which a man would assume when he slept
+      without a luxurious bed to lie upon, and with little to cover him, in
+      order to keep himself as warm as possible. Hence when he sank into his
+      last long sleep, his mourning relatives would place him in the same
+      posture. In the Channel Islands bodies were often placed in a kneeling
+      position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The custom of burning the body seems to have been adopted later by the
+      same long-headed race who used the long barrows, and prevailed more in the
+      north of England, in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Scotland, than in the
+      south. The cremation was sometimes not very thoroughly performed. The
+      bodies were placed together, wood being piled about them, and over the
+      heap the mound was raised. Then the fire was lighted, which naturally only
+      partly consumed the bodies. We find also, mingled with bones of men and
+      women, the bones of animals, which were probably the remains of funeral
+      feasts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we have said the round-headed race introduced the circular barrow, and
+      cremation was their usual, though not exclusive, practice. These people
+      were much stronger and bigger men than their predecessors, their powerful
+      jaws and projecting chins showing much more power of will than the softer
+      narrow-faced dolichocephalic race. However, in the round barrows we also
+      find the bodies of the latter, and we gather that they were not
+      exterminated or driven out by their conquerors, but mingled with them,
+      intermarried, until at length the type of the long-skulled race prevailed,
+      and the Celt of later times possessed the features of the race he had
+      formerly subdued. At least such seems to be the teaching of the barrows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Celt became acquainted with the use of bronze, and his tomb was
+      enriched with a store of the relics of the life and art of the workmanship
+      of the time. As cremation was the usual practice, it was no longer
+      necessary to have a chamber which the dead might inhabit; the size of the
+      sleeping-place of the dead was reduced, and a cist was constructed for the
+      receptacle of the urn in which the remains were placed. The mound also was
+      reduced in size and looked much less imposing than the huge barrows of the
+      Stone Age; but its contents were much more important.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ashes we find frequently contained in a rude urn of black pottery with
+      some ornamentation. Then we discover pins made of bones, which were
+      evidently used to fasten the dress. The people therefore were evidently
+      not naked, woad-dyed savages; moreover we find bits of woollen fabric and
+      charred cloth, and in Denmark people belonging to this same early race
+      were buried in a cap, shirt, leggings, and boots, a fairly complete
+      wardrobe. They also loved to adorn themselves, and had buttons of jet, and
+      stone and bone ornaments. Besides flint implements we find adzes and
+      hatchets and chisels, axe-hammers constructed with a hole in them for the
+      insertion of a handle, grain rubbers, wheat stones, and hammer stones. The
+      mounds also disclose a great variety of flint implements, hatchets,
+      scrapers, both round and long, knife-daggers, knives, saws, drills,
+      fabricators or flaking tools, sling stones, hammer stones, polishers,
+      arrow-points, either leaf-shaped, triangular, or barbed, and heads of
+      darts and javelins. A very curious object is sometimes found, a stone
+      wrist guard, for the purpose of protecting the wrist from the bow string.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These barrows and their contents bear evidences to the artistic
+      workmanship of the prehistoric dwellers in our villages. Their tombs show
+      that these people did not confine themselves to the fabrication of objects
+      of utility, but that they loved to adorn themselves with personal
+      ornaments, which required much art and skill in the manufacture. Necklaces
+      of beads pleased their fancy, and these they made of jet, or shells, the
+      teeth of deer, and the vertebrae of fish. Moreover they loved ear-rings,
+      which were sometimes made of the teeth of pigs. Objects of gold, bronze,
+      glass, ivory, amber, clay, and bone were also used as ornaments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link043" id="link043"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="043.jpg (53K)" src="images/043.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If we examine the pottery in the barrows we find that a vessel of
+      earthenware was usually placed at the back of the head of the body when it
+      was not cremated. There were also cinerary urns, cups, usually called
+      incense cups, which were certainly not used for incense, whatever may have
+      been their purpose, food and drinking vessels. This pottery was not
+      sun-dried, but burnt in a fire, though not made in a kiln, and the form of
+      the vessels shows that the makers were ignorant of the use of a potter&rsquo;s
+      wheel. The ornamentation consisted of a series of straight lines made by a
+      sharp-pointed instrument and by impressions of the finger nails or string,
+      often revealing much skill and artistic workmanship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From a study of the barrows we may learn much about the early inhabitants
+      of our island, who lived and worked and died on the same spots where we
+      now are spending our days. We can see them hunting in the wild woodlands,
+      rearing cows and sheep and goats, and cultivating their crops of corn. We
+      can still trace on the hillsides some curious terraces fashioned by them
+      for the growing of their grain, and discover querns, or hand millstones,
+      and stones for bruising the corn. The bones of young oxen a few days old,
+      discovered in the mounds, show that they knew the use of milk, and how to
+      get a good supply. A rude spindle-whorl shows that they knew how to weave
+      stuffs for their clothing, and the numerous buttons, fasteners, and belts
+      prove that the clothes were fitted to the wearer, and not mere shapeless
+      sacks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The barrows also bear evidence to the existence of some organised
+      condition of society. In the early savage state of human existence the
+      family is the only community; but as man progressed towards civilisation,
+      he learnt how to combine with his fellows for mutual defence and support.
+      We gather from our examination of the tombs of these early races that they
+      had attained to this degree of progress. There were chiefs of tribes and
+      families who were buried with more honour than that bestowed upon the
+      humbler folk. Many families were buried in one mound, showing that the
+      tribal state had been reached, while the many humbler graves denote the
+      condition of servitude and dependence in which a large number of the race
+      lived. All this, and much more, may be learnt from a careful study of the
+      tombs of these prehistoric people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link4" id="link4"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Pit dwelling earliest form of house-building&mdash;Discoveries at
+      Bright-hampton, Worlebury&mdash;British oppida&mdash;Hurstbourne&mdash;Contents
+      of pit dwelling&mdash;Pot-boilers&mdash;Condition of civilisation&mdash;Pile
+      dwellings&mdash; Switzerland&mdash;Glastonbury&mdash;Hedsor&mdash;Crannogs&mdash;Modern
+      use of pile dwellings&mdash;Description of a lake dwelling&mdash;Contents&mdash;Bronze
+      Age&mdash; Recent discoveries at Glastonbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have examined in our last chapter the abodes of the dead; we will now
+      investigate the abodes of the living which the earth has preserved for us
+      for so many centuries. The age of the cave dwellers had long passed; and
+      the prehistoric folk, having attained to some degree of civilisation,
+      began to devise for themselves some secure retreats from inclement rains
+      and cold winds. Perhaps the burrowing rabbit gave them an idea for
+      providing some dwelling-place. At any rate the earliest and simplest
+      notion for constructing a habitation was that of digging holes in the
+      ground and roofing them over with a light thatch. Hence we have the pit
+      dwellings of our rude forefathers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many examples of pit dwellings have been found by industrious explorers.
+      Some labourers when digging gravel at Brighthampton, near Oxford, came
+      across several such excavations. They were simply pits dug in the earth,
+      large enough to hold one or two persons, and from the sides of these pits
+      a certain quantity of earth had been removed so as to form a seat. At the
+      bottom of these a few rude flint arrow-heads were found. In the remarkable
+      British oppidum at Worlebury, near Weston-super-Mare, several circular,
+      well-like pits may be seen, fairly preserved in shape owing to the rocky
+      nature of the ground in which they have been excavated. One in particular
+      is very perfect, and about two feet from the bottom is a seat formed of
+      the rock extending all round the pit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These ancient pit dwellings are usually surrounded by an earthen rampart.
+      Caesar says that &ldquo;the Britons called that a town where they used to
+      assemble for the sake of avoiding an incursion of enemies, when they had
+      fortified the entangled woods with a rampart and ditch.&rdquo; The remains
+      of many of these oppida may still be seen in almost all parts of the
+      country; and in most of these hollows are plainly distinguishable, which
+      doubtless were pit dwellings; but owing to the sides having fallen in,
+      they have now the appearance of natural hollows in the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Hurstbourne, Hants, nine of these early habitations were discovered by
+      the late Dr. Stevens, some of which were rudely pitched with flint stones,
+      and had passages leading into the pit. A few flints irregularly placed
+      together with wood ashes showed the position of the hearths, where cooking
+      operations had been carried on. The sloping entrance-passages are peculiar
+      and almost unique in England, though several have been met with in France.
+      A rude ladder was the usual mode of entrance into these underground
+      dwellings. Fragments of hand-made British pottery and the commoner kinds
+      of Romano-British ware were found, and portions of mealing stones and also
+      a saddle-quern, or grain-crusher, which instruments for hand-mealing must
+      have been in common use among the pit dwellers. The grain was probably
+      prepared by parching it before crushing; the hollow understone prevented
+      the grain from escaping; and the muller was so shaped as to render it
+      easily grasped, while it was pushed backwards and forwards by the hands.
+      Similar stones are used at the present time by the African natives, as
+      travellers testify.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link048" id="link048"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="048.jpg (25K)" src="images/048.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      One of the pits at Hurstbourne was evidently a cooking-hole, where the pit
+      dwellers prepared their feasts, and bones of the Celtic ox (<i>bos
+      longifrons</i>), pig, red deer, goat, dog, and hare or rabbit were found
+      near it. One of the bones had evidently been bitten by teeth. The pit
+      dwellers also practised some domestic industries, as Dr. Stevens found a
+      needle, an awl or bodkin, and fragments of pointed bone, probably used for
+      sewing skins together. A rude spindle-whorl shows that they knew something
+      of weaving, and two bored stones were evidently buttons or
+      dress-fasteners. A large supply of flint implements, scrapers, and
+      arrow-heads, proves that the dwellings were inhabited by the Neolithic
+      people before the Britons came to occupy them. I must not omit to notice
+      the heating stones, or &ldquo;pot-boilers.&rdquo; These were heated in the
+      fire, and then placed among the meat intended to be cooked, in a hole in
+      the ground which served the purpose of a cooking pot. I have found many
+      such stones in Berkshire, notably from the neighbourhood of Wallingford
+      and Long Wittenham. The writer of the <i>Early History of Mankind</i>
+      states that the Assineboins, or stone-boilers, dig a hole in the ground,
+      take a piece of raw hide, and press it down to the sides of the hole, and
+      fill it with water; this is called a &ldquo;paunch-kettle&rdquo;; then
+      they make a number of stones red-hot in a fire close by, the meat is put
+      into the water, and the hot stones dropped in until it is cooked. The
+      South Sea Islanders have similar primitive methods of cooking. The
+      Highlanders used to prepare the feasts of their clans in much the same
+      way; and the modern gipsies adopt a not very dissimilar mode of cooking
+      their stolen fowls and hedgehogs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We can now people these cheerless primitive pit dwellings with their
+      ancient inhabitants, and understand something of their manners of life and
+      customs. Their rude abodes had probably cone-shaped roofs made of rafters
+      lashed together at the centre, protected by an outside coat of peat, sods
+      of turf, or rushes. The spindle-whorl is evidence that they could spin
+      thread; the mealing stones show that they knew how to cultivate corn; and
+      the bones of the animals found in their dwellings testify to the fact that
+      they were not in the wild state of primitive hunters, but possessed herds
+      of cows and goats and other domestic animals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Who were these people? Mr. Boyd Dawkins is of opinion that the early pit
+      dwellers belonged to the Neolithic folk of whom I have already told you,
+      as the flint implements testify. But these dwellings were evidently
+      occupied by a later people. The querns and spindle-whorl probably belonged
+      to the Celts, or Britons, before the advent of the Roman legions; and that
+      these people were the inhabitants of the Hampshire pit dwellings is proved
+      by the presence of a British gold coin which is recognised by numismatists
+      as an imitation of the Greek stater of Philip II. of Macedon. According to
+      Sir John Evans, the native British coinage was in existence as early as
+      150 years before Christ. Hence to this period we may assign the date of
+      the existence of these Celtic primitive habitations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pit dwellings were not the only kind of habitations which the early
+      inhabitants of our country used, and some of our villages possess
+      constructions of remarkable interest, which recent industrious digging has
+      disclosed. These are none other than lake dwellings, similar to those
+      first discovered in Switzerland about fifty years ago. Few of our villages
+      can boast of such relics of antiquity. Near Glastonbury, in 1892, in a
+      dried-up ancient mere a lake village was discovered, which I will describe
+      presently; and recently at Hedsor in Buckinghamshire a pile dwelling has
+      been found which some learned antiquaries are now examining. In Ireland
+      and Scotland there are found the remains of fortified dwellings called
+      Crannogs in some of the lakes, as in Dowalton Loch, Wigtownshire, and
+      Cloonfinlough in Connaught, but these belong to later times and were used
+      in the Middle Ages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link051" id="link051"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="051.jpg (18K)" src="images/051.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In primitive times, when tribe warred with tribe, and every man&rsquo;s
+      hand was against his fellow-man, and when wild and savage beasts roamed o&rsquo;er
+      moor and woodland, security was the one thing most desired by the early
+      inhabitants of Europe. Hence they conceived the brilliant notion of
+      constructing dwellings built on piles in the midst of lakes or rivers,
+      where they might live in peace and safety, and secure themselves from the
+      sudden attack of their enemies, or the ravages of beasts of prey.
+      Switzerland is famous for its numerous clusters, or villages, of ancient
+      lake dwellings, which were of considerable size. At Morges, on the Lake of
+      Geneva, the settlement of huts extends 1,200 feet long by 150 in breadth;
+      and that at Sutz on the Lake of Bienne covers six acres, and is connected
+      with the shore by a gangway 100 feet long and 40 feet wide. Nor is the use
+      of these habitations entirely abandoned at the present time. Venezuela,
+      which means &ldquo;little Venice,&rdquo; derives its name from the Indian
+      village composed of pile dwellings on the shores of the Gulf of Maracaibo,
+      as its original explorer Alonzo de Ojeda in 1499 chose to compare the
+      sea-protected huts with the queen city of the Adriatic; and in many parts
+      of South America, in the estuaries of the Orinoco and Amazon, such
+      dwellings are still found, also among the Dyaks of Borneo, in the Caroline
+      Islands, and on the Gold Coast of Africa. Herodotus describes similar
+      dwellings on the Lake Prasias, existing in the fifth century B.C., and
+      Lord Avebury states that now the Roumelian fishermen on the same lake
+      &ldquo;inhabit wooden cottages built over the water as in the time of
+      Herodotus.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These habitations of primitive man were built on piles driven into the bed
+      of the lake or river. These piles were stems, or trunks of trees,
+      sharpened with stone or bronze tools. A rude platform was erected on these
+      piles, and on this a wooden hut constructed with walls of wattle and daub,
+      and thatched with reeds or rushes. A bridge built on piles connected the
+      lake village with the shore whither the dwellers used to go to cultivate
+      their wheat, barley, and flax, and feed their kine and sheep and goats.
+      They made canoes out of hollow trunks of trees. One of these canoes which
+      have been discovered is 43 feet in length and over 4 feet wide. The beams
+      supporting the platform, on which the huts were erected, were fastened by
+      wooden pins. Much ingenuity was exercised in the making of these
+      dwellings. Sometimes they found that the mud of the lake was too soft to
+      hold the piles; so they fashioned a framework of trunks of trees, which
+      they let down to the bottom of the lake, and fastened the upright piles to
+      it. Sometimes the rocky bed of the lake prevented the piles from being
+      driven into it; so they heaped stones around the piles, and thus made them
+      secure. The lake dwellers were very sociable, and had only one common
+      platform for all the huts, which were clustered together. As all the
+      actual dwellings have been destroyed by time&rsquo;s rude action, it is
+      impossible to describe them accurately; but their usual size was about 20
+      feet by 12 feet. The floor was of clay, and in the centre of the building
+      there was a hearth made of slabs of stone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The people who inhabited these structures belonged either to the later
+      Stone Age, or the Bronze Age, as we learn from the relics which their huts
+      disclose. In the earlier ones are found celts, flint flakes, arrow-heads,
+      harpoons of stag&rsquo;s horn with barbs, awls, needles, chisels, and
+      fish-hooks made of bone, and sometimes wooden combs, and skates made out
+      of the leg-bone of a horse. Besides the remains of the usual domestic
+      animals we find bones of the beaver, bear, elk, and bison.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the use of bronze was discovered the people still lived on in their
+      lake dwellings. Fire often played havoc with the wooden wattle walls;
+      hence we frequently find a succession of platforms. The first dwelling
+      having been destroyed by flames, a second one was subsequently
+      constructed; and this having shared the same fate, another platform with
+      improved huts was raised upon the ruins of its predecessors. The relics of
+      each habitation show that, as time went on, the pit dwellers advanced in
+      civilisation, and increased the comforts and conveniences of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the dwellings of these early peoples belong to the Bronze Age, as
+      do those of the Auvernier settlement in the Lake of Neuchatel; and these
+      huts are rich in the relics of their former inhabitants. At Marin on the
+      same lake the lake dwellers were evidently workers in iron; and the
+      relics, which contain large spear-heads, shields, horse furniture,
+      fibulas, and other ornaments, together with Roman coins, prove that they
+      belonged to the period of which history tells us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have described at length these Swiss lake dwellings, although they do
+      not belong to the antiquities of our villages in England, because much the
+      same kind of habitations existed in our country, though few have as yet
+      been unearthed. Possibly under the peaty soil of some ancient river-bed,
+      or old mere, long ago drained, you may be fortunate enough to meet with
+      the remains of similar structures here in England. At Glastonbury a few
+      years ago a lake village was discovered, which has created no small stir
+      in the antiquarian world, and merits a brief description. Nothing was
+      known of its existence previously; and this is an instance of the
+      delightful surprises which explorers have in store for them, when they
+      ransack the buried treasure-house of the earth, and reveal the relics
+      which have been so long stored there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All that met the eyes of the diggers was a series of circular low mounds,
+      about sixty in number, extending over an area of three acres. Imagine the
+      delight of the gentlemen when they discovered that each of these mounds
+      contained the remains of a lake dwelling which was constructed more than
+      two thousand years ago.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First they found above the soft peat, the remains of a lake long dried up,
+      a platform formed of timber and brushwood, somewhat similar to the
+      structures which we have seen in the Swiss lakes. Rows of small piles
+      support this platform, and on it a floor of clay, or rather several
+      floors. The clay is composed of several horizontal layers with intervening
+      thin layers of decayed wood and charcoal, each layer representing a
+      distinct floor of a dwelling. In the centre of each mound are the remains
+      of rude hearths. The dwellings, of which no walls remain, were evidently
+      built of timber, the crevices between the wood being filled with wattle
+      and daub. In one of the mounds were found several small crucibles which
+      show that the inhabitants knew how to work in metals. Querns, whetstones,
+      spindle whorls, fibulae, and finger-rings of bronze, a horse&rsquo;s bit,
+      a small saw, numerous implements of horn and bone, combs, needles, a jet
+      ring and amber bead, all tell the tale of the degree of civilisation
+      attained by these early folk. They worked in metals, made pottery and
+      cloth, tilled and farmed the adjoining lands, and probably belonged to the
+      late Celtic race before the advent of the Romans. These lake dwellers used
+      a canoe in order to reach the mainland, and this primitive boat has been
+      discovered. It is evidently cut out of the stem of an oak, is
+      flat-bottomed, and its dimensions are 17 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 1
+      foot deep. The prow is pointed, and has a hole, through which doubtless a
+      rope was passed, in order to fasten it to the little harbour of the lake
+      village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It will be gathered that these people, whether dwelling in their pit or
+      lake villages, showed so much capacity, industry, and social organisation,
+      that even in the Neolithic Age they were far removed from a savage state,
+      and a low condition of culture and civilisation. They showed great
+      ingenuity in the making of their tools, their vessels of pottery, their
+      ornaments, and clothing. They were not naked, woad-dyed savages. They
+      could spin and weave, grow corn, and make bread, and had brought into
+      subjection for their use domestic animals, horses and cattle, sheep and
+      goats, and swine. They lived in security and comfort, and were industrious
+      and intelligent; and it is interesting to record, from the relics which
+      the earth has preserved of their civilisation, the kind of life which they
+      must have lived in the ages which existed before the dawn of history.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link5" id="link5"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Stone monuments&mdash;Traditions relating to them&mdash;Menhirs or
+      hoar-stones&mdash; <i>Alignements</i>&mdash;Cromlechs&mdash;Stonehenge&mdash;Avebury&mdash;Rollright
+      stones&mdash;Origin of stone circles&mdash;Dolmens&mdash;Earthworks&mdash;Chun
+      Castle&mdash;Whittenham clumps&mdash; Uffington&mdash;Tribal boundaries&mdash;Roman
+      rig&mdash;Grims-dike&mdash;Legends&mdash;Celtic words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the antiquities which some of our English villages possess, none are
+      more curious and remarkable than the grand megalithic monuments of the
+      ancient races which peopled our island. Marvellous memorials are these of
+      their skill and labour. How did they contrive to erect such mighty
+      monuments? How did they move such huge masses of stone? How did they raise
+      with the very slender appliances at their disposal such gigantic stones?
+      For what purpose did they erect them? The solution of these and many
+      such-like problems we can only guess, and no one has as yet been bold
+      enough to answer all the interesting questions which these rude stone
+      monuments raise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Superstition has attempted to account for their existence. Just as the
+      flint arrow-heads are supposed by the vulgar to be darts shot by fairies
+      or witches which cause sickness and death in cattle and men, and are worn
+      as amulets to ward off disease; just as the stone axes of early man are
+      regarded as thunder bolts, and when boiled are esteemed as a sure cure for
+      rheumatism, or a useful cattle medicine&mdash;so these stones are said to
+      be the work of the devil. A friend tells me that in his childhood his
+      nurse used to frighten him by saying that the devil lurked in a dolmen
+      which stands near his father&rsquo;s house in Oxfordshire; and many weird
+      traditions cluster round these old monuments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link058" id="link058"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="058.jpg (24K)" src="images/058.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In addition to the subterranean sepulchral chambers and cairns which we
+      have already examined, there are four classes of megalithic structures.
+      The first consists of single stones, called in Wales, Cornwall, and
+      Brittany, <i>menhirs</i>, a name derived from the Celtic word <i>maen</i>
+      or <i>men</i> signifying a stone, and <i>hir</i> meaning tall. In England
+      they are known as &ldquo;hoar-stones,&rdquo; <i>hoar</i> meaning a
+      boundary, inasmuch as they are frequently used in later times to mark the
+      boundary of an estate, parish, or manor. There is one at Enstone,
+      Oxfordshire, and at Wardington, Warwickshire. Possibly they were intended
+      to mark the graves of deceased chieftains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The second class consists of lines of stones, which the French call <i>alignements</i>.
+      Frequently they occur in groups of lines from two to fourteen in number,
+      Carnac, in Brittany, possesses the best specimen in Europe of this curious
+      arrangement of giant stones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The third class of megalithic monuments is the circular arrangement, such
+      as we find at Avebury and Stonehenge. These are now usually called
+      cromlechs, in accordance with the term used by French antiquaries, though
+      formerly this name was applied in England to the dolmens, or chambered
+      structures, of which we shall speak presently. According to the notions of
+      the old curator of Stonehenge the mighty stones stood before the Deluge,
+      and he used to point out (to his own satisfaction) signs of the action of
+      water upon the stones, even showing the direction in which the Flood
+      &ldquo;came rushing in.&rdquo; The Welsh bards say that they were erected
+      by King Merlin, the successor of Vortigern; and Nennius states that they
+      were erected in memory of four hundred nobles, who were treacherously
+      slain by Hengist, when the savage Saxons came. There is no need to
+      describe these grand circles of huge stones which all antiquaries have
+      visited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cromlech at Avebury covers a larger area than that of Stonehenge, the
+      circle being about 1,300 feet in diameter. There is a fine circle at
+      Rollright, in Oxfordshire, which is the third largest in England. The
+      diameter of the circle is about 107 feet, and the stones numbered
+      originally about sixty. Near the circle stand the Five Whispering Knights,
+      five large stones leaning together, probably the remains of a dolmen, and
+      a large solitary stone, or menhir. Popular tradition has woven a strange
+      legend about these curious relics of bygone ages. A mighty chieftain once
+      ruled over the surrounding country; but he was ambitious, and wished to
+      extend his sway, and become King of England. So he mustered his army, and
+      the oracle proclaimed that if he could once see Long Compton, he would
+      obtain his desire. Having proceeded as far as Rollright, he was repeating
+      the words of the oracle&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;If Long Compton I can see,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;King of
+      England I shall be&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      when Mother Shipton, who had doubtless ridden on her broomstick from her
+      Norfolk home, appeared and pronounced the fatal spell&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Move no more; stand fast, stone;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;King
+      of England thou shall none.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link060" id="link060"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="060.jpg (102K)" src="images/060.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately the king and his army were changed into stone, as if the head
+      of Medusa had gazed upon them. The solitary stone, still called the King
+      Stone, is the ambitious monarch; the circle is his army; and the Five
+      Whispering Knights are five of his chieftains, who were hatching a plot
+      against him when the magic spell was uttered. The farmers around Rollright
+      say that if the stones are removed from the spot, they will never rest,
+      but make mischief till they are restored. Stanton Drew, in Somersetshire,
+      has a cromlech, and there are several in Scotland, the Channel Islands,
+      and Brittany. Some sacrilegious persons transported a cromlech bodily from
+      the Channel Islands, and set it up at Park Place, Henley-on-Thames. Such
+      an act of antiquarian barbarism happily has few imitators.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For what purpose were these massive stones erected at the cost of such
+      infinite labour? Tradition and popular belief associate them with the
+      Druids. Some years ago all mysterious antiquarian problems were solved by
+      reference to the Druids. But these priests of ancient days are now out of
+      fashion, and it is certainly not very safe to attribute the founding of
+      the great stone circles to their agency. The Druidical worship paid its
+      homage to the powers of Nature, to the nymphs and genii of the woods and
+      streams, whereas the great stone circles were evidently constructed by
+      sun-worshippers. There is no doubt among antiquaries that they are
+      connected with the burial of the dead. Small barrows have been found in
+      the centre of them. Dr. Anderson is of opinion that the stone circles were
+      developed out of the hedge, or setting of stone, which frequently
+      surrounds the base of a barrow, and was intended to keep the ghost in, and
+      prevent it from injuring the living. By degrees the wall was increased in
+      size while the barrow or cairn decreased; until at last a small mound of
+      earth, or heap of stones, only marked the place of burial, and the huge
+      circle of stones surrounded it. Stonehenge, with its well-wrought stones
+      and gigantic trilitha, is much later than the circles of Avebury and
+      Rollright, and was doubtless constructed by the people who used iron,
+      about two hundred years before our era. The earlier circles have been
+      assigned to a period eight or ten centuries before Christ.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link062" id="link062"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="062.jpg (60K)" src="images/062.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many conjectures have been made as to how the huge capstones of the circle
+      at Stonehenge were placed on the erect stones. Sir Henry Dryden thought
+      that when the upright stones were set on end, earth or small stones were
+      piled around them until a large inclined plane was formed, on which
+      &ldquo;skids&rdquo; or sliding-pieces were placed. Then the caps were
+      placed on rollers, and hauled up by gangs of men. Probably in some such
+      way these wonderful monuments were formed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The last class of rude stone monuments is composed of dolmens, or
+      chambered tombs, so named from the Welsh word <i>dol</i>, a table, and <i>maen</i>
+      or <i>men</i>, a stone. They are in fact stone tables. Antiquaries of
+      former days, and the unlearned folk of to-day, call them &ldquo;Druids&rsquo;
+      altars,&rdquo; and say that sacrifices were offered upon them. The typical
+      form is a structure of four or more large upright stones, supporting a
+      large flat stone, as a roof. Sometimes they are covered with earth or
+      stones, sometimes entirely uncovered. Some antiquaries maintain that they
+      were always uncovered, as we see them now; others assert that they have
+      been stripped by the action of wind and rain, and snow, frost, and thaw,
+      until all the earth placed around them has been removed. Possibly fashions
+      changed then as now; and it may console some of us that there was no
+      uniformity of ritual even in prehistoric Britain. Dolmens contain no
+      bronze or iron implements, or carvings of the same, and evidently belong
+      to the time of the Neolithic folk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among prehistoric remains none are more striking than the great camps and
+      earthworks, which hold commanding positions on our hills and downs, and
+      have survived during the countless years which have elapsed since their
+      construction. Caesar&rsquo;s camps abound throughout England; it is
+      needless to say that they had nothing to do with Caesar, but were made
+      long years before the Conqueror ever set foot on British land. These early
+      camps are usually circular in shape, or follow the natural curve of the
+      hill on which they stand. Roman camps are nearly always square or
+      rectangular. They consist of a high vallum, or rampart of earth,
+      surrounded by a deep ditch, and on the <i>counterscarp</i>, or outside
+      edge of the ditch, there is often another bank or rampart. The entrance to
+      these strongholds was often ingeniously contrived, in order that an enemy
+      endeavouring to attack the fortress might be effectually resisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Chun Castle, in Cornwall, is an interesting specimen of ancient Celtic
+      fortress. It consists of two circular walls separated by a terrace. The
+      walls are built of rough masses of granite, some 5 or 6 feet long. The
+      outer wall is protected by a ditch. Part of the wall is still about 10
+      feet high. Great skill and military knowledge are displayed in the plan of
+      the entrance, which is 6 feet wide in the narrowest part, and 16 in the
+      widest, where the walls diverge and are rounded off on either side. The
+      space within the fortress is about 175 feet in diameter. The Herefordshire
+      Beacon on the Malvern Hills is a fine example of a triple-ramparted Celtic
+      camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link064" id="link064"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="064.jpg (60K)" src="images/064.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Berkshire we have the well-known Whittenham Clumps, the Sinodun of the
+      Celts, on the summit of which there is a famous camp, with a triple line
+      of entrenchment, the mound and ditch being complete. The circumference of
+      the fortress is over a mile. Berkshire and Oxfordshire are very rich in
+      these camps and earthworks, which guard the course of the old British road
+      called the Iknield Way. Hill-forts crown the tops of the hills; and the
+      camps of Blewberry, Scutchamore Knob (a corruption of Cwichelm&rsquo;s
+      law), Letcombe, Uffington, and Liddington, command the ancient trackway
+      and bid defiance to approaching foes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The object of these camps was to provide places of refuge, whither the
+      tribe could retire when threatened by the advent of its enemy. The Celts
+      were a pastoral people; and their flocks grazed on the downs and
+      hillsides. When their scouts brought news of the approach of a hostile
+      force, some signal would be given by the blowing of a horn, and the people
+      would at once flee to their fortress driving their cattle before them, and
+      awaiting there the advent of their foes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Uffington there is a remarkable relic of British times called the
+      Blowing Stone, or King Alfred&rsquo;s Bugle-horn, which was doubtless used
+      by the Celtic tribes for signalling purposes; and when its deep low note
+      was heard on the hillside the tribe would rush to the protecting shelter
+      of Uffington Castle. There, armed with missiles, they were ready to hurl
+      them at the invading hosts, and protect their lives and cattle until all
+      danger was past. Those who are skilled at the art can still make the
+      Blowing Stone sound. The name, King Alfred&rsquo;s Bugle-horn, is a
+      misnomer, and arose from the association of the White Horse Hill with the
+      battle which Alfred fought against the Danes at Aescendune, which may, or
+      may not, have taken place near the old British camp at Uffington. There
+      are several White Horses cut out in the turf on the hillsides in
+      Wiltshire, besides the famous Berkshire one at Uffington, celebrated by
+      Mr. Thomas Hughes in his <i>Scouring of the White Horse</i>. We have also
+      some turf-cut crosses at White-leaf and Bledlow, in Buckinghamshire. The
+      origin of these turf monuments is still a matter of controversy. It is
+      possible that they may be Saxon, and may be the records of Alfred&rsquo;s
+      victories; but antiquaries are inclined to assign them to an earlier date,
+      and connect them with the builders of cromlechs and dolmens. It is
+      certainly improbable that, when he was busily engaged fighting the Danes,
+      Alfred and his men would have found time to construct this huge White
+      Horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link066" id="link066"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="066.jpg (19K)" src="images/066.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In addition to the earthen mounds and deep ditch, which usually formed the
+      fortifications of these ancient strongholds, there were wicker-work
+      stockades, or palisading, arranged on the top of the vallum. Such defences
+      have been found at Uffington; and during the present year on the ancient
+      fortifications of the old Calleva Atrebatum, afterwards the Roman
+      Silchester, a friend of the writer has found the remains of similar
+      wattle-work stockades. Evidently tribal wars and jealousies were not
+      unknown in Celtic times, and the people knew how to protect themselves
+      from their foes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another important class of earthen ramparts are the long lines of
+      fortifications, which extend for miles across the country, and must have
+      entailed vast labour in their construction. These ramparts were doubtless
+      tribal boundaries, or fortifications used by one tribe against another.
+      There is the Roman rig, which, as Mrs. Armitage tells us in her <i>Key to
+      English Antiquities</i>, coasts the face of the hills all the way from
+      Sheffield to Mexborough, a distance of eleven miles. A Grims-dike (or
+      Grims-bank, as it is popularly called) runs across the southern extremity
+      of Oxfordshire from Henley to Mongewell, ten miles in length; and near it,
+      and parallel to it, there is a Medlers-bank, another earthen rampart,
+      exceeding it in length by nearly a third. Near Salisbury there is also a
+      Grims-dike, and in Cambridgeshire and Cheshire. Danes&rsquo; Dike, near
+      Flamborough Head, Wans-dike, and Brokerley Dike are other famous lines of
+      fortifications.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are twenty-two Grims-dikes in England. The name was probably derived
+      from Grim, the Saxon devil, or evil spirit; and was bestowed upon these
+      mysterious monuments of an ancient race which the Saxons found in various
+      parts of their conquered country. Unable to account for the existence of
+      these vast mounds and fortresses, they attributed them to satanic agency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is much work still to be done in exploring these relics of the
+      prehistoric races; and if there should be any such in your own
+      neighbourhood, some careful digging might produce valuable results.
+      Perhaps something which you may find may throw light upon some disputed or
+      unexplained question, which has perplexed the minds of antiquaries for
+      some time. I do not imagine that the following legend will deter you from
+      your search. It is gravely stated that years ago an avaricious person dug
+      into a tumulus for some treasure which it was supposed to contain. At
+      length after much labour he came to an immense chest, but the lid was no
+      sooner uncovered than it lifted itself up a little and out sprang an
+      enormous black cat, which seated itself upon the chest, and glowed with
+      eyes of passion upon the intruder. Nothing daunted, the man proceeded to
+      try to move the chest, but without avail; so he fixed a strong chain to it
+      and attached a powerful team of horses. But when the horses began to pull,
+      the chain broke in a hundred places, and the chest of treasure disappeared
+      for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some rustics assert that if you run nine times round a tumulus, and then
+      put your ear against it, you will hear the fairies dancing and singing in
+      the interior. Indeed it is a common superstition that good fairies lived
+      in these old mounds, and a story is told of a ploughman who unfortunately
+      broke his ploughshare. However he left it at the foot of a tumulus, and
+      the next day, to his surprise, he found it perfectly whole. Evidently the
+      good fairies had mended it during the night. But these bright little
+      beings, who used to be much respected by our ancestors, have quite
+      deserted our shores. They found that English people did not believe in
+      them; so they left us in disgust, and have never been heard of since.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you have no other Celtic remains in your neighbourhood, at least you
+      have the enduring possession of the words which they have bequeathed to
+      us, such as <i>coat, basket, crook, cart, kiln, pitcher, comb, ridge</i>,
+      and many others, which have all been handed down to us from our British
+      ancestors. Their language also lives in Wales and Brittany, in parts of
+      Ireland and Scotland, and in the Isle of Man, where dwell the modern
+      representatives of that ancient race, which was once so powerful, and has
+      left its trace in most of the countries of Europe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link6" id="link6"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ROMAN RELICS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Roman remains numerous&mdash;Chedworth villa&mdash;Roads&mdash;Names
+      derived from roads&mdash;<i>Itinerary</i> of Antoninus&mdash;British roads&mdash;Watling
+      Street&mdash;Iknield Street&mdash;Ryknield Street&mdash;Ermyn Street&mdash;Akeman
+      Street&mdash;Saltways&mdash; Milestones&mdash;Silchester&mdash;Its walls&mdash;Calleva&mdash;Its
+      gardens and villas&mdash; Hypocausts&mdash;Pavements&mdash;Description of
+      old city&mdash;Forum&mdash;Temple&mdash;Baths&mdash; Amphitheatre&mdash;Church&mdash;Roman
+      villa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The world&rsquo;s a scene of change,&rdquo; sings Poet Cowley; but
+      in spite of all the changes that have transformed our England, the coming
+      and going of conquerors and invaders, the lapse of centuries, the
+      ceaseless working of the ploughshare on our fields and downs, traces of
+      the old Roman life in Britain have remained indelible. Our English
+      villages are rich in the relics of the old Romans; and each year adds to
+      our knowledge of the life they lived in the land of their adoption, and
+      reveals the treasures which the earth has tenderly preserved for so many
+      years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If your village lies near the track of some Roman road, many pleasing
+      surprises may be in store for you. Oftentimes labourers unexpectedly meet
+      with the buried walls and beautiful tesselated pavements of an ancient
+      Roman dwelling-place. A few years ago at Chedworth, near Cirencester, a
+      ferret was lost, and had to be dug out of the rabbit burrow. In doing this
+      some Roman <i>tesserae</i> were dug up; and when further excavations were
+      made a noble Roman villa with numerous rooms, artistic pavements,
+      hypocausts, baths, carvings, and many beautiful relics of Roman art were
+      brought to light. Possibly you may be equally successful in your own
+      village and neighbourhood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you have the good fortune to live near a Roman station, you will have
+      the pleasing excitement of discovering Roman coins and other treasures,
+      when you watch your labourers draining the land or digging wells. Everyone
+      knows that the names of many of the Roman stations are &nbsp;distinguished
+      by the termination <i>Chester, caster</i>, or <i>caer</i>, derived from
+      the Latin <i>castra</i>, a camp; and whenever we are in the neighbourhood
+      of such places, imagination pictures to us the well-drilled Roman
+      legionaries who used to astonish the natives with their strange language
+      and customs; and we know that there are coins and pottery, <i>tesserae</i>
+      and Roman ornaments galore, stored up beneath our feet, awaiting the
+      search of the persevering digger. Few are the records relating to Roman
+      Britain contained in the pages of the historians, as compared with the
+      evidences of roads and houses, gates and walls and towns, which the earth
+      has preserved for us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Near your village perhaps a Roman road runs. The Romans were famous for
+      their wonderful roads, which extended from camp to camp, from city to
+      city, all over the country. These roads remain, and are evidences of the
+      &nbsp;great engineering skill which their makers possessed. They liked
+      their roads well drained, and raised high above the marshes; they liked
+      them to go straight ahead, like their victorious legions, and never swerve
+      to right or left for any obstacle. They cut through the hills, and filled
+      up the valleys; and there were plenty of idle Britons about, who could be
+      forced to do the work. They called their roads <i>strata</i> or streets;
+      and all names of places containing the word <i>street</i>, such as <i>Streatley</i>,
+      or <i>Stretford</i>, denote that they were situated on one of these Roman
+      roads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You may see these roads wending their way straight as a die, over hill and
+      dale, staying not for marsh or swamp. Along the ridge of hills they go, as
+      does the High Street on the Westmoreland hills, where a few inches below
+      the grass you can find the stony way; or on the moors between Redmire and
+      Stanedge, in Yorkshire, the large paving stones, of which the road was
+      made, in many parts still remain. In central places, as at Blackrod, in
+      Lancashire, the roads extend like spokes from the centre of a wheel,
+      although nearly eighteen hundred years have elapsed since their
+      construction. The name of Devizes, Wilts, is a corruption of the Latin
+      word <i>divisae</i>, which marks the spot where the old Roman road from
+      London to Bath was <i>divided</i> by the boundary line between the Roman
+      and the Celtic districts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In order to acquire a knowledge of the great roads of the Romans we must
+      study the <i>Itinerary</i> of Antoninus, written by an officer of the
+      imperial Court about 150 A.D. This valuable road-book tells us the names
+      of the towns and stations, the distances, halting-places, and other
+      particulars. Ptolemy&rsquo;s <i>Geographia</i> also affords help in
+      understanding the details of the <i>Itinerary</i>, and many of the roads
+      have been very satisfactorily traced. The Romans made use of the ancient
+      British ways, whenever they found them suitable for their purpose. The
+      British roads resembled the trackways on Salisbury Plain, wide grass
+      rides, neither raised nor paved, and not always straight, but winding
+      along the sides of the hills which lie in their course. There were seven
+      chief British ways: Watling Street, which was the great north road,
+      starting from Richborough on the coast of Kent, passing through Canterbury
+      and Rochester it crossed the Thames near London, and went on through
+      Verulam, Dunstable, and Towcester, Wellington, and Wroxeter, and thence
+      into Wales to Tommen-y-Mawr, where it divided into two branches. One ran
+      by Beth Gellert to Caernarvon and Holy Head, and the other through the
+      mountains to the Manai banks and thence to Chester, Northwich, Manchester,
+      Ilkley, until it finally ended in Scotland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The second great British road was the way of the Iceni, or Iknield Street,
+      proceeding from Great Yarmouth, running through Cambridgeshire,
+      Bedfordshire, Bucks, and Oxon, to Old Sarum, and finishing its course at
+      Land&rsquo;s End. We have in Berkshire a branch of this road called the
+      Ridgeway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Ryknield Street beginning at the mouth of the Tyne ran through
+      Chester-le-Street, followed the course of the Watling Street to Catterick,
+      thence through Birmingham, Tewkesbury, and Gloucester, to Caermarthen and
+      St. David&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Ermyn Street led from the coast of Sussex to the south-east part of
+      Scotland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Akeman Street ran between the Iknield and Ryknield Streets, and led
+      from what the Saxons called East Anglia, through Bedford, Newport Pagnel,
+      and Buckingham to Alcester and Cirencester, across the Severn, and ending
+      at St. David&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Upper Saltway was the communication between the sea-coast of
+      Lincolnshire and the salt mines at Droitwich; and the Lower Saltway led
+      from Droitwich, then, as now, a great centre of the salt trade, to the
+      sea-coast of Hampshire. Traces of another great road to the north are
+      found, which seems to have run through the western parts of England
+      extending from Devon to Scotland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such were the old British roads which existed when the Romans came. The
+      conquerors made use of these ways, wherever they found them useful,
+      trenching them, paving them, and making them fit for military purposes.
+      They constructed many new ones which would require a volume for their full
+      elucidation. Many of them are still in use, wonderful records of the
+      engineering skill of their makers, and oftentimes beneath the surface of
+      some grassy ride a few inches below the turf you may find the hard
+      concreted road laid down by the Romans nearly eighteen hundred years ago.
+      Roman milestones we sometimes find. There is one near Silchester, commonly
+      called the Imp Stone, probably from the first three letters of the Latin
+      word <i>Imperator</i>, carved upon it. Curious legends often cluster round
+      these relics of ancient times. Just as the superstitious Saxons, when they
+      saw the great Roman roads, made by a people who had long vanished from the
+      land, often attributed these great works to evil spirits, and called parts
+      of these well-made streets the Devil&rsquo;s Highway, so they invented a
+      strange legend to account for the Imp Stone, and said that some giant had
+      thrown it from the city, and left on it the marks of his finger and thumb.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our English villages contain many examples of Roman buildings. Where now
+      rustics pursue their calling, and sow their crops and reap their harvests,
+      formerly stood the beautiful houses of the Roman nobles, or the
+      flourishing towns of Roman citizens. Upon the sites of most of these
+      old-world places new towns have been constructed; hence it is difficult
+      often to trace the foundations of Roman cities in the midst of the masses
+      of modern bricks and mortar. Hence we fly to the villages; and sometimes,
+      as at Silchester, near a little English village, we find the remains of a
+      large, important, and flourishing town, where the earth has kept safely
+      for us during many centuries the treasures and memories of a bygone age.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every student of Roman Britain must visit Silchester, and examine the
+      collections preserved in the Reading Museum, which have been amassed by
+      the antiquaries who have for several years been excavating the ruins. The
+      city contained a forum, or marketplace, having on one side a basilica, or
+      municipal hall, in which prisoners were tried, business transactions
+      executed, and the general affairs of the city carried on. On the other
+      side of the square were the shops, where the butchers, bakers, or
+      fishmongers plied their trade. You can find plenty of oyster shells, the
+      contents of which furnished many a feast to the Romans who lived there
+      seventeen hundred years ago. The objects which have been found tell us how
+      the dwellers in the old city employed themselves, and how skilful they
+      were in craftsmanship. Amongst other things we find axes, chisels, files
+      for setting saws, hammers, a large plane, and other carpenters&rsquo;
+      tools; an anvil, a pair of tongs, and blacksmiths&rsquo; implements;
+      shoemakers&rsquo; anvils, very similar to those used in our day, a large
+      gridiron, a standing lamp, safety-pins, such as ladies use now, and many
+      other useful and necessary objects.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In order to protect the city it was surrounded by high walls, which seem
+      to defy all the attacks of time. They are nine feet in thickness, and are
+      still in many places twenty feet high. Outside the wall a wide ditch added
+      to the strength of the fortifications. Watch-towers were placed at
+      intervals along the walls; and on the north, south, east, and west sides
+      were strongly fortified gates, with guard chambers on each side, and
+      arched entrances through which the Roman chariots were driven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These walls inclose a space of irregular shape, and were built on the site
+      of old British fortifications. Silchester was originally a British
+      stronghold, and was called by them Calleva. The Celtic tribe which
+      inhabited the northern parts of Hampshire was the Atrebates, who after a
+      great many fights were subdued by the Romans about 78 A.D. Then within the
+      rude fortifications of Calleva arose the city of Silchester, with its fine
+      houses, temples, and baths, its strong walls, and gates, and streets, the
+      great centre of civilisation, and the chief city of that part of the
+      country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is often possible to detect the course of Roman streets where now the
+      golden corn is growing. On the surface of the roads where the ground is
+      thin, the corn is scanty. Observation of this kind a few years ago led to
+      the discovery of a Romano-British village at Long Whittenham, in Berks. In
+      Silchester it is quite easy to trace the course of the streets by the
+      thinness of the corn, as Leland observed as long ago as 1536. One is
+      inclined to wonder where all the earth comes from, which buries old
+      buildings and hides them so carefully; but any student of natural history,
+      who has read Darwin&rsquo;s book on <i>Worms</i>, will cease to be
+      astonished. It is chiefly through the action of these useful creatures
+      that soil accumulates so greatly on the sites of ancient buildings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link077" id="link077"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="077.jpg (48K)" src="images/077.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Within the walls of Silchester were gardens and villas replete with all
+      the contrivances of Roman luxury. The houses were built on three sides of
+      a square court. A cloister ran round the court, supported by pillars. The
+      open space was used as a garden. At the back of the house were the
+      kitchens and apartments for the slaves and domestics. The Romans adapted
+      their dwellings to the climate in which they lived. In the sunny south, at
+      Pompeii, the houses were more open, and would be little suited to our more
+      rigorous climate. They knew how to make themselves comfortable, built
+      rooms well protected from the weather, and heated with hypocausts. These
+      were furnaces made beneath the house, which generated hot air; and this
+      was admitted into the rooms by earthenware flue-tiles. The dwellers had
+      both summer and winter apartments; and when the cold weather arrived the
+      hypocaust furnaces were lighted, and the family adjourned to their winter
+      quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The floors were made of <i>tesserae</i>, or small cubes of different
+      materials and various colours, which were arranged in beautiful patterns.
+      Some of these pavements were of most elegant and elaborate designs, having
+      figures in them representing the seasons, or some mythological characters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The walls were painted with decorations of very beautiful designs,
+      representing the cornfields, just as the Roman artists in Italy loved to
+      depict the vine in their mural paintings. The mortar used by the Romans is
+      very hard and tenacious, and their bricks were small and thin, varying
+      from 8 inches square to 18 inches by 12, and were about 2 inches in
+      thickness. Frequently we find the impression of an animal&rsquo;s foot on
+      these bricks and tiles, formed when they were in a soft state before they
+      were baked, and one tile recently found had the impression of a Roman baby&rsquo;s
+      foot. Roman bricks have often been used by subsequent builders, and are
+      found built up in the masonry of much later periods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link079" id="link079"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="079.jpg (8K)" src="images/079.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is quite possible to build up in imagination the old Roman city, and to
+      depict before our mind&rsquo;s eye the scenes that once took place where
+      now the rustics toil and till the ground. We enter the forum, the great
+      centre of the city, the common resort and lounging-place of the citizens,
+      who met together to discuss the latest news from Rome, to transact their
+      business, and exchange gossip. On the west side stood the noble basilica,
+      or hall of justice&mdash;a splendid building, its entrance being adorned
+      with fine Corinthian columns; and slabs of polished Purbeck marble, and
+      even of green and white marble from the Pyrenees, covered the walls. It
+      was a long rectangular hall, 233 feet in length by 58 feet in width, and
+      at each side was a semicircular apse, which was called the Tribune. Here
+      the magistrate sat to administer justice, or an orator stood to address
+      the citizens. In the centre of the western wall was another apse, where
+      the <i>curia</i> met for the government of the city. Two rows of columns
+      ran down the hall, dividing it into a nave with two aisles, like many of
+      our churches. Indeed the form of the construction of our churches was
+      taken from these Roman basilica. Several chambers stood on the west of the
+      hall, one of which was another fine hall, probably used as a corn
+      exchange. The height of this noble edifice, the roof of which was probably
+      hidden by a coffered ceiling, must have been about fifty-seven feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Passing along the main street towards the south gate we come to the
+      foundations of a nearly circular temple. Two square-shaped buildings stood
+      on the east of the city, which were probably temples for some Gaulish form
+      of religion, as similar sacred buildings have been discovered in France. A
+      quadrangle of buildings near the south gate, having various chambers,
+      contained the public baths, whither the Romans daily resorted for gossip
+      and discussion as well as for bathing. There is an ingenious arrangement
+      for using the waste water for the purpose of flushing the drains and
+      sewers. Nor were they ignorant of the invention of a force-pump, as the
+      accompanying illustration on the next page shows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link081" id="link081"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="081.jpg (100K)" src="images/081.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The amphitheatre stands outside the gate, whither the citizens flocked to
+      see gladiatorial displays or contests between wild beasts. With the
+      exception of one at Dorchester, it is the largest in Britain. It is made
+      of lofty banks of earth, which surround the arena, and must have been an
+      imposing structure in the days of its glory, with its tiers of seats
+      rising above the level arena. It is difficult to imagine this
+      grass-covered slope occupied by a gay crowd of Romans and wondering
+      Britons, all eagerly witnessing some fierce fight of man with man, or
+      beast with beast, and enthusiastically revelling in the sanguinary sport.
+      The modern rustics, who have no knowledge of what was the original purpose
+      of &ldquo;the Mount,&rdquo; as they name the amphitheatre, still call the
+      arena &ldquo;the lions&rsquo; den.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Silchester was a very busy place. There were dye works there, as the
+      excavations show; hence there must have been some weaving, and therefore a
+      large resident population. Throngs of travellers used to pass through it,
+      and carts and baggage animals bore through its streets the merchandise
+      from London, which passed to the cities and villas so plentifully
+      scattered in western Britain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By far the most important of the discoveries made in Roman Britain is the
+      little church which stood just outside the forum. It is very similar in
+      form to the early churches in Italy and other parts of the Roman Empire,
+      and is of the basilican type. The orientation is different from that used
+      after the reign of Constantine, the altar being at the west end. The
+      churches of S. Peter and S. Paul at Rome had the same arrangement; and the
+      priest evidently stood behind the altar facing the congregation and
+      looking towards the east at the time of the celebration of the Holy
+      Communion. There is an apse at the west end, and the building is divided
+      by two rows of columns into a nave and two aisles. The nave had probably
+      an ambon, or reading-desk, and was mainly used by the clergy, the aisles
+      being for the use of the men and women separately. A vestry stood at the
+      western end of the north aisle. Across the eastern end was the narthex, or
+      porch, where the catechumens stood and watched the service through the
+      three open doors. Outside the narthex was the atrium, an open court,
+      having in the centre the remains of the labrum, or laver, where the people
+      washed their hands and faces before entering the church. We are reminded
+      of a sermon by S. Chrysostom, who upbraided his congregation, asking them
+      what was the use of their washing their hands if they did not at the same
+      time cleanse their hearts by repentance. This interesting memorial of
+      early Christianity was probably erected soon after the Emperor Constantine&rsquo;s
+      Edict of Toleration issued in 313 A.D.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But not only at Silchester and at other places, once the great centres of
+      the Roman population, do we find Roman remains. In addition to the
+      stations, camps, and towns, there were the villas of the rich Roman
+      citizens or Gaulish merchants on the sunny slopes of many a hillside.
+      Although hundreds of the remains of these noble houses have been
+      discovered, there are still many to be explored.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The villa consisted of the house of the proprietor, which occupied the
+      centre of the little colony, together with the smaller houses of the
+      servants and slaves, stables, cowsheds, mills, and granaries, and all the
+      other usual outbuildings connected with a large estate. The main house was
+      built around a central court, like an Oxford college; and resembled in
+      architectural style the buildings which the excavations at Pompeii have
+      disclosed. A corridor ran round the court supported by pillars, from which
+      the rooms opened. In a well-defended town like Silchester the houses were
+      usually built on three sides of the court; but the country villas, which
+      had occasionally to be fortified against the attacks of wandering bands of
+      outlaws and wild Britons, and the inroads of savage beasts, were usually
+      built on all the four sides of the square court. They were usually of one
+      story, although the existence of a force-pump in Silchester shows that
+      water was laid on upstairs in one house at least. As the wells were less
+      than thirty feet deep, a force-pump would not be needed to lift the water
+      to the earth-level. Hence in some houses there must have been some upper
+      chambers, a conclusion that is supported by the thickness of the
+      foundations, which are far more substantial than would be required for
+      houses of one story. The rooms were very numerous, often as many as sixty
+      or seventy, and very bright they must have looked decorated with beautiful
+      marbles and stuccoes of gorgeous hues, and magnificent pavements, statues
+      and shrines, baths and fountains, and the many other objects of Roman
+      luxury and comfort. The floors were made of <i>opus signinum</i>, such as
+      the Italians use at the present day, a material composed of cement in
+      which are embedded fragments of stone or brick, the whole being rubbed
+      down to a smooth surface, or paved with mosaic composed of <i>tesserae</i>.
+      In whatever land the Roman dwelt, there he made his beautiful tesselated
+      pavement, rich with graceful designs and ever-enduring colours,
+      representing the stories of the gods, the poetry of nature, and the
+      legends of the heroes of his beloved native land. Here we see Perseus
+      freeing Andromeda, Medusa&rsquo;s locks, Bacchus and his band of
+      revellers, Orpheus with his lyre, by which he is attracting a monkey, a
+      fox, a peacock, and other animals, Apollo singing to his lyre, Venus being
+      loved by Mars, Neptune with his trident, attended by hosts of seamen. The
+      seasons form an accustomed group, &ldquo;Winter&rdquo; being represented,
+      as at Brading, by a female figure, closely wrapped, holding a lifeless
+      bough and a dead bird. Satyrs and fauns, flowers, Graces and wood-nymphs,
+      horns of plenty, gladiators fighting, one with a trident, the other with a
+      net&mdash;all these and countless other fanciful representations look at
+      us from these old Roman pavements. The Roman villa at Brading is an
+      excellent type of such a dwelling, with its magnificent suites of rooms,
+      colonnades, halls, and splendid mosaic pavements. As at Silchester, we see
+      there fine examples of hypocausts. The floor of the room, called a <i>suspensura</i>,
+      is supported by fifty-four small pillars made of tiles. Another good
+      example of a similar floor exists at Cirencester, and many more at
+      Silchester.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link085" id="link085"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="085.jpg (104K)" src="images/085.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here is a description of a Roman gentleman&rsquo;s house, as drawn by the
+      writer of <i>The History of Oxfordshire</i>:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His villa lay sheltered from wild winds partly by the rising brow
+      of the hill, and partly by belts of trees; it was turned towards the
+      south, and caught the full sun. In the spring the breath of his violet
+      beds would be as soft and sweet as in Oxfordshire woods to-day; in the
+      summer his quadrangle would be gay with calthae, and his colonnade
+      festooned with roses and helichryse. If we are to believe in the <i>triclinium
+      aestivum</i> of Hakewill, it says much for the warmth of those far-away
+      summers that he was driven to build a summer dining-room with a north
+      aspect, and without heating flues. And when the long nights fell, and
+      winter cold set in, the slaves heaped higher the charcoal fires in the <i>praefurnium</i>;
+      the master sat in rooms far better warmed than Oxford country houses now,
+      or sunned himself at midday in the sheltered quadrangle, taking his
+      exercise in the warm side of the colonnade among his gay stuccoes and
+      fluted columns. Could we for a moment raise the veil, we should probably
+      find that the country life of 400 A.D. in Oxfordshire was not so very
+      dissimilar to that of to-day, ... and that the well-to-do Roman of rustic
+      Middle England was ... a useful, peaceful, and a happy person.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link7" id="link7"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Departure of Romans&mdash;Coming of Saxons&mdash;Bede&mdash;Saxon names of
+      places&mdash; Saxon village&mdash;Common-field system&mdash;<i>Eorl</i>
+      and <i>ceorl</i>&mdash;Thanes, <i>geburs</i>, and <i>cottiers</i>&mdash;Description
+      of village life&mdash;Thane&rsquo;s house&mdash;<i>Socmen</i>&mdash;Ploughman&rsquo;s
+      lament&mdash;Village tradesmen&mdash;Parish council&mdash;Hundreds&mdash;Shires.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scene changes. The Roman legions have left our shores, and are trying
+      to prop the tottering state of the falling empire. The groans of the
+      Britons have fallen on listless or distracted ears, and no one has come to
+      their succour. The rule of the all-swaying Roman power has passed away,
+      and the Saxon hordes have poured over the hills and vales of rural
+      Britain, and made it the Angles&rsquo; land&mdash;our England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The coming of the Saxons was a very gradual movement. They did not attack
+      our shores in large armies on one or two occasions; they came in clans or
+      families. The head of the clan built a ship, and taking with him his
+      family and relations, founded a settlement in wild Britain, or wherever
+      the winds happened to carry them. They were very fierce and relentless in
+      war, and committed terrible ravages on the helpless Britons, sparing
+      neither men, women, nor children, burning buildings, destroying and
+      conquering wherever they went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bede tells the story of doings of the ruthless Saxons:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The barbarous conquerors ... plundered all the neighbouring cities
+      and country, spread the conflagration from the eastern to the western sea
+      without any opposition, and covered almost every part of the devoted
+      island. Public as well as private structures were overturned; the priests
+      were everywhere slain before the altars; the prelates and the people,
+      without any respect of persons, were destroyed with fire and sword; nor
+      was there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly slaughtered. Some of
+      the miserable remainder, being taken in the mountains, were butchered in
+      heaps. Others, spent with hunger, came forth and submitted themselves to
+      the enemy for food, being destined to undergo perpetual servitude, if they
+      were not killed even upon the spot. Some, with sorrowful hearts, fled
+      beyond the seas; others, continuing in their own country, led a miserable
+      life among the woods, rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food to
+      support life, and expecting every moment to be their last.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many antiquaries believe that the extirpation of the Britons was not so
+      complete as Bede asserts, and that a large number of them remained in
+      England in a condition of servitude. At any rate, the almost entire
+      extinction of the language, except as regards the names of a few rivers
+      and mountains, and of a few household words, seems to point to a fairly
+      complete expulsion of the Britons rather than to a mingling of them with
+      the conquering race.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What remains have we in our English villages of our Saxon forefathers, the
+      makers of England? In the first place we notice that many of the names of
+      our villages retain the memory of their founders. When the family, or
+      group of families, formed their settlements, they avoided the buildings
+      and walled towns, relics of Roman civilisation, made clearings for
+      themselves in the primeval forests, and established themselves in village
+      communities. In the names of places the suffix <i>ing</i>, meaning <i>sons
+      of</i>, denotes that the village was first occupied by the clan of some
+      chief, whose name is compounded with this syllable <i>ing</i>. Thus the
+      Uffingas, the children of Offa, formed a settlement at Uffinggaston, or
+      Uffington; the Redingas, or sons of Rede, settled at Reading; the Billings
+      at Billinge and Billingham; the Wokings or Hocings, sons of Hoc, at Woking
+      and Wokingham. The Billings and Wokings first settled at Billinge and
+      Woking; and then like bees they swarmed, and started another hive of
+      industry at Billingham and Wokingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These family settlements, revealed to us by the patronymic <i>ing</i>, are
+      very numerous. At Ardington, in Berkshire, the Ardings, the royal race of
+      the Vandals, settled; the Frankish Walsings at Wolsingham; the Halsings at
+      Helsington; the Brentings at Brentingley; the Danish Scyldings at
+      Skelding; the Thurings at Thorington; and many other examples might be
+      quoted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many Saxon names of places end in <i>field</i>, which denotes a forest
+      clearing, or <i>feld</i>, made by the axes of the settlers in the primeval
+      woods, where the trees were <i>felled</i>. These villages were rudely
+      fortified, or inclosed by a hedge, wall, or palisade, denoted by the
+      suffix <i>ton</i>, derived from the Anglo-Saxon <i>tynan</i>, to hedge;
+      and all names ending with this syllable point to the existence of a Saxon
+      settlement hedged in and protected from all intruders. Thus we have
+      Barton, Preston, Bolton, and many others. The terminations <i>yard</i>, <i>stoke</i>,
+      or stockaded place, as in Basingstoke, <i>worth</i> (Anglo-Saxon <i>weorthig</i>),
+      as in Kenilworth, Tamworth, Walworth, have much the same meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps the most common of all the terminations of names denoting the
+      presence of Anglo-Saxon settlers is the suffix <i>ham</i>. When the <i>a</i>
+      is pronounced short the syllable denotes an inclosure, like <i>stoke</i>
+      or <i>ton</i>; but when the <i>a</i> is long, it means home, and expresses
+      the reverence with which the Anglo-Saxon regarded his own dwelling.
+      England is the land of homes, and the natural affection with which we
+      Englishmen regard our homes is to a great extent peculiar to our race. The
+      Frenchman, the Spaniard, the Italian, do not have the same respect for
+      home. Our Saxon forefathers were a very home-loving people, and it is from
+      them doubtless that we inherit our love for our homes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We find, then, the Saxon holding the lands. The clan formed settlements;
+      sections of each clan formed branch settlements; and several members of
+      each section cut their way through the thick forests, felled the trees,
+      built homesteads, where they tilled the land and reared their cattle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In early Saxon times the settlement consisted of a number of families
+      holding a district, and the land was regularly divided into three
+      portions. There was the village itself, in which the people lived in
+      houses built of wood or rude stonework. Around the village were a few
+      small inclosures, or grass yards, for rearing calves and baiting farm
+      stock; this was the common farmstead. Around this was the arable land,
+      where the villagers grew their corn and other vegetables; and around this
+      lay the common meadows, or pasture land, held by the whole community, so
+      that each family could turn their cattle into it, subject to the
+      regulations of an officer elected by the people, whose duty it was to see
+      that no one trespassed on the rights of his neighbour, or turned too many
+      cattle into the common pasture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link091" id="link091"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="091.jpg (34K)" src="images/091.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Around the whole colony lay the woods and uncultivated land, which was
+      left in its natural wild state, where the people cut their timber and
+      fuel, and pastured their pigs in the glades of the forest. The cultivated
+      land was divided into three large fields, in which the rotation of crops
+      was strictly enforced, each field lying fallow once in three years. To
+      each freeman was assigned his own family lot, which was cultivated by the
+      members of his household. But he was obliged to sow the same crop as his
+      neighbour, and compelled by law to allow his lot to lie fallow with the
+      rest every third year. The remains of this common-field system are still
+      evident in many parts of the country, the fields being termed &ldquo;lot
+      meadows,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Lammas lands.&rdquo; Our commons, too, many of
+      which remain in spite of numerous inclosures, are evidences of the
+      communal life of our village forefathers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How long the Saxon villages remained free democratic institutions, we do
+      not know. Gradually a change came over them, and we find the manorial
+      system in vogue. Manors existed in England long before the Normans came,
+      although &ldquo;manor&rdquo; is a Norman word; and in the time of Canute
+      the system was in full force. The existence of a manor implies a lord of
+      the manor, who exercised authority over all the villagers, owned the home
+      farm, and had certain rights over the rest of the land. How all this came
+      about, we scarcely know. Owing to the Danish invasions, when the rude
+      barbarous warriors carried fire and sword into many a peaceful town and
+      village, the villagers found themselves at the mercy of these savage
+      hordes. Probably they sought the protection of some thane, or <i>eorl</i>,
+      with his band of warriors, who could save their lands from pillage. In
+      return for their services they acknowledged him as the lord of their
+      village, and gave him rent, which was paid either in the produce of these
+      fields or by the work of their hands. Thus the lords of the manor became
+      the masters of the villagers, although they too were governed by law, and
+      were obliged to respect the rights of their tenants and servants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Saxon society was divided into two main divisions, the <i>eorl</i> and the
+      <i>ceorl</i>, the men of noble birth, and those of ignoble origin. The
+      chief man in the village was the manorial lord, a <i>thane</i>, who had
+      his demesne land, and his <i>gafol</i> land, or <i>geneat</i> land, which
+      was land held in villeinage, and cultivated by <i>geneats</i>, or persons
+      holding by service. These villein tenants were in two classes, the <i>geburs</i>,
+      or villeins proper, who held the yardlands, and the <i>cottiers</i>, who
+      had smaller holdings. Beneath these two classes there were the <i>theows</i>,
+      or slaves, made up partly of the conquered Britons, partly of captives
+      taken in war, and partly of freemen who had been condemned to this penalty
+      for their crimes, or had incurred it by poverty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were degrees of rank among Saxon gentlemen, as among those of
+      to-day. The thanes were divided into three classes: (i.) those of royal
+      rank (<i>thani regis</i>), who served the king in Court or in the
+      management of State affairs; (ii.) <i>thani mediocres</i>, who held the
+      title by inheritance, and corresponded to the lords of the manor in the
+      later times; (iii.) <i>thani minores</i>, or inferior thanes, to which
+      rank <i>ceorls</i> or merchants could attain by the acquisition of
+      sufficient landed property.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We can picture to ourselves the ordinary village life which existed in
+      Saxon times. The thane&rsquo;s house stood in the centre of the village,
+      not a very lordly structure, and very unlike the stately Norman castles
+      which were erected in later times. It was commonly built of wood, which
+      the neighbouring forests supplied in plenty, and had stone or mud
+      foundations. The house consisted of an irregular group of low buildings,
+      almost all of one story. In the centre of the group was the hall, with
+      doors opening into the court. On one side stood the kitchen; on the other
+      the chapel when the thane became a Christian and required the services of
+      the Church for himself and his household. Numerous other rooms with
+      lean-to roofs were joined on to the hall, and a tower for purposes of
+      defence in case of an attack. Stables and barns were scattered about
+      outside the house, and with the cattle and horses lived the grooms and
+      herdsmen, while villeins and <i>cottiers</i> dwelt in the humble, low,
+      shedlike buildings, which clustered round the Saxon thane&rsquo;s
+      dwelling-place. An illustration of such a house appears in an ancient
+      illumination preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 603. The lord and lady of
+      the house are represented as engaged in almsgiving; the lady is thus
+      earning her true title, that of &ldquo;loaf-giver,&rdquo; from which her
+      name &ldquo;lady&rdquo; is derived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link094" id="link094"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="094.jpg (76K)" src="images/094.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The interior of the hall was the common living-room for both men and
+      women, who slept on the reed-strewn floor, the ladies&rsquo;
+      sleeping-place being separated from the men&rsquo;s by the arras. The
+      walls were hung with tapestry, woven by the skilled fingers of the ladies
+      of the household. A peat or log fire burned in the centre of the hall, and
+      the smoke hid the ceiling and finally found its way out through a hole in
+      the roof. Arms and armour hung on the walls, and the seats consisted of
+      benches called &ldquo;mead-settles,&rdquo; arranged along the sides of the
+      hall, where the Saxon chiefs sat drinking their favourite beverage, mead,
+      or sweetened beer, out of the horns presented to them by the waiting
+      damsels. When the hour for dinner approached, rude tables were laid on
+      trestles, and forthwith groaned beneath the weight of joints of meat and
+      fat capons which the Saxon loved dearly. The door of the hall was usually
+      open, and thither came the bards and gleemen, who used to delight the
+      company with their songs and stories of the gallant deeds of their
+      ancestors, the weird legends of their gods Woden and Thor, their Viking
+      lays and Norse sagas, and the acrobats and dancers astonished them with
+      their strange postures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next to the thane ranked the <i>geburs</i>, who held land granted to them
+      by the thane for their own use, sometimes as much as one hundred and
+      twenty acres, and were required to work for the lord on the home farm two
+      or three days a week, or pay rent for their holdings. This payment
+      consisted of the produce of the land. They were also obliged to provide
+      one or more oxen for the manorial plough team, which consisted of eight
+      oxen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was also a strong independent body of men called <i>socmen</i>, who
+      were none other than our English yeomen. They were free tenants, who have
+      by their independence stamped with peculiar features both our constitution
+      and our national character. Their good name remains; English yeomen have
+      done good service to their country, and let us hope that they will long
+      continue to exist amongst us, in spite of the changed condition of English
+      agriculture and the prolonged depression in farming affairs, which has
+      tried them severely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link096" id="link096"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="096.jpg (57K)" src="images/096.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Besides the <i>geburs</i> and <i>socmen</i> there were the <i>cottiers</i>,
+      who had small allotments of about five acres, kept no oxen, and were
+      required to work for the thane some days in each week. Below them were the
+      <i>theows</i>, serfs, or slaves, who could be bought and sold in the
+      market, and were compelled to work on the lord&rsquo;s farm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Listen to the sad lament of one of this class, recorded in a dialogue of
+      AElfric of the tenth century:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What sayest thou, ploughman? How dost thou do thy work?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my lord, hard do I work. I go out at daybreak, driving the oxen
+      to field, and I yoke them to the plough. Nor is it ever so hard winter
+      that I dare loiter at home, for fear of my lord, but the oxen yoked, and
+      the ploughshare and the coulter fastened to the plough, every day must I
+      plough a full acre, or more.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hast thou any comrade?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have a boy driving the oxen with an iron goad, who also is hoarse
+      with cold and shouting.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What more dost thou in the day?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Verily then I do more. I must fill the bin of the oxen with hay,
+      and water them, and carry out the dung. Ha! Ha! hard work it is, hard work
+      it is! because <i>I am not free.</i>&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evidently the ploughman&rsquo;s want of freedom was his great hardship;
+      his work in ploughing, feeding, and watering his cattle, and in cleansing
+      their stable, was not harder than that of an ordinary carter in the
+      present day; but servitude galled his spirit, and made the work
+      intolerable. Let us hope that his lord was a kind-hearted man, and gave
+      him some cattle for his own, as well as some land to cultivate, and then
+      he would not feel the work so hard, or the winter so cold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Frequently men were thus released from slavery; sometimes also freemen
+      sold themselves into slavery under the pressure of extreme want. A man so
+      reduced was required to lay aside his sword and lance, the symbols of the
+      free, and to take up the bill and the goad, the implements of slavery, to
+      fall on his knees and place his head, in token of submission, under the
+      hands of his master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link098" id="link098"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="098.jpg (42K)" src="images/098.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Each trade was represented in the village community. There were the <i>faber</i>,
+      or smith, and the carpenter, who repaired the ironwork and woodwork of the
+      ploughs and other agricultural implements, and in return for their work
+      had small holdings among the tenants free from ordinary services. There
+      was the <i>punder</i>, or pound-man, who looked after the repair of the
+      fences and impounded stray cattle; the <i>cementarius</i>, or stonemason;
+      the <i>custos apium</i>, or bee-keeper, an important person, as much honey
+      was needed to make the sweetened ale, or mead, which the villagers and
+      their chiefs loved to imbibe; and the steward, or <i>prepositus</i>, who
+      acted on behalf of the lord, looked after the interests of the tenants,
+      and took care that they rendered their legal services. The surnames Smith,
+      Baker, Butcher, Carter, and many others, preserve the remembrance of the
+      various trades which were carried on in every village, and of the complete
+      self-dependence of the community.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have inherited many customs and institutions from our Saxon
+      forefathers, which connect our own age with theirs. In recent years we
+      have established parish councils in our villages. Formerly the pet theory
+      of politicians was centralisation; everything had to be done at one
+      centre, at one central office, and London became the head and centre of
+      all government. But recently politicians thought that they had discovered
+      a new plan for carrying on the internal affairs of the country, and the
+      idea was to leave each district to manage its own affairs. This is only a
+      return to the original Saxon plan. In every village there was a moot-hill,
+      or sacred tree, where the freemen met to make their own laws and arrange
+      their agricultural affairs. Here disputes were settled, plough lands and
+      meadow lands shared in due lot among the villagers, and everything
+      arranged according to the custom of the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our county maps show that the shires are divided into hundreds. This we
+      have inherited from our Saxon forefathers. In order to protect themselves
+      from their neighbours, the Saxon colonists arranged themselves in hundreds
+      of warriors. This little army was composed of picked champions, the
+      representatives of a hundred families; men who were ready in case of war
+      to uphold the honour of their house, and to fight for their hearths and
+      homes. These hundred families recognised a bond of union with each other
+      and a common inheritance, and ranged themselves under one name for general
+      purposes, whether for defence, administration of justice, or other
+      objects.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On a fixed day, three times a year, in some place where they were
+      accustomed to assemble&mdash;under a particular tree,[<a href="#linkb1">1</a>]
+      or near some river-bank&mdash;these hundred champions used to meet their
+      chieftain, and gather around him when he dismounted from his horse. He
+      then placed his spear in the ground, and each warrior touched it with his
+      own spear in token of their compact, and pledged himself to mutual
+      support. At this assembly criminals were tried, disputes settled, bargains
+      of sale concluded; and in later times many of these transactions were
+      inserted in the chartularies of abbeys or the registers of bishops, which
+      thus became a kind of register too sacred to be falsified. A large number
+      of the hundreds bear the name of some chieftain who once used to call
+      together his band of bearded, light-haired warriors and administer rude
+      justice beneath a broad oak&rsquo;s shade.[<a href="#linkb2">2</a>] Others
+      are named after some particular spot, some tree, or ford, or stone, or
+      tumulus, where the hundred court met.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our counties or shires were not formed, as is popularly supposed, by King
+      Alfred or other royal person by the dividing up of the country into
+      portions, but were the areas occupied by the original Saxon tribes or
+      kingdoms. Most of our counties retain to this day the boundaries which
+      were originally formed by the early Saxon settlers. Some of our counties
+      were old Saxon kingdoms&mdash;such as Sussex, Essex, Middlesex&mdash;the
+      kingdoms of the South, East, and Middle Saxons. Surrey is the Sothe-reye,
+      or south realm; Kent is the land of the Cantii, a Belgic tribe; Devon is
+      the land of the Damnonii, a Celtic tribe; Cornwall, or Corn-wales, is the
+      land of the Welsh of the Horn; Worcestershire is the shire of the Huiccii;
+      Cumberland is the land of the Cymry; Northumberland is the land north of
+      the Humber, and therefore, as its name implies, used to extend over all
+      the North of England. Evidently the southern tribes and kingdoms by
+      conquest reduced the size of this large county and confined it to its
+      present smaller dimensions. In several cases the name of the county is
+      derived from that of its chief town, <i>e.g.</i> Oxfordshire,
+      Warwickshire; these were districts which were conquered by some powerful
+      earl or chieftain, who held his court in the town, and called his newly
+      acquired property after its name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have seen the picture of an ordinary English village in early Saxon
+      times, the villeins and slaves working in the fields and driving their
+      oxen, and the thane dressed in his linen tunic and short cloak, his hose
+      bandaged to the knee with strips of cloth, superintending the farming
+      operations. We have seen the freemen and thanes taking an active part in
+      public life, attending the courts of the hundred and shire, as well as the
+      folk moot or parish council of those times, and the slave mourning over
+      his lack of freedom. But many other relics of Saxon times remain, and
+      these will require another chapter for their examination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb1" id="linkb1"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [1] Until the eighteenth century there stood a pollard oak in the parish
+      of Shelford, Berks, where the hundred court used to be held.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb2" id="linkb2"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [2] Other theories with regard to the origin of the hundred have been
+      suggested. Some writers maintain that the hundred was a district whence
+      the hundred warriors were derived, or a group of townships. But the Bishop
+      of Oxford in his <i>Constitutional History</i> states: &ldquo;It is very
+      probable that the colonists of Britain arranged themselves in hundreds of
+      warriors; it is not probable that the country was carved into equal
+      districts. The only conclusion that seems reasonable is that under the
+      name of geographical hundreds we have the variously sized <i>pagi</i>, or
+      districts, in which the hundred warriors settled, the boundaries of these
+      being determined by other causes.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link8" id="link8"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SAXON RELICS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Peculiarities of Saxon barrows&mdash;Their contents&mdash;Weapons&mdash;Articles
+      of personal adornment&mdash;Cremation&mdash;Saxon Cemeteries&mdash;Jutes&mdash;Saxons&mdash;
+      Angles&mdash;Religion of Saxons&mdash;British Church in Wales&mdash;Conversion
+      of Saxons&mdash;Saxon crosses&mdash;Whalley&mdash;St. Wilfrid&mdash;Ruthwell
+      cross&mdash; Bewcastle cross&mdash;Eyam cross&mdash;Ilkley cross&mdash;Hexham
+      cross&mdash;Cross at St. Andrew&rsquo;s, Bishop Auckland&mdash;Cheeping
+      crosses&mdash;Pilgrim crosses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The earth has preserved a vast store of relics of the Saxons, and for
+      these we must search in the barrows which contain their dead. There are
+      certain peculiarities which characterise these memorials of the race. The
+      larger tumuli, whether belonging to Celt or Roman, usually stand alone, or
+      in groups of not more than two or three, and were the monuments of
+      distinguished people; whereas the Saxon barrows form a regular cemetery,
+      each group being the common burying-place of the people in the district.
+      Another characteristic is the large number of articles which they contain.
+      Moreover it was the practice of the other races to lay the body on the
+      ground, and build up the chamber and mound above it. The Saxons on the
+      other hand laid the body in a deep grave before they began to construct
+      the barrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The body was usually stretched out on its back, but is sometimes found in
+      a sitting position, as in graves recently discovered on Lord Wantage&rsquo;s
+      estate, Berks. Coffins of hollowed trunks of trees were occasionally used,
+      but these were not common. If the dead man was a warrior, his weapons were
+      buried with him, and we find the head and spike of his spear, heads of
+      javelins, a long iron broad-sword, a long knife, occasionally an axe, and
+      over his breast the iron boss of his shield, the wooden part of which has
+      of course decayed away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <a name="link104" id="link104"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="104.jpg (31K)" src="images/104.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The articles of personal adornment are very numerous. Fibulae, or
+      brooches, and buckles, made of bronze, are very beautifully ornamented.
+      Gold fibulae of circular form are found in the Kentish barrows, frequently
+      ornamented with real or fictitious gems. Rings, bracelets, necklaces of
+      beads, pendants for the neck and ears, are very common. The beads are of
+      glass, or amber, or variegated clay. Hairpins with which the Saxon ladies
+      bound up their tresses, chatelaines with tweezers for removing superfluous
+      hairs, toothpicks, scissors, and small knives, are very frequent, and
+      combs made of bone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When cremation was used the ashes were deposited in an urn made of rude
+      earthenware without the help of a lathe. Drinking-vessels of glass of fine
+      and delicate workmanship, pointed or rounded at the bottom, are common.
+      From the construction of these cups it is evident that the Saxon allowed
+      no &ldquo;heel-taps.&rdquo; Bronze bowls, dishes, and basins are found in
+      Saxon barrows, and occasionally buckets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A pair of dice was found in a grave at Kingston Down, which indicates a
+      favourite pastime of the Saxons. The presence of a large number of Roman
+      coins shows that they used Roman money long after the legions had left our
+      shores. Sceattas, or Saxon silver coins, are also frequently discovered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many Saxon cemeteries have been discovered in various parts of England,
+      but a vast number have never been examined; and the careful inspection of
+      the contents of barrows must throw much light upon Saxon settlements in
+      England. Bede tells us that there were three different branches of this
+      race. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons settled
+      in Essex, the country of the East Saxons, Sussex, that of the South
+      Saxons, and Wessex, of the West Saxons. The Angles settled in East Anglia.
+      Now an examination of barrows shows that the Angles practised cremation
+      and urn burial, which was not so common amongst the Jutes and Saxons, and
+      the fibulae found in the tombs of these tribes differ considerably in
+      shape and size. The contents of these graves throw much light on the
+      history of the people, their customs and habits. The action of the plough
+      has often obliterated the traces of ancient barrows. It is advisable that
+      the position of all such mounds should be carefully noted and recorded,
+      and where possible excavations made which may help in settling many vexed
+      questions, and enable us to understand more fully the condition of the
+      pagan Saxon, ere the light of Christianity had dawned upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our names for the days of the week tell us of the gods of our Saxon
+      forefathers, whom they worshipped in their pagan and unregenerate state.
+      Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuisco&rsquo;s-day, Woden&rsquo;s-day, Thor&rsquo;s-day,
+      Frya&rsquo;s-day, Saeter&rsquo;s-day, link us on to the times when these
+      &ldquo;whelps from the kennels of barbarism,&rdquo; as the Britons loved
+      to call their conquerors, swept away the old British Church, and
+      established their heathen rites and customs. Their religion resembled that
+      of their Scandinavian neighbours. Each village had its sacred spot, some
+      clearing in the forest, a tree, or well, whither the people resorted to
+      pray to their gods, and practise superstitious rites and customs which
+      lingered long after the introduction of Christianity, and even still
+      survive. They had also a few temples whither the freemen came three times
+      a year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Driven out of England the ancient British Church found a refuge in the
+      wilds of Wales and Cornwall, where it lived on and flourished vigorously,
+      allied to the Churches of Ireland and Scotland, sending out missionaries
+      to the Continent of Europe, having schools and colleges, monasteries, and
+      numerous churches. Llancarvan, in Glamorganshire, was a celebrated seat of
+      learning; and all places named Bangor, such as Bangor-Iscaed, St. Asaph,
+      and many others, possessed schools and colleges. The village names of
+      numerous places in Wales and Cornwall record the labours of many earnest,
+      saintly men, who brought Christianity to the savage folk in these wild
+      regions. There are nearly five hundred names of these holy men in Wales
+      alone, whose memory is retained by this simple record; and Cornwall is
+      dotted over with churches dedicated to men and women whose names are
+      strange, and of whom we know nothing. History tells us of some of these
+      early saints and martyrs, of St. Alban, the first British martyr, who was
+      slain 303 A.D. during the Diocletian persecution in the city which bears
+      his name; of St. David, a Welsh prince, who followed the active life of
+      John the Baptist, and preached like him. The memory of early saints is
+      enshrined in the names, St. Ives, St. Neots, St. Bees, and in St. Edmund&rsquo;s
+      Bury, named after St. Edmund, who was taken prisoner by Ingvar the Viking,
+      and having been bound to a tree, was scourged, and served as a target for
+      the arrows of the Danes, being afterwards beheaded. All these record the
+      bravery and zeal of the holy men of old who loved their God, and for His
+      sake feared not to die.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing need be said of the conversion of the English. That is a story
+      which has been often told. The scene is again changed. The temples of
+      Woden and Thor at Canterbury and Godmundingham and elsewhere, with their
+      heathen altars and shrines and idols, have been changed into Christian
+      churches, and other houses of God have been raised in the various
+      kingdoms; while Paulinus, Berinus, Aidan, Winfrid, and other preachers,
+      travelled through the country, exhorting the people to accept the
+      Christian faith.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Memorials of these early Christian missionaries remain in many a village
+      churchyard. Often there stands near the village church an old stone cross,
+      its steps worn away by the rains and frosts of thirteen centuries; its
+      head has doubtless gone, broken off by the force of the gales, or by the
+      wild rage of human passion and Puritanical iconoclastic zeal; but it
+      preserves the memory of the first conversion of the Saxon villagers to
+      Christianity, and was erected to mark the spot where the people assembled
+      to hear the new preacher, and to consecrate it for this purpose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the life of St. Willibald we read that it was the custom of the Saxon
+      nation, on the estates of some of their nobles or great men, to erect, not
+      a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God, beautifully
+      and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common use of daily
+      prayer. It is recorded also that St. Kentigern used to erect a cross in
+      any place where he had converted the people, and where he had been staying
+      for some time. Very probably the Saxon preacher would make use of the old
+      open-air meeting-place, where the pagan villagers used to worship Woden;
+      and thus the spots still used for public worship are in many cases the
+      same which used to echo with the songs of Thor and the prayers of pagan
+      Saxons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These crosses were the rallying-points for Christian congregations before
+      churches arose, and the bells in their turrets summoned the people to the
+      service of God. In Somersetshire alone there are two hundred relics of the
+      piety of our forefathers; and the North of England and Scotland are
+      especially rich in crosses. No two are ever quite similar. Some are of
+      simple design or character; but many have such beautiful carving and
+      scrollwork that we are astonished at the skill of the workmen who, with
+      very simple and rude tools, could produce such wonderful specimens of art.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pagan Saxons worshipped stone pillars; so in order to wean them from
+      their ignorant superstition, the Christian missionaries, such as St.
+      Wilfrid, erected these stone crosses, and carved upon them the figures of
+      the Saviour and His Apostles, displaying before the eyes of their hearers
+      the story of the cross written in stone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The North of England has very many examples of the zeal of these early
+      preachers of the faith, and probably most of them were fashioned by the
+      monks and followers of St. Wilfrid, who was Archbishop of York at the
+      beginning of the eighth century.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he travelled about his diocese a large body of monks and workmen
+      attended him; and amongst these were the cutters in stone who made the
+      crosses and erected them on the spots which Wilfrid consecrated to the
+      worship of God.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Whalley cross is earlier than the time of Wilfrid. It is one of the
+      crosses of Paulinus, who was one of the priests sent by Pope Gregory to
+      help Augustine in the work of converting the Saxons, and who became
+      Archbishop of York. Under the shadow of this very cross Paulinus, who came
+      to England in 601 A.D., preached nearly thirteen hundred years ago. Indeed
+      an old monkish writer wished to represent that Augustine himself came to
+      Whalley and erected the cross, which he calls &ldquo;St. Augustine&rsquo;s
+      Cross&rdquo;; but there is little doubt that Paulinus was the founder. In
+      Puritan times this and other relics of early faith suffered badly, and was
+      removed with two others from the churchyard, and used as a gatepost; but
+      the spoiler repented, and restored it once more to its old resting-place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But how did the founders learn to make such beautiful patterns and
+      designs? St. Wilfrid had travelled much; he had been to Rome and seen the
+      wonderful examples of Roman skill in the great city. The Romans had left
+      behind them in England their beautiful pavements, rich in designs, with
+      splendid borders of fine workmanship. These, doubtless, the monks copied
+      on parchment in the writing-rooms of their monasteries, and gave their
+      drawings to the monks in the stone-shed, who reproduced them in stone. The
+      only tool they had to produce all this fine and delicate work was the
+      pick, and this increases our wonder at the marvels they were able to
+      accomplish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is a famous cross at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire, which for a short
+      time formed part of the kingdom of Northumbria. Scenes from early
+      Christian history are portrayed, and these are surrounded by bands with
+      sentences in Latin describing them. The lowest panel is too defaced for us
+      to determine the subjects; on the second we see the flight into Egypt; on
+      the third figures of Paul, the first hermit, and Anthony, the first monk,
+      are carved; on the fourth is a representation of our Lord treading under
+      foot the heads of swine; and on the highest there is the figure of John
+      the Baptist with the Lamb. On the opposite side are the Annunciation, the
+      Salutation, and other scenes of gospel history. On the side of the cross
+      is some beautiful scrollwork, which shows a wonderful development of skill
+      and art.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In addition to the Latin sentences there are five stanzas of an
+      Anglo-Saxon poem of singular beauty. It is the story of the crucifixion
+      told in touching words by the cross itself, which narrates its own sad
+      tale from the time when it was a growing tree by the woodside, until at
+      length, after the body of the Lord had been taken down&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;The warriors left me there,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Standing
+      defiled with blood.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the head of the cross are inscribed the words, &ldquo;Caedmon made me.&rdquo;
+      This Caedmon was the holy monk, on whom the gift of writing verses was
+      bestowed by Heaven, who in the year 680 A.D. began to pour forth his songs
+      in praise of Almighty God, and told in Anglo-Saxon poetry the story of the
+      creation and the life of our Lord. The Bewcastle cross is somewhat similar
+      to that at Ruthwell. We see again the figure of our Lord standing on the
+      heads of swine, but the lower figure is represented with a hawk, the sign
+      of nobility, and is probably that of a person to whom the cross is a
+      memorial. The ornamentation on this cross is very perfect and beautifully
+      executed. The very beautiful cross at Eyam, in Derbyshire, differs both in
+      style and workmanship from almost any other. The shaft has evidently been
+      broken. In the panels of the head of the cross are figures of angels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes we find some very strange beasts carved on the old crosses. On
+      the cross at Ilkley we observe some of these curious animals with their
+      long tails interlacing. Sometimes the tail is wound round the creature&rsquo;s
+      body, and the idea of the artist was to represent the animal reduced to a
+      state of powerlessness. One forepaw is held up in sign of submission.
+      Above is a figure of our Lord triumphing over the powers of evil, and
+      these animals represent probably man&rsquo;s lower nature owning the
+      supremacy of the King of Heaven. On the other side of the cross are
+      figures of the four evangelists. The upper half of the figures alone
+      appears dressed in flowing garments; each is carrying a book; circles of
+      glory surround their heads, which are the symbols of the evangelists. St.
+      Matthew has a man&rsquo;s head; St. Mark a leopard&rsquo;s; St. Luke&rsquo;s
+      a calf&rsquo;s; and St. John an eagle&rsquo;s head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The crosses at Hexham, where Archbishop Wilfrid founded a monastery, are
+      very ancient. We are able to tell the date of these stones, for they were
+      placed at the head and feet of the grave of Bishop Acca, who was a
+      follower of St. Wilfrid, and accompanied him on his missionary journeys.
+      Acca succeeded Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham, and according to the old
+      chronicler Bede, &ldquo;being a most active man and great in the sight of
+      God and man, he much adorned and added to his church.&rdquo; Acca died in
+      738 A.D., and as the monastery of Hexham was soon destroyed, these crosses
+      must have been erected eleven hundred and sixty-three years ago.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cross at St. Andrew&rsquo;s, Bishop Auckland, is of much later date,
+      and the workmanship is not nearly so fine and delicate as in the earlier
+      crosses. The Saxons had deteriorated as a race just before the Normans
+      came, and although the cross still appears on the flat stone, the design
+      on the shaft of the cross merely represents a hunting scene; and a Saxon
+      bowman is shown shooting at some animals. The religious conceptions of an
+      earlier and purer time have disappeared. The moustache of the sportsman
+      also shows that the stone belonged to a period very near the Norman
+      Conquest, when that fashion of wearing the hair was in vogue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      England is remarkable for these specimens of ancient art. On the Continent
+      there are very few of these elaborately carved crosses; but it is
+      noteworthy that wherever the English or Irish missionaries went, they
+      erected these memorials of their faith. In Switzerland, where they founded
+      some monasteries, there are some very similar to those in England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are several other kinds of crosses besides those in churchyards.
+      There are market crosses, called &ldquo;cheeping&rdquo; crosses after the
+      Anglo-Saxon <i>cheap</i>, to buy, from which Cheapside, in London,
+      Chippenham and Chipping Norton derive their names. Some crosses are
+      &ldquo;pilgrim&rdquo; crosses, and were erected along the roads leading to
+      shrines where pilgrimages were wont to be made, such as the shrine of St.
+      Thomas a Becket at Canterbury, Glastonbury, Our Lady of Walsingham.
+      Sometimes they were erected at the places where the corpse rested on its
+      way to burial, as the Eleanor crosses at Waltham and Charing, in order
+      that people might pray for the soul of the deceased. Monks also erected
+      crosses to mark the boundaries of the property of their monastery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link114" id="link114"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/114.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="114h.jpg (26K)" src="images/114h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />OLD MARKET CROSS <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Time has dealt hardly with the old crosses of England. Many of them were
+      destroyed by the Puritans, who by the Parliamentary decree of 1643,
+      ordered that all altars and tables of stones, all crucifixes, images and
+      pictures of God and the saints, with all superstitious inscriptions,
+      should be obliterated and destroyed. In London, St. Paul&rsquo;s Cross,
+      Charing Cross, and that in Cheapside, were levelled with the ground, and
+      throughout the country many a beautiful work of art which had existed
+      hundreds of years shared the same fate. Place-names sometimes preserve
+      their memory, such as Gerard&rsquo;s Cross, in Buckinghamshire, Crosby,
+      Crossens, Cross Inn, Croston; these and many others record the existence
+      in ancient times of a cross, and probably beneath its shade the first
+      preachers of the gospel stood, when they turned the hearts of our heathen
+      ancestors, and taught them the holy lessons of the Cross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link9" id="link9"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Saxon monasteries&mdash;Parish churches&mdash;Benedict Biscop&mdash;Aldhelm&mdash;St.
+      Andrew&rsquo;s, Hexham&mdash;Brixworth Church&mdash;Saxon architecture&mdash;Norman
+      architecture&mdash;Characteristics of the style&mdash;Transition Norman&mdash;
+      Early English style&mdash;Decorated style&mdash;Perpendicular style.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The early Saxon clergy lived in monasteries, where they had a church and a
+      school for the education of the sons of thanes. Monastic houses, centres
+      of piety and evangelistic zeal, sprang up, the abodes of religion,
+      civilisation, peace, and learning. They were the schools of culture,
+      sacred and profane, of industry and agriculture; the monks were the
+      architects, the painters, the sculptors, the goldsmiths of their time.
+      They formed the first libraries; they taught the young; they educated
+      women in convents, and by degrees dispersed the shades of ignorance,
+      idolatry, and barbarism, and reformed England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To record the number of these monastic houses which were erected in the
+      seventh and eighth centuries would require much space; and as our chief
+      concern is with the vestiges that remain in our English villages, and as
+      most of these Saxon monasteries were plundered and destroyed by the Danes,
+      or rebuilt on a grander scale by the Normans, we will not now enumerate
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the country had been evangelised by the itinerant monks and
+      preachers, the next process was to establish a church in every village,
+      and to provide a pastor to minister therein. Archbishop Theodore
+      encouraged the thanes to build and endow churches on their estates, and
+      introduced to this country the parochial system, by means of which all
+      villages could have the services of a resident pastor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the thane&rsquo;s house was not considered complete without its
+      chapel; and in the scattered hamlets and village communities churches
+      arose, rudely built of wood and roofed with thatch, wherein the Saxon <i>ceorls</i>
+      and <i>cottiers</i> loved to worship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great Churchmen of the day were not content with such humble
+      structures. They had travelled to Rome, and seen there some of the fine
+      buildings dedicated for divine service; so they determined to have the
+      like in their own country. One of these noble builders was Benedict
+      Biscop, founder of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. When he
+      built the former, he imported foreign artists from Gaul, who constructed
+      the monastery after the Roman style, and amongst other things introduced
+      glazed windows, which had never been seen in England before. Nor was his
+      new house bare and unadorned. He brought from Rome vast stores of church
+      furniture, many books, and the &ldquo;arch-chanter&rdquo; John, to teach
+      his monks the music and ritual of Rome.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, and first Bishop of Sherborne, was one of
+      the foremost church-builders of the time, and the beautiful churches at
+      Malmesbury, Sherborne, Bradford-on-Avon, Frome, and Wareham, owe their
+      erection to his instrumentality. Wilfrid also was one of the saintly
+      architects of the period. Here is a description of the church of St.
+      Andrew, at Hexham, taken from the writings of Richard, prior of the
+      monastery there:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The foundations of this church St. Wilfrid laid deep in the earth
+      for the crypts and oratories, and the passages leading to them, which were
+      then with great exactness contrived and built under ground. The walls,
+      which were of great length, and raised to an immense height, and divided
+      into three several stones or tiers, he supported by square and other kinds
+      of well-polished columns. Also, the walls, the capitals of the columns
+      which supported them, and the arch of the sanctuary, he decorated with
+      historical representations, imagery, and various figures of relief, carved
+      in stone, and painted with a most agreeable variety of colour. The body of
+      the church he compassed about with pentices and porticoes, which, both
+      above and below, he divided with great and inexpressible art, by partition
+      walls and winding stairs. Within the staircases, and above them, he caused
+      flights of steps and galleries of stone, and several passages leading from
+      them both ascending and descending, to be so artfully disposed, that
+      multitudes of people might be there, and go quite round the church,
+      without being seen by anyone below in the nave. Moreover in the several
+      divisions of the porticoes or aisles, he erected many most beautiful and
+      private oratories of exquisite workmanship; and in them he caused to be
+      placed altars in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Michael, St. John
+      the Baptist, and the holy Apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, with
+      all decent and proper furniture to each of them, some of which, remaining
+      at this day, appear like so many turrets and fortified places.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link118" id="link118"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="118.jpg (69K)" src="images/118.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Danish wars had a disastrous effect on such noble structures raised by
+      these monastic architects, as well as on many a rustic village church,
+      which fell a prey to the ruthless invading bands of pagan warriors. But
+      frequently, as we study the history written in the stonework of our
+      churches, we find amid the massive Norman walls traces of the work of
+      Saxon builders, an arch here, a column there, which link our own times
+      with the distant past when England was divided into eight kingdoms, or
+      when Danegeld was levied to buy off the marauding strangers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Roman buildings served as a model for our Saxon architects, and Roman
+      bricks were much used by them. Brixworth Church is perhaps the finest
+      specimen of our early Saxon churches. It has semicircular arches, made of
+      Roman bricks, springing from square massive piers with single abaci.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link120" id="link120"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="120.jpg (54K)" src="images/120.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will try to point out the distinguishing features of Saxon work, in
+      order that you may be able to detect the evidence of its existence in your
+      own village and neighbourhood. The walls are chiefly formed of rubble or
+      rag stone, having &ldquo;long and short work,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i> long
+      block of cut stone laid alternately horizontally and vertically, at the
+      corners of the building and in the jambs of the doors. Often narrow ribs
+      of masonry run vertically up the walls, and a string-course runs
+      horizontally. The churches of Barnack and Wittering in Northamptonshire,
+      St. Michael&rsquo;s, Oxford, and the towers of Earl&rsquo;s Barton are
+      good examples of this.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link121" id="link121"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="121.jpg (41K)" src="images/121.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Saxon doorways have semicircular arches, and sometimes the head is shaped
+      in the form of a triangle. The jambs are square-edged, the stone of the
+      arch is plain, and a hood or arch of ribwork projecting from the surface
+      of the wall surrounds the doorway. Belfry windows have two
+      semicircular-headed lights divided by a <i>baluster</i> shaft, <i>i.e.</i>
+      a column resembling a turned-wood pillar. This feature is quite peculiar
+      to Saxon architecture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Anglo-Saxon single-light windows have two splays, increasing in width from
+      the centre of the wall in which the window is placed. Norman windows have
+      only one splay on the internal side of the building. Saxon arches
+      separating the nave from the aisles and chancel are plain. There is no
+      sub-arch as in Norman buildings. They are often very small, sometimes only
+      five or six feet wide, and stand on square piers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link122" id="link122"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="122.jpg (38K)" src="images/122.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some Saxon churches have crypts, but few of them remain. The crypt made by
+      St. Wilfrid at Hexham, mentioned above, still exists, and also one at
+      Ripon Cathedral, in which there is a small window called &ldquo;Wilfrid&rsquo;s
+      needle.&rdquo; There is a legend about this which states that if a maid
+      goes through the &ldquo;needle,&rdquo; she will be married within the
+      year. Repton Church has a very perfect specimen of Saxon crypt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ground plan of Saxon churches differed. Many were cruciform, and
+      consisted of nave, transepts, and chancel. The east wall of the chancel
+      was often semicircular or polygonal, sometimes rectangular. The church of
+      St. Lawrence, at Bradford-on-Avon, mentioned by William of Malmesbury, is
+      a fine specimen of a Saxon church, and also the little church at Escombe,
+      Durham, and that of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, recently rescued from
+      being used as a farmstead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the close of the thousandth year after the birth of Christ a new
+      impulse was given to church-building. People imagined that with that year
+      the millennium would arrive and the Second Advent take place. It would be
+      vain to build beautiful churches, if they were so soon to perish in the
+      general destruction of the world, as vain as to heap up treasure by means
+      of trade. Hence people&rsquo;s minds were unsettled, and the churches left
+      in ruins. But when the millenary had safely passed away, they began to
+      restore the fallen shrines, and build new churches, and the late Saxon or
+      early Norman style came into vogue. Canute was a great church-builder, and
+      Edward the Confessor rebuilt Westminster Abbey after the new fashion. Then
+      came William the Conqueror with his Norman builders, and soon nearly every
+      village had its church, which was constructed, according to William of
+      Malmesbury, <i>novo aedificandi genere</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will now notice the characteristics of early Norman work, traces of
+      which you may be able to recognise in your own church. The doorways are
+      very remarkable, profusely adorned with richly carved ornamental mouldings
+      and sculpture. The archways are round, and are composed of a succession of
+      receding arches, all elaborately carved. The doorway of Malmesbury Church
+      has eight arches, recessed one within the other. These arches are
+      supported by one or more shafts, which are sometimes carved. Above the
+      door and below the arch is the tympanum, covered with sculpture,
+      representing scriptural subjects, such as the figure of the Saviour in
+      allusion to His saying, &ldquo;I am the door,&rdquo; or the <i>Agnus Dei</i>,
+      or Adam and Eve, or such legendary or symbolical subjects as St. George
+      and the Dragon, or the Tree of Life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link124" id="link124"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="124.jpg (77K)" src="images/124.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Porches are not very common in early Norman structures, but several still
+      exist, notably at Malmesbury, Balderton, and Brixworth. The windows are
+      usually small and narrow, the jambs being splayed only on the inside of
+      the church. Three such windows placed together usually give light over the
+      altar. The walls of Norman buildings are thick and massive, and are often
+      faced with cut stone. String-courses or mouldings projecting from the
+      walls, run horizontally along them, and are often adorned with the zigzag
+      or other Norman patterns of ornament. The tower often stands between the
+      nave and the chancel, and is usually low and massive. In the eastern
+      counties are found many round towers made of flint masonry. Flat
+      buttresses are a sure sign of Norman work, as they were not used in any of
+      the subsequent styles of architecture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link125" id="link125"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="125.jpg (26K)" src="images/125.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The arches of the Norman builders are easily recognised. The piers in
+      country churches are nearly always cylindrical; but there are several
+      examples of massive square or octagonal piers, and also a number of round
+      columns attached, so as to form one pier. The <i>cushion</i> capital is
+      the most common form used in the Norman style. It is easily recognisable,
+      but difficult to be described; and perhaps the accompanying sketch will
+      enable the reader to discover a cushion capital when he sees it. The early
+      Norman builders loved to bestow much labour on their capitals; and while
+      preserving the usual cushion form, enriched them with much elaboration.
+      The <i>scallop</i> frequently occurs, and also the <i>volute</i>, which
+      was copied from the work of Roman builders, who themselves imitated the
+      Greek sculptures. Sometimes the capitals are elaborately carved with
+      figures of men, or animals, or foliage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <a name="link126" id="link126"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="126.jpg (99K)" src="images/126.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Norman arches resemble the doorways in having sub-arches recessed within
+      an outer arch, the intrados often being decorated with mouldings such as
+      the zigzag or the lozenge. The chancel arch is usually very elaborately
+      ornamented with various mouldings, which are very numerous and peculiar.
+      Those illustrated on the previous page are the most common.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link127" id="link127"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="127.jpg (52K)" src="images/127.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Normans were also much skilled in vaulting with stone, as the crypts
+      in our churches testify. Over the vaulted roof of the aisles was the <i>triforium</i>,
+      a kind of gallery between this roof and the external roof of the church.
+      Very few of the wooden roofs of Norman churches remain. The fonts are
+      large, square or cylindrical in shape, and are decorated with mouldings or
+      sculpture, often very elaborate but rudely executed. At Winchester
+      Cathedral the font is carved with a representation of the baptism of King
+      Cynigils at Dorchester. Other favourite subjects were the creation of man,
+      the formation of Eve, the expulsion from Paradise, Christ upon the cross,
+      the Four Evangelists, the baptism of our Lord, and legendary or symbolical
+      representations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link128" id="link128"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="128.jpg (16K)" src="images/128.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This style of architecture prevailed until about the middle of the twelfth
+      century, when the <i>Transition Norman</i> became in vogue. It is
+      characterised by the introduction of the pointed arch. Many conjectures as
+      regards its origin have been made. Some suppose that the idea of making
+      the arch pointed was suggested by the intersection of semicircular arches
+      in ornamental arcades. Others say that the Crusaders introduced it on
+      their return from the East, or that it was suggested by the Norman
+      vaulting, or from the form of the <i>vesica piscis</i>, the most ancient
+      of Christian symbols. The Cistercian monks were the first to introduce it
+      to this country, and the Cistercian abbeys of Fountains, Kirkstall,
+      Furness, and Tintern are noble specimens of Transition Norman work.
+      Religious zeal and enthusiasm are often reflected in the improved
+      condition of our churches, and the grand buildings of this period are
+      outward and visible signs of a great religious revival. Semicircular
+      arches, however, continued to be used for windows and for the triforium;
+      the capitals of the piers were decorated with foliage somewhat similar to
+      that used in a subsequent period.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link129" id="link129"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="129.jpg (37K)" src="images/129.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then arose the Early English style of architecture which flourished from
+      about the year 1175 to 1275, and is characterised by a gradual abandonment
+      of the heavy and massive features of the Norman style, and the adoption of
+      lighter and more elegant forms of construction and decoration. Salisbury
+      Cathedral, erected 1220-1260 A.D., is the most perfect example of this
+      period. The arches are pointed, and the piers supporting them are often
+      composed of an insulated cylindrical column surrounded by slender detached
+      shafts, all uniting together under one capital, and divided into parts by
+      horizontal bands. In small churches plain octagonal or circular piers are
+      frequently used, as in the succeeding style, from which they can only be
+      distinguished by the mouldings. Mouldings are often the surest guides in
+      helping us to ascertain the date of a building. We have already studied
+      the Norman mouldings. In this style they are composed of bold rounds and
+      deep hollows, usually plain, or ornamented with the dog-tooth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link130" id="link130"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="130.jpg (11K)" src="images/130.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lancet window is now introduced, at first of only one light, very
+      narrow and long, and differing from the Norman window in having a pointed
+      arch. At the east end of the chancel there are often three lancet windows,
+      the centre one higher than the rest, with one dripstone over them. The
+      first idea of window-tracery was the introduction of a plain
+      lozenge-shaped opening over a double lancet window, the whole being
+      covered by a single dripstone. From this simple arrangement it was not
+      difficult to develop the beautiful bar-tracery which came into vogue in
+      the subsequent period of English architecture. The capitals of the Early
+      English style are bell-shaped, at first quite plain, but subsequently
+      these are often covered with beautifully sculptured foliage of a very
+      graceful character. Circular windows at this period came into vogue in the
+      gables of churches. They were either plain or quatre-foiled. Norman towers
+      were sometimes capped with spires in the thirteenth century. The walls are
+      not so thick or massive as in the Norman period, and the buttresses are
+      stouter and more numerous, and project further from the wall. Flying
+      buttresses were also introduced at this period. We can generally
+      distinguish Early English work from that of the Norman style by its
+      lightness and elegance, as compared with the roughness and massiveness of
+      the latter; and its plainness and simplicity sufficiently distinguish it
+      from that of the Decorated period.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link131" id="link131"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="131.jpg (32K)" src="images/131.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Decorated style (1275-1375) which prevailed during the reigns of the
+      three Edwards was ushered in by a period of Transition, during which there
+      was gradually developed the most perfect style which English architectural
+      skill has ever attained. In the thirteenth century our builders were
+      striving to attain the highest forms of graceful design and artistic
+      workmanship. In the fourteenth their work reached perfection, while in the
+      fifteenth there was a marked decline in their art, which in spite of its
+      elaborate details lacked the beauty of the Decorated style.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link132" id="link132"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="132.jpg (93K)" src="images/132.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The arches of this period are usually wider, and are distinguished from
+      those of the Early English by the character of the mouldings. The
+      ball-flower, consisting of a ball inclosed by three or four leaves,
+      somewhat resembling a rosebud, is the favourite ornament, and a
+      four-leaved flower is often used. Roll mouldings, quarter, half, or
+      three-quarters round, frequently occur, and produce a very pleasing
+      effect. The form of the arch is in many instances changed, and the
+      graceful <i>ogee</i> arch is introduced. The piers are round or octagonal
+      in village churches, and in large churches are formed by a cluster of
+      cylindrical shafts, not detached as in the preceding period, but closely
+      united. The capitals are bell-shaped, and in large churches richly
+      sculptured. Few of the wooden roofs remain, as they have been superseded
+      in later times; but the marks of the old roofs may often be seen on the
+      eastern wall of the tower. The windows are larger than those of the
+      earlier style, and are filled with geometrical and flowing tracery of
+      great variety and beauty. Small windows have heads shaped in the ogee or
+      trefoil forms. Square-headed windows are not uncommon, especially in the
+      clerestory, and in monastic churches circular windows are frequently met
+      with. It is characteristic of this style that the carving is not so deep
+      as in the previous work. We find groups of shallow mouldings separated by
+      one cut deeper than the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link133a" id="link133a"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="133a.jpg (30K)" src="images/133a.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link133b" id="link133b"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="133b.jpg (38K)" src="images/133b.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link134" id="link134"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="134.jpg (35K)" src="images/134.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length the glories of the Decorated period pass away and are merged and
+      lost in the <i>Perpendicular</i> which held sway from 1375 to 1540. The
+      work is now more elaborate and richer, but lacks the majestic beauty of
+      the Decorated style. It is easy to distinguish Perpendicular windows. They
+      are larger than any which we have seen before; the mullions are carried
+      straight up through the head of the window; smaller mullions spring from
+      the heads of the principal lights, and thus the windows are broken up into
+      panel-like compartments, very different from the beautiful curves of the
+      Decorated style. Simple pointed arches are still in use, but gradually
+      they become flattened; and the arch, commonly known as the Tudor arch, is
+      a peculiar feature of this style. In village churches the mouldings of the
+      arch are often continued down the piers without any capital or shaft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link135" id="link135"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="135.jpg (42K)" src="images/135.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Piers are commonly formed from a square or parallelogram with the angles
+      fluted, having on the flat face of each side a semicyclindrical shaft. The
+      base mouldings are polygonal. The most common doorway is the Tudor arch
+      having a square head over it. The doors are often richly ornamented. There
+      are a large number of square-headed windows, and so proud were these
+      builders of their new style of window that they frequently inserted
+      Perpendicular windows in walls of a much earlier date. Hence it is not
+      always safe to determine the age of a church by an examination of the
+      windows alone. Panel-work tracery on the upper part of the interior walls
+      is a distinctive feature of this style.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link136a" id="link136a"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="136a.jpg (37K)" src="images/136a.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link136b" id="link136b"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="136b.jpg (16K)" src="images/136b.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The slope of the roof is much lower than before, and often the former
+      high-pitched roofs were at this period replaced by the almost flat roofs
+      prevalent in the fifteenth century. The parapets are often embattled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rose, the badge of the houses of York and Lancaster, is often used as
+      an ornamental detail, and also rows of the Tudor flower, composed of four
+      petals, frequently occur. One of the most distinctive mouldings is the <i>cavetto</i>,
+      a wide shallow hollow in the centre of a group of mouldings. Also we find
+      a peculiar wave, and a kind of double ogee moulding which are
+      characteristic of the style.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link137" id="link137"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="137.jpg (15K)" src="images/137.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Spires of this period are not very common, and usually spring from within
+      the parapet. The interiors of our churches were enriched at this time with
+      much elaborate decoration. Richly carved woodwork in screens, rood-lofts,
+      pulpits, and pews, sculptured sedilia and a noble reredos, and much
+      exuberance of decorative imagery and panel-work, adorned our churches at
+      this time, much of which was obliterated or destroyed by spoliators of the
+      Reformation period, the iconoclastic Puritans of the seventeenth century,
+      or the &ldquo;restorers&rdquo; of the nineteenth. However, we may be
+      thankful that so much remains to the present day of the work of our great
+      English church-builders, while we endeavour to trace the history of each
+      church written in stone, and to appreciate these relics of antiquity which
+      most of our villages possess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link10" id="link10"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE <i>DOMESDAY BOOK</i>
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The coming of the Normans&mdash;<i>Domesday Book</i>&mdash;Its objects&mdash;Its
+      contents&mdash; Barkham in <i>Domesday</i>&mdash;Saxon families&mdash;Saxons
+      who retained their estates&mdash;Despoiled landowners&mdash;Village
+      officers and artisans&mdash; Villeins&mdash;<i>Bordarii</i>&mdash;<i>Cottarii</i>&mdash;<i>Servi</i>&mdash;Socmen&mdash;Presbyter&mdash;Names
+      of Normans&mdash;The teaching of <i>Domesday</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a great stir in our English villages when the news was brought
+      to them that William of Normandy had landed in England, and intended to
+      fight for the English Crown. News travelled very slowly in those days.
+      First the villeins and the cottiers who were not fighting with their lord
+      heard that a great battle had been fought at Stamford Bridge, in
+      Yorkshire, in which their gallant King Harold had defeated his own brother
+      Tostig, aided by the King of Norway, Hardrada, and a large army. Then the
+      news reached them that William of Normandy had arrived, and that Harold
+      was marching night and day to meet him. Then they heard of the fatal
+      battle of Hastings; and when it was told them that their brave King Harold
+      was slain, and that William, the Norman, was the conqueror of England and
+      the acknowledged king of the country, all England groaned to hear the
+      fatal news. And then, after a few years, they found that their old lord
+      had been deprived of his estates, and a new, haughty, proud Norman, who
+      talked like a Frenchman, and laughed at their dear old Saxon language,
+      came and ruled over them. He brought Norman servants with him, who took
+      the best of the land, and made the Saxons do all the hard work on the
+      farm, treating them like slaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now we must examine a most valuable document which throws a
+      wonderfully clear light on the condition of England just before and after
+      the Conquest. I refer to the <i>Domesday Book</i>, or survey of the
+      country which William caused to be made. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler tells
+      us that after a great Council at Gloucester the king &ldquo;sent his men
+      over all England, into every shire, and caused to be ascertained how many
+      hundred hides were in the shire, or what land the king himself had, and
+      cattle within the land, or what dues he ought to have in twelve months
+      from the shire. Also he caused to be written how much land his archbishops
+      had, and his suffragan bishops, and abbots, and earls; and though I may
+      narrate somewhat prolixly, what or how much each man had who was a holder
+      of land in England, in land, or in cattle, and how much money it might be
+      worth. So very narrowly he caused it to be traced out, that there was not
+      one single hide, nor one yard of land, nor even, it is shame to tell,
+      though it seemed to him no shame to do, an ox, nor a cow, nor a swine was
+      left that was not set down in his writ. And all the writings were brought
+      to him afterwards.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The commissioners appointed by the king, among whom were Remigius, Bishop
+      of Lincoln, and Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, were to inquire the
+      following details concerning each parish:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Its name. Who held it in the time of King Edward the Confessor. The
+      present possessor. Number of hides in the manor, number of ploughs, of
+      homagers, villeins, cottars, free tenants, tenants in socage; how much
+      wood, meadow, and pasture; number of mills and fishponds; the value in the
+      time of the last king; and its present value.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such a survey was of immense value. Its object, according to the king, was
+      that every man might know and be satisfied with his rightful possessions,
+      and not with impunity usurp the property of others. But it was also of
+      great service to the king, so that he might know who were his vassals, the
+      amount of taxation which he could draw from them, and the actual strength
+      of his new kingdom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The commissioners performed their work with much care and exactness. The
+      survey is wonderfully complete, and was compiled in a very short time. It
+      is of great value to the historians of subsequent ages. The writing of the
+      book is very clear and beautiful, the abbreviations alone presenting some
+      difficulty to an unaccustomed reader. No illuminations adorn the text. At
+      the head of each page the name of the county is written in red ink. The
+      book is preserved in an ancient chest in the Public Record Office, where
+      it was removed from the Chapter House at Westminster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As an example we may take the <i>Domesday</i> description of the parish of
+      Barkham, which runs as follows:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;IN CERLEDONE HD.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rex ten in dnio Bercheha. AElmer Tenuit de rege. E. Te 7 m &nbsp;iii
+      hid. Tra e iii car. In dnio e una, 7 vi uilli 7 iiii bord cu iii car. Ibi
+      v. ac pti. Silua de XL pore. Valuit iiii lib. T.R.E. 7 m: iii. lib.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      TRANSLATION.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the hundred of Charlton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The king holds Barkham in demesne. AElmer held it of King Edward.
+      Then, as now, it was rated for three hides. The land is three ploughlands.
+      In demesne there is one ploughland. There are six villeins, four borderers
+      with three ploughs. There are five acres of pasture. Wood for the
+      pasturage of forty hogs. It was worth 4l. in the time of King Edward,
+      afterwards, and now, 3l.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      King Edward here mentioned was Edward the Confessor. A hide, when it is
+      used as a measure of land, may be taken at about one hundred and twenty
+      acres. A ploughland was as much land as one plough with oxen could plough
+      in a year. The villeins were men who tilled their lord&rsquo;s land, and
+      in return for certain services had holdings under him. The borderers were
+      cottagers who also worked for their lord and held smaller holdings, from
+      one to ten acres. In other entries we find the number of serfs recorded,
+      and also mention of the hall of the lord of the manor, where the manorial
+      courts were held, the church, the priest&rsquo;s house, the names of
+      landowners and tenants, the mill, and of the various officers and artisans
+      who made up the village community.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Domesday</i> tells us of the old Saxon families, many of whom lost
+      their estates when the Conqueror came, and were supplanted by the
+      favourites of the new king. Some of them contrived to weather the storm
+      and retain their lands. Almer, or Almar, the lord of Barkham, who
+      succeeded his brother Stigand as Bishop of Elmham in 1047, when the latter
+      became archbishop, was among the number of the dispossessed, and probably
+      found shelter with many of his compatriots in the cloister. Several of
+      William&rsquo;s Norman adventurers married the heiresses of the old Saxon
+      gentry, and thus became possessed of great estates. Thus Robert D&rsquo;Oili
+      married the daughter of Wigod, lord of Wallingford, and soon gained
+      possession of his father-in-law&rsquo;s property.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the names of the fortunate Saxons who retained their estates are
+      few in comparison with those who were dispossessed. We find Edgar
+      Atheling, real heir to the throne, retaining a small estate; but he was a
+      feeble prince, and therefore not to be feared by William. His sister
+      Cristina had also land in Oxfordshire. Bishop Osbern, of Exeter, a kinsman
+      of the late king, also held his estates; and amongst the list we find
+      Seward the huntsman, of Oxfordshire; Theodric the goldsmith; Wlwi the
+      huntsman, of Surrey; Uluric the huntsman, of Hampshire, who were not
+      deprived of their lands, their occupations being useful to the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The list of despoiled landowners is a long one, and need not here be
+      recorded. One Brictric was very unfortunate. When ambassador to Baldwin of
+      Flanders he refused to marry the count&rsquo;s daughter Maud. The slighted
+      lady became the Conqueror&rsquo;s consort, and in revenge for her despised
+      love caused Brictric to be imprisoned and his estates confiscated, some of
+      which were given to the queen. The luckless relations and connections of
+      the late royal house were consistently despoiled, amongst them Editha, the
+      beautiful queen of King Edward, and daughter of Earl Godwin, of whom it
+      was written: &ldquo;<i>Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwynus Editham</i>&rdquo;;
+      and Gida, the mother of Harold; Godric, his son; and Gwith, his brother.
+      Harold himself&mdash;the earl, as he is called, and not the king, who
+      fought and died at Senlac, if he did not, as the romance states, end his
+      life as a holy hermit at Chester&mdash;had vast estates all over England,
+      which went to enrich William&rsquo;s hungry followers. Hereward the Wake,
+      the English hero, also held in pre-Norman days many fat manors. Few of the
+      Saxon landowners were spared, and it is unnecessary here to record the
+      names of the Uchtreds, Turgots, Turchils, Siwards, Leurics, who held lands
+      &ldquo;in the time of King Edward,&rdquo; but whose place after Domesday
+      knows them no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Domesday</i> tells us also the names of the officers and artisans who
+      played important parts in the old village communities. The <i>villani</i>,
+      or villeins, corresponding to the Saxon <i>ceorls</i>, were the most
+      important class of tenants in villeinage, and each held about thirty acres
+      in scattered acre or half-acre strips, each a furlong in length and a
+      perch or two in breadth, separated by turf balks. The villein thus
+      supported himself and his family, and in return was bound to render
+      certain services to the lord of the manor, to work on the home farm, and
+      provide two or more oxen for the manorial plough-team. He was not a free
+      tenant, could acquire no property, and his lord&rsquo;s consent was needed
+      for the marriage of his daughters. But the law protected him from unjust
+      usage; his holdings were usually regranted to his son. He could obtain
+      freedom in several ways, and by degrees acquired the rights and privileges
+      of a free tenant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next to the villeins were the <i>bordarii</i>, who lived in <i>bords</i>
+      or cottages, <i>i.e.</i> boarded or wooden huts, and ranked as a lower
+      grade of villeins. They held about five acres, but provided no oxen for
+      the manorial plough-team. Below them were the <i>cottarii</i>, or
+      cottiers, who were bound to do domestic work and supply the lord&rsquo;s
+      table. They corresponded to the modern labourer, but lacked his freedom.
+      The lowest class of all were the <i>servi</i>, or serfs, who corresponded
+      to the Saxon <i>theows</i>. In Norman times their condition was greatly
+      improved; they mingled with the cottiers and household servants, and
+      gradually were merged with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The <i>sochemanni</i>, or socmen, our yeomen, who abounded chiefly in the
+      Danish district of England, were inferior landowners who had special
+      privileges, and could not be turned out of their holdings, though they
+      rendered certain services to the lord of the manor, and in this respect
+      differed little from the villeins. <i>Domesday Book</i> also mentions a
+      class of men called <i>burs</i> or <i>geburs</i>, who were the same as <i>coliberti</i>;
+      also the <i>commendati</i>, who received privileges in return for services
+      rendered to the lord of the manor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Each village community was self-contained, and had its own officers.
+      Although <i>Domesday Book</i> was not compiled in order to ascertain the
+      condition of the Church and its ministers, and frequently the mention of a
+      parish church is omitted where we know one existed, the <i>presbyter</i>,
+      or priest, is often recorded. Archbishop Egbert&rsquo;s <i>Excerptiones</i>
+      ordained that &ldquo;to every church shall be allotted one complete
+      holding (mansa), and that this shall be free from all but ecclesiastical
+      services.&rdquo; According to the Saxon laws every tenth strip of land was
+      set aside for the Church, and <i>Domesday</i> shows that in many villages
+      there was a priest with his portion of land set apart for his support.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there was a <i>prepositus</i>, bailiff or reeve, who collected the
+      lord&rsquo;s rents, assisted by a <i>bedellus</i>, beadle or
+      under-bailiff. <i>Bovarii</i>, or oxherds, looked after the plough-teams.
+      The <i>carpentarius</i>, or carpenter; the <i>cementarius</i>, or
+      bricklayer; the <i>custos apium</i>, or beekeeper; the <i>faber</i>, or
+      smith; the <i>molinarius</i>, or miller&mdash;were all important officers
+      in the Norman village; and we have mention also of the <i>piscatores</i>
+      (fishermen), <i>pistores</i> (bakers), <i>porcarii</i> (swineherds), <i>viccarii</i>
+      (cowmen), who were all employed in the work of the village community.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Domesday Book</i> enables us to form a fairly complete picture of our
+      villages in Norman and late Saxon times. It tells us of the various
+      classes who peopled the village and farmed its fields. It gives us a
+      complete list of the old Saxon gentry and of the Norman nobles and
+      adventurers who seized the fair acres of the despoiled Englishmen. Many of
+      them gave their names to their new possessions. The Mandevilles settled at
+      Stoke, and called it Stoke-Mandeville; the Vernons at Minshall, and called
+      it Minshall-Vernon. Hurst-Pierpont, Neville-Holt, Kingston-Lysle,
+      Hampstead-Norris, and many other names of places compounded of Saxon and
+      Norman words, record the names of William&rsquo;s followers, who received
+      the reward of their services at the expense of the former Saxon owners. <i>Domesday
+      Book</i> tells us how land was measured in those days, the various tenures
+      and services rendered by the tenants, the condition of the towns, the
+      numerous foreign monasteries which thrived on our English lands, and
+      throws much light on the manners and customs of the people of this country
+      at the time of its compilation. <i>Domesday Book</i> is a perfect
+      storehouse of knowledge for the historian, and requires a lifetime to be
+      spent for its full investigation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link147" id="link147"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="147.jpg (76K)" src="images/147.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link11" id="link11"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      NORMAN CASTLES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Castle-building&mdash;Description of Norman castle&mdash;A Norman
+      household&mdash; Edwardian castles&mdash;Border castles&mdash;Chepstow&mdash;Grosmont&mdash;Raglan&mdash;Central
+      feature of feudalism&mdash;Fourteenth-century castle&mdash;Homes of
+      chivalry&mdash; Schools of arms&mdash;The making of a knight&mdash;Tournaments&mdash;Jousts&mdash;Tilting
+      at a ring&mdash;Pageants&mdash;&ldquo;Apollo and Daphne&rdquo;&mdash;Pageants
+      at Sudeley Castle and Kenilworth&mdash;Destruction of castles&mdash;Castles
+      during Civil War period.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many an English village can boast of the possession of the ruins of an
+      ancient castle, a gaunt rectangular or circular keep or donjon, looking
+      very stern and threatening even in decay, and mightily convincing of the
+      power of its first occupants. The new masters did not feel very safe in
+      the midst of a discontented and enraged people; so they built these huge
+      fortresses with strong walls and gates and moats. Indeed before the
+      Conquest the Norman knights, to whom the weak King Edward the Confessor
+      granted many an English estate, brought with them the fashion of building
+      castles, and many a strong square tower began to crown the fortified
+      mounds. Thence they could oppress the people in many ways, and the writers
+      of the time always speak of the building of castles with a kind of
+      shudder. After the Conquest, especially during the regency of William&rsquo;s
+      two lieutenants, Bishop Odo and Earl William Fitz-osbern, the Norman
+      adventurers who were rewarded for their services by the gift of many an
+      English manor, built castles everywhere. The wretched men of the land were
+      cruelly oppressed by forced labour in erecting these strongholds, which
+      were filled &ldquo;with devils and evil men.&rdquo; Over a thousand
+      castles were built in nineteen years, and in his own castle each earl or
+      lord reigned as a small king, coining his own money, making his own laws,
+      having power of life and death over his dependants, and often using his
+      power most violently and oppressively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link150" id="link150"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="150.jpg (66K)" src="images/150.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The original Norman castle consisted of a keep, &ldquo;four-square to
+      every wind that blew,&rdquo; standing in a bailey court. It was a mighty
+      place with walls of great thickness about one hundred and fifty feet high.
+      It contained several rooms, one above the other. A deep well supplied the
+      inhabitants with water. Spiral stone steps laid in the thickness of the
+      wall led to the first floor where the soldiers of the garrison resided.
+      Above this was the hall, with a chimney and fireplace, where the lord of
+      the castle and his guests had their meals, and in the thickness of the
+      wall there were numerous chambers used as sleeping-apartments and
+      garderobes, and the existence of a piscina in one of these shows that it
+      was a small chapel or oratory. The upper story was divided by wooden
+      partitions into small sleeping-rooms; and unlike our modern houses, the
+      kitchen was at the top of the keep, and opened on the roof.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Descending some stone steps which led from the ground floor in ancient
+      time we should visit the dungeons, dark, gloomy, and dreadful places,
+      where deep silence reigns, only broken by the groans of despairing
+      captives in the miserable cells. In one of these toads and adders were the
+      companions of the captive. Another poor wretch reposed on a bed of sharp
+      flints, while the torture-chamber echoed with the cries of the victims of
+      mediaeval cruelty, who were hanged by their feet and smoked with foul
+      smoke, or hung up by their thumbs, while burning rings were placed on
+      their feet. In Peak Castle, Derbyshire, a poor, simple squire, one Godfrey
+      Rowland, was confined for six days without either food or drink, and then
+      released from the dungeon with his right hand cut off. In order to extract
+      a heavy ransom, to obtain lands and estates, to learn the secrets of
+      hidden treasure, the most ingenious and devilish tortures were inflicted
+      in these terrible abodes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link152" id="link152"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="152.jpg (97K)" src="images/152.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The same style of castle-building continued for a century and a half after
+      the Norman Conquest. It is possible to distinguish the later keeps by the
+      improved and fine-jointed ashlar stonework, by the more frequent use of
+      the stone of the district, instead of that brought from Caen, by the ribs
+      upon the groins of the vaulting of the galleries and chambers in the
+      walls, and by the more extensive use of ornaments in the bosses, windows,
+      doors, and fireplaces. The style of the decoration approaches the Early
+      English character.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The walls of the keep were not the only protection of the fortress. A moat
+      surrounds the whole castle, crossed by a drawbridge, protected on the side
+      remote from the castle by a barbican. High walls with an embattled parapet
+      surround the lower court, or ballium, which we enter by a gate defended by
+      strong towers. A portcullis has to be raised, and a heavy door thrown
+      back, before we can enter; while above in the stone roof of the archway
+      there are holes through which melted lead and pitch can be poured upon our
+      heads, if we attempt to enter the castle as assailants. In the lower court
+      are the stables, and the mound where the lord dispenses justice, and where
+      criminals and traitors are executed. Another strong gateway flanked by
+      towers protects the inner court, on the edge of which stands the keep
+      which frowns down upon us as we enter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An immense household was supported in every castle. Not only were there
+      men-at-arms, but also cooks and bakers, brewers and tailors, carpenters,
+      smiths, masons, and all kinds of craftsmen; and all the crowd of workers
+      had to be provided with accommodation by the lord of the castle. Hence a
+      building, in the form of a large hall, was erected sometimes of stone,
+      usually of wood, in the lower or upper court for these soldiers and
+      artisans, where they slept and had their meals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A new type of castle was introduced during the reigns of the three
+      Edwards. The stern, massive, and high-towering keep was abandoned, and the
+      fortifications arranged in a concentric fashion. A fine hall with kitchens
+      occupied the centre of the fortress; a large number of chambers was added,
+      and the inner and outer courts both defended by walls, as we have already
+      described, were introduced. The Edwardian castles of Caernarvon and
+      Beaumaris belong to this type of fortress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link155" id="link155"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/155.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="155h.jpg (34K)" src="images/155h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />BROUGHTON CASTLE <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The border counties of Wales are remarkable for the number and beauty of
+      their ancient castles. On the site of British earthworks the Romans
+      established their camps. The Saxons were obliged to erect their rude
+      earthen strongholds in order to keep back the rebellious Welsh, and these
+      were succeeded by Norman keeps. Monmouthshire is famous for its castles;
+      out of the eleven hundred erected in Norman times twenty-five were built
+      in that county. There is Chepstow Castle, with its early Norman gateway
+      spanned by a circular arch flanked by round towers. In the inner court
+      there are the gardens and ruins of a grand hall, and in the outer the
+      ruins of a chapel with evidences of beautifully groined vaulting, and also
+      a winding staircase leading to the battlements. In the dungeon of the old
+      keep at the south-east corner of the inner court Roger de Britolio, Earl
+      of Hereford, was imprisoned for rebellion against the Conqueror, and in
+      later times Henry Martin, the regicide, lingered as a prisoner for thirty
+      years, employing his enforced leisure in writing a book in order to prove
+      that it is not right for a man to be governed by one wife. Then there is
+      Grosmont Castle, the fortified residence of the Earl of Lancaster;
+      Skenfrith Castle; White Castle, the <i>Album Castrum</i> of the Latin
+      records, the Landreilo of the Welsh, with its six towers, portcullis, and
+      drawbridge flanked by massive tower, barbican, and other outworks; and
+      Raglan Castle, with its splendid gateway, its Elizabethan banqueting-hall
+      ornamented with rich stone tracery, its bowling-green, garden terraces,
+      and spacious courts, an ideal place for knightly tournaments in ancient
+      days. Raglan is associated with the gallant defence of the castle by the
+      Marquis of Worcester in the Civil War.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ancient castles of England were the central feature of feudal society.
+      They were the outward and visible sign of that system. M. Guizot in his <i>History
+      of Civilisation</i> says, &ldquo;It was feudalism which constructed them;
+      their elevation was, so to speak, the declaration of its triumph.&rdquo;
+      On the Continent they were very numerous long before castle-building
+      became the fashion in England, and every suzerain saw with displeasure his
+      vassal constructing his castle; for the vassal thus insured for himself a
+      powerful means of independence. The Norman barons in the troublous times
+      of Stephen lived a life of hunting and pillage; they were forced to have a
+      fortified retreat where they might shut themselves up after an expedition,
+      repel the vengeance of their foes, and resist the authorities who
+      attempted to maintain order in the country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Others followed the example of the barons. The townsfolk fortified their
+      towns, monks their monasteries; and even within the town-walls many houses
+      had their towers and gates and barriers in order to keep back troublesome
+      visitors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here is a description of a French castle in the fourteenth century:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;First imagine to yourself a superb position, a steep mountain,
+      bristling with rocks, furrowed with ravines and precipices; upon the
+      declivity is the castle. The small houses which surround it set off its
+      grandeur; the river seems to turn aside with respect; it forms a large
+      semicircle at its feet. This castle must be seen when, at sunrise, the
+      outward galleries glimmer with the armour of the sentinels, and the towers
+      are shown all brilliant with their large new gratings. Those high
+      buildings must be seen, which fill those who defend them with courage, and
+      with fear those who should be tempted to attack them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The door presents itself covered with heads of boars or wolves,
+      flanked with turrets and crowned with a high guard-house. Enter, there are
+      three inclosures, three moats, three drawbridges to pass. You find
+      yourself in a large square court, where are cisterns, and on the right and
+      left the stables, hen-houses, pigeon-houses, coach-houses; the cellars,
+      vaults, and prisons are below; above are the dwelling-apartments; above
+      these are the magazines, larders, or salting-rooms, and arsenals. All the
+      roofs are bordered with machicolations, parapets, guard-walks, and
+      sentry-boxes. In the middle of the court is the donjon, which contains the
+      archives and the treasure. It is deeply moated all round, and can only be
+      entered by a bridge, almost always raised. Although the walls, like those
+      of the castle, are six feet thick, it is surrounded up to half its height
+      with a chemise, or second wall, of large cut stones. This castle has just
+      been rebuilt. There is something light, fresh, laughing about it, not
+      possessed by the heavy massive castles of the last century.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One would scarcely expect to hear a castle described as &ldquo;light,
+      fresh, laughing&rdquo;; yet so a fourteenth-century castle seemed to eyes
+      accustomed to the gloomy, stern, and massive structures of the eleventh
+      and twelfth centuries. In these no beauty or display of art was attempted.
+      Defence and safety were the only objects sought after in the construction
+      of our ancient strongholds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Strange as it may seem, these castles were the birthplaces and homes of
+      chivalry. Women were raised to an exalted position, and honoured and
+      reverenced by knights and warriors. A prize won in a tournament was
+      esteemed of vastly greater value, if it were bestowed upon the successful
+      combatant by some lady&rsquo;s hand. &ldquo;Queens of Beauty&rdquo;
+      presided at these contests of knightly skill and daring. The statutes and
+      ordinances for jousts and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, Earl of
+      Worcester, at the command of Edward IV., conclude thus: &ldquo;Reserving
+      always to the queenes highness and the ladyes there present, the
+      attributing and gift of the prize after the manner and forme accustomed.&rdquo;
+      If a knight was guilty of any impropriety of conduct, he was soundly
+      beaten by the other knights, in order to teach him to respect the honour
+      of the ladies and the rights of chivalry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the days of chivalry a knight vowed in somewhat extravagant language
+      eternal love to his particular lady fair, wore her glove or her guerdon on
+      his helmet, and swore to protect it with his life. Family ties and
+      domestic joys were cultivated. The wife of a knight was often herself a
+      warrior. Fair ladies have donned armour and followed their lords to the
+      Crusades; and often during her lord&rsquo;s absence at the wars in France,
+      or Scotland, or the Holy Land, the wife would defend his fief and castle,
+      and sometimes was called upon to withstand a siege, when some neighbouring
+      lord coveted the fair estates of the absent warrior, and sought to obtain
+      them by force of arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The castles also were schools, not of learning, but of arms and chivalry,
+      where the sons of vassals were trained in all the qualites that become a
+      knight. The sons of vassals were sent to the castle of the suzerain to be
+      brought up with his sons. Numerous reasons have been assigned for the
+      origin of this custom, which we need not now enumerate. The practice,
+      however, became general, and concerning it an ancient work entitled <i>L&rsquo;ordre
+      de la Chevalerie</i> records:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is fitting that the son of the knight, while he is a squire,
+      should know how to take care of a horse; and it is fitting that he should
+      serve before and be subject to his lord; for otherwise he will not know
+      the nobleness of his lordship when he shall be a knight; and to this end
+      every knight shall put his son in the service of another knight, to the
+      end that he may learn to carve at table and to serve, and to arm and
+      apparel a knight in his youth. According as to the man who desires to
+      learn to be a tailor or a carpenter, it is desirable that he should have
+      for a master one who is a tailor or a carpenter; it is suitable that every
+      nobleman who loves the order of chivalry, and wishes to become and be a
+      good knight, should first have a knight for a master.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the young squire attained the age of manhood he was admitted to the
+      honour of knighthood, which was bestowed upon him with much ceremony and
+      dignity. First he was divested of his garments and put in a bath, a symbol
+      of purification; then they clothed him in a white tunic, a symbol of
+      purity, in a red robe, a symbol of the blood which he was bound to shed in
+      the service of the faith; and then in a close black coat, a reminder of
+      the death which awaited him. Then he was obliged to observe a fast for
+      twenty-four hours, and in the evening entered the church and there passed
+      the night in prayer. On the morrow after confession and the receiving of
+      Holy Communion, he heard a sermon upon the duties of knighthood, and then
+      advancing to the altar presented his sword to the priest, who blessed it.
+      Kneeling before his lord he was asked, &ldquo;With what design do you
+      desire to enter into the order? If it is in order to become rich, to
+      repose yourself, and to be honoured without doing honour to chivalry, you
+      are unworthy of it, and would be to the order of chivalry what the
+      simoniacal priest is to the prelacy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His answers being satisfactory, knights, or ladies, advance and clothe him
+      with the equipments of his order, spurs, the hauberk or coat of mail, the
+      cuirass, the vambraces and gauntlets, and lastly his sword. Then his lord
+      gives him three blows of a sword on his shoulder, saying, &ldquo;In the
+      name of God, of Saint Michael, and Saint George I dub thee knight,&rdquo;
+      adding, &ldquo;Be brave, adventurous, and loyal.&rdquo; He then mounts his
+      horse, caracoles about, brandishing his lance, and afterwards in the
+      courtyard he repeats the performances before the people ever eager to take
+      part in the spectacle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link161" id="link161"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="161.jpg (80K)" src="images/161.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young knight was now able to take part in the jousts, and all kinds of
+      chivalric displays, which were common and frequent. Many castles have,
+      like that at Carisbrooke, a tilting-ground within the walls; but great and
+      important tournaments were held outside the castle. Richard I. appointed
+      five special places for the holding of tournaments, namely between Sarum
+      and Wilton, between Stamford and Wallingford, between Warwick and
+      Kenilworth, between Brakely and Mixeberg, and between Blie and Tykehill.
+      There was much pomp and ceremony attached to these knightly exercises. The
+      lists, as the barriers were called which inclosed the scene of combat,
+      were superbly decorated, and surrounded by pavilions belonging to the
+      champions, ornamented with their arms and banners. The seats reserved for
+      the noble ladies and gentlemen who came to see the fight were hung with
+      tapestry embroidered with gold and silver. Everyone was dressed in the
+      most sumptuous manner; the minstrels and heralds were clothed in the
+      costliest garments; the knights who were engaged in the sports and their
+      horses were most gorgeously arrayed. The whole scene was one of great
+      splendour and magnificence, and, when the fight began, the shouts of the
+      heralds who directed the tournament, the clashing of arms, the clang of
+      trumpets, the charging of the combatants, and the shouts of the
+      spectators, must have produced a wonderfully impressive and exciting
+      effect upon all who witnessed the strange spectacle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regulations and laws of the tournament were very minute. When many
+      preliminary arrangements had been made with regard to the examination of
+      arms and helmets and the exhibition of banners, etc., at ten o&rsquo;clock
+      on the morning of the appointed day, the champions and their adherents
+      were required to be in their places. Two cords divided the combatants, who
+      were armed with a pointless sword and a truncheon hanging from their
+      saddles. When the word was given by the lord of the tournament, the cords
+      were removed, and the champions charged and fought until the heralds
+      sounded the signal to retire. It was considered the greatest disgrace to
+      be unhorsed. A French earl once tried to unhorse our King Edward I., when
+      he was returning from Palestine, wearied by the journey. The earl threw
+      away his sword, cast his arms around the king&rsquo;s neck, and tried to
+      pull him from his horse. But Edward put spurs to his horse and drew the
+      earl from the saddle, and then shaking him violently, threw him to the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The joust (or just) differed from the tournament, because in the former
+      only lances were used, and only two knights could fight at once. It was
+      not considered quite so important as the grand feat of arms which I have
+      just described, but was often practised when the more serious encounter
+      had finished. Lances, or spears without heads of iron, were commonly used,
+      and the object of the sport was to ride hard against one&rsquo;s adversary
+      and strike him with the spear upon the front of the helmet, so as to beat
+      him backwards from his horse, or break the spear. This kind of sport was
+      of course rather dangerous, and men sometimes lost their lives at these
+      encounters. In order to lessen the risk and danger of the two horses
+      running into each other when the knights charged, a boarded railing was
+      erected in the midst of the lists, about four or five feet high. The
+      combatants rode on separate sides of this barrier, and therefore they
+      could not encounter each other except with their lances. Sometimes two
+      knights would fight in mortal combat. If one knight accused the other of
+      crime or dishonour, the latter might challenge him to fight with swords or
+      lances; and, according to the superstition of the times, the victor was
+      considered to be the one who spoke the truth. But this ordeal combat was
+      far removed from the domain of sport.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When jousts and tournaments were abandoned, tilting on horseback at a ring
+      became a favourite courtly amusement. A ring was suspended on a level with
+      the eye of the rider; and the sport consisted in riding towards the ring,
+      and sending the point of a lance through it, and so bearing it away. Great
+      skill was required to accomplish this surely and gracefully. Ascham, a
+      writer in the sixteenth century, tells us what accomplishments were
+      required from the complete English gentleman of the period:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To ride comely, to run fair at the tilt or ring, to play at all
+      weapons, to shoot fair in bow, or surely in gun; to vault lustily, to run,
+      to leap, to wrestle, to swim, to dance comely, to sing, and play of
+      instruments cunningly; to hawk, to hunt, to play at tennis, and all
+      pastimes generally which be joined to labour, containing either some fit
+      exercises for war, or some pleasant pastime for peace&mdash;these be not
+      only comely and decent, but also very necessary for a courtly gentleman to
+      use.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the days of pageants and royal progresses these old castles were the
+      scenes of very lively exhibitions of rustic histrionic talent. The stories
+      of Greek and Roman mythology were ransacked to provide scenes and subjects
+      for the rural pageant. Shepherds and shepherdesses, gods and goddesses,
+      clowns and mummers, all took part in the rural drama which kings and
+      queens delighted to honour. When Queen Elizabeth visited the ancient and
+      historic castle of Sudeley, great preparations were made for the event,
+      and a fine classical pageant was performed in her presence, a sketch of
+      which may not be without interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The play is founded on the old classical story of Apollo and Daphne. The
+      sun-god Apollo was charmed by the beauty of the fair Daphne, the daughter
+      of a river-god, and pursued her with base intent. Just as she was about to
+      be overtaken, she prayed for aid, and was immediately changed into a
+      laurel tree, which became the favourite tree of the disappointed lover.
+      The pageant founded on this old classical legend commenced with a man who
+      acted the part of Apollo, chasing a woman who represented Daphne, followed
+      by a young shepherd bewailing his hard fate. He, too, loved the fair and
+      beautiful Daphne, but Apollo wooed her with fair words, and threatened him
+      with diverse penalties, saying he would change him into a wolf, or a
+      cockatrice, or blind his eyes. The shepherd in a long speech tells how
+      Daphne was changed into a tree, and then Apollo is seen at the foot of a
+      laurel tree weeping, accompanied by two minstrels. The repentant god
+      repeats the verse:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Sing you, play you; but sing and play my truth;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;This tree my lute, these sighs my note of ruth:<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;The laurel leaf for ever shall be green,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And
+            chastity shall be Apollo&rsquo;s queen.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;If gods may
+            die, here shall my tomb be placed,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And this
+            engraven, &lsquo;Fond Phoebus, Daphne chaste.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      A song follows, and then, wonderful to relate, the tree opens, and Daphne
+      comes forth. Apollo resigns her to the humble shepherd, and then she runs
+      to Her Majesty the Queen, and with a great deal of flattery wishes her a
+      long and prosperous reign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was the simple play which delighted the minds of our forefathers, and
+      helped to raise them from sordid cares and the dull monotony of continual
+      toil. In our popular amusements the village folk do not take part, except
+      as spectators, and therefore lose half the pleasure; whereas in the time
+      of the Virgin Queen the rehearsals, the learning the speeches by heart,
+      the dresses, the excitement, all contributed to give them fresh ideas and
+      new thoughts. The acting may not have been very good; indeed Queen
+      Elizabeth did not always think very highly of the performances of her
+      subjects at Coventry, and was heard to exclaim, &ldquo;What fools ye
+      Coventry folk are!&rdquo; But I think Her Majesty must have been pleased
+      at the concluding address of the players at Sudeley. After the shepherds
+      had acted a piece in which the election of the King and Queen of the Bean
+      formed a part, they knelt before the real queen, and said&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon, dread Sovereign, poor shepherds&rsquo; pastimes, and bold
+      shepherds&rsquo; presumptions. We call ourselves kings and queens to make
+      mirth; but when we see a king or queen we stand amazed. At chess there are
+      kings and queens, and they of wood. Shepherds are no more, nor no less,
+      wooden. In theatres workmen have played emperors; yet the next day
+      forgotten neither their duties nor occupation. For our boldness in
+      borrowing their names, and in not seeing Your Majesty for our blindness,
+      we offer these shepherds&rsquo; weeds; which, if Your Majesty vouchsafe at
+      any time to wear, it shall bring to our hearts comfort, and happiness to
+      our labours.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the queen visited Kenilworth Castle, splendid pageants were performed
+      in her honour. As she entered the castle the gigantic porter recited
+      verses to greet Her Majesty, gods and goddesses offered gifts and
+      compliments on bended knee, and the Lady of the Lake, surrounded by
+      Tritons and Nereids, came on a floating island to do homage to the
+      peerless Elizabeth and to welcome her to all the sport the castle could
+      afford. For an account of the strange conduct of Orion and his dolphin
+      upon this occasion, we refer our readers to Sir Walter Scott&rsquo;s <i>Kenilworth</i>;
+      and the lover of pageants will find much to interest him in Gascoigne&rsquo;s
+      <i>Princely Progress</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The glories of our ancient castles have passed away; some indeed are
+      preserved, and serve as museums, or barracks, or the country house of some
+      noble lord; but most of them are in ruins. All traces of many a Norman
+      castle have completely vanished. There was once a castle at Reading, but
+      the only relics of it are the names Castle Hill and Castle Street. The
+      turbulent barons made such terrible use of their fortresses during the
+      troublous times of the civil war in Stephen&rsquo;s reign that in the more
+      settled reign of Henry II. they were deprived of this means of oppression
+      and their castles destroyed wholesale. The civil war in the reign of
+      Charles I. was also another great cause of the destruction of these old
+      fortresses. They were of great service during the progress of the war to
+      those who were fortunate enough to possess them, and many of them in spite
+      of Cromwell&rsquo;s cannon were most gallantly held and stoutly defended.
+      Donnington Castle, Berkshire, was bravely held in spite of a prolonged
+      siege during all the time that the war lasted by gallant Colonel Boys, who
+      beat off the flower of the Parliamentary army; and when in obedience to
+      the King&rsquo;s command he yielded up the castle, he and his brave
+      garrison marched out with all the honours of war, having earned the
+      respect of both friend and foe. Many other castles could tell the story of
+      similar sieges in the days when &ldquo;the gallants of England were up for
+      the King.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But these brave sieges were the cause of their destruction. Cromwell when
+      in power recognised their strength; they were too dangerous, these
+      castles, and must be destroyed. His cannon-balls had rattled against their
+      stone walls without much effect during the war; but their fate was sealed
+      with that of their King, and the gunpowder of Cromwell&rsquo;s soldiers
+      was soon employed in blowing up the walls that resisted him so long, and
+      left them battered and smoking ruins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Since then the ivy has grown over them to hide their nakedness. Forlorn
+      and lonely the ruined castle stands. Where once loud clarion rang, the
+      night owls hoot; vulgar crowds picnic where once knights fought in all the
+      pride and pomp of chivalry. Kine feed in the grass-grown bailey court; its
+      glory is departed. We need no castles now to protect us from the foes of
+      our own nation. Civil wars have passed away, we trust, for ever; and we
+      hope no foreign foeman&rsquo;s foot may ever tread our shores. But if an
+      enemy threatened to attack England her sons would fight as valiantly as in
+      the brave days of old, though earthen ramparts have replaced the ancient
+      castles and iron ships the old wooden walls of England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link12" id="link12"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      MONASTERIES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Beautiful surroundings&mdash;Benefits conferred by monasteries&mdash;Charity&mdash;
+      Learning&mdash;Libraries&mdash;Monks not unhappy&mdash;Netley&mdash;Cluny&mdash;Alcuin&mdash;
+      Monastic friendships&mdash;St. Bernard&mdash;Anselm&mdash;Monks shed
+      happiness around them&mdash;Desecration&mdash;Corruption of monasteries&mdash;Chaucer&rsquo;s
+      prior&mdash;Orders of monks&mdash;Plan of a monastery&mdash;<i>Piers
+      Ploughman&rsquo;s</i> description of a monastery&mdash;A day in a
+      monastery&mdash;Regulations as regards blood-letting&mdash;The infirmary&mdash;Food&mdash;Hospitium&mdash;Chapter-house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the neighbourhood of many of our villages stand the ruins of an old
+      monastery. Who were the builders of these grand and stately edifices? What
+      kind of men lived within those walls? What life did they lead? We will try
+      to picture to ourselves the condition of these noble abbeys, as they were
+      in the days of their glory, before the ruthless hands of spoilers and
+      destroyers robbed them of their magnificence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It has often been remarked that the monks knew well how to choose the most
+      beautiful spots for their monastic houses, establishing them by the banks
+      of some charming river, surrounded by beautiful scenery and fertile
+      fields.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They loved the beauties of nature, and had a keen sense for discovering
+      them. They had a delicate and profound appreciation of the delights of the
+      country, and loved to describe the beauties that surrounded their
+      habitations. Nature in its loveliness and wild picturesqueness was a
+      reflection of God&rsquo;s beauty, a temple of His light and goodness.
+      Moreover they built their monasteries amidst forests and wild scenery, far
+      from the haunts of men, seeking solitude, wherein they could renew their
+      souls by the sweetness of a life of contemplation, and consecrate their
+      energies to the service of God. In the days of war and bloodshed, of
+      oppression and lawlessness, holy men found it very difficult to be &ldquo;in
+      the world and yet not of it.&rdquo; Within the monastic walls they found
+      peace, seclusion, solitude; they prayed, they worked, they wrote and
+      studied. They were never idle. To worship, to labour, to fight as the <i>milites
+      Christi</i> with weapons that were not carnal, these were some of the
+      duties of the monks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The world owes much to these dwellers in monasteries. They rescued the
+      people from barbarism, and uplifted the standard of the cross. They
+      emerged from their cells to direct councils, to preach and teach at the
+      universities, to build churches and cathedrals, and astonish the world by
+      their skill and learning. Who can tell what services they rendered to
+      their nation and to all mankind by pouring forth that ceaseless stream of
+      intercession day and night for the averting of the judgments of divine
+      wrath which the crimes and follies of men so richly deserved? &ldquo;What
+      the sword is to the huntsman, prayer is to the monk,&rdquo; says St.
+      Chrysostom; and well did they use this weapon for the spiritual and
+      material benefit of all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another great benefit they conferred upon the world was that of charity.
+      They were the true nurses of the poor. There were no poor laws, and union
+      workhouses, and hospitals. The monks managed to supply all the wants of
+      all who suffered from poverty, privation, and sickness. &ldquo;The
+      friendship of the poor constitutes us the friends of kings,&rdquo; says
+      St. Bernard; &ldquo;but the love of poverty makes kings of us.&rdquo; They
+      welcomed in their ranks poor men, who were esteemed as highly as those of
+      noble birth on entering the cloister. All men were equal who wore the monk&rsquo;s
+      robe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Amongst other services the monks rendered was the cultivation of learning
+      and knowledge. With wonderful assiduity they poured forth works of
+      erudition, of history, of criticism, recorded the annals of their own
+      times, and stored these priceless records in their libraries, which have
+      done such good service to the historians of modern times. The monasteries
+      absorbed nearly all the social and intellectual movement of the thirteenth
+      century. Men fired with poetical imagination frequently betook themselves
+      to the cloister, and consecrated their lives to the ornamentation of a
+      single sacred book destined for the monastery which gave them in exchange
+      all the necessaries of life. Thus the libraries of the monastic houses
+      were rich in treasures of beautifully illuminated manuscripts, which were
+      bound by members of the community. The Abbot of Spanheim in the fifteenth
+      century gives the following directions to his monks:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let that one fasten the leaves together, and bind the book with
+      boards. You, prepare those boards; you, dress the leather; you, the metal
+      plates, which are to adorn the binding.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link172" id="link172"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/172.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="172h.jpg (40K)" src="images/172h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />NETLEY ABBEY, SOUTH TRANSEPT <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Terrible is it to think of the dreadful destruction of these libraries at
+      the time of the spoliation of monasteries and of the priceless treasures
+      which they contained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We are apt to suppose that the lives of the monks were gloomy, hard,
+      severe, and that few rays of the sunshine of happiness could have
+      penetrated the stern walls of the cloister. But this does not appear to
+      have been the case. The very names of monasteries show that they rejoiced
+      in their solitude and labour. Netley Abbey was called the Joyous Place, <i>loeto
+      loco</i>; and on the Continent there are many names which bear witness to
+      the happiness that reigned in the cloister. Moreover the writings of the
+      monks proclaim the same truth. Cluny is called by Peter Damien his <i>hortus
+      deliciarum</i> (garden of delights), and it is recorded that when Peter de
+      Blois left the Abbey of Croyland to return to France he stopped seven
+      times to look back and contemplate again the place where he had been so
+      happy. Hear how Alcuin laments on leaving the cloister for the Court of
+      Charlemagne:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O my cell! sweet and well-beloved home, adieu for ever! I shall see
+      no more the woods which surround thee with their interlacing branches and
+      aromatic herbs, nor thy streams of fish, nor thy orchards, nor thy gardens
+      where the lily mingles with the rose. I shall hear no more those birds
+      who, like ourselves, sing matins and celebrate their Creator, in their
+      fashion&mdash;nor those instructions of sweet and holy wisdom which sound
+      in the same breath as the praises of the Most High, from lips and hearts
+      always peaceful. Dear cell! I shall weep thee and regret thee always.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The life was very peaceful, entirely free from care, and moreover lighted
+      by the whole-hearted friendships which existed between the brethren. A
+      chapter might be written on the love of the cloister, which like that of
+      David for Jonathan, was &ldquo;wonderful, passing the love of women.&rdquo;
+      Thus St. Bernard burst out in bitter grief at the loss of a brother monk:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Flow, flow, my tears, so eager to flow! he who prevented your
+      flowing is here no more! It is not he who is dead, it is I who now live
+      only to die. Why, oh, why have we loved, and why have we lost each other?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The letters of Anselm to Lanfranc and Gondulph, his dearest friends,
+      abound in expressions of the most affectionate regard and deep true
+      friendship. He writes:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I forget thee? Can a man forget one who is placed like a
+      seal upon his heart? In thy silence I know that thou lovest me; and thou
+      also, when I say nothing, thou knowest that I love thee. What can my
+      letter tell thee that thou knowest not already, thou who art my second
+      soul?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The monks&rsquo; lot was not sad and melancholy. They loved God and His
+      service, and rejoicing in their mutual regard and affection were happy in
+      their love and work. Orderic Vitalis writes, &ldquo;I have borne for
+      forty-two years with happiness the sweet yoke of the Lord.&rdquo; Moreover
+      they shed happiness on those who dwelt around them, on the crowds of
+      masons and carpenters, traders and workmen, who dwelt under the shadow of
+      the monastery or farmed the fields of the monastic estates. No institution
+      was ever more popular; no masters more beloved. They took a hearty
+      interest in the welfare of all their tenants, and showed an active
+      sympathy for all. The extent of their charity was enormous. In a French
+      abbey, when food was scarce, they fed 1,500 to 2,000 poor in the course of
+      the year, gave monthly pensions to all the families who were unable to
+      work, entertained 4,000 guests, and maintained eighty monks&mdash;a
+      wonderful record truly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The influence of the monastery was felt in all the surrounding
+      neighbourhood&mdash;the daily services, the solemn and majestic chants,
+      the processions, must have created a deep impression on the minds of
+      people. Many of the great writers and thinkers of subsequent ages have
+      appreciated the wonderful labours of the monks. Dr. Johnson wrote:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never read of a hermit, but in imagination I kiss his feet; never
+      of a monastery, but I fall on my knees and kiss the pavement.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now these noble buildings, hallowed by a thousand memories, exist only
+      as dishonoured ruins. Some have been pulled down entirely, and the site
+      used for gaols or barracks. Convicts labour where once monks prayed. The
+      renowned abbey of Cluny is a racing stable, and Le Bec, the home of
+      Anselm, has suffered a like profanation. Factories have invaded some of
+      these consecrated sites. Many have been used as quarries for generations.
+      All the carved and wrought stone has been cut off, and used for making
+      bridges and roads and private houses. Nature has covered the remains with
+      clinging ivy, and creeping plants, and wild flowers, and legends cluster
+      round the old stones and tell the story of their greatness and their ruin.
+      The country folk of western Ireland show the marks on the stones furrowed
+      by the burning tears of the monks when they were driven out of their holy
+      home. I am describing the condition of the monasteries in the days of
+      their glory, when the spirit of the religious orders was bright and pure
+      and enthusiastic. It cannot be denied that often the immense wealth which
+      kings and nobles poured into the treasury of the monks begat luxury and
+      idleness. Boccaccio in Italy, and even Dante, and our own Chaucer, write
+      vigorously against the corruption of the monks, their luxury, love of
+      sport, and neglect of their duty. Thus Chaucer wrote of a
+      fourteenth-century prior:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Therefore he was a prickasoure a right:<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Greihounds he hadde as swift as foul of flight:<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Of pricking and of hunting for the hare<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Was
+            all his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;I saw his
+            sleves purfiled at the hond<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;With gris, and that the
+            finest in the loud.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And for to fasten his hood
+            under his chinne,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;He hadde of gold ywrought a
+            curious pinne:<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;A love-knotte in the greter end ther
+            was.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;His head was balled, and shone as any glas,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;And eke his face, as it had been anoint.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;He
+            was a lord full fat and in good point<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;His eye
+            stepe, and rolling in his bed,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;That stemed as a
+            forneis of led.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;His botes souple, his hors in gret
+            estat,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Now certainly he was a fayre prelat.<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;He was not pale as a forpined gost.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;A
+            fat swan loved he best of any rost.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;His palfrey was
+            as broune as is a bery.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Many were the efforts to reform the abuses which crept into the monastic
+      houses. Holy men grieved over the scandals of the times in which they
+      lived. Many monasteries remained until the end homes of zeal and religion,
+      and the unscrupulous tools of Henry VIII. could find naught to report
+      against them. The only charge they could fabricate against one monastery
+      was &ldquo;that the monks would do evil, if they could.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The foundation of the various orders of monks shows the efforts which were
+      from time to time made by earnest men to revive the zeal and religious
+      enthusiasm characteristic of the early dwellers in monasteries. The
+      followers of St. Benedict and St. Columba were the first monks of the
+      western Church who converted the peoples of England, Germany, Belgium, and
+      Scandinavia. The Benedictines had many houses in England in Saxon times.
+      In the tenth and eleventh centuries flourished a branch of the
+      Benedictines, the order of Cluny, who worked a great religious revival,
+      which was continued in the twelfth by the order of the Cistercians,
+      founded at Citeaux in Burgundy. Some of our most beautiful English abbeys&mdash;Fountains,
+      Kirkstall, Rievaulx, Tintern, Furness, and Byland&mdash;all belonged to
+      this order. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the new orders of
+      preaching friars founded by St. Francis and St. Dominic arose, and
+      exercised an immense influence in the world. They did not shut themselves
+      up in the cloister, but went everywhere, preaching in the market-places,
+      and tending the sick, the lepers, and the outcasts. At first they were
+      immensely popular, but the orders degenerated like their predecessors, and
+      long before the Reformation laid themselves open to the derision and the
+      scoffs of the more enlightened men of the age. Since the days of the
+      Friars there has been no building of monasteries in England. Wealth,
+      luxury, and corruption had destroyed the early piety of the monks, and
+      rich men preferred to give their wealth for the purpose of founding
+      colleges and hospitals, rather than in increasing the number of religious
+      houses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link178" id="link178"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="178.jpg (21K)" src="images/178.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will now visit these monasteries, and try to picture them as they stood
+      in the days of their glory, and see the daily life which the monks led.
+      The rules of the orders differed somewhat, some being stricter than
+      others; and likewise the arrangements of the buildings were not all based
+      upon one plan. The Carthusian monasteries differ widely from those of the
+      other orders, owing to the rule that each monk should have his separate
+      cell, wherein he lived and had his food, and only met his brethren in
+      church and in the chapter-house. We will examine the usual plan of a
+      monastery, the main buildings of which clustered round the cloister-court.
+      This was called the paradise, around which was a covered ambulatory. Here
+      the monks read and wrote, and sometimes had little spaces partitioned off
+      for studies, with bookstands and cupboards. It was the great centre of the
+      monastic life. The earlier ambulatories were open, but in the fourteenth
+      century they had windows looking on to the cloister-court, filled with
+      stained glass. The monks must have found the open cloister a somewhat
+      chilly place for writing, and although their fingers were endured to
+      hardness, had sometimes to abandon their tasks. Orderic Vitalis tells us
+      that his fingers were so numbed by the cold in a hard winter that he was
+      obliged to leave his writing until a more congenial season.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the north of the cloister-court stood the monastic church, the grandest
+      and noblest of the monastic buildings, adorned with shrines, and tombs,
+      and altars. Several of our cathedrals were monastic churches, and afford
+      us some idea of the splendour and magnificence of these stately buildings.
+      Many other churches built by the monks, quite as large and noble as any of
+      our cathedrals, are now in ruins, with only a wall or a buttress remaining
+      to mark the site of the once noble minster. The church was usually
+      cruciform, with nave and aisles. East of the high altar in the choir stood
+      the lady-chapel, and round the choir a retro-choir, or presbytery. There
+      was a door on the south side of the church, opposite the eastern
+      ambulatory, for the entrance of the monks. The south transept formed part
+      of the eastern side of the cloister. On the same side stood the
+      chapter-house, a large chamber richly ornamented with much architectural
+      detail, and adorned with mural paintings. Between the chapter-house and
+      the church there is a narrow room, which was the sacristy, and on the
+      south of the chapter-house a building in two stories, the ground floor
+      being the frater-house, where the monks retired after meals to converse,
+      the upper room being the dortor, or dormitory, where they slept. A passage
+      often separated the chapter-house from this building.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the south side of the cloister-court stood the refectory, a long room
+      in which the monks took their meals; and on the west was a range of
+      buildings the use of which differed in various monasteries, in some for
+      cellars and larders, in others for dormitories. Sometimes this western
+      building was the <i>domus conversorum</i>, or house of the lay brethren.
+      The abbot&rsquo;s lodging was a fine house, consisting of hall, chambers,
+      kitchen, buttery, and cellars, capable of entertaining a large number of
+      guests, and frequently stood on the east side of the chapter-house quite
+      separate from the other buildings. In small monastic houses governed by a
+      prior his residence often formed the western side of the cloister-court.
+      The farmery, or infirmary, where sick monks were nursed during illness,
+      was a separate building, having its own kitchen, refectory, and chapel.
+      The hospitium was also a separate building near the outer gate of the
+      abbey, and consisted of a hall, dormitories, and a chapel, in which each
+      night a goodly company of guests were entertained and courteously welcomed
+      by the hospitaller. A high wall surrounded the abbey precincts, in which
+      was the outer gate, consisting of a porter&rsquo;s lodge, a prison, and a
+      large room in which the manorial court was held, or the abbot met the
+      representatives of the townsfolk in order to direct their affairs and
+      choose their chief magistrate or settle their differences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The author of <i>Piers Ploughman</i> gives a description of the appearance
+      of a monastery in the fourteenth century. As he approached the monastic
+      buildings he was so bewildered by their greatness and beauty that for a
+      long time he could distinguish nothing certainly but stately buildings of
+      stone, pillars carved and painted, and great windows well wrought. In the
+      centre quadrangle he notices the stone cross in the middle of grass sward.
+      He enters the minster, and describes the arches as carved and gilded, the
+      wide windows full of shields of arms and merchants&rsquo; marks on stained
+      glass, the high tombs under canopies, with armed effigies in alabaster,
+      and lovely ladies lying by their sides in many gay garments. He passes
+      into the cloister, and sees it pillared and painted, and covered with
+      lead, and conduits of white metal pouring water into bronze lavatories
+      beautifully wrought. The chapter-house was like a great church, carved and
+      painted like a parliament-house. Then he went into the refectory, and
+      found it a hall fit for a knight and his household, with broad tables and
+      clean benches, and windows wrought as in a church. And then he wandered
+      and wondered at &ldquo;the halls full high and houses full noble, chambers
+      with chimneys and chapels gay,&rdquo; and kitchens fit for a king in his
+      castle, and their dorter or dormitory with doors full strong, their
+      fermerye (infirmary) and frater, and many more houses, and strong stone
+      walls, enough to harbour the queen. The author was evidently amazed at all
+      the sights which he witnessed in the monastery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will now see the monks at work, and spend a day with them in their
+      monastic home. It is not easy definitely to map out a monk&rsquo;s day.
+      The difficulty arises in a measure from the want of distinct marks of
+      time. A monastic day was divided into twelve hours of uncertain length,
+      varying according to the season; but the religious observances began at
+      midnight, when the brethren rose at the sound of a bell in the dortor for
+      the continuous service of Mattins and Lauds. They then retired to sleep,
+      until the bell again summoned them at sunrise, when Prime was said,
+      followed by the morning Mass, private masses and confessions, and the
+      meeting of the Chapter; after this, work; then Tierce; then High Mass,
+      followed by Sext. A short time was then devoted to reading, during which
+      the <i>ministri</i> and the reader at table dined; and then the monks sat
+      down to dinner. This was the first food of the day, though the weaker
+      brethren were allowed to sustain themselves with wine and water, or bread
+      steeped in wine. Dinner was followed by a brief rest in the dormitory. If
+      the monks did not wish to sleep they could read in the dorter; but they
+      were to be careful not to disturb their resting brethren by any noise,
+      such as that caused by turning over the leaves of their books. At one o&rsquo;clock
+      the bell rang for None, a short service consisting of a hymn, two psalms,
+      some collects, the Lord&rsquo;s Prayer, and versicles. Then the brethren
+      washed themselves, had a stoup of wine in the frater, and worked until
+      Evensong, which was followed by supper. After supper they read in the
+      cloister until the bell rang for Collation, which consisted of a reading
+      in the chapter-house, whence they retired to the fratery for a draught of
+      wine or beer. Then followed Compline, and then the monks were ready for
+      bed, and retired to the dortor. Even there rules followed them, and
+      directed them how they were to take off their shoes, and &ldquo;to behave
+      with more quiet, self-restraint, and devotion than elsewhere.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have not exhausted all the services which the monks attended. In
+      addition to the principal ones there were several minor functions, at
+      which devotion to the Blessed Virgin was the chief feature. The life was
+      hard and the discipline severe; and lest the animal spirits of the monks
+      should rise too high, the course of discipline was supplemented by
+      periodical blood-letting. The doctors of the day were firm believers in
+      the utility of this practice, and perhaps it had special advantages for
+      dwellers in monasteries. According to the mediaeval metrical treatise on
+      medicine, <i>Flos Medicinae</i>, or <i>Regimen Sanitatis Salerni</i>&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Spiritus uberior exit per phlebotomaniam.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;It maketh cleane your braine, releeves your eie,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;It mends your appetite, restoreth sleep,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Correcting
+            humours that do waking keep;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And inward parts and
+            sences also clearing<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;It mends the voyce, touch,
+            smell, taste, hearing.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      According to the <i>Observances</i> of the Augustinian Priory at Barnwell,
+      Cambridge, each brother was compelled to be bled seven times a year. It
+      was probably a welcome duty, as the monks enjoyed a regular holiday, and
+      were solaced with unwonted good fare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those who wished to be bled asked leave in Chapter, and having received a
+      formal licence, attended High Mass. After the gospel they left the quire,
+      and were bled in the farmery, where they remained three days. During this
+      period they were excused attendance at the daily services, except on very
+      special occasions; and minute directions are given for their personal
+      comfort. They were allowed fire and lights, with suitable food, eggs and
+      vegetables being specially mentioned; and they might take exercise within
+      the precincts, and even beyond them, should the prelate give them leave.
+      The infirmary seems to have been the most cheerful place in the monastery.
+      Its inmates were &ldquo;to lead a life of joy and freedom from care, in
+      comfort and happiness.&rdquo; Conversation was freely permitted, though
+      sarcastic and abusive language was strictly forbidden. &ldquo;Games of
+      dice and chess, and other games unsuitable to those who lead a religious
+      life, were forbidden&rdquo;; &ldquo;because beyond all doubt they are
+      offensive to God, and frequently give occasion to strife and contention
+      among those who play them.&rdquo; We notice that invalids were allowed to
+      walk in the &ldquo;vineyards&rdquo;; evidently the monks grew their own
+      grapes, and made their own wine. The infirmary must have been well
+      frequented. The complaints which are often specially mentioned as likely
+      to compel the monks to resort to it are &ldquo;irksomeness of life in the
+      cloister,&rdquo; &ldquo;long continuance of silence,&rdquo; &ldquo;fatigue
+      in the quire or extension of fasting,&rdquo; and &ldquo;sleeplessness and
+      overwork.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With regard to blood-letting the various orders had different customs. The
+      Benedictines and Cluniacs had no stated times or seasons for the
+      operation. The Cistercians prescribe bleeding four times in the year. The
+      Carthusians were bled five times, and the Dominicans four times in the
+      year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The food of the monastery was varied and plentiful. Fish and flesh were
+      brought to the table, the former being obtained from the monastic
+      stew-ponds. Fruit was supplied, both raw and cooked, and a good supply of
+      beer and wine. Wine seems to have been very commonly used, and some
+      relaxation was evidently permitted in the matter of drink.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hospitium, or guest-house, is worthy of a visit. Thither flocked a
+      mixed crowd of knights and dames, monks and clerks, palmers, friars,
+      traders with their wares, minstrels with their songs, and beggars,
+      enjoying to the full the hospitality of the monks, who recognised it as
+      one of their duties &ldquo;to entertain strangers.&rdquo; The religious
+      houses were, to a great extent, the inns of the Middle Ages; and when they
+      were situated on the high roads, the guests were numerous and their
+      entertainment costly. We are reminded, however, by the <i>Observances</i>
+      of Barnwell Priory that &ldquo;by showing hospitality to guests the
+      reputation of the monastery is increased, friendships are multiplied,
+      animosities are blunted, God is honoured, charity is increased, and a
+      plenteous reward in heaven is promised.&rdquo; It was enjoined that the
+      hosteller, or brother in charge of the hospitium, should have &ldquo;facility
+      of expression, elegant manners, and a respectable bringing up; and if he
+      have no substance to bestow he may at any rate exhibit a cheerful
+      countenance and agreeable conversation, for friends are multiplied by
+      agreeable words.&rdquo; He had to provide clean cloths and towels, cups
+      without flaws, spoons of silver, mattresses, blankets and untorn sheets,
+      pillows, quilts, etc. His duties are laid down with much minuteness; every
+      morning he was required to go through the inventory, lest anything should
+      be missing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The meeting in the chapter-house we must not omit to describe. When all
+      the brethren had taken their seats, one monk went to the pulpit and read
+      aloud the martyrology for the day. Then some psalms and collects were
+      read, and a portion of the monastic rule, and briefs announcing the deaths
+      of persons in whom the brethren were interested. The <i>tabula</i>, or
+      notice-board, recording the names of those who were responsible for
+      certain duties, was read; and a sermon followed. After the precentor had
+      given minute instructions with regard to the reading and singing of the
+      services for the day, the abbot said: &ldquo;Speak of your own order.&rdquo;
+      This was the call to confession; and any brother who was conscious that he
+      had transgressed any rule, or neglected his duty, came forward and asked
+      pardon for his fault. This was followed by the report of the <i>circator</i>,
+      whose duty was to play the spy, and discover the faults of the monks. And
+      after this the brethren accused each other. One brother started up saying:
+      &ldquo;I accuse &mdash;&mdash; a brother.&rdquo; The accused came forward
+      and stood before the abbot, waiting patiently for the charge. The accuser
+      then stated the charge, which was admitted, or denied, by the accused. If
+      the abbot judged him to be flogged, the culprit might not be flogged by
+      his accuser. He rose from his knees and modestly divested himself of his
+      garments, remaining covered from his girdle downwards; and he who flogged
+      him might not cease till the abbot bade him. Then he helped the brother to
+      put on his clothes, who bowed to the abbot and went back to his place. The
+      Chapter, after this exciting interlude, proceeded to transact the temporal
+      business of the house, and then adjourned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chapter-house was often the scene of great events in the history of
+      England. At Reading Abbey in this noble chamber parliaments were held.
+      Here Heraclius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, presented to Henry II. the
+      keys of the Holy Sepulchre, and invoked his aid in the crusade against the
+      Saracens. Here the bishops assembled and excommunicated Longchamp,
+      Chancellor and Regent of the country. Here the marriage contract between
+      John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster was signed, when there were great
+      rejoicings in the ancient town, and tilts and tournaments took place
+      daily. These gay scenes must have greatly disturbed the tranquil life of
+      the monks, and contrasted strangely with their normal condition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The picture of monastic life, which a study of the records of a monastery
+      brings before us, is strange and alien to our present ideas; but it is
+      brightened by a spirit of sincere religion and true charity, and helps us
+      to understand the attraction of the convent walls in turbulent and
+      troublous times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link13" id="link13"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE MANOR-HOUSE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Evolution of a country house&mdash;Saxon house&mdash;Addition of separate
+      sleeping-chambers&mdash;Castles&mdash;Tudor houses&mdash;Old manor-houses&mdash;Secret
+      chambers&mdash;Rectories and vicarages&mdash;Duty of hospitality&mdash;Kelvedon
+      Rectory&mdash;Allington&mdash;Tithe-barns&mdash;Alfriston clergy-house&mdash;Almshouses&mdash;
+      Hermitages&mdash;Little Budworth&mdash;Knaresborough&mdash;Reclusorium or
+      anchor-hold&mdash; Laindon&mdash;Rattenden&mdash;Female recluses&mdash;Whalley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two principal houses in an English village are the manor-house and the
+      rectory, wherein according to the theories of the modern political
+      Socialist and agitator &ldquo;the two arch-tyrants&rdquo; of the labourers
+      dwell, the squire and the parson. There is much of interest in the growth
+      and evolution of the country house, which resulted in the construction of
+      these old, pleasant, half-timbered granges and manor-houses, which form
+      such beautiful features of our English villages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link189" id="link189"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/189.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="189h.jpg (37K)" src="images/189h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />SOUTHCOTE MANOR SHOWING MOAT AND PIGEON-HOUSE <br /><br /> <a
+      name="link190" id="link190"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="190.jpg (58K)" src="images/190.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In our description of the village in Anglo-Saxon times we gave a picture
+      of a house of a Saxon gentleman, which consisted mainly of one large hall,
+      wherein the members of the household lived and slept and had their meals.
+      There was a chapel, and a kitchen, and a ladies&rsquo; bower, usually
+      separated from the great hall, and generally built of wood. In Norman
+      times the same plan and arrangements of a country house continued. The
+      fire still burnt in the centre of the hall, the smoke finding its way out
+      through a louvre in the roof. Meals were still served on tables laid on
+      trestles, which were removed when the meal was finished. The lord and
+      lady, their family and guests, dined at the high table placed on the dais,
+      as in a college hall, the floor of which was boarded. The household and
+      retainers dined in the space below, which was strewn with rushes and
+      called &ldquo;the marsh,&rdquo; which, according to Turner&rsquo;s <i>History
+      of Domestic Architecture</i>, &ldquo;was doubtless dirty and damp enough
+      to deserve that name.&rdquo; The timbers of the roof in the better houses
+      were moulded, the walls hung with tapestry, and at the lower end of the
+      hall was a screen, above which in later times was the minstrels&rsquo;
+      gallery. The screen formed a passage which led into a separate building at
+      right angles to the hall, containing the cellar, buttery, and kitchen.
+      Parallel with this at the upper end of the hall was a building of two
+      stories, one used as a parlour, and the other was called the &ldquo;great
+      chamber,&rdquo; where the lady and her guests retired after dining in the
+      hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link191" id="link191"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="191.jpg (42K)" src="images/191.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Later on a greater refinement of domestic customs was introduced. In the
+      twelfth century a separate sleeping-chamber for the lord was added. The
+      next century saw him and his lady dining in a room apart from his
+      servants, a custom which was much satirised by the author of <i>Piers
+      Ploughman</i>, who wrote&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Now hath each rich a rule<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;To
+            eaten by themselve,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;In a privy parlour<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;For
+            poor man sake,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Or in a chamber with a chimney;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;And leave the chief hall,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;That was made
+            for meals<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Men to eaten in.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Evidently the author did not approve of the new fashion. But the
+      advantages of the custom were much appreciated by the squires and ladies
+      of the day, and this process of development led to a multiplication of
+      rooms, and the diminution of the size of the great hall. The walls were
+      raised, and an upper room was formed under the roof for sleeping
+      accommodation. There are many old farmhouses throughout the country, once
+      manor-houses, which retain in spite of subsequent alterations the
+      distinguishing features of this mediaeval style of architecture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link192" id="link192"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="192.jpg (40K)" src="images/192.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The nobles built their castles as late as the fourteenth century; but
+      under the Tudor monarchs, when the government of the country was strong
+      and more settled, fortified dwellings were deemed no longer necessary, and
+      the great landowners built splendid country houses. English domestic
+      architecture then reached the period of its highest perfection. Instead of
+      castles men built palaces, the noblest specimens of our English style,
+      before it became corrupted. Hatfield House and Hampton Court are its best
+      examples.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the fifteenth century the common hall had decreased in importance;
+      and now in smaller houses it disappeared altogether, and a grand entrance
+      hall usually took its place. The number of rooms was increased enormously,
+      and corridors were introduced. The principal features of an Elizabethan
+      house are the gallery and noble staircase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link193" id="link193"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="193.jpg (110K)" src="images/193.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the seventeenth century Inigo Jones introduced the revived
+      classic style of architecture into England, and entirely altered the
+      appearance and arrangement of our manor-houses. Palladio was the
+      originator of this style. The old English model was declared obsolete, and
+      fashion dictated that Italian villas must supersede the old houses. These
+      new buildings were very grand with their porticos and colonnades; but the
+      architects cared little for comfort and convenience. Indeed a witty
+      nobleman suggested to the owner of one of these new houses that he had
+      better hire a lodging over the way and look at it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link194" id="link194"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/194.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="194h.jpg (30K)" src="images/194h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />OLD MANOR HOUSE, UPTON COURT <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old manor-houses are often surrounded by a moat, and not unfrequently
+      contain secret rooms and underground passages, which were often used as
+      places of refuge in troublous times. Those held by recusants usually had
+      two or three hiding-places ingeniously contrived, which must have baffled
+      all pursuers, and were needed for the concealment of the Roman Catholic
+      priest, in the days when his services were proscribed. There are two
+      cleverly designed hiding-places at Ufton Court, Berkshire, which was held
+      by the Roman Catholic family of Perkins. In a subterranean vault under an
+      old house at Hurley, in which the bones of monks were discovered, the
+      supporters of William of Orange used to meet to plan his succession to the
+      English Crown. The walls of many of the manor-houses and halls in
+      Lancashire and Yorkshire could tell of many a plot for the restoration of
+      the Stuarts to the throne, and of many a deep health drunk to &ldquo;Bonnie
+      Charlie,&rdquo; while the chorus rang&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s over the seas and far awa&rsquo;,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;He&rsquo;s over the seas and far awa&rsquo;,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;But
+            of no man we&rsquo;ll stand in awe,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;But drink his
+            health that&rsquo;s far awa&rsquo;.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      The rectories and vicarages scattered over the country have passed through
+      the same transformation as the manor-houses, which they much resembled.
+      The rectory was often surrounded by a moat, with an entrance protected by
+      a gatehouse. The duty of entertaining strangers and travellers was always
+      duly recognised by the clergy, and entailed a heavy charge upon their
+      income. Those who lived off the main roads used to provide accommodation
+      for an occasional guest, but the rectors in the more frequented districts
+      had frequently to entertain many travellers. There <i>is</i> a description
+      of the rectory-house of Kelvedon, Essex, in a deed dated 1356, which runs
+      as follows:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One hall situate in the manor of the said abbot and convent
+      [Westminster] near the said church, with a soler and chamber at one end of
+      the hall, and with a buttery and cellar at the other. Also one other house
+      in three parts, namely a kitchen with a convenient chamber in the end of
+      the said house <i>for guests</i>, and a bakehouse. Also one other house in
+      two parts next the gate at the entrance of the manor for a stable and
+      cow-house. He [the vicar] shall also have a convenient grange, to be built
+      within a year at the expense of the prior and convent. He shall also have
+      the curtilage with the garden adjoining the hall on the north side
+      enclosed as it is with hedges and ditches.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link196" id="link196"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="196.jpg (60K)" src="images/196.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here the house for guests is an important feature of the clergyman&rsquo;s
+      house; and about the same date, in 1352, we find the Bishop of Winchester
+      ordering the prior and convent of Merton to provide &ldquo;a competent
+      manse for the vicar, viz. a hall with two rooms, one at one end of the
+      hall, and the other at the other end, with a drain to each, and a suitable
+      kitchen with fireplace and oven, and a <i>stable for six horses</i>, all
+      covered with tiles, and completed within one year, such place to remain to
+      the use of the said vicar and his successors.&rdquo; Unless the vicar was
+      a very sporting parson he would not require a stable for six horses, and
+      this was doubtless intended for the accommodation of the steeds of his
+      guests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The descriptions of these old rectory-houses are interesting. The Rector
+      of Allington, Kent, possessed a house consisting of &ldquo;a hall,
+      parlour, and chamber over the parlour, stairs-head, beside the parson&rsquo;s
+      bedchamber, parson&rsquo;s lodging-chamber, study, chamber behind the
+      chimney, chamber next adjoining westward, buttery, priest&rsquo;s chamber,
+      servants&rsquo; chamber, kitchen, mill-house, boulting-house, larder,
+      entries, women&rsquo;s chamber; gatehouse, still beside the gate, barn
+      next the gate; cartlage, barn next the church, garden-house, court.&rdquo;
+      The barn next the church was probably the tithe-barn. Tithe was then paid
+      in kind; hence a barn was required to contain the dues of the
+      parishioners. Sometimes these tithe-barns are very large and long,
+      especially when the tithe-owner was the abbot of some monastery. Near
+      Reading there is still standing the barn of the abbey, and at Cholsey, in
+      Berkshire, there is one of the finest specimens of the kind in England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link199" id="link199"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/199.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="199h.jpg (35K)" src="images/199h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />STONE TITHE BARN, BRADFORD-ON-AVON <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There still remain several of these old pre-Reformation parsonages and
+      rectories. The most noted is the clergy-house at Alfriston, Sussex, which
+      has been carefully preserved. It follows the usual type of
+      fourteenth-century house, and consists of a fine hall, the lower part
+      divided off by a screen, a soler of two stories at one end, and a kitchen
+      at the other. It is built of oak framework, filled in with &ldquo;wattle
+      and daub.&rdquo; There is a large chimney and grate in the hall, and huge
+      beams support the thatched roof. Parsonages of mediaeval times remain at
+      West Dean, Sussex; at King&rsquo;s Stanley and Notgrove, Gloucestershire;
+      Wonstone, Hants; Helmsley, Yorkshire; and at several other places. The
+      Rectory of Shellingford, Berks, though much disguised by modern additions,
+      is an original fourteenth-century house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In many villages there are old almshouses founded by pious benefactors for
+      &ldquo;poor brethren and sisters.&rdquo; As we enter the quiet courtyard
+      paved with cobble stones, the spirit of olden days comes over us. The
+      chapel where daily prayer is said morning and evening; the panelled
+      dining-hall, with its dark oaken table; the comfortable rooms of the
+      brethren; the time-worn pump in the courtyard&mdash;all recall the memory
+      of old times, when life was more tranquil, and there was less hurry and
+      busy bustling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes we meet with a curious little house built of stone or timber,
+      erected along the great highways, near some bridge or ford, wherein a
+      &ldquo;holy hermit&rdquo; once dwelt, and served his generation by
+      directing travellers to the nearest monastery or rectory, and spent his
+      days in seclusion and prayer. Such indeed is the traditional idea of the
+      hermit&rsquo;s life; but the real hermit of the Middle Ages did not always
+      live a very lonely or ascetic life. He was supported by the alms of the
+      charitable and did no work, but lived an idle life, endured no hardships,
+      and escaped not the scoffs of the satirical. <i>Piers Ploughman</i> tells
+      us of workmen&mdash;&ldquo;webbers and tailors, and carters&rsquo; knaves,
+      and clerks without grace, who liked not long labour and light wages; and
+      seeing that lazy fellows in friars&rsquo; clothing had fat cheeks, forsook
+      their toil and turned hermits. They lived in boroughs among brewers and
+      begged in churches.&rdquo; They had a good house, with sometimes a
+      chaplain to say daily Mass for them, a servant or two to wait on them, and
+      plenty of food and drink provided by a regular endowment or the donations
+      of the charitable. They did not shut themselves up in their cells and hold
+      no intercourse with their fellow-men; and herein they differed from the
+      recluses who were not supposed to go outside the doors of their
+      anchorages. Both males and females were enrolled as recluses, but only the
+      latter seem to have taken upon themselves the vows of complete seclusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several of these hermitages remain. There is one at Little Budworth, in
+      Cheshire, in the park of Sir Philip Egerton. Warkworth has a famous one,
+      consisting of a chapel hewn out of the rock, with an entrance porch, and a
+      long, narrow room with a small altar at the east end, wherein the hermit
+      lived. At Knaresborough, Yorkshire, there is a good example of a
+      hermitage, hewn out of the rock, consisting of a chapel, called St. Robert&rsquo;s
+      Chapel, with groined roof, which was used as the living-room of the
+      hermit. This chapel was the scene of Eugene Aram&rsquo;s murder. At
+      Wetheral, near Carlisle; Lenton, near Nottingham; on the banks of the
+      Severn, near Bewdley, Worcestershire, there are anchorages, and also at
+      Brandon, Downham, and Stow Bardolph, in Norfolk. Spenser in the <i>Faery
+      Queen</i> gives the following description of a hermit&rsquo;s cell:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;A little lowly hermitage it was,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Down
+            by a dale, hard by a forest&rsquo;s side,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Far from
+            resort of people that did pass<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;In traveill to and
+            froe; a little wyde<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;There was an holy Chappell
+            edifyde,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Wherein the hermite dewly wont to say<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;His holy things, each morne and eventyde;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Hereby
+            a chrystall streame did gently play,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Which from a
+            sacred fountaine welled forth alway.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Within the churchyard of many a town or village church, and usually
+      attached to the church, stood a reclusorium, or anchor-hold, wherein a
+      recluse, male or female, once resided. At Laindon Church, Essex, there is
+      a fine specimen of a house of this kind attached to the west end.
+      Generally the anchor-hold was a small room, built of wood, connected with
+      the church. Frequently there is a room over the porch of a church which
+      may have been used for this purpose, the recluse living usually in the
+      church. At Rettenden, Essex, there is a room over the vestry which has
+      evidently been an anchor-hold. There was a window, now blocked up, through
+      which the recluse could see the high altar, and the celebration of the
+      holy mysteries, and another for him to look out, hold converse with his
+      friends, and receive their alms. The church of St. Patricio, near
+      Crickhowel, South Wales, has an anchor-hold; also Clifton Campville
+      Church, Staffordshire; Chipping Norton Church, Oxfordshire; Warmington
+      Church, Warwickshire; and many churches have rooms over the porch which
+      were formerly used by recluses. The church itself was frequently the
+      habitation of the anchorite. There is a notice of a hermit who lived in
+      St. Cuthbert&rsquo;s Church, Thetford, and performed divine service
+      therein.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of female recluses we gather many details in the <i>Ancren Riewle</i> of
+      Bishop Poore of Salisbury, who left very minute directions for the
+      regulation of their austere and solitary lives. The little cell had an
+      altar where the anchoress frequently prayed, and through a window saw the
+      elevation of the Host in the daily Mass. The walls were covered with mural
+      paintings. There was a table, a fire, and a cat lying before it. An
+      unglazed window with a shutter was covered by a black curtain, through
+      which she could converse with anyone outside without being seen. She was
+      not allowed to put her head out of the open window. &ldquo;A peering
+      anchoress, who is always thrusting her head outward, is like an untamed
+      bird in a cage,&rdquo; says the good bishop. The long hours of solitude
+      were spent in devotion, working embroidery, reading her few books, talking
+      to her servant or to those who desired to speak with her through the
+      curtained window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The poor caged birds must often have wished to break the bars of their
+      cage, and occasionally they escaped from their solitary confinement. In
+      the churchyard of Whalley, Lancashire, there are two cottages which stand
+      upon the site of a reclusorium, founded by Henry, Duke of Lancaster, in
+      1349. Here in the reign of Henry VI. lived one Isole de Heton, who wearied
+      of her lot, and left the anchor-hold, an example which was followed by
+      several of her successors. A scandal having arisen, the hermitage was
+      dissolved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many a sad story of ruined hopes and broken hearts could these walls tell,
+      which were the living tombs of many a devout or erring sister, who,
+      wounded in the world&rsquo;s war, sought the calm seclusion of a cell, and
+      found there the peace which elsewhere they had failed to find.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link14" id="link14"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      PARISH CHURCHES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The Porch&mdash;Font&mdash;Stone benches&mdash;Pews&mdash;Pulpits&mdash;Rood-lofts&mdash;Destruction
+      of&mdash;Screens&mdash;Royal arms&mdash;Chancel&mdash;Stalls&mdash;<i>Misereres</i>&mdash;Lectern&mdash;High
+      altar and its furniture&mdash;Piscina&mdash;Credence&mdash;Aumbry&mdash;Sedilia&mdash;Easter
+      sepulchre&mdash;Reredos&mdash;Shrines&mdash;Numerous altars&mdash;Chantry
+      chapels&mdash; Hagioscopes&mdash;Images&mdash;Low side windows&mdash;Vestries&mdash;Vestments&mdash;Churches
+      in olden times&mdash;Reading pews&mdash;Galleries&mdash;Destruction and
+      profanation&mdash; Evils of &ldquo;restoration.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the centre of our village stands the church, always the most important
+      and interesting building in the place. We will suppose that it has not
+      suffered overmuch at the hands of the &ldquo;restorers&rdquo; of the
+      nineteenth, or the Puritans of the seventeenth, or the spoliators of an
+      earlier century, so that we may observe all those details which
+      characterise an ancient church. In spite of all the vandalism which has
+      taken place, in spite of the changes in ceremonial and forms of worship,
+      our beautiful old churches still retain relics of the past which time has
+      spared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will enter the church and notice first the porch, often a large
+      structure with a chamber above. Why was it made so large? According to the
+      Sarum use several services took place in the porch. Parts of the baptismal
+      service and of the marriage service and the churching of women were there
+      performed; hence the porch was an important building, and it was necessary
+      to make it rather large. Above the door there is frequently a niche for
+      the image of the patron saint of the church, which has not usually escaped
+      the destructive hand of the Puritan. The room over the porch was
+      frequently inhabited by a recluse, as I have already recorded in the
+      previous chapter. Near the door always stands the font, signifying that
+      baptism is the entrance to the Church of Christ. Ancient fonts are large
+      enough to allow the infant to be totally immersed, and are made of stone
+      or lead. Childrey Church, in our county of Berks, has a fine cylindrical,
+      leaden font, of Norman date, carved with figures of bishops. Norman fonts
+      are frequently carved, the favourite subjects being the Baptism of our
+      Lord, the Twelve Apostles, and the evangelistic symbols. Early English and
+      Decorated fonts are not usually carved, but in the Perpendicular style
+      they are rich with ornamentation, the Seven Sacraments being a not
+      uncommon design. We have sometimes noticed the symbols of Freemasonry
+      carved on fonts, as at Bray, in Berkshire. To the same period belong the
+      splendid spire-shaped font-covers, of immense weight, of which I am
+      sometimes a little fearful, lest the mechanism by which they are raised
+      should become damaged, and terrible disaster follow during the progress of
+      a baptismal service. At Sonning, Berks, there is a small stone desk
+      attached to a pillar for the service-book to rest on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The nave of the church is now filled with seats for the use of the
+      congregation. In early times they do not seem to have been considered
+      necessary, and until the fourteenth century the stone benches ranged
+      against the walls were the only seats provided. Even as late as the
+      fourteenth century it does not appear that many churches had pews, but in
+      the fifteenth they became general. The hideous monstrosities of
+      post-Reformation times did not then disfigure our churches. The pews were
+      low open seats made of oak, sometimes carved at the back, and panelled,
+      with the ends higher than the rest, and often richly carved. Many rich men
+      left money in their wills for the <i>puying</i> of churches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link206" id="link206"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="206.jpg (41K)" src="images/206.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that the fashion
+      of erecting high pews set in, which so disfigured our churches, and were
+      frequently censured by the authorities. Some of these (as at Whalley)
+      resemble four-posted beds; others are like cattle-pens, large square boxes
+      with seats all round, wherein the occupants sit and sleep, screened from
+      the rest of the congregation. The carving of the woodwork of these
+      erections is often very elaborate. Modern pews are happily based upon the
+      more primitive fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Preaching not being considered such an important part of the service in
+      pre-Reformation times, pulpits in churches of that period were not so
+      usual as in modern churches. Monastic refectories had pulpits, which the
+      reader occupied when he read to his brethren during meals. Beaulieu Abbey
+      has the most ancient pulpit in this country, which evidently belongs to
+      the thirteenth century.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The churches of Devonshire and Norfolk have wooden pulpits of the
+      fifteenth century, which were painted and gilded, the figures of the four
+      doctors of the church&mdash;SS. Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, and Jerome&mdash;being
+      the favourite subjects. In 1603 the churchwardens were ordered to provide
+      in every church &ldquo;a comely and decent pulpit.&rdquo; Hence most of
+      our pulpits date from this period. The sides were panelled and carved with
+      scrollwork; and at the same time a sounding-board was introduced.
+      Occasionally the hour-glass which regulated the length of the preacher&rsquo;s
+      discourse remains, with its beautiful scroll-worked stand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The most striking feature of the pre-Reformation Church was the rood-loft,
+      a narrow long gallery above the beautifully decorated screen, which
+      separated the chancel from the nave. In this loft was erected the rood, or
+      figure of our blessed Lord on the cross, together with figures of the
+      Virgin and St. John on each side. Both the screen and the loft were richly
+      panelled and ornamented with tracery and carvings, and before them hung
+      one or more lamps. Sometimes tall candlesticks stood on pillars on each
+      side of the figures. A staircase of stone, constructed in the wall near
+      the chancel-arch, led to the rood-loft, and the blocked-up archway of this
+      rood-stair frequently remains. The priest stood in the rood-loft to read
+      the gospel and epistle, and sometimes preached there; official notices
+      were read, and from it the bishop used to give the Benediction. The
+      rood-cloth, or veil, hid the rood during Lent, and in some churches we
+      have seen the roller which was used to raise this veil. A special altar,
+      called the rood-altar, used to stand under the screen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link208" id="link208"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="208.jpg (62K)" src="images/208.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Reformers played havoc with these old rood-lofts and screens, which
+      were regarded as monuments of idolatry and superstition. The churchwardens&rsquo;
+      account-books of many churches bear witness to this destruction. Those of
+      St. Giles&rsquo;, Reading, tell of certain <i>items</i> &ldquo;for pulling
+      down the rood and carting away the rubbish.&rdquo; Instead of the figure
+      of our Lord they put up the royal arms; and one John Serjente, of Hytchen,
+      is licensed in 1614&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;to paynte in all the Churches and Chappells, within this Realme of
+      England, the Kinges Majesties armes in due forme with helme creste mantell
+      and supporters as they oughte to be&mdash;and to wright in fayre text
+      letters the tenn commandments, the beliefe, and the Lord&rsquo;s prayer,
+      with some other fruitefull and profitable sentences of holye scripture.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of this destruction of the ancient roods, several lofts still
+      remain, <i>e.g.</i> at Bradninch, Cullompton, Dartmouth, Hartland, Kenton,
+      Ugborough, and Plymtree, in Devonshire; in several places in
+      Somersetshire, and at Charlton-on-Otmoor (erected in 1485) and
+      Handborough, Oxfordshire. A very large number of the old screens remain,
+      ornamented with the arms of Elizabeth or James I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Proceeding eastward we enter the chancel, so called because it is inclosed
+      with <i>cancelli</i>, or the lattice-work of the screen. If the church was
+      formerly connected with some monastery we shall see some beautifully
+      carved wooden stalls with rich canopies over them. The seats are curiously
+      constructed. They can be turned up, and beneath the seats is a projecting
+      bracket of wood, commonly adorned with carved work&mdash;animals, birds,
+      leaves, and flowers, and often with grotesque, satirical, and irreverent
+      devices. They are called miserere-stalls, and were used by the monks or
+      canons to lean against during the portions of the long mediaeval services,
+      when they were not allowed to be seated. As this practice was a concession
+      to human weakness or infirmity, the seats were called in France <i>misericordes</i>,
+      and in England <i>misereres</i>. The subjects of the sculptures are often
+      extremely curious. Domestic scenes, fables, such as the &ldquo;Fox and the
+      Grapes,&rdquo; demons carrying off monks, &ldquo;The Seven Deadly Sins,&rdquo;
+      are some of these subjects. Miss Phipson has published a learned work on
+      <i>Choir Stalls and their Carvings</i>, which contains reproductions of
+      three hundred of her sketches of curiously wrought <i>misereres</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link210" id="link210"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/210.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="210h.jpg (31K)" src="images/210h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> VILLAGE CHURCH IN THE VALE <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lectern formerly stood in the chancel; and then, as now, was often in
+      the form of a large eagle, emblematic of St. John. Most of these
+      reading-desks belong to the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and are
+      made of wood, latten, iron, or stone, as well as of brass. There is a very
+      curious wooden one at East Hendred, Berks, representing a foot resting on
+      the head of a dragon, emblematic of the word of God conquering the powers
+      of evil. Ancient wooden double reading-desks are not uncommon. The
+      ornamentation usually denotes the period when they were constructed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now we approach the high altar of the church, made of stone, covered
+      with a beautifully worked frontal and cloth, and inclosed at the sides
+      with curtains suspended on iron rods projecting from the wall. A crucifix
+      hangs above the altar, and two candlesticks stand, one on each side. The
+      furniture and accessories of the altar in pre-Reformation times were
+      numerous. There was the pyx, a box or vessel of precious metal, in which
+      the Host was reverently preserved for the purpose of giving communion to
+      the sick and infirm. There were two small cruets or vessels for containing
+      the wine and water used in Holy Communion, one engraved with the letter
+      &ldquo;V&rdquo; (<i>vinum</i>), and the other &ldquo;A&rdquo; (<i>aqua</i>).
+      An <i>osculatorium</i>, or pax tablet, of ivory or wood, overlaid with
+      gold, was used for giving the kiss of peace during the High Mass just
+      before the reception of the Host. Of church plate generally we shall write
+      in a subsequent chapter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link212" id="link212"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="212.jpg (23K)" src="images/212.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />NORMAN PISCINA, ROMSEY CHURCH, HANTS <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the south we see the piscina, which is contained in a beautifully
+      carved niche&mdash;a hollow basin with a stone drain, wherein the priest
+      washed his hands before consecrating the elements, and poured the water
+      from the rinsed chalice. Above it in the niche was the credence, a shelf
+      of stone, on which were placed the chalice and paten and all things
+      necessary for the celebration. In some churches there is a separate
+      credence table. On the north side was the aumbry, or locker, where the
+      sacred vessels, altar linen, and service books were kept, guarded by a
+      strong wooden door. The doors have usually disappeared, but a very large
+      number of churches have the hole in the wall which was formerly the
+      aumbry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the south side are the sedilia, or stone seats, for the assistant
+      clergy, frequently with canopies richly carved, and usually three in
+      number. Opposite to the sedilia in the north wall is a large arch, within
+      which the holy sepulchre was set up at Easter. This was a wooden structure
+      made for the deposition of the consecrated elements of the Eucharist from
+      the evening of Good Friday until the morning of Easter Day; during which
+      time it was watched by a quasi-guard, after the manner of our Lord&rsquo;s
+      sepulchre. The books of St. Lawrence, Reading, record:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"Anno 1498. In primis payed for Wakyng of the Sepulchre viii'd."
+
+"Anno 1510. It. payed to Walter Barton to the new Sepulchur iiii'li
+xiii's x'd."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      As this sum of money was a considerable one at that period, the sepulchre
+      must have been an object of unusual magnificence. Sometimes it was a
+      permanent structure of stone, carved with figures of soldiers watching the
+      tomb of our Lord. Behind the altar was the reredos. In village churches
+      these screens were made up of recessed stone panels, surrounded by
+      sculptured wallflowers and other devices; but in large churches they were
+      very ornate, enriched with niches, statues, tabernacle-work, and other
+      adornments. Many of them were destroyed at the Reformation, together with
+      the stone altars. Some were covered up and concealed by plaster, in order
+      to preserve them from iconoclastic violence. They were buried and
+      forgotten, until by some happy accident their existence was revealed in
+      modern times. Nearly all large churches, and some village churches,
+      especially those connected with a monastery, had shrines, or receptacles
+      for the body or relics of a saint. Some of them were fixed, and made of
+      stone or wood, adorned with rich tabernacle-work, such as the shrine of
+      St. Cuthbert at Durham, or of St. Frideswide at Oxford; and others were
+      portable, shaped like coped boxes, covered with precious metal, enamels,
+      and engraving. Sculptured stones in the walls of our churches often mark
+      the spot in the building where relics were stored.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is evident from the existence of niches and piscinas in other parts of
+      the church, besides in the south wall near the high altar, that there
+      formerly existed many altars in the sacred building. At the east end of
+      each aisle we usually find these indications of the existence of an altar,
+      which belonged to a chantry chapel, separated from the rest of the church
+      by a screen. Here a priest said Mass daily for the soul of the founder of
+      the chantry, his ancestors, and posterity. Ancient stone altars still
+      remain in some of our churches. Sometimes they have been removed from
+      their place, and used as tombstones, or in paving the floor of the church.
+      They can be recognised by the five crosses engraved on them, one at each
+      corner, and one in the centre of the stone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hagioscopes, or squints, are openings in the thickness of the wall,
+      enabling worshippers in the chantry chapels to witness the elevation of
+      the Host at the high altar. They are usually plain; but in some churches
+      we find these curious apertures moulded and decorated with architectural
+      designs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pre-Reformation churches had several wooden images of saints, most of
+      which were destroyed by the iconoclastic zeal of the Reformers or
+      Puritans. The brackets on which these figures stood often remain, though
+      the images have disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link215" id="link215"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="215.jpg (37K)" src="images/215.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Low side windows, commonly called &ldquo;Lepers&rsquo; windows,&rdquo; are
+      very frequently found in our churches, and usually on the south wall of
+      the chancel. Their object has been, and is, much disputed among
+      antiquaries. The vulgar idea is that poor lepers used to come to this
+      window to see the celebration of the Mass; but unfortunately it is quite
+      impossible in many cases to see the high altar through this window, and
+      moreover lepers were not allowed to enter a churchyard. Another idea is
+      that they were used as confessionals, the priest in the church hearing the
+      confession of the penitent who knelt on the grass in the churchyard. A
+      more inconvenient arrangement could not have been devised; and this idea
+      might be at once dismissed, were it not that one of Henry&rsquo;s
+      commissioners for suppressing monasteries and chantries wrote: &ldquo;We
+      think it best that the place where these friars have been wont to hear
+      outward confession of all-comers at certain times of the year, be walled
+      up, and that use to be done for ever.&rdquo; It appears that sometimes at
+      any rate the low side windows were used for this purpose. However, I am
+      inclined to think that they were intended for the use of the anchorites or
+      recluses, who dwelt in churches. The windows were not glazed, but had iron
+      bars on the outside, and a wooden shutter on the inside of the church.
+      These windows were probably their means of communication with the outside
+      world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many village churches then, as now, had no vestry. Where a <i>vestiarium</i>
+      existed it was usually on the north side of the chancel, and its contents
+      were more elaborate than the plain surplice stole and hood of recent
+      times. In the vestry press we should find an alb of fine white linen,
+      somewhat similar to a surplice, ornamented with &ldquo;apparels,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i>
+      embroidery, on the cuffs and skirts; a girdle made of white silk
+      embroidered with colours; an amice, or oblong piece of fine linen, worn on
+      the head or as a collar; a stole with embroidered ends; a maniple, or
+      strip of ornamented linen worn by the priest in his left hand during
+      celebrations; dalmatic, chasuble and other vestments which the ornate
+      ritual of the mediaeval church required.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the Reformation the appearance of our churches was certainly
+      splendid, and differed much from the Puritan simplicity of later times.
+      The walls were covered with mural paintings. The windows, soon to be
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shorn of their glass of a thousand colourings,<br /> Through which
+      the deepened glories once could enter,&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      were then resplendent with stained glass. Above, the rood looked down on
+      all the worshippers. Everywhere there was beautifully carved woodwork,
+      gilded and painted, tombs of knights and dames all painted and adorned,
+      altars with rich embroidered hangings. The floor was composed of encaustic
+      tiles, and had many memorial brasses. Armour, crests, and banners hung
+      upon the walls. Lights burned before numerous images, and the whole
+      appearance of our churches was gorgeous and magnificent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many changes have taken place since. Coatings of whitewash hide the mural
+      paintings. Sacrilegious hands &ldquo;have broken down all the carved work
+      with axes and hammers.&rdquo; The stone altars have disappeared, and
+      instead we have &ldquo;an honest table decently covered.&rdquo;
+      Reading-pews for the clergy were set up, and in the last century the
+      hideous &ldquo;three decker,&rdquo; which hid the altar and utterly
+      disfigured the sacred building. Instead of the low open seats great square
+      high pews filled the nave. Hideous galleries were erected which obstructed
+      the windows and hid the architectural beauties of former days. The old
+      timber roofs were covered, and low flat ceilings substituted. Brasses were
+      torn up and sold by dishonest churchwardens, and old monuments broken and
+      defaced. The old stained-glass windows were destroyed. The Communion table
+      was taken from the east end of the chancel, and seats erected round it.
+      Crosses were defaced everywhere, and crucifixes destroyed. Puritan
+      profanation and wanton destruction devastated our churches to a degree
+      which has never been equalled since the hordes of heathens and barbaric
+      Danish invaders carried fire and sword into the sanctuaries of God.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link218" id="link218"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="218.jpg (56K)" src="images/218.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Much harm was done by the Goths and Vandals of the nineteenth century.
+      Many old churches, replete with a thousand memories of the past, were
+      pulled down entirely, and modern structures of &ldquo;Victorian Gothic&rdquo;
+      style erected in their place, which can have none of the precious
+      associations which the old churches had. Much harm was done to the old
+      features of many churches by so-called &ldquo;restoration,&rdquo; carried
+      out by men ignorant of architecture and antiquities. But we are learning
+      better now. The Society of Antiquaries has done much to prevent
+      injudicious restoration and the destruction of our old churches, and if
+      any incumbent and his parishioners are thinking of restoring their church,
+      they cannot do better than to consult the secretaries of that learned
+      body, who will show how best to preserve the interesting memorials of the
+      past which time has spared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link15" id="link15"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CHURCH PLATE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Spoliation&mdash;Few remains of pre-Reformation plate&mdash;Testimony of
+      inventories&mdash;Plate found in graves of bishops&mdash;Characteristics
+      of chalices in different periods&mdash;Inscriptions&mdash;Devices on
+      patens&mdash; Censers&mdash;Pyx&mdash;Monstrance&mdash;Chrismatory&mdash;Pax&mdash;Sacring
+      bell&mdash;Elizabethan chalice&mdash;Bridal cup&mdash;Post-Reformation
+      plate&mdash;Hall marks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have already mourned over the wanton destruction of much that was of
+      intense interest and value in our churches; but the most systematic
+      robbery and spoliation of our church goods at the time of the Reformation
+      were carried out in the matter of church plate. Henry VIII. stripped our
+      cathedrals and conventual churches of almost all that was valuable, and
+      the unscrupulous commissioners of Edward VI. performed a like office for
+      our parish churches and chantries. A large number of the old chalices were
+      also melted down and converted into Communion cupsduring the reigns of
+      Edward VI. and Elizabeth. Hence of all the vast store of church plate
+      which our churches possessed before the Reformation, at the present time
+      throughout all England only thirty-four chalices and seventy-three patens
+      remain. It is true that not all the ancient vessels fell into the hands of
+      the commissioners of the king. In the churchwardens&rsquo; account books
+      of the period we read of sundry sales of church plate. Evidently the
+      parishioners had some presentiment of the coming spoliation; so they sold
+      their valuables, and kept the proceeds of the sale for &ldquo;the paving
+      of the streets,&rdquo; or other parochial necessities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ancient inventories of church goods show the deplorable loss of the
+      valuables of the church which has taken place. Thus at the church of St.
+      Lawrence, Reading, in the year 1517, the inventory tells us of the
+      following: a cross of silver and gilt; a censer of silver gilt; another
+      censer; a ship of silver for holding incense; another ship of silver; two
+      candlesticks of silver; two books bound in silver; two basins of silver; a
+      pyx of silver gilt, with a silver pin; a monstrance of silver gilt; a
+      silver gilt chrismatory for the holy oil; a pax; two cruets; a bell; a
+      chalice, with a crucifix enamelled on the foot and the Trinity on the
+      paten; another chalice, with a crucifix engraved on the foot and a hand on
+      the paten; another chalice similarly described; another similar to first
+      chalice; and two others, with a crucifix on the foot and a vernicle, or <i>vera
+      icon</i> (a representation of our Lord&rsquo;s face miraculously
+      delineated on the napkin of St. Veronica). All these vessels were made of
+      silver or silver gilt. Nor were these all the treasures. There were
+      several reliquaries of silver gilt containing parts of the holy cross; a
+      gridiron, with a bone of St. Lawrence, and other articles contained in
+      silver boxes; and many books bound with silver clasps. The total weight of
+      silver in this church amounted to seven hundred ounces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Village churches were, of course, less sumptuously furnished than this
+      important town church, which being situated under the shadow of one of the
+      largest and most important abbeys in the kingdom, would receive many
+      costly gifts and benefactors. But the inventories of village churches show
+      that there was no lack of plate, rich altar hangings, copes, and
+      vestments, which helped to swell the goodly heap of spoil. In country
+      churches in Oxfordshire there were silver chalices and patens, pyxes,
+      censers, candlesticks, chrismatories, crosses, sanctus bells, and other
+      articles of plate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the practice in mediaeval times to place in the coffin of a bishop
+      a chalice and paten; hence some of the earliest specimens of church plate
+      which we possess have been recovered from episcopal graves.[<a
+      href="#linkb3">3</a>] The Rites of Durham enjoin that on the death of a
+      bishop he was to be buried &ldquo;with a little chalice of silver, other
+      metal, or wax&rdquo; aid upon his breast within the coffin.[<a
+      href="#linkb4">4</a>] Most of these were made of pewter or lead, but some
+      have been found of silver gilt, latten, and tin. It is perhaps scarcely
+      necessary for our present purposes to describe these early specimens of
+      sacred vessels, as the number of them is so limited; and few of my readers
+      will be able to discover any mediaeval examples amongst the plate of their
+      own church. However, I will point out a few peculiarities of the plate of
+      each period.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The earliest chalice, used in the church of Berwick St. James, Wilts,
+      until a few years ago, and now in the British Museum, dates from the
+      beginning of the thirteenth century. Its bowl is broad and shallow, the
+      stem and knot (by which the vessel was held) and foot being plain and
+      circular. Then the makers (from 1250 to 1275) fashioned the stem and knot
+      separately from the bowl and foot, and shaped them polygonally. During the
+      remaining years of the century the foot was worked into ornate lobes. Then
+      the bowl is deepened and made more conical. About 1350 the custom arose of
+      laying the chalice on its side on the paten to drain at the ablutions at
+      Mass; and as the round-footed chalices would have a tendency to roll, the
+      foot was made hexagonal for stability. Henceforth all the mediaeval
+      chalices were fashioned with a six-sided foot. By degrees the bowl became
+      broader and shallower, and instead of the base having six points, its form
+      is a sexfoil without any points. Several old chalices are engraved with
+      the inscription&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Calicem salutaris accipiam et nomen Domini inbocabo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link223" id="link223"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="223.jpg (15K)" src="images/223.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In one of the compartments of the base there was a representation of a
+      crucifix, or the Virgin, or ihc, or xpc.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The usual devices on ancient patens were the <i>Manus Dei</i>, or hand of
+      God, in the act of blessing; on later ones the vernicle, or face of our
+      Lord; the Holy Trinity; the Holy Lamb; the sacred monogram. The oldest
+      paten in existence is that found at Chichester Cathedral in a coffin, and
+      its date is about the year 1180. In the centre is a rude engraving of the
+      <i>Agnus Dei</i>, and it bears the inscription&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi miserere nobis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link224" id="link224"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="224.jpg (33K)" src="images/224.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The grave of Bishop Grostete at Lincoln yielded up an ancient paten
+      (1230-53), which has the figure of a bishop vested, the right hand raised
+      in the act of blessing, the left holding a crozier. The oldest piece of
+      church plate still in use is a remarkable paten at Wyke Church, near
+      Winchester, the date of which is about 1280. It bears an engraving of the
+      <i>Agnus Dei</i> holding a banner, and around the rim is the legend&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      CUNTA: CREO: VIRTUTE: REGO: PIETATE REFORMO.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another favourite inscription was <i>Benedicamus patrem et filium cum
+      spiritu sancto</i>; but on the paten in the church of Great Waltham,
+      Essex, the important word <i>spiritu</i> is omitted for want of room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link225" id="link225"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="225.jpg (37K)" src="images/225.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have already mentioned several of the important pieces of church plate
+      which were in use in mediaeval times. Censers, or thuribles, were common
+      in all our ancient parish churches, sometimes of gold or silver, more
+      usually of brass or latten, and were in the shape of a covered vase or
+      cup, perforated so as to allow the fumes of burning incense to escape.
+      Most of our English censers are now in museums, but several ancient ones
+      are still in use in the private chapels of Roman Catholic families.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old inventories always mention a pyx, a box or vessel of gold or silver,
+      in which the Host was reserved for the sick and infirm. It often resembles
+      a chalice, except that instead of the bowl there is a covered receptacle
+      for the Host. A beautiful specimen was dug up a few years ago in the
+      churchyard of Yateley, Hants. Another vessel was the monstrance, in which
+      the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession, and exposed on the altar.
+      The form varied. Sometimes monstrances were made in the shape of a tower,
+      or a covered chalice; sometimes in the form of images carrying silver
+      pyxes, elaborately ornamented with many jewels. Processions were always a
+      great feature of mediaeval worship; hence the monstrance was frequently in
+      use, especially on such occasions as the celebrations of Corpus Christi
+      Day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holy oil was much used in the services, as in the Roman Catholic Church at
+      the present time. It was blessed by a bishop on Maundy Thursday, and used
+      in Baptism, Confirmation, and Extreme Unction, as well as at the
+      Consecration of Churches, Ordination, and the Coronation of Kings. The
+      vessel for holding the oil was an important piece of church plate, and was
+      called a chrismatory. Usually there were three distinct vessels, one for
+      holding the oil for the sick, a second for use at confirmations, and a
+      third for the baptismal oil. Sometimes these vessels are labelled with the
+      words EXT. UNC., CAT., and CHR., according to the recommendation of St.
+      Charles Borromeo, in order that each oil might be kept for its proper use,
+      and that no confusion might arise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pax was a small tablet of silver or other precious metal, used for
+      giving the kiss of peace during High Mass. The celebrant kissed the
+      tablet, and held it aloft before all the people. It was usually adorned
+      with a representation of the <i>Agnus Dei</i>. Of the cruets containing
+      wine and water for the celebration we have already written. Then there was
+      a sacring bell, often made of silver, which was rung during the service at
+      the time of the elevation of the Host, and at the sound the congregation
+      knelt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have now examined the aumbry, and noted its contents, upon which the
+      commissioners in the reign of Edward VI. made such shameful inroads.
+      Henceforth the plate was confined to a chalice and paten, alms-dish, and
+      usually a large silver flagon. The form of the chalice was entirely
+      changed. As we have noticed, the bowl of the pre-Reformation chalices
+      became smaller and shallower, on account of the gradually introduced
+      practice of refusing the wine to the laity. Now in the year 1562 the size
+      of the bowl was greatly enlarged, and the &ldquo;Communion cup&rdquo; took
+      the place of the &ldquo;Massing chalice.&rdquo; Some poor parishes were
+      obliged to content themselves with pewter vessels. St. Lawrence&rsquo;s
+      Church, Reading, had a curious bridal cup, which was carried before all
+      brides who were married in that church. The custom of drinking wine in the
+      church at marriages is enjoined in the Hereford Missal, and the Sarum
+      Missal ordered that the bread immersed in the wine, and consumed by the
+      company, should first be blessed by the priest. Some of these
+      post-Reformation vessels are extremely interesting. They record the
+      thankofferings of pious donors on the occasion of some great event in the
+      national annals, such as the Restoration, or of some private mercy
+      vouchsafed to the individual. They record the connection of some family
+      with the parish, the arms they bore; and the Hall marks tell us of their
+      date, which is often anterior to the date of the inscription.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hall marks were first introduced in 1300 by Edward I. in order to keep up
+      the purity of silver, and consisted of the lion&rsquo;s or leopard&rsquo;s
+      head crowned. This was called the king&rsquo;s mark. The maker&rsquo;s
+      mark was introduced in 1363, and was some initial or badge chosen by the
+      silversmith. To these were added in 1438 the year letter or assayer&rsquo;s
+      mark, a different letter being chosen for each year. When the alphabet was
+      exhausted, another with differently shaped letters was begun. In 1545 the
+      lion passant was introduced, and since 1784 the portrait of the reigning
+      sovereign has appeared. With the assistance of Mr. Cripps&rsquo; <i>Old
+      English Plate</i>, which contains a list of the alphabets used in marking
+      plate, it is not very difficult to discover the date of any piece of
+      silver. Inventories of church plate are being made in many counties and
+      dioceses, and no more useful work can be undertaken by our local
+      antiquarian societies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb3" id="linkb3"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [3] <i>Mediaeval Chalices and Patens</i>, by W.H. St. John Hope and T.M.
+      Fallow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb4" id="linkb4"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [4] Surtees Society, vol. xv. pp. 45, 49.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link16" id="link16"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Reverence for the dead&mdash;Cists&mdash;Stone coffins&mdash;Devices&mdash;Introduction
+      of effigies&mdash;Cross-legged effigies&mdash;Wooden effigies&mdash;Incised
+      effigies&mdash;Brasses&mdash;Essentially English&mdash;Vast number of
+      brasses&mdash; Palimpsests&mdash;Destruction&mdash;Costumes and fashions&mdash;Ecclesiastics&mdash;
+      Lawyers&mdash;Soldiers&mdash;Canopies and inscriptions&mdash;Punning
+      inscriptions&mdash; Contractions&mdash;Emblems&mdash;Heraldry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pious care which we all love to bestow on the mortal remains of our
+      nearest and dearest, and the respect and honour with which all men regard
+      the bodies of departed heroes, kings, saints, and warriors, have produced
+      a remarkable series of sepulchral monuments, examples of which may be
+      found everywhere. The cairns and tumuli of the primitive races which
+      inhabited our island were the results of the same feelings of reverent
+      regard which inspired the beautifully carved mediaeval monuments, the
+      memorial brass, or the cross-shaped tombstone of to-day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have already mentioned the cromlechs and barrows and other memorials of
+      the early inhabitants of Britain. We have seen the cists of Saxon times,
+      the coffins formed of several stones placed together in the form of a
+      table. The Normans introduced stone coffins for the sepulchre of their
+      great men, many of which may be seen in our cathedrals and old conventual
+      churches. On the lids of their coffins they frequently cut a single cross.
+      When the style of architecture changed to that of the Early English and
+      Decorated periods, monumental slabs were ornamented with much greater
+      richness and elaboration, and inscriptions were added, and also some
+      device which showed the trade, rank, or profession of the departed. Thus
+      the chalice and paten denoted a priest; a sword showed the knight; an axe,
+      a forester; an ink-horn, a notary; shears, a wool merchant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the beginning of the thirteenth century it occurred to someone to
+      preserve the likeness of his departed friend as well as the symbols of his
+      rank and station. So effigies were introduced upon the surface of the
+      slabs, and were carved flat; but ere fifty years had passed away the art
+      of the sculptor produced magnificent monumental effigies. Knights and
+      nobles lie clad in armour with their ladies by their sides. Bishops and
+      abbots bless the spectators with their uplifted right hands. Judges lie in
+      their official garb, and merchants with the emblems of their trade. At
+      their feet lie animals, usually having some heraldic connection with the
+      deceased, or symbolical of his work&mdash;<i>e.g.</i> a dragon is trodden
+      down beneath the feet of a bishop, signifying the defeat of sin as the
+      result of his ministry. The heads of effigies usually rest on cushions,
+      which are sometimes supported by two angels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A peculiar characteristic of the military effigies in England is that the
+      knights are often represented with the legs crossed. Many speculations
+      have been made with regard to the meaning of this fashion of cross-legged
+      effigy. It is a popular superstition, in which for some years the writer
+      shared, that such effigies represented Crusaders. We were told in our
+      young days that when the knight had his legs crossed at the feet he had
+      gone to the Crusades once; when at the knees, that he had been to two
+      Crusades; and when crossed at the thighs, he had been thrice to rescue the
+      Holy City from the hands of the infidels. All this seemed very plausible
+      and interesting, but it is undoubtedly a myth. Many known Crusaders have
+      their effigies with uncrossed legs, and many who never went to the
+      Crusades have cross-legged effigies. Moreover, there are no such monuments
+      in any foreign country which swelled the army of Crusaders. Hence we must
+      abandon the pleasing superstition, and reconcile ourselves to the fact
+      that no particular signification can be assigned to these cross-legged
+      effigies, and that only fashion prompted the mediaeval sculptors to adopt
+      this attitude for their figures. This mode prevailed until about the year
+      1320.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the close of the fifteenth century the art of making monumental
+      effigies degenerated together with the skill of the architects of that
+      period. We see the husband and wife kneeling facing each other, with a
+      faldstool before each figure. A company of small figures below the
+      effigies represent the children, the boys on one side, the girls on the
+      other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early wooden effigies were also in use. There is one much battered by the
+      careless hands of former generations of villagers in the rural church of
+      my parish of Barkham. The artists often used much colour, gilding, and
+      enamel in making these effigies; and often rich canopies were erected over
+      them, containing fine tabernacle-work and figures of saints in niches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another form of effigy was commonly in use, in addition to the figures
+      just described. These are called incised effigies, which were cut in
+      outline upon flat slabs of stone, the lines being filled in with enamelled
+      metals. Thorton Abbey, Lincolnshire, and Brading, in the Isle of Wight,
+      have examples of this work. But the great expense of these enamels, and
+      also their frailty when exposed in the pavements of churches, led to the
+      use of brass; and hence arose the introduction of memorial brasses for
+      which our country is famous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We owe the application of brass to memorial tablets to the artists of
+      Flanders, and the date of their introduction is about the middle of the
+      thirteenth century. The execution of almost all of our English brasses is
+      due to native artists. Foreign brasses are usually of great size, and
+      consist of a quadrangular sheet of metal, on which is engraved the figure,
+      usually under a canopy, the background being ornamented with rich diaper,
+      foliage, or scrollwork, and the incisions filled with colouring. Several
+      brasses in England conform to this style of workmanship, and are evidently
+      the production of foreign artists. The English brasses, on the contrary,
+      consist of separate pieces, with an irregular outline, corresponding with
+      that of the figure. They have no brass background; and for delicacy of
+      engraving and general appearance the English brasses are by far the best.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The names of the makers of brasses have been almost entirely lost. Two
+      only bear marks which are supposed to be those of the engraver. No other
+      country can boast of so large a number of these memorials as England, in
+      spite of the hard usage they have received and their wanton destruction.
+      About four thousand remain; and constantly we find the matrices cut in
+      stone slabs, from which brasses have been torn; so that we may assume that
+      quite as many have been destroyed as those which survive. The southern and
+      eastern counties are most richly furnished with these monuments, whereas
+      the western and northern counties have but few brasses. Norfolk, Suffolk,
+      Essex, and Kent are the most rich in this respect. The earliest brass of
+      which we have any record is that of Simon de Beauchamp, who died before
+      1208. This is mentioned by Leland. The earliest brass now in existence is
+      that of Sir John D&rsquo;Aubernown at Stoke Dabernon, Surrey, which was
+      fashioned in 1277. In the fourteenth century a very large number of
+      brasses, remarkable for their beauty of form and execution, were made. The
+      artistic workmanship began to decline in the fifteenth century, and in the
+      following became utterly degenerate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not an uncommon practice for subsequent generations to appropriate
+      the memorials of their predecessors. Such brasses are called palimpsests.
+      By the carelessness of churchwardens, by fraud, or spoliation, brasses
+      were taken from the churches, and acquired by some maker in the town. When
+      a new one was required, the tradesman would take from his stock, and on
+      the reverse engrave the figure of the individual whose memory he was
+      called upon to perpetuate. Hence when brasses are taken up from the
+      pavements, frequently the remains of a much earlier memorial are found on
+      the reverse side. There is an example of this curious method of procedure
+      at St. Lawrence&rsquo;s Church, Reading, where on the reverse of a brass
+      to the memory of Walter Barton was found the remains of the brass of Sir
+      John Popham, who was buried at the Charterhouse, London. This monastery
+      was dissolved in 1536, the monuments sold, Sir John Popham&rsquo;s brass
+      among them, which was evidently soon converted into a memorial of Walter
+      Barton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes the original brass was appropriated as it lay, the figure being
+      slightly altered to suit the style of costume prevalent at the later date.
+      In other cases the engraver did not even trouble himself to alter the
+      figure, and simply added a new inscription and shield of arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wanton destruction and gross neglect of churchwardens, both before and
+      after the Reformation, were very great. At St. Mary&rsquo;s Church,
+      Reading, the accounts tell a sad tale of the disgraceful damage in the
+      year 1547:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Receyvid of John Saunders for iii cwt lacking ix&rsquo;li of metall
+      that was taken upp of the graves, and of olde candlestycks at vi&rsquo;s
+      the hundred xlvj&rsquo;s ii&rsquo;d.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evidently a clean sweep was made of most of the memorial brasses in the
+      church, and few escaped destruction. The tale is too familiar. Most
+      churches have suffered in the same way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The study of brasses throws much light upon the costumes and fashions of
+      the day when they were engraved. We see priests, who may be recognised by
+      the tonsure and vestments, amongst which we find the alb, amice, stole,
+      maniple, and chasuble. The pastoral staff, ring, mitre, sandals, tunic,
+      dalmatic, and gloves mark the graves of bishops and mitred abbots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A close skull-cap, a long robe with narrow sleeves, a hood, tippet, and
+      mantle buttoned on the right shoulder, compose the dress of judges and
+      officers of the law, as depicted on brasses. The changes in the fashion
+      and style of armour, which took place between the fourteenth and the
+      seventeenth centuries, are all accurately represented in these memorials;
+      and also the picturesque costumes of ladies with their curious headgear;
+      and the no less various fashions of the male civilian&rsquo;s dress. A
+      study of brasses is an admirable guide to the prevailing style of dress
+      during the periods of their construction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The beautiful canopies over the heads of the figures are well worthy of
+      attention, and also the inscriptions. These usually take the form of Latin
+      verses; and although many were written by learned abbots and scholars, the
+      classical knowledge displayed is somewhat faulty. Here are a few examples:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            Respice quid prodest precentis temporis aebum<br /> Omne quod est,
+            nichil est, preter amare deum.
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes the author of the inscription recorded his name, as did the
+      learned Dame Elizabeth Hobby on a brass at Shottesbrooke, which runs&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            O multum dilecte senex, pater atqz bocate,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Del quia
+            grandaebis, bel quia probus eras.<br /> Annos bixisti nobies decem,
+            atqz satelles<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Fidus eras regum, fidus erasqz tuis.<br />
+            Iam satis functus baleas, sed tu, deus alme,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Sic
+            mihi concedas bibere siqz mori.
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Variety was added sometimes by jumbling together various languages,
+      Norman-French, Latin, and English being often oddly combined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      People in the Middle Ages loved punning and playing upon the sound of
+      words. Thus a brass to the memory of Thomas Hylle (or Hill) has some
+      verses beginning &ldquo;<i>Mons</i> in valle jacet.&rdquo; John Day, the
+      printer, had a very extravagant and jocular epitaph beginning&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &ldquo;Here lies the Daye that darkness could not blynd.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            &ldquo;He set a Fox to wright how Martyrs runne<br /> By death to
+            lyfe&rdquo;&mdash;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      alluding to his publication of Foxe&rsquo;s <i>Book of Martyrs</i>. His
+      widow probably married a man named Stone. Hence we read&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &ldquo;Als was the last encreaser of his store,<br /> Who mourning
+            long for being left alone,<br /> Sett upp this tombe, her self turned
+            to a Stone.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Orate pro anima,&rdquo; or &ldquo;of your charite pray for the soul
+      of &mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; were usual inscriptions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is somewhat difficult for the unpractised eye to read inscriptions on
+      brasses, owing to the contractions and omissions of letters. Thus <i>m</i>
+      and <i>n</i> are often omitted, and a line is placed over the adjoining
+      letter to indicate the omission. Thus a=ia stands for <i>anima</i>, leg=u
+      for <i>legum</i>. The letter <i>r</i> is also left out. Z stands for <i>que</i>,
+      and there are many other contractions, such as D=ns for <i>Dominus</i>,
+      D=s for <i>Deus</i>, E=ps for <i>Episcopus</i>, g=ia for <i>gratia</i>,
+      m=ia for <i>misericordia</i>, and many others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The study of the emblems and devices is full of interest. Of
+      ecclesiastical emblems we have the symbols of the Holy Trinity&mdash;God
+      the Father represented as an aged person, holding a crucifix on which the
+      dove, an emblem of the Holy Spirit, is alighting&mdash;representations of
+      our Lord, angels, saints,[<a href="#linkb5">5</a>] evangelists, the fylfot
+      cross, roses, and figures of Death. Sometimes the figure on the brass
+      holds a heart in his hand, which indicates a response on the part of the
+      deceased to the old invitatory &ldquo;Sursum corda.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The armorial bearings of the deceased are usually represented on brasses,
+      and also personal or professional devices. The founders of churches hold
+      representations in miniature of the churches which they founded. Bishops
+      and abbots have a pastoral staff; priests, a chalice, or a book; wool
+      merchants have woolpacks beneath their feet, and other tradesmen have
+      similar devices denoting their special calling. Merchants&rsquo; marks
+      also frequently appear; and the mediaeval taste for punning is shown by
+      frequent rebuses formed on the names of the deceased, <i>e.g.</i> a
+      peacock, for one named Pecok; a fox, for a Foxley; four tuns and a cross,
+      for Master Croston.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      England may well be proud of the brass memorials of her worthy sons and
+      daughters. It is, however, terribly sad to see the destruction which
+      fanatical and greedy folk have wrought on these beautiful monuments. As we
+      have already noticed, the spoliators of the Reformation period
+      accomplished much wanton destruction, and removed tombs &ldquo;for
+      greedinesse of the brasse.&rdquo; Cromwell&rsquo;s soldiers and
+      commissioners did a vast deal more damage, violating sepulchres and
+      monuments, and destroying brasses everywhere. A third cause of the
+      defacement and loss of these valuable memorials has been the gross
+      carelessness of churchwardens and incumbents, who during any alterations
+      or restoration of their churches have allowed them to be sold, destroyed,
+      or appropriated by the builders. Truly we have entered upon a diminished
+      inheritance. It behoves us to preserve with the utmost vigilance and care
+      the memorials which fanaticism, greed, and carelessness have spared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb5" id="linkb5"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [5] The following are the principal emblems of the Apostles:&mdash; St.
+      Andrew, a cross saltier; St. Bartholomew, a knife; St. James the Great, a
+      pilgrim&rsquo;s staff, wallet, escallop shell; St. James the Less, a
+      fuller&rsquo;s bat, or saw; St. John, a chalice and serpent; St. Jude, a
+      boat in his hand, or a club; St. Matthew, a club, carpenter&rsquo;s
+      square, or money-box; St. Matthias, a hatchet, battle-axe, or sword; St.
+      Paul, a sword; St. Peter, keys; St. Philip, a tau cross, or a spear; St.
+      Simon, fishes; St. Thomas, an arrow or spear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link17" id="link17"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE PARISH CHEST
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Contents of the parish chest&mdash;Parish registers&mdash;Effect of Civil
+      War&mdash; Burials in woollen&mdash;&ldquo;Not worth &pound;600&rdquo;&mdash;Care
+      bestowed upon registers&mdash; Curious entries&mdash;Astrology&mdash;Gipsies&mdash;Jester&mdash;Heart-burial&mdash;Plagues&mdash;Royal
+      visits&mdash;Licences for eating flesh, for to be touched for king&rsquo;s
+      evil&mdash; Carelessness of custody of registers&mdash;Churchwardens&rsquo;
+      account books&mdash;Their value&mdash;Curious entries&mdash;Sports and
+      pastimes&mdash;Paschall money&mdash;Brief books&mdash;Strange entries in
+      registers and account books&mdash;Dog-whippers&mdash; King&rsquo;s evil&mdash;Treating
+      bishops and poor scholars of Oxford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The parish chest in the vestry usually contains many documents, which are
+      of profound interest to the student of village antiquities. It contains
+      the old churchwardens&rsquo; account books, the parish registers, lists of
+      briefs, and often many other papers and records which bear on the history
+      of the parish. The old register books record the names of past generations
+      of villagers, and many curious facts about the parish and its people,
+      which are not found in the dull dry columns of our modern books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Parish registers were first ordered by Thomas Cromwell in the year 1538,
+      and from that date many of our registers begin.[<a href="#linkb6">6</a>]
+      But all vicars did not obey the injunctions of Viceregent Cromwell; they
+      were renewed by Edward VI. in 1547 and by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and
+      most of our old register books begin with this date. James I. ordered that
+      the registers should be written over again in a parchment book, the
+      entries previously having been recorded on paper. Hence many of our books,
+      although they begin with the year 1538, are really copies of the paper
+      records made previous to 1603.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The disturbances of the Civil War period caused much neglect in the
+      keeping of the registers. The incumbent was often driven away from his
+      flock, and parish registrars were chosen by the parishioners and approved
+      and sworn before a justice of the peace. Here is a record of this business
+      taken from the books of this parish:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whereas Robtr Williams of the prish of Barkham in the County of
+      Berks was elected and chosen by the inhabitants of the same prish to be
+      there prish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms was approved and sworne
+      this sixteenth day of November 1653. Ri: Bigg, J.P.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henceforth the children are registered as having been <i>born</i>, not <i>baptised</i>,
+      until the Restoration brought back the clergyman to his flock again, and
+      the entries are written in a scholarly hand, and the disorder of the
+      previous years ceases.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1679 an Act was passed requiring that the dead should be buried in
+      woollen, the purpose being to lessen &ldquo;the importation of linen from
+      beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper
+      manufacturers of this kingdom.&rdquo; A penalty of &pound;5 was inflicted
+      for a violation of this Act; and as frequently people preferred to be
+      buried in linen, a record of the fine appears&mdash;<i>e.g.</i> at Gayton,
+      Northamptonshire, where we find in the register&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;1708. Mrs. Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5, in <i>Linnen</i>,
+      and the forfeiture of the Act payd fifty shillings to ye informer and
+      fifty shillings to ye poor of the parishe.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pope wrote the following lines on the burial of Mrs. Oldfield, the
+      actress, with reference to this custom:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Odious! in woollen! &rsquo;twould a saint provoke<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;(Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke);<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Wrap
+            my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes after the name in the register is added the words, &ldquo;Not
+      worth &pound;600.&rdquo; This refers to the Act of William III. in 1694,
+      which required that all persons baptised, married, or buried, having an
+      estate of that value, should pay a tax of twenty shillings. The money was
+      required for carrying on the war with France, and the Act was in force for
+      five years. This description of the personal estate was not intended to be
+      invidious, but was of practical utility in enforcing the Act.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The parish registers reflect with wonderful accuracy the life of the
+      people, and are most valuable to the student of history. Clergymen took
+      great pride in recording &ldquo;the short and simple annals of the poor.&rdquo;
+      A Gloucestershire rector (1630 A.D.) wrote in his book the following good
+      advice which might with advantage be taken in many other villages:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you will have this Book last, bee sure to aire it att the fier,
+      or in the Sunne, three or four times a yeare&mdash;els it will grow
+      dankish and rott, therefore look to it. It will not be amisse when you
+      find it dankish to wipe over the leaves with a dry wollen cloth. This
+      Place is very much subject to dankishness; therefore I say looke to it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A study of the curious entries which we occasionally find conveys much
+      remarkable information. Sometimes, in the days of astrology, in order to
+      assist in casting the nativity, it is recorded that at the time of the
+      child&rsquo;s birth &ldquo;the sun was in Libra,&rdquo; or &ldquo;in
+      Taurus.&rdquo; Gipsies were evidently numerous in the sixteenth century,
+      as we constantly find references to &ldquo;the roguish AEgyptians.&rdquo;
+      The domestic jester finds his record in the entry: &ldquo;1580. March 21,
+      William, fool to my Lady Jerningham.&rdquo; The suicide is &ldquo;infamously
+      buried.&rdquo; Heart-burial is often recorded, as at Wooburn, Bucks:
+      &ldquo;1700. Cadaver Edi Thomas, equitis aurati, hic inhumatum fuit
+      vicessimo tertio die Junii.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Records of the visitations of the plague are very numerous in all parts of
+      England, as at Egglescliffe, Durham: &ldquo;1644. In this year there died
+      of the plague in this towne one and twenty people; they are not all buried
+      in the churchyard, and are not in the Register.&rdquo; Sometimes masses of
+      human bones are found buried in fields outside towns and villages,
+      memorials of this devastating plague.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Parish clerks have not always had very musical voices when they shout out
+      the &ldquo;Amens.&rdquo; The Rector of Buxted, Sussex (1666 A.D.), records
+      with a sigh of relief the death of his old clerk, &ldquo;whose melody
+      warbled forth as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes royal visits to the neighbourhood are recorded, even a royal
+      hunt, as when James I. hunted the hare at Fordham, Cambridgeshire. The
+      register of Wolverton gives &ldquo;a license for eating flesh on
+      prohibited days granted to Sir Tho. Temple, on paying 13s. 4d.&rdquo;
+      Storms, earthquakes, and floods are described; and records of certificates
+      granted to persons to go before the king to be touched for the disease
+      called the king&rsquo;s evil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Civil War is frequently mentioned, and also caused the omission of
+      many entries. At Tarporley, Cheshire, there is a break from 1643 to 1648,
+      for which the rector thus accounts:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This intermission hapned by reason of the great wars obliterating
+      memorials, wasting fortunes, and slaughtering persons of all sorts.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Parish registers have fared ill and suffered much from the gross
+      carelessness of their custodians. We read of the early books of Christ
+      Church, Hants, being converted into kettle-holders by the curate&rsquo;s
+      wife. Many have been sold as waste paper, pages ruthlessly cut out, and
+      village schoolbooks covered with the leaves of old registers. The
+      historian of Leicestershire writes of the register of Scraptoft:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has not been a plaything for young pointers&mdash;it has not
+      occupied a bacon scratch, or a bread and cheese cupboard&mdash;it has not
+      been scribbled on within and without; but it has been treasured ever since
+      1538, to the honour of a succession of worthy clergymen.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>O
+      si sic omnes</i>!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The churchwardens&rsquo; account books are even of greater value to the
+      student of history than the registers, priceless as the latter are for
+      genealogical purposes. The Bishop of Oxford states that &ldquo;in the old
+      account books and minute books of the churchwardens in town and country we
+      possess a very large but very perishable and rapidly perishing treasury of
+      information on matters the very remembrance of which is passing away,
+      although their practical bearing on the development of the system of local
+      government is indisputable, and is occasionally brought conspicuously
+      before the eye of the people by quaint survivals.... It is well that such
+      materials for the illustration of this economic history as have real value
+      should be preserved in print; and that the customs which they illustrate
+      should be reclaimed by History from the misty region of folklore, whilst
+      they can.&rdquo; Many of these account books date from pre-Reformation
+      times, and disclose the changes which took place in the fabric of our
+      churches, the removal of roods and other ecclesiastical furniture, during
+      the Reformation. They are usually kept with great exactness, and contain
+      an accurate record of the receipts and expenditure for each year. Some of
+      the entries are very curious, and relate to the sports and pastimes of our
+      ancestors, the mystery plays, and church ales, which were all under the
+      patronage of the churchwardens. The proceeds of these entertainments were
+      devoted to the maintenance of the church, and were included in the
+      accounts, as well as the necessary cost of the merry diversions. Thus in
+      the books of St. Lawrence&rsquo;s Church, Reading, we find such items as
+      the following:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                                                  s. d.
+"1499. Paid for a coat for Robin Hood             5  4
+         "  for a supper to Robin Hood and
+               his company                        1  6
+         "  for making the church clean
+               against the day of drinking
+               in the said church                    4"
+
+"1531. Paid for five ells of canvass for a coat
+            for Maid Marian                       1  6-1/4"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bells for the Morris dancers,&rdquo; &ldquo;liveries and coats,&rdquo;
+      &ldquo;bread and ale,&rdquo; &ldquo;horse-meat of the horses for the kings
+      of Colen on May Day,&rdquo; are some of the items which appear in these
+      books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another book tells us about the &ldquo;Gatherings&rdquo; at Hock-tide,
+      when on one day the men stopped the women, and on the next the women the
+      men, and refused to let them go until they gave money. The women always
+      succeeded in collecting the most money.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                                                  s. d.
+"It'm.  receyved of the men's gatherynge          7  3
+   "       "       "    women's gatherynge       37  5"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Traces of this custom are still found in many country places. The practice
+      of &ldquo;hocking&rdquo; at Hungerford and &ldquo;lifting&rdquo; in
+      Lancashire subsist still, but the money collected is no longer devoted to
+      any pious uses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The item &ldquo;Paschall money at Easter&rdquo; frequently occurs. This
+      was originally a collection for the Paschal taper, which burned before the
+      high altar at Eastertide. When, in the reign of Elizabeth, the taper was
+      no longer used, the money was devoted to buying the bread and the wine for
+      the Easter Communion. Another item which often appears is a payment of
+      &ldquo;Smoke farthings&rdquo; to the bishop of the diocese at his
+      Visitation Court. This is another name for Peter&rsquo;s pence, formerly
+      given to the Pope. In the accounts of Minchinhampton we find the entry
+      under the year 1576: &ldquo;For Pentecost money, otherwyse peter pence,
+      sometyme payed to Antecryst of Rome xvi&rsquo;d.&rdquo; After the
+      Reformation the tax was collected, but given to the bishop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are very many other points of interest which a study of the
+      churchwardens&rsquo; books presents. In more recent times we find constant
+      payments for the slaughter of sparrows, and many other items which
+      scarcely come under the head of ecclesiastical charges.[<a href="#linkb7">7</a>]
+      But of course the vestry was then the council chamber of the parish, which
+      managed all the temporal affairs of the village community. Possibly, in
+      these days of Poor Law Unions, District and County Councils, our affairs
+      may be managed better; but there is much to be said in favour of the older
+      system, and Parish Councils are not much of an improvement on the old
+      vestries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another book which our parish chest contains is the Brief Book. Briefs
+      were royal letters which were sent to the clergy directing that
+      collections be made for certain objects. These were very numerous and
+      varied. The building of St. Paul&rsquo;s Cathedral after the Great Fire, a
+      fire at Drury Lane Theatre, rebuilding of churches, the redemption of
+      English slaves taken by pirates, the construction of harbours in Scotland,
+      losses by hail, floods, French refugees, Reformed Episcopal churches in
+      Great Poland and Polish Prussia, Protestants in Copenhagen, loss by fire,
+      colleges in Philadelphia&mdash;these and many other objects were commended
+      to the liberality of Churchmen. The sums collected were usually very
+      small, and Pepys wrote in his <i>Diary</i>, June 30th, 1661:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To church, when we observe the trade of briefs is come now up to so
+      constant a course every Sunday that we resolve to give no more to them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The granting of briefs gave rise to much abuse, and they were finally
+      abolished by the advice of Lord Palmerston.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The contents of the parish chest afford an unlimited mass of material for
+      those who love to study the curious customs of our forefathers and their
+      strange usages. Here is a record of a much-married person:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mary Blewitt, ye wife of nine husbands successively, buried eight
+      of ym, but last of all ye woman dy&rsquo;d and was buried, May 7th 1681.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the margin of the register is written, &ldquo;This was her funeral
+      text.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The register of Sparsholt, Berks, records an instance of the body of a
+      dead man being arrested for debt. The entry is:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The corpse of John Matthews, of Fawler, was stopt on the churchway
+      for debt, August 27, 1689. And having laine there fower days, was by
+      Justices warrant buryied in the place to prevent annoyances&mdash;but
+      about sixe weekes after it was by an order of Sessions taken up and buried
+      in the churchyard by the wife of the deceased.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A dog-whipper was an ancient parish official, whose duty was to drive out
+      all dogs from the church. The Wakefield accounts contain the items:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1616. Paid to Gorby Stork for whippinge          s. d.
+    doggs                                         2  6"
+
+"1703. For hatts shoes and hoses for sexton
+    and dog-whipper                              18  6"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Another official was the person appointed to arouse members of the
+      congregation from their slumbers during divine service. The parish
+      accounts of Castleton record:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                                                  s. d.
+"1702. Paid to sluggard waker                    10  0"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes the cost of a journey to London was defrayed by the parish in
+      order to enable a sufferer to be touched for the king&rsquo;s evil. The
+      Ecclesfield accounts contain the following entry relating to this custom:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1641. Given to John Parkin wife towards her
+    travell to London to get cure of his Majestie
+    for the disease called the Evill, which her   s. d.
+    Sonen Thorn is visited withall                6  8"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The clergymen were required to keep a register of all who were so touched,
+      in order that they might not again go to the king and receive the bounty
+      which accompanied the touch. Hence we read in the register of Hambleden,
+      Bucks:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1685. May 17, Mary Wallington had a certificate to goe before the King
+for a disease called the King's Evil."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The treating of bishops and clergy is often noticed in the accounts.
+      Sometimes a sugar-loaf was presented, as at St. James&rsquo;, Bristol:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1629. Paid for a sugar loaf for the Lord Bishop 15's 10'd"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes items relate to their refreshment:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1593. Pd for a galland of beer given to the
+    Beishopp of Hereford                            iiii'd"
+
+"1617. Pd for a quart of wine and sugar bestowed
+    upon two preachers                                 x'd"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The status of students at the Universities was not so high in former days
+      as at present, and poor scholars used to beg their way to Oxford and
+      Cambridge, and receive the assistance of the charitable. Hence we read in
+      the Leverton accounts:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1562. Gave to a pore scholar at Oxford.            2s. 0d."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      With this record of &ldquo;a pore scholar&rdquo; we must leave our study
+      of the contents of the parish chest, which afford such valuable and
+      accurate information about village and town life of ancient times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb6" id="linkb6"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [6] 812 registers begin in 1538, 40 of which contain entries prior to that
+      date. 1,822 registers date from 1538 to 1558, and 2,448 from 1558 to 1603.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb7" id="linkb7"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [7] In the Whitchurch books we find: &ldquo;1671. Paide for a coate and
+      wastcoate for good wife Clarke 13s., also for linen and shoes; to the
+      Chiurgeons for looking at Ezechiell Huller&rsquo;s legg &pound;3.&rdquo;
+      And such-like entries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link18" id="link18"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Destruction of old windows&mdash;Wilfrid&rsquo;s glass-window makers&mdash;Glass,
+      stained and painted&mdash;Changes in style&mdash;Work of foreign artists&mdash;Inlaid
+      tiles&mdash;Ironwork on doors and screens&mdash;Norman hinges&mdash;Mediaeval
+      plumbing work&mdash;Mural decoration, frescoes, and wall-painting&mdash;Cause
+      of their destruction&mdash;St. Christopher&mdash;Consecration crosses&mdash;Norman
+      art&mdash;Favourite subjects&mdash;Yew trees in churchyards&mdash;Lich-gates&mdash;The
+      churchyard&mdash;Curious epitaphs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No branch of archaeology is more interesting than the study of our
+      stained-glass windows, which illustrate so clearly the faith, history, and
+      customs of our ancestors. We have again to thank the fanatics of the
+      Reformation and Cromwellian periods for the shameful destruction of so
+      many beautiful windows. How great has been the loss to art and history
+      caused by their reckless demolition! And in addition to this miserable
+      violence our windows have suffered greatly from the ignorant indifference
+      of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which allowed priceless
+      examples of old glass to be removed and replaced by the hideous specimens
+      of the modern glass-painters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Saxon times this art found a home in England, the <i>artifices
+      lapidearum et vitrearum fenestrarum</i> having been invited to this
+      country by Wilfrid, Bishop of York, in 709. The earliest specimen of
+      ancient glass now in existence is in the choir-aisles of Canterbury
+      Cathedral, where it was probably fixed when the cathedral was rebuilt
+      after the fire in 1174.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Coloured glass is of two kinds: (1) <i>Stained glass</i>, made by mixing
+      metallic oxides with the glass when in a state of fusion, the colours thus
+      going through the whole mass; (2) <i>Painted glass</i>, in which colouring
+      is laid upon the white or tinted glass, and fixed by the action of fire.
+      As the style of architecture changed, so the art of the glass-painter
+      changed with it. In the Early English period the colours were very rich,
+      and the designs consisted of medallions containing subjects taken from
+      Holy Scripture, or the lives of the saints, upon grounds of ruby and blue.
+      Mosaic patterns form the groundwork of the medallions, and a border of
+      scrolls and foliage incloses the whole design. The outlines of the figures
+      are formed by the lead. In the Decorated period the medallions disappear,
+      and in their place we find single figures of large size under canopies.
+      Instead of the mosaic backgrounds diaper-work in whole colours is used.
+      Lights and shades are introduced in the dresses and canopies, and foliage
+      is painted on the panes. The artists of this period first introduced
+      heraldic devices into the windows. A border of white glass intervenes
+      between the window and the medallion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the Perpendicular style was in vogue the art of the glass-painter
+      degenerated, as did that of the architect. Stained glass was little used,
+      and the artists painted with enamel colours their designs upon the glass.
+      The figures were larger than before, and the canopies of great size and
+      with much architectural detail, landscapes and buildings appearing in the
+      background. During this period inscriptions began to be used. In the
+      sixteenth century the progress of the art was in the same direction. Large
+      figures, and groups of figures, fill the whole window, and the existence
+      of mullions is disregarded in the execution of the design. Glass-painting
+      flourished until the Civil War period, and then died out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      English churches benefited much by the work of foreign artists. The great
+      Florentine Francesco di Lievi da Gambassi visited this country. There is a
+      letter dated 1434, written &ldquo;to the master glass-painter Gambassi,
+      then in Scotland, and who made works in glass of various kinds, and was
+      held to be the best glass-painter in the world.&rdquo; How much must we
+      regret the destruction of the windows made by this excellent artist in
+      Holyrood chapel and elsewhere by fanatical mobs! The Fairford windows are
+      perhaps the finest and most interesting in England. The story runs that
+      they were made in Germany for a church in Rome, and that the vessel
+      conveying them was captured by an English ship; and as the noble church at
+      Fairford was then being built, the glass was sent there and given to it.
+      Shiplake Church, Oxfordshire, has some of the beautiful glass which once
+      adorned the ruined church of St. Bertin at St. Omer, plundered during the
+      French Revolution.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some good work was accomplished in the seventeenth century by English
+      artists, who practised enamel painting, notably by Jervais, who in 1717
+      executed from designs by Sir Joshua Reynolds the beautiful west window of
+      New College Chapel, Oxford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The floors of our churches were enriched with inlaid tiles. Various
+      patterns and designs were impressed upon them when the clay was moist, a
+      metallic glaze covered the surface, and then the tiles were placed in the
+      furnace. Many designs are found on ancient tiles, such as heraldic
+      devices, monograms, sacred symbols with texts, architectural designs,
+      figures, and patterns. The age of the tiles may be determined by comparing
+      the designs imprinted upon them with the architectural decorations
+      belonging to particular periods. In the sixteenth century many Flemish
+      tiles were brought to England, and superseded those of English
+      manufacture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the Middle Ages no branch of art was neglected. Even the smith, who
+      made the ironwork for the doors, locks, and screens, was an artist, and
+      took pains to adapt his art to the style of architecture prevailing in his
+      time. Norman doors are remarkable for their beautifully ornamented hinges.
+      They have curling scrollwork, and a large branch in the form of the letter
+      C issuing from the straight bar near the head. Early English doors have
+      much elaborate scrollwork, with foliage and animals&rsquo; heads. During
+      the Decorated period the hinges are simpler, on account of the carved
+      panelling on the doors, and they continue to become plainer in the
+      subsequent period. The knockers on the doors often assume very grotesque
+      forms, as at Durham Cathedral. The mediaeval plumber was also an artist,
+      and introduced shields of arms, fleur-de-lis, and other devices, for the
+      enrichment of spires, and pipes for carrying off water from the roof.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link254" id="link254"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="254.jpg (40K)" src="images/254.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No part of the ancient decoration of our churches has suffered more than
+      the paintings and frescoes which formerly adorned their walls. In the
+      whole of the country there are very few of the ancient edifices which
+      retain any traces of the numerous quaint designs and figures painted on
+      the inner surfaces of their walls during the Middle Ages. Our ancestors
+      used to make free use of colour for the purpose of architectural
+      decoration, and employed several means in order to produce the effect.
+      They sometimes used fresco, by means of which they produced pictures upon
+      the walls covered with plaster while the plaster was wet. Sometimes they
+      employed wall-painting, <i>i.e.</i> they covered the walls when the
+      plaster was dry with some pictorial representation. The distinction
+      between fresco and wall-painting is frequently forgotten. Most of the
+      early specimens of this art are monochromes, but subsequently the painters
+      used polychrome, which signifies surface colouring in which various
+      colours are employed. The vaulted ceilings, the timber roof, the screens
+      and canopies, the monuments with their effigies, as well as the surface of
+      the walls, were often coloured with diaper-work. Colour and gilding were
+      marked features in all mediaeval buildings, and even richly carved fonts
+      and sculptural monuments were embellished with this method of decoration.
+      The appearance of our churches in those times must have been very
+      different from what it is now. Then a blaze of colour met the eye on
+      entering the sacred building, the events of sacred history were brought to
+      mind by the representations upon the walls, and many an unlearned rustic
+      acquired some knowledge of biblical history from the contemplation of the
+      rude figures with which his village church was adorned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Even the very walls of this dread place,<br /> And the tall windows,
+      with their breathing lights,<br /> Speak to the adoring heart.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The practice of painting the walls of our churches dates as far back as
+      Saxon times; but very few fragments of pre-Norman art remain. Of Norman
+      work we have numerous examples, and sometimes it is found that the early
+      specimens of the art have been painted over in later Gothic times, and
+      ruder and larger figures have eclipsed the more careful work of previous
+      ages. An example of this was discovered in the church of St. Lawrence,
+      Reading, where no less than five distinct series of paintings were
+      discovered, painted one over another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link256" id="link256"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="256.jpg (27K)" src="images/256.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several circumstances have combined to obliterate these specimens of the
+      art of former days. It was not the intention of the Reformers themselves
+      to destroy them. They distinguished carefully between &ldquo;an embossed
+      and gilt image, and a process of a story painted with the gestures and
+      action of many persons; and commonly the sum of the story written withal
+      hath another use in it than one dumb idol or image standing by itself.&rdquo;
+      It was left to the Puritans, impelled by fanaticism and ignorance, to make
+      &ldquo;a slanderous desolation of the places of prayer,&rdquo; and it is
+      to them we owe much of the destruction of the old mural paintings. At the
+      end of the eighteenth century there was a prejudice against these works of
+      art; for in 1773 we find the Bishop of London refusing to allow Reynolds,
+      West, and Barry to clothe the naked walls of St. Paul&rsquo;s Cathedral
+      with pictures painted by themselves. Coated over by layers of plaster, or
+      whitewashed until all traces were obliterated, these relics of ancient art
+      have remained for generations, and it is only when an old church is being
+      restored, and the coats of plaster and whitewash removed, that their
+      presence is revealed; and then too often the colours fade away on exposure
+      to the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link257" id="link257"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="257.jpg (43K)" src="images/257.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the favourite subjects of mural decoration was a figure of St.
+      Christopher with the Infant Saviour on his shoulder.[<a href="#linkb8">8</a>]
+      He usually has a staff, and strange-looking fish swim about his feet as he
+      crosses the river; on one side there is a hermitage, with the figure of a
+      hermit holding a lantern to guide the saint, and on the other a windmill.
+      This figure usually was painted on the wall opposite the principal
+      entrance, as it was deemed lucky to see St. Christopher on first entering
+      a church. Moreover the sight of the saint was a preservative against
+      violent death during the day, and also a preventive against drowsiness
+      during the service, as the following verses show:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Christophori sancti speciem quicunque tuetur &nbsp;&nbsp;Illo
+      namque die nullo languore tenetur.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Churchwardens&rsquo; accounts record the painting of these figures&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1503-4.  It. payd to mylys paynter for payntyng
+              of Seynt X'fer viii's iiii'd"
+
+"1521.    It. payd to John Payne for payntyng
+              of Sent Leonard left by the wyffs
+              onpaynted xx'd"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      A curious order was issued by Edward III. for arresting painters to work
+      in St. Stephen&rsquo;s Chapel at Westminster, to which artists of every
+      description were liable to surrender as often as the king required their
+      services.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link259" id="link259"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="259.jpg (40K)" src="images/259.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Saxon times Consecration crosses were painted on the interior walls,
+      twelve in number, on the spots where the bishop marked the cross with holy
+      oil; and sometimes twelve crosses were carved or painted on the exterior
+      walls. During Norman times the art made progress, and there are many
+      specimens of mural decoration of this period, which correspond with the
+      mouldings generally used then; but not many scenes and figures were
+      depicted. Representations of bishops, <i>Agnus Dei</i>, scenes from the
+      life of our Lord, the apostles, the Last Judgment, St. George, scenes from
+      the life of St. Nicholas, St. John writing the Apocalypse, were favourite
+      subjects. At Copford the painter evidently tried to make the chancel
+      figuratively to represent the glories of heaven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the reign of Henry III. great progress was made, and travelling
+      monks roamed the country leaving behind them in many a village church
+      traces of their skill in artistic decoration. The murder of St. Thomas of
+      Canterbury now became a favourite subject, also the lives of St. Catherine
+      of Alexandria, St. Nicholas, St. Margaret, St. Edmund, the Seven Acts of
+      Mercy, and the wheel of fortune. In the fourteenth century the Doom was
+      the usual decoration of the space over the chancel arch, and scenes from
+      the New Testament, legends of saints, &ldquo;moralities,&rdquo; etc., were
+      depicted on the walls. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the
+      artists paid little respect to the work of their predecessors, and
+      frequently painted new designs over the earlier mural decorations. They
+      also adorned very beautifully the roofs and screens. The arrival of the
+      Flemings in the eastern counties is shown by the portraying of subjects
+      and saints not usually worshipped in England. The figures of St. George
+      become more numerous and also of St. Christopher, who were regarded with
+      much superstitious reverence by all classes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The vanity of human greatness is taught by the morality, &ldquo;Les Trois
+      Rois Morts et les Trois Rois Vifs,&rdquo; representing three kings going
+      gaily hunting meeting three skeletons, the remains of kings once as
+      powerful as they. &ldquo;The Dance of Death,&rdquo; so popular abroad,
+      also appears in some English churches. The wholesale destruction of so
+      many specimens of mediaeval art cannot be too strongly condemned and
+      deplored. If any of my readers should be fortunate enough to discover any
+      traces of colouring hidden away beneath the coats of whitewash on the
+      walls of their church, I would venture to advise them to very carefully
+      remove the covering, and then to consult Mr. Keyser&rsquo;s book on <i>Mural
+      Decorations</i>, where they will find an account of the best methods for
+      preserving these valuable specimens of early art.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link261" id="link261"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="261.jpg (38K)" src="images/261.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the churchyard stands the old weather-beaten yew tree, looking like a
+      sentinel keeping watch over the graves of our forefathers. Some of these
+      trees are remarkable for their age; the yews at Fountains Abbey, in
+      Yorkshire, were probably in a flourishing condition so long ago as the
+      year 1132, and some are older still. Why they were planted in churchyards
+      it is difficult to ascertain. It has been conjectured that they were
+      planted in so secure a spot in order that the men might provide themselves
+      with bows, as all the bows used by the English, with which they did such
+      execution against their enemies, were made of yew. Others contend that its
+      green boughs were used instead of palms on Palm Sunday, or for funerals.
+      But I think that they were regarded with veneration by our forefathers
+      when they were still heathen, and that some religious symbolism&mdash;such
+      as of immortality&mdash;attached to them; and that when the Christian
+      teachers came they made use of this religious sentiment of the people,
+      planted the Christian cross by the side of the yew, and under its shade
+      preached lessons of true immortality, of which the heathen ideals were
+      only corrupt legends and vain dreams.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the entrance of the churchyard there is often a lich-gate, <i>i.e.</i>
+      a corpse-gate, where the body may rest while the funeral procession is
+      formed. <i>Lych</i> is the Saxon word for a dead body, from which
+      Lich-field, &ldquo;the field of dead bodies,&rdquo; is derived. Bray, in
+      Berkshire, famous for its time-serving vicar, is also famous for its
+      lich-gate, which has two rooms over it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God&rsquo;s acre&rdquo; is full of holy associations, where sleep
+      &ldquo;the rude forefathers of the hamlet.&rdquo; There stands the village
+      cross where the preachers stood in Saxon times and converted the people to
+      Christianity, and there the old sundial on a graceful stone pedestal.
+      Sometimes amid the memorials of the dead stood the parish stocks. Here in
+      olden days fairs were held, and often markets every Sunday and holiday,
+      and minstrels and jugglers thronged; and stringent laws were passed to
+      prevent &ldquo;improper and prohibited sports within the churchyard, as,
+      for example, wrestling, football, handball under penalty of twopence
+      forfeit.&rdquo; Here church ales were kept with much festivity, dancing,
+      and merry-making; and here sometimes doles were distributed on the
+      tombstones of parochial benefactors, and even bread and cheese scrambled
+      for, according to the curious bequests of eccentric donors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then there are the quaint epitaphs on the gravestones, of which many
+      have made collections. Here is one to the memory of the driver of a coach
+      that ran from Aylesbury to London:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Parker, farewell! thy journey now is ended,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Death has the whip-hand, and with dust is blended;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Thy way-bill is examined, and I trust<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Thy
+            last account may prove exact and just,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;When He who
+            drives the chariot of the day,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Where life is light,
+            whose Word&rsquo;s the living way,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Where
+            travellers, like yourself, of every age,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And every
+            clime, have taken their last stage,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The God of
+            mercy and the God of love,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Show you the road to
+            Paradise above.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Here is another to the memory of a once famous Yorkshire actor, buried at
+      Beverley:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In memory of Samuel Butler, a poor player that struts and frets his
+      hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. Obt. June 15th, 1812, Aet.
+      62.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here is a strange one from Awliscombe, Devon:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here lie the remains of James Pady, brickmaker, late of this
+      parish, in hopes that his clay will be remoulded in a workmanlike manner,
+      far superior to his former perishable materials.
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Keep death and judgment always in your eye,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Or else the devil off with you will fly,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And
+            in his kiln with brimstone ever fry;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;If you neglect
+            the narrow road to seek,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Christ will reject you
+            like a half-burnt brick.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Those interested in the brave mortals who go down to the sea in ships will
+      like to read the following verses which appear on the tomb of William
+      Harrison, mariner, buried in Hessle Road Cemetery, Hull:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Long time I ploughed the ocean wide,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+            life of toil I spent;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;But now in harbour safe
+            arrived<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From care and discontent.<br />
+            &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;My anchor&rsquo;s cast, my sails are
+            furled,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And now I am at rest;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Of all the ports throughout the world,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sailors,
+            this is the best.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      The following original epitaph in a neighbouring churchyard compares very
+      favourably with the flattering and fulsome inscriptions prevalent at the
+      beginning of the nineteenth century, written in what has been called
+      &ldquo;lapidary style &rdquo;:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;He was&mdash;&mdash;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But
+            words are wanting to say what;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Say what is just and
+            kind,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And he was that.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb8" id="linkb8"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [8] At Sedgeford the Infant is portrayed with three heads, illustrating
+      the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link19" id="link19"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CHURCH BELLS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Bell customs and village life&mdash;Antiquity of bells&mdash;Christening
+      of bells&mdash;&ldquo;Ancients&rdquo;&mdash;Inscriptions&mdash;Dedications&mdash;Inscriptions
+      of praise&mdash;Leonine verses&mdash;Curious inscriptions&mdash;Historical
+      events recorded&mdash;Uses of bells&mdash;Passing bell&mdash;Pancake bell&mdash;Curfew&mdash;Guiding
+      bells&mdash;Names of benefactors&mdash;Great bells&mdash;Sanctus bell&mdash;Sacring
+      bell&mdash;Frequent ringing of bell&mdash;Change-ringing&mdash;Care of
+      bells.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bells play an important part in village life, and there are few more
+      interesting branches of the study of village antiquities than bell-lore.
+      Ringing customs throw much light upon the manners and doings of our
+      ancestors. Bells rang to commemorate the great events in history, news of
+      which was conveyed to the quiet village; they sounded forth the joys and
+      sorrows of the parishioners in their generations, pealed merrily at their
+      weddings, and mourned for them at their funerals. As the bell &ldquo;Roland&rdquo;
+      of Ghent seemed endowed with a human voice, and was silenced for ever by
+      Charles V. lest it should again rouse the citizens to arms, so these bells
+      in our village steeples seem to speak with living tongues and tell the
+      story of our village life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bells have great antiquity. Odoceus, Bishop of Llandaff, in 550 A.D., is
+      said to have taken the bells away from his cathedral during a time of
+      excommunication. Bede mentions them in the seventh century. In 680
+      Benedict, Abbot of Wearmouth, imported some from Italy, and in the tenth
+      century St. Dunstan hung many. Ireland probably had bells in the time of
+      St. Patrick, who died in 493, and a bell that bears his name is preserved
+      at Belfast. The earliest Saxon bells were not cast, but were made of
+      plates of iron riveted together, and were probably used as hand-bells.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bells were usually christened. Those of Crowland Abbey were named Pega,
+      Bega, Tatwin, Turketyl, Betelin, Bartholomew, and Guthlac. A fire in 1091
+      destroyed this peal. Those of the priory of Little Dunmow, Essex,
+      according to an old chartulary, were new cast and baptised in 1501.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Prima in honore Sancti Michaelis Archangeli.&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;Secunda
+      in honore Sancti Johannis Evangelisti.&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;Tertia in honore
+      S. Johannis Baptisti.&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;Quarta in honore Assumptionis
+      beatae Mariae.&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;Quinta in honore Sanctae Trinitatis et
+      omnium sanctorum.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tenor bell at Welford, Berks, has the inscription, &ldquo;Missi de
+      celis habeo nomen Gabrielis 1596.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bells dating from before the year 1600 are called &ldquo;ancients,&rdquo;
+      and it is a very pleasant discovery to find one of these in our church
+      tower; and still more so if it be a pre-Reformation bell. Unfortunately a
+      large number of &ldquo;ancients&rdquo; have been recast, owing chiefly to
+      the craze for change-ringing which flourished in England between 1750 and
+      1830. The oldest bell in this country is said to be St. Chad&rsquo;s,
+      Claughton, which bears the date 1296. Pre-Reformation bells are very
+      seldom dated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mediaeval bells have many curious inscriptions on them, which record the
+      name of the donor, the bell-founder, together with heraldic and other
+      devices. The inscriptions are often written in the first person, the bell
+      being supposed to utter the sentiment, as it sends forth its sound. A
+      study of the inscriptions on bells is full of interest. The earliest are
+      simple dedications of the bell to our Lord, or to some saint. The
+      principal inscriptions of this class are: &ldquo;Jesus,&rdquo; &ldquo;Jesus
+      Nazarenus Rex Judeorum,&rdquo; &ldquo;Sit nomen IHC benedictum,&rdquo;
+      &ldquo;Sum Rosa Pulsata Mundi Maria Vocata,&rdquo; &ldquo;Sum Virgo Sancta
+      Maria.&rdquo; The invocation, &ldquo;Ora pro nobis,&rdquo; very frequently
+      is inscribed on bells, followed by the name of some saint, and almost
+      every saint in the Calendar is duly honoured in some bell inscription.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bells were always rung on joyful occasions; hence inscriptions expressing
+      thankfulness and praise were appropriate. Consequently we find such words
+      as &ldquo;Laus et Gloria Deo,&rdquo; &ldquo;Laus Deo Gratia
+      Benefactoribus,&rdquo; &ldquo;Alleluja,&rdquo; &ldquo;Praise God,&rdquo;
+      and other similar inscriptions of praise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some old bells have Latin hexameter verses inscribed on them, composed by
+      monks, which are called Leonine verses, from one Leoninus, a monk of
+      Marseilles, who lived in the early part of the twelfth century. A few
+      examples of these will suffice:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Est michi collatum ihc illud nomen amaetum.&rdquo;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Protege Virgo pia quos convoco Sancta Maria.&rdquo;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Voce mea viva depello cunta nocina.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      This refers to the belief that the ringing of bells drives away all demons
+      and tempests, storms and thunders, and all other hurtful things. One bell
+      proudly asserts:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Me melior vere non est campana sub ere.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Inscriptions in English are often quaint and curious. Here is one from
+      Somerset:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;My treble voice<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Makes hearts
+            rejoice.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Another self-complacent bell asserts&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;If you have a judicious ear,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;You&rsquo;ll
+            own my voice is sweet and clear.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Loyal inscriptions are often found, such as&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;For Church and King<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;We always
+            ring.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;I was made in hope to ring<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;At
+            the crownacion of our King.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Ye people all that hear me ring<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Be
+            faithful to your God and King.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      A bell that has been recast sometimes praises the merits of its new
+      founder at the expense of its first maker, as at Badgworth, Gloucester:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Badgworth ringers they are mad,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Because
+            Rigbe made me bad;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;But Abel Rudhall you may see<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Hath made me better than Rigbe.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes all the bells which compose a peal tell their various uses. Thus
+      at Bakewell we find some verses on each bell:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            1. &ldquo;When I begin our merry Din<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This
+            Band I lead from discord free;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And for the
+            fame of human name,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;May every Leader copy Me.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            2. &ldquo;Mankind, like us, too oft are found<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Possess&rsquo;d
+            of nought but empty sound.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            3. &ldquo;When of departed Hours we toll the knell,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Instruction
+            take and spend the future well.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            4. &ldquo;When men in Hymen&rsquo;s Bands unite,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Our
+            merry peals produce delight;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But when Death
+            goes his dreary Rounds,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We send forth sad and
+            solemn sounds.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            5. &ldquo;Thro&rsquo; grandsires and Tripples with pleasure men
+            range,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Till Death calls the Bob and brings on
+            the Last Change.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            6. &ldquo;When Vict&rsquo;ry crowns the Public Weal<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With
+            Glee we give the merry Peal.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            7. &ldquo;Would men like us join and agree<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They&rsquo;d
+            live in tuneful Harmony.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            8. &ldquo;Possess&rsquo;d of deep sonorous Tone<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This
+            Belfry King sits on his throne;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And when the
+            merry Bells go round,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Adds to and mellows ev&rsquo;ry
+            Sound;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So in a just and well pois&rsquo;d
+            State,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where all Degrees possess due Weight,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One greater Pow&rsquo;r one greater Tone<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Is ceded to improve their own.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      A Rutland bell has the following beautiful inscription:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei.&rdquo;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;(&ldquo;Not noise but love sings in the ear of God.&rdquo;)
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Historical events are sometimes recorded, as at Ashover, Derbyshire, where
+      a recasted bell states:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and
+            broke, April 1814.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      The uses of bells are often shown by their inscriptions. People were
+      aroused by their sound each morning in many places, as at St. Ives, where
+      a bell is inscribed&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Arise and go about your business.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      The villagers were summoned to extinguish fires by ringing of bells. Thus
+      Sherborne, Dorset, has a bell inscribed&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Lord, quench this furious flame:<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Arise,
+            run, help put out the same.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Bell-ringing customs are very numerous.[<a href="#linkb9">9</a>] The
+      passing bell has many variants. In some places three times three strokes
+      are sounded for a man, three times two for a woman, and three times one
+      for a child. Out of the first-named of these practices probably arose the
+      phrase, &ldquo;Nine tailors make a man,&rdquo; which is usually explained
+      as more properly signifying &ldquo;nine tellers make a man.&rdquo; Then we
+      have a pancake bell, which formerly summoned people to confession, and not
+      to eat pancakes; a gleaning bell, an eight hours&rsquo; bell rung at 4
+      a.m., noon, and 8 p.m. The curfew bell survives in many places, which, as
+      everyone knows, was in use long before William the Conqueror issued his
+      edict. Peals are rung on &ldquo;Oak Apple Day,&rdquo; and on Guy Fawkes&rsquo;
+      Day, &ldquo;loud enough to call up poor Guy.&rdquo; Church bells played a
+      useful part in guiding the people homewards on dark winter evenings in the
+      days when lands were uninclosed and forests and wild moors abounded, and
+      charitable folk, like Richard Palmer, of Wokingham, left bequests to pay
+      the sexton for his labour in ringing at suitable times when the sound of
+      the bells might be of service to belated travellers. Names of benefactors
+      often find a permanent memorial on the bells which they gave; as at
+      Binstead, Hants, where a bell has the inscription&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Doctor Nicholas gave five pound<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;To
+            help cast this peal tuneable and sound.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      And another bell in the same tower records the name of our famous
+      Berkshire bell-founders, the Knight family. The inscription runs:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Samuel Knight made this ring<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;In
+            Binstead steeple for to ding.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link271" id="link271"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="271.jpg (71K)" src="images/271.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The story of our great bells, of &ldquo;Great Toms,&rdquo; &ldquo;Big
+      Bens,&rdquo; &ldquo;Great Peters,&rdquo; need not be told here. They wake
+      the echoes of our great cities, and are not heard among the hills and
+      dales of rural England. Outside the church at the apex of the gable over
+      the chancel arch there is sometimes a small bell-cote, wherein the sanctus
+      or saunce bell once hung. This was rung during the service of High Mass
+      when the <i>Ter Sanctus</i> was sung, in order that those who were engaged
+      at their work might know when the canon of the Mass was about to begin, in
+      order that they might kneel at the sound and pray to God. At Bosham
+      Harbour the fishermen used to so join in the service of the sanctuary, and
+      it is said that when George Herbert&rsquo;s sanctus bell sounded for
+      prayers, the ploughmen stopped from their work for a few moments and
+      prayed. The sanctus bell differed from the sacring bell, which was a
+      hand-bell rung inside the church at the elevation of the Host.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old churchwardens&rsquo; accounts record the very frequent ringing of
+      bells. In addition to the Great Festivals, Corpus Christi Day, Church
+      feasts and ales, the occasions of royal visits, of episcopal visitations,
+      victories, and many other great events, were always celebrated by the
+      ringing of the church bells. In fact by the fondness of English folk for
+      sounding their bells this country earned the title in the Middle Ages of
+      &ldquo;the ringing island.&rdquo; Peal-ringing was indeed peculiar to
+      England. It was not until the seventeenth century that change-ringing
+      became general, and our old bells suffered much at the hands of the
+      followers of the new fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In recent years the study of our church bells has made great progress, and
+      many volumes have been written upon the bells of various counties. Too
+      long have our bells been left to the bats and birds, and the belfry is
+      often the only portion of a church which is left uncared for. We are
+      learning better now, and the bells which have sounded forth the joys and
+      sorrows of our villagers for so many generations are receiving the
+      attention they deserve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb9" id="linkb9"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [9] A collection of these will be found in my book on <i>Old English
+      Customs Extant at the Present Time</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link20" id="link20"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Local government&mdash;Changes in the condition of villeins and labourers&mdash;
+      Famine and pestilence&mdash;Effects of the Great Plague&mdash;Spirit of
+      independence&mdash;Picture of village life&mdash;Church house&mdash;Church
+      ales&mdash; Pilgrimages&mdash;Markets&mdash;Old English fair&mdash;Wars&mdash;Hastings&mdash;Hereward
+      the Wake&mdash;Great Civil War&mdash;Restoration&mdash;Beacons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Let us try to imagine the ordinary life and appearance of a mediaeval
+      English village in the &ldquo;piping times of peace.&rdquo; Of course, no
+      two villages are quite alike; each has many distinguishing features; but a
+      strong family likeness is observable. In the Middle Ages a village was
+      much more independent than it is now. Then there were no Acts of
+      Parliament to control its affairs, and it regulated its own conduct much
+      to its own satisfaction, without any outside interference. Of course,
+      sometimes things were managed badly; but the village knew it had only
+      itself to blame, and therefore could not grumble at the Government, or the
+      fickleness of members of Parliament, or the unreasonable conduct of Local
+      Government Boards. Was not the lord of the manor quite capable of trying
+      all criminals? and did not the rector and the vestry settle everything to
+      the satisfaction of everyone, without any &ldquo;foreigners&rdquo; asking
+      questions, or interfering?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The position of the villeins and <i>cottiers</i> has changed considerably
+      since the days of William the Norman. The former were now free tenants,
+      who paid rent for their land to the lord of the manor, and were not bound
+      to work for him, while the latter worked for wages like our modern
+      agricultural labourer. There was thus in the twelfth century a gradual
+      approximation to modern conditions on many estates; the home farm was
+      worked by hired labourers who received wages; while the villeins had
+      bought themselves off from the obligation of doing customary work by
+      paying a quit-rent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We should like to know something of the way in which our ancestors farmed
+      their land, and fortunately several bailiffs have left us their account
+      books very carefully kept, and one Walter de Henley in 1250 wrote a book
+      on the <i>Art of Husbandry</i>, which gives us much information. The rent
+      of land was about sixpence per acre. They ploughed three times a year, in
+      autumn, April, and at midsummer, and used oxen for their plough-teams.
+      Women helped their husbands in ploughing and harvest work. An old writer
+      describes the farmer&rsquo;s wife &ldquo;walking by him with a long goad,
+      in a cutted cote cutted full high.&rdquo; Pigs and poultry were numerous
+      on a mediaeval farm, but sheep were the source of the farmer&rsquo;s
+      wealth. Large flocks of divers breeds roamed the hills and vales of rural
+      England, and their rich fleeces were sent to Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent
+      for the manufacture of cloth by the Flemish weavers. After the Black
+      Death, a great plague which ravaged the country in 1348, the labourers
+      were fewer in number, and their wages higher; hence the farmers paid
+      increased attention to their sheep, which yielded rich profits, and
+      required few labourers to look after them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Prior to the advent of this grim visitor, the Great Plague, the prosperity
+      of our villages had greatly increased. The people were better fed and
+      better clothed than any of their neighbours on the Continent. Moreover
+      they were free men, and enjoyed their freedom. There was much happiness in
+      our English villages in those days, and &ldquo;Merry England&rdquo; was
+      not a misnomer. There were, however, two causes of suffering which for a
+      time produced untold wretchedness&mdash;two unwelcome visitors who came
+      very frequently and were much dreaded&mdash;famine and pestilence. There
+      is necessarily a sameness in the records of these pestilences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief famine years were 1315 and 1316, but there is hardly any period
+      of five years from the death of Edward I. to the coming of Henry of
+      Richmond without these ghastly records of the sufferings of the people.
+      Disease not only arrested the growth of the population, but reduced it
+      considerably. It was mostly of a typhoid nature. The undrained soil, the
+      shallow stagnant waters which lay upon the surface of the ground, the
+      narrow and unhealthy homes, the filthy and neglected streets of the towns,
+      the excessive use of salted provisions and absence of vegetables,
+      predisposed the people to typhoid diseases, and left them little chance of
+      recovery when stricken down with pestilence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Great Plague arrived in England in 1348 from the shores of Italy,
+      whither it had been wafted from the East. It was probably carried to the
+      port of Bristol by travelling merchants, whence it spread with alarming
+      rapidity over the whole land. Whole villages were depopulated, and about
+      one-third of the people of England perished. It is difficult for us to
+      imagine the sorrow and universal suffering which the plague caused. Its
+      effects were, however, beneficial to the villagers who survived. Naturally
+      labourers became very scarce and were much sought after. Wages rose
+      enormously. The tenants and rustics discovered that they were people of
+      importance. Manor lords found it too expensive to farm their lands, and
+      were eager to hand them over to their tenants, many of whom became much
+      richer and more independent than formerly. The spirit of independence
+      pervaded all classes. There came to our village many wandering friars,
+      followers of Wiklif, who preached discontent to the labouring rustics,
+      told them that the gentry had no right to lord it over them, that they
+      were as good as their masters, who ought not to live in fine houses in
+      luxury supported by their toil and the sweat of their brows. And when
+      oppressive taxes were levied, the rustics revolted, and gained much for
+      which they strove. The golden age of the English labourer set in, when
+      food was cheap, wages high, and labour abundant. A fat pig could be bought
+      for fourpence, and three pounds of beef for a penny; and in spite of
+      occasional visits of the plague, the villager&rsquo;s lot was by no means
+      unhappy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here is a picture of village life in those days. The village church stood
+      in the centre of the hamlet, with a carefully made fence around it, in
+      order that no swine or foul beast might desecrate the graves. Surrounded
+      by the churchyard, with its yew tree and lich-gate, the church was very
+      similar to the old building wherein the villagers still worship. All the
+      houses had thatched roofs, and chief among the other dwellings stood the
+      lord&rsquo;s hall. Near the church was a curious building called the
+      church house, which has almost entirely passed away, except in the records
+      of old churchwardens&rsquo; accounts. It was a large building, in which
+      could be stored wool, lime, timber, sand, etc., and was often let to
+      pedlars, or wandering merchants, to deposit their goods during the fair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this building there was a long low room with a large fireplace and
+      hearth, around which a dozen or more could sit in comfort, except when the
+      wind blew the smoke down the wide, open chimney; but our ancestors were
+      accustomed to smoky chimneys, and did not mind them. In the centre of the
+      room was a large oak table. This was the scene of some very festive
+      gatherings. Aubrey thus describes the church house:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In every parish was a church house, to which belonged spits,
+      crocks, and other utensils for dressing provisions. Here the housekeepers
+      met. The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting
+      at butts, etc., the ancients [<i>i.e.</i> old folks] sitting gravely by,
+      and looking on.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The churchwardens bought, and received presents of, a large quantity of
+      malt, which they brewed into beer and sold to the company. Hence these
+      feasts were called &ldquo;church ales,&rdquo; and were held on the feast
+      of the dedication of the church, the proceeds being devoted to the
+      maintenance of the poor. Sometimes they were held at Whitsuntide also,
+      sometimes four times a year, and sometimes as often as money was wanted or
+      a feast desired. An arbour of boughs was erected in the churchyard on
+      these occasions called Robin Hood&rsquo;s Bower, where the maidens
+      collected money for the &ldquo;ales,&rdquo; and &ldquo;all went merry as a
+      marriage bell&rdquo;&mdash;rather too merry sometimes, for the ale was
+      strong and the villagers liked it, and the ballad-singer was so merry, and
+      the company so hearty&mdash;and was it not all for a good cause, the
+      support of the poor? The character of these festivals deteriorated so
+      much, until at last &ldquo;church ales&rdquo; were prohibited altogether,
+      on account of the excess to which they gave rise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link279" id="link279"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/279.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="279h.jpg (31K)" src="images/279h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> AN ANCIENT VILLAGE <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a large amount of gaiety in the old villages in those days. Men
+      were not in so great a hurry to grow rich as they are now. The Church
+      authorised many holidays in the course of the year; and what with May Day
+      festivities, Plough Mondays, Hocktide and Shrovetide sports, harvest
+      suppers, fairs, and &ldquo;ales,&rdquo; the villagers had plenty of
+      amusement, and their lives certainly could not be described as dull.
+      Sometimes the village would be enlivened by the presence of a company of
+      pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury, or to
+      Holywell, blessed by St. Winifred, in order to be cured of some disease.
+      Although these pilgrims were deemed to be engaged on a religious duty,
+      they certainly were not generally very serious or sad. Chaucer describes a
+      very joyous pilgrimage in his <i>Canterbury Tales</i>, how the company met
+      at the Tabard Inn, in Southwark, including the knight and the abbot, the
+      prioress and the shipman, the squire and the merchant, the ploughman and
+      sompnour (or summoner, &ldquo;of whose visage children were sore afeard&rdquo;),
+      and rode forth gaily in the spring sunshine&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;The holy blissful martyr for to seek,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;That
+            them hath holpen when that they were sick.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Pilgrim crosses are numerous all over England, where the pilgrims halted
+      for their devotions by the way, and sometimes we find churches planted on
+      the roadside far from human habitations, with no parishioners near them;
+      and some people wonder why they were so built. These were pilgrim
+      churches, built for the convenience of the travellers as they wended their
+      way to Canterbury. The villages through which they passed must have been
+      much enlivened by the presence of these not very austere companies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ordinary lives of the farmers were diversified by the visits to the
+      weekly markets held in the neighbouring town, where they took their fat
+      capons, eggs, butter, and cheese. Here is a curious relic of olden times,
+      an ancient market proclamation, which breathes the spirit of former days,
+      and which was read a few years ago at Broughton-in-Furness, by the steward
+      of the lord of the manor, from the steps of the old market cross. These
+      are the words:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes, O yes, O yes![<a href="#linkb10">10</a>] The lord of the
+      manor of Broughton and of this fair and market strictly chargeth and
+      commandeth on Her Majesty&rsquo;s behalf, that all manners of persons
+      repairing to this fair and market do keep Her Majesty&rsquo;s peace, upon
+      pain of five pounds to be forfeited to Her Majesty, and their bodies to be
+      imprisoned during the lord&rsquo;s pleasure. Also that no manner of person
+      within this fair and market do bear any bill, battle-axe, or other
+      prohibited weapons, but such as be appointed by the lord&rsquo;s officers
+      to keep this fair or market, upon pain of forfeiture of all such weapons
+      and further imprisonment. Also, that no manner of person do pick any
+      quarrel, matter, or cause for any old grudge or malice to make any
+      perturbation or trouble, upon pain of five pounds, to be forfeited to the
+      lord, and their bodies to be imprisoned. Also, that none buy or sell in
+      corners, back sides, or hidden places, but in open fair or market, upon
+      pain of forfeiture of all such goods and merchandise so bought and sold,
+      and their bodies to imprisonment. Also, that no manner of persons shall
+      sell any goods with unlawful mete or measures, yards or weights, but such
+      as be lawful and keep the true assize, upon pain of forfeiture of all such
+      goods and further imprisonment. Lastly, if any manner of persons do here
+      find themselves grieved, or have any injuries or wrong committed or done
+      against them, let them repair to the lord or his officers, and there they
+      shall be heard according to right, equity, and justice. God save the Queen
+      and the lord of the manor!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And besides the weekly markets there were the great annual fairs, which
+      lasted many days, and were frequented by all classes of the population.
+      These fairs were absolutely necessary for the trade of the country in the
+      days when few people travelled far from their own homesteads, and even the
+      towns with their small number of inhabitants did not afford a sufficient
+      market for the farmer&rsquo;s and trader&rsquo;s stock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The greatest of all English fairs was held in the little village of
+      Stourbridge, near Cambridge, now almost absorbed by the University town.
+      Hither flocked merchants and traders from all parts of Europe. Flemish
+      merchants brought their fine linen and cloths from the great commercial
+      cities of Belgium. Genoese and Venetian traders came with their stores of
+      Eastern goods. Spaniards and Frenchmen brought their wines, and the
+      merchants of the Hanse towns of Germany sold furs and flax, ornaments and
+      spices, while in return for all these treasures our English farmers
+      brought the rich fleeces of their sheep, their corn, horses, and cattle.
+      The booths were planted in a cornfield, and the circuit of the fair, which
+      was like a well-governed city, was over three miles. The shops were built
+      in streets or rows, some named after the various nations that congregated
+      there, and others after the kind of goods offered for sale. There were
+      Garlick Row, Bookseller&rsquo;s Row, Cook Row; there were a cheese fair, a
+      hop fair, a wool fair, and every trade was represented, together with
+      taverns, eating-houses, and in later years playhouses of various
+      descriptions. In the eighteenth century one hundred thousand pounds&rsquo;
+      worth of woollen manufactures was sold in a week in one row alone. A
+      thousand pack-horses were used to convey the goods of the Lancashire
+      merchants to this famous fair. Now railways have supplanted the
+      pack-horses; fairs have had their day; the trade of the country can now be
+      carried on without them; and their relics with their shows and
+      shooting-galleries and steam roundabouts have become a nuisance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The peaceful life of the villagers was sometimes disturbed by the sounds
+      and sights of conflict. The exciting tales of war are connected with the
+      history of many an English village, and many &ldquo;little Wilhelmines&rdquo;
+      and labouring &ldquo;grandsires&rdquo; have discovered &ldquo;something
+      large and round,&rdquo; traces of these ancient conflicts and &ldquo;famous
+      victories.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;For often when they go to plough<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The
+            ploughshare turns them out,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&lsquo;And many
+            thousand men,&rsquo; quoth he,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&lsquo;Were slain in
+            that great victory.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Many a lance and sword, and gilt spur, beautifully enamelled, which once
+      decked the heel of a noble knight, have been found in our fields, and
+      remind us of those battles which were fought so long ago.
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;The knights
+            are dust,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Their
+            good swords rust,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Their souls are with the saints,
+            we trust.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes the spectres of armed knights and warriors are supposed to haunt
+      these scenes of ancient slaughter, and popular superstition has handed
+      down the memory of the battles which were fought so long ago. It tells us
+      of the mythical records of the fights of King Arthur and his Knights of
+      the Round Table by the banks of the River Douglas, which ran with blood
+      for three days, so terrible was the slaughter. It tells us how stubbornly
+      the Britons resisted the Roman armies, so that on one occasion not one
+      Briton was left to tell the tale of their defeat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we visit the site of some battle with the history book in our hand,
+      it is possible to imagine the lonely hillside peopled again with the dense
+      ranks of English archers, or hear the clanging of the armour as the
+      men-at-arms charged for &ldquo;St. George and merry England&rdquo;; and
+      the air will be full again of the battle-cries, of the groans of the
+      wounded and the shouts of the victors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Visit the scene of the battle of Hastings. Here on the high ground,
+      flanked by a wood, stood the brave English, under the leadership of
+      Harold, with his banner, woven with gold and jewels, shining conspicuously
+      in the morning sunlight. Here they stood in the form of a wedge; there
+      they turned the Normans, and put them to flight. Then the Normans rallied,
+      pretended to fly, decoyed the brave English from their position, and by
+      stratagem succeeded in defeating them at last. Or go to the Madingley
+      Windmill, near Cambridge, and see the fifteen miles of rich drained
+      cornfields which intervene between &ldquo;Ely&rsquo;s stately fane&rdquo;
+      and the spot on which you are standing. Here read Kingsley&rsquo;s
+      well-known story of <i>Hereward; or, The Last of the English</i>, and
+      instead of the rich cornfields you will see that black abyss of mud and
+      bottomless slime into which sank the flower of Norman chivalry as they
+      tried to cross that treacherous bog to conquer the gallant Hereward and to
+      plunder the monastery of Ely, the last stronghold of the English. On they
+      came, thousands upon thousands, rushing along the floating bridge which
+      they had formed, until at last it gave way beneath the weight, and the
+      black slime swallowed up the miserable wretches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Or let us take our stand on the Round Tower, near the summit of the Edge
+      Hill, and see the site of the first battle between the troops of Charles
+      I. and the soldiers of the Parliament. The whole of that green lane was
+      lined with troops. In a cottage which stood at our feet the king
+      breakfasted before the battle; from that mound he surveyed the forces of
+      the enemy. Just as the bells in yonder church had ceased to ring for
+      service on Sunday afternoon the cannon began to roar, and the fight
+      commenced. There Prince Rupert charged with headlong fury, carrying all
+      before him. And so we can follow the fortunes of the fight until the brave
+      Cavaliers retired to rest&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      The memory of many a fight is recorded in the names of the fields, places,
+      and hills on which the battle raged. Lichfield (<i>i.e.</i> the field of
+      the dead), Battlefield, Battle, Battleflats, Standard Hill, Slaughterford,
+      and many others, all tell the tale of war and slaughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In some parts of the country, especially in Oxfordshire, there are fine
+      avenues of trees, which appear to lead to a large house; but when you have
+      walked to the end of the trees there is nothing to be seen. These avenues
+      tell the tale of war, of the destruction of the manor-house of some old
+      Royalist who fought for his king when the &ldquo;Roundheads&rdquo; and
+      Cromwell&rsquo;s &ldquo;Ironsides&rdquo; were more than a match for the
+      gallant Cavaliers. His house was destroyed, he and his sons killed, unless
+      they were fortunate enough to escape to France and wait the merry time
+      &ldquo;when the king should enjoy his own again.&rdquo; How many of our
+      uplands and gentle vales have been stained with blood, and seen the
+      terrible horrors of war, of which we in these favoured days know nothing
+      from our own experience! We read about the sad battles and sieges which
+      have taken place in other countries, but can hardly imagine the time when
+      hostile soldiers were riding through our village lanes, and the noise of
+      the cannon was booming in the distance, as on that famous Sunday morning
+      in October, 1642, when Richard Baxter was disturbed in his preaching at
+      Alcester by that strange sound, and knew that the terrible conflict had
+      begun between the king and Parliament. Our English villages suffered very
+      much. All farming was stopped, manor-houses destroyed, some of the best
+      blood in England spilt, and many a home made desolate. Indeed, in some
+      parts of the country the people had literally no bread to eat, and no
+      clothing to cover their nakedness; and Cromwell ordered collections to be
+      made in London for the relief of the distressed people in Lancashire. Then
+      the old clergyman was driven from his flock, and some commissioner
+      appointed who wrote in the register-books of the parish the names of the
+      children who were born, but did not record their baptism as the clergyman
+      did. And then some black-gowned Puritan, with his hair cut short, came and
+      took possession of the living, and preached very long sermons about
+      Cromwell &ldquo;girding his sword upon his thigh,&rdquo; and about blinded
+      Papists, and about Mahershalal-hash-baz, who made haste to divide the
+      spoil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But in the glorious year 1660 everyone began to throw up his cap and
+      welcome right royally the king from over the water; and the long-faced
+      Puritan disappeared, and the writing in the register-books changed into
+      that of a scholarly hand; and many of our churches were enriched by
+      thankofferings of plate and other gifts, because the good people of
+      England rejoiced exceedingly that their loved Church and her services were
+      restored to them; and &ldquo;the king at last enjoyed his own again.&rdquo;
+      The memory of the adventures of King Charles II., when he was endeavouring
+      to escape from England after the last crushing defeat of the royal troops
+      at Worcester, called by Cromwell &ldquo;the crowning mercy,&rdquo; still
+      lingers in many of the country villages through which the unfortunate
+      monarch passed. The king and a few faithful followers avoided the towns,
+      passed the ford of the Salwarp at Hemford Mill, and proceeded by Chester
+      Lane to Broadwaters and Kinfare Heath. Presently they reached Brewood
+      Forest, where there stood two old hunting-lodges, built by the Giffards in
+      troublous times as hiding-places for proscribed Papists. They were called
+      White Ladies and Boscobel, and were inhabited by staunch Royalists named
+      Penderel; so the king knew he would be safe there. He was disguised as a
+      forester with leathern jerkin and trunk hose, his long hair cropped, and
+      his hands blackened. All day he lay concealed in a coppice, and in the
+      evening, under the name of Will Jackson, he supped with the Penderels, and
+      then tried to cross the Severn, but all the fords and bridges were
+      guarded. The next day he and Colonel Carlos remained concealed in a large
+      oak near Boscobel, and the memory of Royal Oak day is still preserved. He
+      had other narrow escapes, and was saved by Mistress Jane Lane, the
+      beautiful daughter of Colonel Lane. A pass had been obtained for her and
+      her groom to go to Abbot&rsquo;s Leigh, near Bristol. The plan was
+      arranged that the king should act as groom; so Charles mounted his horse,
+      and Mistress Lane sat behind him on a pillion, and together they rode
+      through Warwickshire to Bristol. The king was nearly captured at Long
+      Marston, for some troopers of Cromwell suspected the party, and came to
+      examine the house where they rested. The cook, however, set Charles to
+      wind up the jack, and because he was awkward struck him with the
+      basting-ladle just as the soldiers entered the kitchen. Their suspicions
+      were thus removed; and in this old house the remains of the jack are still
+      preserved. The poor king was disappointed of his ship; the skipper
+      unfortunately told his wife that he was going to take the king to France,
+      and she was angry, and locked him up in his room, so that he could not
+      fulfil his engagement. At last Lord Wilmot procured a ship for the
+      fugitive king, who set sail joyfully from Shoreham, near Brighton, and
+      reached Paris in safety. There must have been great excitement in the
+      villages of England when the troopers were scouring the country in all
+      directions, and the unfortunate king was known to be wandering about
+      disguised as a servant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If there are any hills or high ground in your neighbourhood commanding an
+      extensive view of the country, it is probable that in olden days a beacon
+      was placed there, so that the country might be aroused in case of an
+      invasion, and frequently we find that the tower of a church was used as a
+      beacon, and occasionally the iron brazier remains, as at Little Budworth,
+      Cheshire. When the Spaniards determined to invade England in the reign of
+      &ldquo;Good Queen Bess,&rdquo; and sent the Invincible Armada, consisting
+      of an enormous number of ships and men and guns, bonfires were placed on
+      every hill; and when a gallant merchant vessel brought the news that the
+      Spaniards were coming, the bonfires were lighted, and everyone prepared to
+      resist their attack. Macaulay has told us in very stirring verse of how
+      the news spread, as each fire was lighted,
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to
+            Milford Bay&rdquo;;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      how Beachy Head caught the signal from St. Michael&rsquo;s Mount, and sent
+      it swiftly over the country from tower to hill-top,
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt&rsquo;s
+            embattled pile,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And the red glare of Skiddaw roused
+            the burghers of Carlisle.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Again, within the memory of the old inhabitants of your village, the hill
+      beacons were brought into use when Napoleon I. threatened to invade
+      England; and on January 31, 1803, by some mistake, the fire on Hume
+      Castle, in Berwickshire, was lighted; other beacons responded, and ere
+      morning dawned thousands were marching ankle-deep through the dense mud of
+      the winter roads to their appointed stations. The mistake was not without
+      its uses, as Napoleon saw that England was ready, and did not venture to
+      attack our shores. A similar accident took place in the reign of Henry
+      VIII. There was a conspiracy against the king by the Roman Catholics, who
+      did not like their monasteries being destroyed, called &ldquo;The
+      Pilgrimage of Grace.&rdquo; Beacons were erected on the heights of Pendel,
+      in Lancashire, and on the various hills of Yorkshire and Derbyshire; but
+      the beacon on Pendel was fired before the conspirators were quite ready
+      for action, and their plot came to nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once again in the history of our country were these beacon fires lighted;
+      but it was not to announce the approach of an enemy, but to reflect the
+      gladness of the nation which for so many years had enjoyed the reign of so
+      good a ruler as Queen Victoria, who has now passed away from us, and whom
+      the whole nation mourns. And as we witnessed the sudden blaze of the
+      beacons we thought, perhaps, of other occasions when they were used, and
+      were thankful that rejoicings and thanksgivings were the cause, and not
+      invasions or conspiracies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb10" id="linkb10"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [10] This is a corruption of the old Norman-French word <i>oyez</i>,
+      &ldquo;hear ye.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link21" id="link21"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Decay of old sports&mdash;Twelfth Night&mdash;Shrovetide&mdash;Mothering
+      Sunday&mdash; Hocktide&mdash;May Day&mdash;Miracle plays&mdash;St. John&rsquo;s
+      Day&mdash;Rush-bearing&mdash;Beating the bounds&mdash;Archery&mdash;Quintain&mdash;Football&mdash;Christmas
+      games&mdash;Stocks&mdash; Cucking-stool.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is the custom of some writers to represent the lot of an English
+      villager in past ages as having been particularly hard and disagreeable;
+      to enlarge upon the scanty wages which he received; and to compare his
+      position unfavourably with that of the agricultural labourer of the
+      present day. I have already pointed out that the small wages which he
+      received are no test of his poverty, because he received so much more in
+      lieu of wages; and certainly he had far more opportunities of enjoyment
+      and recreation than the present generation has. Now we have scarcely any
+      village games or sports, except when some energetic rector or curate
+      starts a cricket club. Old social customs, which added such diversity to
+      the lives of the rustics two centuries ago, have died out. The village
+      green, the source of so much innocent happiness, is no more; and a recent
+      writer has observed that the ordinary existence of agricultural labourers
+      is so dull that in East Anglia they have almost forgotten how to laugh!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will now try to realise how our village forefathers used to enjoy
+      themselves, how they used to spend their holidays, and to picture to
+      ourselves the scenes of happy social intercourse which once took place in
+      our own hamlet. Every season of the year had its holiday customs and
+      quaint manner of observance, some of them confined to particular counties,
+      but many of them universally observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the eve of Twelfth Night, January 5th, we see the good farmer and his
+      labourers in Devonshire joining hands round his apple trees, and singing&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s to thee, old
+            apple tree!<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Hence thou mayst bud, and whence thou
+            mayst blow!<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hats full! caps
+            full!<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bushel,
+            bushel, sacks full,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And my
+            pockets full too! Huzza!&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      A hearty supper followed, and with laughter, songs, and good wishes to the
+      farmer and his wife, the company passed a very joyous evening. In
+      Herefordshire, Yorkshire, and other parts of England similar customs
+      prevailed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link294" id="link294"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/294.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="294h.jpg (38K)" src="images/294h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> ANN HATHAWAY&rsquo;S COTTAGE <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then followed Twelfth Night, which was celebrated by great rejoicings and
+      merry-makings, a game called the choosing of kings and queens being
+      played, and Twelfth Night cakes consumed in plenty. The next Monday was
+      called Plough Monday, when the labourers used to draw a plough round the
+      parish and receive presents of money, favouring the spectators with
+      sword-dancing and mumming, preparatory to beginning to plough after the
+      Christmas holidays. The men were decked out with gay ribbons, and were
+      accompanied by morris-dancers. The Christmas holidays lasted these twelve
+      days, and during them it was customary for the gentlemen to feast the
+      farmers, and for the farmers to feast their labourers. Then came the
+      Shrovetide festivities, on Shrove Tuesday, when pancakes, football, and
+      cock-fighting, and a still more barbarous custom of throwing sticks at
+      hens, were generally in vogue. On Mid-Lent Sunday, commonly called &ldquo;Mothering
+      Sunday,&rdquo; it was the pleasing custom for servants and apprentices to
+      carry cakes or furmity as presents to their mother, and to receive from
+      her a cake with her blessing. This was called &ldquo;going a-mothering.&rdquo;
+      The old poet Herrick alludes to the custom in Gloucestershire in these
+      words:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll to thee a simnell bring,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&rsquo;Gainst
+            thou go&rsquo;st a-mothering;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;So that when she
+            blesseth thee,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Half that blessing thou&rsquo;lt
+            give me.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Then came the diversions of Hocktide, on the second Monday and Tuesday
+      after Easter, when the men and women intercepted the public on alternate
+      days with ropes, and boldly exacted money for pious purposes. There was a
+      Hocktide play, which was acted before Queen Elizabeth, and caused her much
+      amusement. She gave the players two bucks and five marks of money, which
+      delighted them exceedingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Very shortly afterwards the great rural festival of our forefathers took
+      place, the glad May Day, when, in the early dawn, the lads and lassies
+      left their towns and villages, and going into the woods to the sound of
+      music, gathered the may or blossomed branches of the tree, and bound them
+      with wreaths of flowers. At sunrise they returned, and decorated the
+      lattices and doors with the sweet-smelling spoil of their joyous journey,
+      and spent the rest of the day in sports and pastimes, and dancing round
+      the Maypole. The setting-up of the May-pole was a very joyous ceremony. A
+      long string of oxen, gaily decked with flowers, drew to the village green
+      the time-honoured pole, decked with streamers, flowers, and flags, where
+      it was raised amidst laughter and shouts; and the Queen of the May was
+      enthroned in an arbour and all danced round; and the morris-dancers, Robin
+      Hood, Friar Tuck, and Maid Marian performed wonderful antics as they led
+      the revels. Targets were set up at the other end of the green, and archery
+      formed an important part of the day&rsquo;s pleasures. The preachers at
+      the time of the Reformation thought the people made an idol of the
+      Maypole, and condemned the innocent amusements, which were revived again
+      when Charles II. came to the throne. After May Day our villagers had not
+      long to wait until the Whitsuntide holiday came round&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;A day of jubilee,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;An
+            ancient holiday;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;When, lo! the rural revels are
+            begun,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And gaily echoing to the laughing sky,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On the smooth-shaven green,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Resounds
+            the voice of mirth.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      I have already given a description of these Whitsuntide rejoicings in a
+      preceding chapter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there were the miracle plays, or &ldquo;mysteries,&rdquo; as they
+      were called, in June, on Corpus Christi Day, which were performed before
+      the Reformation, principally in the neighbourhood of large monasteries;
+      Coventry, Chester, London, York being specially renowned for these
+      performances. The subjects were taken from Holy Scripture, or from the
+      lives of saints, and were intended to teach the people religious
+      knowledge, but the scenes were disfigured by many absurdities and
+      grotesque perversions. Their history is a curious one, too long to enter
+      upon in this chapter; but often in the open fields, at the bottom of
+      natural amphitheatres, were these plays performed, very similar in
+      construction to the famous passion play performed by the peasants, at Ober
+      Ammergau, in Bavaria, the last surviving specimen of the ancient religious
+      drama.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there were the bonfires to be lighted on St. John&rsquo;s Day upon
+      the hillsides, and the dance of the young people around them, the more
+      venturesome youths leaping through the flames, all carrying home the
+      firebrands and forming a glad procession. Afterwards followed the busy
+      harvest-time, when everyone was too hard at work, and too tired at the end
+      of the day&rsquo;s labours, to think of holiday-making; but at length came
+      the harvest home, when the last sheaf was gathered in, and the harvest
+      supper was a very joyous occasion. With light hearts, smiling faces, and
+      cheerful shouts, the harvest labourers and their wives and children,
+      carrying green boughs, a sheaf of wheat, and rude flags, formed a glad
+      procession to the farmer&rsquo;s house, where they found the fuelled
+      chimney blazing wide, and &ldquo;the strong table groaning beneath the
+      smoking sirloin.&rdquo; The feast over, they retired to some near hillock,
+      and made the welkin ring with their shouts, &ldquo;Holla, holla, holla,
+      largess!&rdquo;&mdash;largess being the presents of money and good things
+      which the farmer had bestowed. Such was the harvest home in the good old
+      days, a joy and delight to both old and young. Shorn of much of its
+      merriment and quaint customs, it still lingers on; but modern habits and
+      notions have deprived it of much of its old spirit and light-heartedness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The floors of the old churches were formerly unpaved and unbearded, simply
+      made of clay, and were covered over with rushes. Once a year there was a
+      great ceremony, called &ldquo;rush-bearing.&rdquo; Rushes were cut in the
+      neighbouring marsh, and made up into long bundles, decked with ribands and
+      flowers. Then a procession was formed, everyone bearing a bundle of
+      rushes, or placing them in the rush-cart beautifully adorned; and with
+      music, drums, and ringing of bells, they marched to the church and strewed
+      the floor with their honoured burdens. Long after the rushes ceased to be
+      used in church the ceremony was continued, and I have myself witnessed a
+      rush-bearing procession such as I have described. A village feast,
+      followed by dancing round the May-pole, generally formed the conclusion to
+      the day&rsquo;s festivities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beating the bounds&rdquo; of the parish was another annual
+      ceremony, which often took place on Ascension Day and is still in use at
+      Oxford. Boundaries of property were not so clearly defined in those days
+      as they are now; and hedgerows, walls, and railings were scarce. The
+      bounds of the parish were often marked by trees, called &ldquo;gospel
+      trees,&rdquo; because the clergyman used to read the gospel for the day
+      under their shade. The people carried a processional cross and willow
+      wands, and boys were generally flogged at the boundaries, or ducked in the
+      river, if that constituted a boundary, in order to impress upon their
+      memories where the bounds were. The village feast afterwards made some
+      amends to them for their harsh treatment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The village sports were a great source of enjoyment, and were frequently
+      indulged in. The time-honoured archery developed the skill of our English
+      bowmen, and won for them many a battle before the days of gunpowder and
+      cannons. Then there was the very ancient game of the quintain, which
+      consisted of an upright post with a cross-post turning upon a pin. At one
+      end of the latter was a broad board, at the other a heavy sand-bag. The
+      play, which required skill and dexterity, was to ride against the broad
+      end with a lance, and pass by before the sandbag, swinging round, could
+      strike the player to the ground. This was a common sport at wedding
+      festivities. There were also the games of singlestick, cudgelling, and
+      wrestling, which had many votaries, and the famous game of quarter-staff,
+      so general in Berkshire, and so graphically described in <i>The Scouring
+      of the White Horse</i>, by Mr. Hughes. An old parishioner of mine was the
+      reputed champion of this game, which has now almost died out. Football is
+      an ancient sport, and the manner formerly in vogue most nearly resembles
+      the game authorised by the Rugby rules. The football was thrown down in
+      the churchyard, and the object was to carry it perhaps two or three miles,
+      every inch of ground being keenly contested. &ldquo;Touch-downs&rdquo;
+      were then unknown, but it is evident from old records that &ldquo;scrimmages&rdquo;
+      and &ldquo;hacking&rdquo; were much in vogue. Sack-racing, grinning
+      through horse-collars, running after pigs with greased tails, were some of
+      the lighter forms of amusement which pleased the villagers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then in the winter evenings there were &ldquo;carols&rdquo; to be
+      practised for Christmas, and each village boasted of its own musicians,
+      who played violins, flutes, clarionets, and other instruments in church,
+      before the days of harmoniums and organs. Their music might not be of a
+      very first-rate order, but they delighted in it, took an interest in it;
+      and how pleased they were to take part in the service, and to play over
+      their favourite hymn tunes, with a great many twirls and variations, to
+      their children during the winter evenings! Christmas brought its
+      accustomed merry-makings. In the north every farmer gave two feasts, one
+      called &ldquo;t&rsquo; ould foaks&rsquo; neet,&rdquo; and the other
+      &ldquo;t&rsquo; young foaks&rsquo; neet.&rdquo; Here is Sir Walter Scott&rsquo;s
+      description of an ancient Christmas:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;And well our Christian sires of old<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Loved
+            when the year its course had roll&rsquo;d<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And
+            brought blithe Christmas back again,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;With all its
+            hospitable train.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Domestic and religious rite<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Gave honour to the holy night:<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;On
+            Christmas Eve the bells were rung;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;On Christmas Eve
+            the Mass was sung;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;That only night in all the year<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Saw the staled priest the chalice rear.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The
+            damsel donn&rsquo;d her kirtle sheen;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The hall was
+            dressed with holly green;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Forth to the wood did
+            merry men go,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;To gather in the mistletoe.<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Then open wide the baron&rsquo;s hall,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;To
+            vassal, tenant, serf, and all;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Power laid his rod
+            of rule aside,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And Ceremony doft&rsquo;d his pride.<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;The heir with roses in his shoes,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;That
+            night might village partner choose;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The lord,
+            underogating, share<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The vulgar game of &lsquo;post
+            and pair.&rsquo;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;All hailed with uncontrolled
+            delight<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The general voice, the happy night,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;That to the cottage, as the crown,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Brought
+            tidings of salvation down.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;The
+            fire, with well-dried logs supplied,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Went roaring
+            up the chimney wide;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The huge hall-table&rsquo;s
+            oaken face<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Scrubb&rsquo;d till it shone, the day of
+            grace,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Bore then upon its massive board<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;No
+            mark to part the squire and lord.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Then was brought
+            in the lusty brawn,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;By old blue-coated serving man;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Then the grim boar&rsquo;s head frowned on high<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Crested with bays and rosemary.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Well
+            can the green-garb&rsquo;d ranger tell<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;How, when,
+            and where the monster fell;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;What dogs before his
+            death he tore,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And all the baiting of the boar;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;While round the merry wassail bowl,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Garnished
+            with ribbons, blithe did trowl.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Then the huge
+            sirloin reek&rsquo;d: hard by<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Plum-porridge stood,
+            and Christmas pie;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Nor fail&rsquo;d old Scotland to
+            produce<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;At such high time her savoury goose.<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Then came the merry maskers in,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And
+            carols roared with blithesome din;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;If unmelodious
+            was the song,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;It was a hearty note, and strong.<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Who lists may in this mumming see<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Traces
+            of ancient mystery;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;White shirts supply the
+            masquerade,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And smutted cheeks the visor made;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;But, oh! what masquers, richly dight,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Can
+            boast of bosoms half so light!<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;England was merry
+            England when<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Old Christmas brought his sports
+            again.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&rsquo;Twas Christmas broach&rsquo;d the
+            mightiest ale;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&rsquo;Twas Christmas told the
+            merriest tale.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;A Christmas gambol oft would cheer<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;A poor man&rsquo;s heart through half the year.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Such was the manner of keeping Christmas in olden times; and if &ldquo;the
+      mightiest ale&rdquo; was sometimes too mighty, and although the
+      intemperance of our forefathers was a vice much to be deplored, at any
+      rate their hearty manner of keeping this annual feast was effectual in
+      promoting &ldquo;goodwill amongst men,&rdquo; and in cheering the hearts
+      of the poor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this chapter I have attempted to show the varied amusements and
+      recreations in which our village ancestors took part. On the old village
+      green, which in too many of our villages has been inclosed and become a
+      thing of the past, many of these sports and pastimes once took place.
+      There stood the village stocks, in which the refractory paid the penalty
+      of their misdeeds; and sometimes, too, a pillory was added, which held
+      fast the head, arms, and legs of the culprit, while the villagers, rude
+      vindicators of the law, threw stones, rotten eggs, and other missiles at
+      the unhappy victim. At the edge of the pond you might have seen a long
+      plank which turned on a swivel, with a chair at the end overhanging the
+      water. This was called a &ldquo;cucking-stool,&rdquo; and was used to duck
+      scolds or brawlers. The culprit was placed in the chair, and the other end
+      of the plank was raised several times, so that the ardour of the culprit
+      was effectually cooled by frequent immersions. These were rough methods of
+      administering justice, but often very effectual in checking vice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The social customs which formerly existed in each village, the sports and
+      pastimes associated with the village green, the May Day festivals, and the
+      Christmas carollings were of great value, inasmuch as they tended to
+      infuse some poetical feeling into the minds of the people, softened the
+      rudeness of rustic manners, and gave the villagers simple pleasures which
+      lightened their labours. They prevented them from growing hard, grasping,
+      and discontented with their lot. They promoted good feeling between the
+      farmers and their labourers. The customs of the town were a poor exchange
+      for the ancient country manners and amusements; and it was a sad day for
+      our country when the villagers lost their simplicity and the power of
+      appreciating the primitive pleasures of rural England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link303" id="link303"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/303.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="303h.jpg (22K)" src="images/303h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />OLD STOCKS AND WHIPPING-POST <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <a name="link22"
+      id="link22"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE VILLAGE INN
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Monastic inns&mdash;Village inns&mdash;Highwaymen&mdash;Inn signs&mdash;Famous
+      inns&mdash; Man-traps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In almost every village in England there is an inn. Before the Reformation
+      there were very few of these hostelries, as travellers were always
+      accommodated at the monasteries, each of which, as we have seen, had a
+      hospitium, or guest-house, where their wants were attended to by special
+      officers appointed for the purpose, and where they could remain for
+      several days. But the destruction of the monasteries produced many changes
+      in the condition of the country; it introduced the necessity of a poor
+      law, for the poor were always relieved by the monasteries; it required the
+      erection of schools and places for education, as all the education of the
+      country had been carried on in these monastic buildings; and when the old
+      guesthouses ceased to exist, travellers, merchants, and pedlars required
+      some place in which to lodge when they moved about the country, and inns
+      became plentiful as time went on. Hence in almost every village in England
+      there is an inn, which is generally a landmark; and if you wish to direct
+      a stranger to some place where he desires to go, you doubtless tell him to
+      turn to the right by &ldquo;The Bull,&rdquo; or to keep straight on until
+      he comes to &ldquo;The Magpie.&rdquo; Indeed, a friend of mine, who is a
+      strong teetotaler, asserts that the only good use inns have is to help
+      people to find their road. But old inns have a great history. In former
+      days they used to be meeting-places of plotters and conspirators. All the
+      distinguished people in the country used to pass through the villages and
+      towns on the great roads through the country, and when the horses were
+      being changed they used to partake of the good fare which the landlord
+      provided. Those were busy times for the old inns, when there was stabling
+      for fifty or sixty horses, and the coaches used to rattle through the
+      village to the inn door long before the iron horses began to drag their
+      freight of passengers along the iron roads, and the scream of the engines
+      took the place of the cheerful notes of the posthorn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes a gentleman would ride to an inn door on a beautiful,
+      fleet-looking steed, and receive a hearty welcome from the landlord; but
+      the pistols in his belt looked ominous, and presently some soldiers would
+      steal noiselessly into the inn where the gentleman was refreshing himself,
+      and there would be heard the sounds of vigorous fighting; and often, in
+      some wonderful way, Claude Duval or the noted Dick would fight his way
+      out, whistle to his steed, jump into the saddle, and ride away before his
+      less nimble pursuers had recovered from their astonishment. Very many
+      exciting scenes have taken place in our old inns, but in these days
+      railways have changed all things; and in many streets where the coaches
+      used to rattle along, and the place was alive with merry sounds, the moss
+      now grows, and all is silence and desolation. We should certainly think it
+      inconvenient to take three days to travel from London to Bath, and it
+      would not be pleasant to have a visit from Dick Turpin on the way, and to
+      have all one&rsquo;s valuables appropriated by that notorious highwayman;
+      but in these days of worry and busy bustling it would be refreshing to
+      catch a glimpse of those quiet times when people were not so much in a
+      hurry, and to hear the sound of the posthorn once more instead of the
+      whistle of the steam-engine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The quaint-looking pictures and curious names which attract our notice as
+      we pass an inn door have some queer stories to tell. We notice a very
+      curious collection of animals sometimes, and a strange assortment of
+      things; and the reason why our ancestors put some of these curious things
+      together is somewhat difficult for us to find out. In olden days, other
+      houses of tradesmen besides inns had signs. Grocers, tailors,
+      candlestick-makers, all had signs; but most of these have disappeared,
+      except one belonging to a certain sweep of my acquaintance, whose house is
+      adorned with the figure of a man coming out of a globe, with the motto,
+      &ldquo;Help me through the world.&rdquo; Over their doors barbers still
+      have their poles, which represented once the fact that the barber was
+      prepared to bandage up wounded arms and legs, and to perform the office of
+      blood-letting; the stripes on the pole were intended to represent the
+      bandages, and the barber was the surgeon of the town. We do not seem to
+      have so much blood to spare as our forefathers, as the barber always bled
+      his customers once or twice a year, especially in the springtime, the
+      operation being considered very beneficial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One reason for the curious mixture of animals and other things which we
+      see on signboards is that an apprentice, when he had finished his time and
+      begun to set up for himself, adopted some sign, and then joined with it
+      the sign of his old master. This will account for such curiosities as
+      &ldquo;The Lamb and Dolphin,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Goose and Gridiron,&rdquo;
+      &ldquo;The Fox and Seven Stars,&rdquo; combinations of things for which it
+      would otherwise be difficult to account. Another reason is that signs were
+      taken from the armorial bearings, or crests, of some popular character, or
+      of some great family in the neighbourhood. For example, I may mention
+      &ldquo;The Bear with the Ragged Staff,&rdquo; which was the crest of
+      Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, commonly called &ldquo;The Kingmaker,&rdquo;
+      who was slain in the battle of Barnet, 1471 A.D. &ldquo;The Blue Boar&rdquo;
+      was one of the badges of the House of York. &ldquo;The Bull&rdquo; is a
+      very common sign, because it was a very common crest, and we have them in
+      all colours&mdash;black, red, white; lions also rage in blue, white, and
+      red attire. Sometimes we meet with &ldquo;The Cross Keys,&rdquo; the
+      keeper of which was probably an old servant or tenant of an abbey or
+      monastery, and chose his sign from that of the monastery with which he was
+      connected. Frequently, in olden times, a cross was erected at the meeting
+      of two or three roads, or where the pilgrims to Canterbury used to pass;
+      afterwards an inn was built near it, and was, in many cases, called the
+      Cross Inn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One very common cause of curious signs is the way in which the original
+      word has been corrupted by ignorant people frequently repeating words
+      which they did not understand, and thus changing their whole meaning. You
+      may have seen an inn described as &ldquo;The Swan with Two Necks&rdquo;&mdash;a
+      very rare bird indeed. But it was never intended to disfigure the bird by
+      giving it two necks; the original sign was &ldquo;The Swan with Two <i>Nicks</i>&rdquo;
+      and nicks were the marks which were cut on a swan&rsquo;s bill to
+      distinguish it from other swans, so that it might be known to whom the
+      bird belonged. But <i>nicks</i> became <i>necks</i> in course of
+      conversation, until at last a fabulous creature with two beautifully
+      curved necks appeared on the signboard. This same cause will account for
+      the two strange signs, &ldquo;Bull and Gate&rdquo; and &ldquo;Bull and
+      Mouth.&rdquo; The original signs were &ldquo;Boulogne Gate&rdquo; and
+      &ldquo;Boulogne Mouth,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i> the gate and harbour of the town
+      of Boulogne, in France, which was captured by the English under King Henry
+      VIII. in the year 1544. The English were very pleased to hear of the
+      defeat of the French, and of the taking of that important town, and
+      several inns were named in honour of the event; but the French &ldquo;Boulogne&rdquo;
+      was too much for our good English mouths to speak, so it became &ldquo;Bull
+      and.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another name which puzzled our forefathers was &ldquo;<i>La Belle Sauvage</i>&rdquo;
+      (&ldquo;the Beautiful Savage&rdquo;), which was named after a noted savage
+      beauty who was the rage at Paris. Others assert that the name of the
+      landlady was Isabella Savage, shortened into Bella Savage. However, in
+      course of time the name was altered into &ldquo;Bell and Savage,&rdquo;
+      and a picture representing this odd combination stood over the door. In
+      the same way the original sign, &ldquo;Whip and Nag,&rdquo; between which
+      there is often a very close connection, became &ldquo;Whip and Egg&rdquo;;
+      and the reason why these two articles should be placed together is not so
+      evident. So also there does not seem any reason for an inn to be called
+      &ldquo;Bag o&rsquo; Nails&rdquo;; but when we are told that the original
+      word was &ldquo;Bacchanals,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i> followers of Bacchus, the
+      old god of wine, we can understand how the corruption, &ldquo;Bag o&rsquo;
+      Nails,&rdquo; arose. Before the days of licensing, when everyone could
+      sell liquor who chose without obtaining any licence from the magistrates,
+      it was the custom to put a bush over the doorway, in order to inform the
+      passers-by that liquor could be purchased there. This is the origin of the
+      saying, &ldquo;Good wine needs no bush.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link310" id="link310"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/310.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="310h.jpg (37K)" src="images/310h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> VILLAGE INN WITH OLD TITHE BARN OF READING ABBEY <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Catherine Wheel&rdquo; tells us the sad story of St. Catherine,
+      who was born at Alexandria, and for converting fifty heathen philosophers
+      to Christianity was sentenced by the Emperor Maxentius to death on a
+      wheel, devised by most ingenious cruelty, armed with knives, saws, and
+      nails. It is recorded that she was rescued from this fate, but was
+      afterwards beheaded (305 A.D.). It is curious that this instrument of
+      torture and the story of St. Catherine&rsquo;s heroism should be recorded
+      on a signboard. But it may have been brought before the public by a
+      certain miracle play, founded on the life of St. Catherine, which used to
+      be performed on festival days. However, the Catherine wheel appears
+      frequently on the coats-of-arms of several families, and it may be that
+      the sign was taken from these.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The George,&rdquo; also, is a very popular sign; and the &ldquo;St.
+      George of merry England&rdquo; is the patron saint of this country, and
+      the battle-cry of her knights and yeomen of ancient days. Who does not
+      remember that stirring scene on St. George&rsquo;s Mount during the
+      Crusades, described in Sir Walter Scott&rsquo;s <i>Talisman</i>, when King
+      Richard tore down the Austrian banner, which the Austrian monarch had
+      dared to erect beside the Royal Standard of England? St George is
+      generally represented as slaying a dragon. He was a soldier who served
+      gallantly under the Emperor Diocletian, and commanded a legion of
+      soldiers; he was a Christian, and by the dragon whom he slew is meant the
+      devil, red with the blood of the Christians. So popular a personage as St.
+      George, whose name inspired our ancestors with courage, and was often
+      borne by them into the heart of the foe, would soon be recorded in
+      paintings and become a general sign. &ldquo;The Goat&rdquo; is a common
+      sign, and is taken from the crest of the Duke of Bedford; but &ldquo;The
+      Goat and Compasses&rdquo; has puzzled many people as to its origin. It
+      appears to be a corruption of a pious expression, &ldquo;God encompasseth
+      us&rdquo;; and this shows how strangely words may be twisted and converted
+      by ignorant and careless usage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are some very noted inns where great events have taken place,
+      amongst which I may mention the Bull Inn at Coventry. Here Henry VII. was
+      entertained the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, when he won for
+      himself the English crown. Here Mary Queen of Scots was detained by order
+      of Elizabeth. Here the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot met to devise
+      their scheme for blowing up the Houses of Parliament. And when the
+      citizens refused to open their gates to Charles I. and his soldiers, no
+      doubt there were great disputings amongst the frequenters of &ldquo;The
+      Bull&rdquo; as to what would be the result of their disloyal refusal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the inns in remote country places did not enjoy a very enviable
+      reputation, and were little better than man-traps, where the unfortunate
+      traveller was robbed and murdered. At Blewbury, in Berkshire, there was an
+      inn, the landlord of which was suspected of murdering his guests with
+      great secrecy and mystery, and no one could tell what he did with the
+      bodies of the victims he was supposed to have murdered. A few years ago an
+      old tree in the neighbourhood of the inn was blown down, and on digging up
+      the roots a skeleton was found among them. People wondered how it could
+      have been placed there, but at last a very old inhabitant told the story
+      of the mysterious disappearance of the bodies of the late landlord&rsquo;s
+      guests, and the mystery was at length accounted for. Whenever he slew a
+      man he planted a tree, placing the body of the murdered victim beneath it.
+      The constables never thought of looking there; and probably under every
+      tree which he planted (and there were several), when their roots are dug
+      up, the bones of his numerous victims will be discovered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another story is connected with the old &ldquo;Hind&rsquo;s Head&rdquo; at
+      Bracknell, which was another of these mantraps, where many travellers
+      slept to rise no more. One winter&rsquo;s night a stout-hearted farmer
+      stayed there, and joined several jovial companions round the kitchen fire.
+      They ate and drank merrily, and at last the serving-maid showed the
+      traveller to his chamber. She told him that he was surrounded by robbers
+      and murderers, showed him a trap-door at the side of the bed, on which if
+      he stepped he would tumble headlong into a deep well. She directed him to
+      tie the bed into a bundle, put it on the trap-door, and escape by the
+      window. He did so; down went the bundle, instead of the farmer, into the
+      well, and he managed to effect his escape. Rousing the neighbourhood he
+      captured the villains, who were all executed, and the bones of many of
+      their victims were found in the well. Happily such inns were rare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To describe the conditions of the old inns for which England was famous,
+      of the good fare which awaited the travellers by the coach, of the
+      spacious corridors, of the comfortable beds hung with silk and smelling of
+      lavender; to tell of all the great folk who entered their doors&mdash;kings,
+      queens, poets, generals, highwaymen, statesmen, grooms, conspirators,
+      coachmen&mdash;all this would require much space to relate. When railways
+      came in, their ancient glory departed; the old stables are destroyed;
+      grass grows in the courtyard; and the object of their existence has almost
+      ceased to be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link23" id="link23"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Belief in witches&mdash;Survival of water ordeal&mdash;Witches turned into
+      hares&mdash; Cruelties practised on witches&mdash;Bishop Jewel on the
+      &ldquo;evil eye&rdquo;&mdash; Fairies&mdash;Berkshire popular
+      superstitions&mdash;Field-names&mdash;Homes of famous men&mdash;Washington
+      Irving&rsquo;s description of an English village&mdash;Rural exodus&mdash;Conclusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is yet another class of subjects connected with old village life, of
+      absorbing interest and importance. I refer to the old superstitions and
+      folklore which still linger on in the recollections of the &ldquo;oldest
+      inhabitant,&rdquo; and which ought to be at once treasured up, lest they
+      should be altogether lost. The generation of those who believed firmly in
+      the power of the &ldquo;evil eye&rdquo; of the witch, and who feared to
+      disturb the revels of the fairies on their rings and mounds, is only just
+      passing away. An old gipsy has told me some strange stories of the
+      superstitions of former days. He has told me of the witch at Farnham who
+      made the cows wild and prevented them from giving milk; of another witch
+      who lived at Henley-on-Thames, and who when thrown into the river &ldquo;floated
+      like a cork.&rdquo; Here we have a survival of the old Saxon method of
+      trying culprits by the water ordeal, often used in examining witches. This
+      particular witch could turn herself into a hare, so my venerable gipsy
+      friend, aged one hundred and six years, informed me, and the dogs hunted
+      her. He told me of the Tadley witch, who &ldquo;wished&rdquo; several
+      people, and greatly injured them. It seems to have been a common practice
+      of the old witches to turn themselves into hares, in order to vex the
+      squires, justices, and country parsons, who were fond of hunting, as the
+      old dames could elude the speed of the swiftest dogs. An old writer states
+      &ldquo;that never hunters nor their dogs may be bewitched, they cleave an
+      oaken branch, and both they and their dogs pass over it.&rdquo; Mary Dore,
+      a witch of Beaulieu, Hampshire, used to turn herself into a hare in order
+      to escape detection when caught in the act of wood-stealing, to which she
+      was somewhat addicted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old women were rather harshly used in the days when people believed in the
+      power of witches. If any farmer&rsquo;s cattle died, it was immediately
+      concluded that the animals were bewitched; and some wretched old woman was
+      singled out, and summarily tried and burnt. If anyone fell ill, some
+      &ldquo;witch&rdquo; had evidently a waxen image of the sufferer, and stuck
+      needles into it; and such was the power of the witch that, wherever the
+      person was, he felt the stab of the cruel needle. Hence the witch had to
+      be found and burnt. If the corn crops failed, was not witchcraft the
+      cause? for had not old Mother Maggs been heard to threaten Farmer Giles,
+      and had not her black cat been seen running over his fields? Even good
+      Bishop Jewel did not disbelieve in the power of the evil eye. In preaching
+      before Queen Elizabeth he said: &ldquo;It may please Your Grace to
+      understand that witches and sorcerers are marvellously increased within
+      Your Grace&rsquo;s realm. Your Grace&rsquo;s subjects pine away even unto
+      the death, their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is
+      benumbed, their senses are bereft. I pray God they never practise further
+      than on the subject.&rdquo; To so great an extent did faith in the witches&rsquo;
+      fatal power prevail. Our forefathers used to believe in the existence of
+      other, and more pleasant little companions than the old toothless witches&mdash;the
+      bright little fairies who, on account of the neglect which they have
+      received from the present generation of Englishmen, have, so it is
+      reported, left our shores in disgust, never to return. The previous
+      inhabitants of our villages did not so treat them; and did not the fairies
+      always bring them luck? They nailed the horseshoe to the stable door to
+      keep out the witches, lest the old beldams should ride their steeds by
+      night to the witches&rsquo; revels; but no one wished to exclude the
+      fairies. Did not the dairymaids find the butter ready churned, and the
+      cows milked by these kind assistants? Was there not an old lady in
+      Yorkshire who knew all about the fairies, had often heard them making
+      butter, and had seen the butter smeared all over the gate by a little
+      green man with a queer cap who had been seen slipping under a culvert?
+      Canon Atkinson told us of this lady who knew all these strange things, and
+      of the Hart Hall &ldquo;Hob&rdquo; who worked so hard with his flail, and
+      of many other curious folk who frequented the Yorkshire moors in olden
+      days. The last witch had just died before he went to Danby, but he found
+      the whole atmosphere of the folklore firmament so surcharged with the
+      being and work of the witch, that he seemed able to trace her presence and
+      her activity in almost every nook and corner of the neighbourhood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wells all over England were haunted by fairies, and is it not
+      confidently asserted that &ldquo;the good people&rdquo; (as the fairies
+      are called) live in wilds and forests, and shun great cities because of
+      the wickedness which exists therein? Have they never appeared to the
+      lonely traveller, clothed in green, with long hair floating over their
+      shoulders, and with faces more blooming than the blush of a summer
+      morning? Then there were the fairy rings formed by the dancing of their
+      merry feet.
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Some say the screech-owl, at each midnight hour,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Awakes the fairies in yon ancient tower.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Their
+            nightly dancing ring I always dread,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Nor let my
+            sheep within that circle tread;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;When round and
+            round all night, in moonlight fair,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;They dance to
+            some strange music in the air.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Then there were brownies; and knockers, who worked in mines, and showed
+      rich veins of silver; and elves&mdash;all of whom were included in old
+      village superstitions, and many were the tales told of the good deeds they
+      did, and the luck they brought. Nor must we forget the story of the
+      invisible smith who inhabited Wayland Smith&rsquo;s Cave, in Berkshire.
+      Whenever a farmer tied up his horse in the cave, and left the money on a
+      particular stone, on his return he found his horse shod by the kind
+      efforts of the invisible smith. There is also the old Berkshire story of
+      the old witch who lived in a cave by the roadside, and who, by the power
+      of her &ldquo;evil eye,&rdquo; could stop the strongest team of horses, so
+      that, however much the carters lashed and swore at them, the animals would
+      not budge an inch until she permitted them to go. Here are a few of the
+      common superstitions current in Berkshire. If a corpse be kept over a
+      Sunday another death will occur before the week is out; should a big
+      bumble-bee enter the window, a guest may be expected; and when the
+      woodpecker, commonly called the yaffle, laughs, they say the rain is
+      coming. When the thick mist lies in the valley, the people say it is the
+      White Lady, a belief closely akin to the Dame Blanche, who is said in
+      Normandy to haunt streams. If one row of freshly sown seeds or potatoes
+      does not come up, it foretells a death in the family. If a girl mends her
+      clothes on her back, she risks having a drunken husband. A screech-owl is
+      unlucky, and so also is it if a bird fly against the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A woman came to the rectory a few years ago for a drop of sacramental
+      wine, which she wanted for an infant who had &ldquo;the graspings.&rdquo;
+      This complaint I discovered to be a craving for something, accompanied by
+      restlessness; and it was supposed that a drop of sacramental wine would
+      cure an infant so troubled. If the mother before the child was born craved
+      for drink, this craving was communicated to the child, and could only be
+      remedied by a drop of wine used in Holy Communion. This superstition,
+      which I have met with elsewhere, probably is a relic of pre-Reformation
+      days, and of sacramental Reservation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A tramp was passing through a Hampshire village a short time ago, and
+      calling at a house, begged for a glass of water. The woman who lived there
+      said that she was sorry she could not give him water to drink, as there
+      was a child in the house unbaptised, and therefore it would be unlucky.
+      The origin of this superstition it is difficult to trace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These are some of the legends and superstitions which linger amongst us.
+      Every neighbourhood has its stories, its legends, and romantic histories.
+      It is a sad pity that these should pass away without any record being
+      made. Many curious customs and ceremonies relating to christenings,
+      marriages, and burials linger in remote hamlets; and charms, curious
+      remedies, and other relics of the quaint superstitions of our forefathers,
+      are full of interest to the lover of our English villages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we walk in the fields, or study the old map of the parish, the names of
+      the fields invite our attention. These are full of interest, and often
+      tell us about matters which would be entirely forgotten. Some names tell
+      us of the great forests which used to exist all over the country, when
+      kings and noblemen, outlaws and poachers, used to hunt the deer and the
+      wild boars in many a successful run. These forests were large tracts of
+      country in its natural state, partly wood, partly heather and grass, which
+      were owned by the king, and were especially brought under the harsh forest
+      laws of the Norman sovereigns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of our field-names remind us of the existence of these old forests
+      where corn now grows, and also of swamps and islands where everything now
+      is dry and far removed from water. Sometimes they tell us of the old
+      common lands which used to be farmed by the villeins and borderers, and of
+      the strange way in which they used to manage their farming. Each man used
+      to keep one or more oxen for the village plough until they made up the
+      team into eight; then they ploughed the land in strips of an acre or
+      half-acre each, divided by a bit of unploughed turf called a balk. Each
+      strip was a furlong, <i>i.e.</i> a &ldquo;furrow long,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i>
+      the length of the drive of a plough before it is turned. This was forty
+      rods, or poles, and four of these furrows made up the acre. These pieces
+      of land were called &ldquo;shots,&rdquo; and there were &ldquo;headlands,&rdquo;
+      or common field-ways, to each shot; and &ldquo;gored acres,&rdquo; which
+      were corners of the fields which could not be cut up into strips, and odds
+      and ends of unused land, which were called &ldquo;No Man&rsquo;s Land,&rdquo;
+      or &ldquo;Jack&rsquo;s Land.&rdquo; It is curious, too, that all the
+      strips belonging to one man did not lie together, but were scattered all
+      over the common land, which must have been a very inconvenient arrangement
+      for farming purposes. There were also in each village community a
+      blacksmith, whose duty it was to keep in repair the ironwork of the
+      village ploughs, a carpenter for the woodwork, and a pound-keeper, or
+      punder, who looked after the stray cattle. Many of the &ldquo;balks&rdquo;
+      still remain on the hillsides where these old common lands existed, and
+      the names of the fields bear witness to the prevalence of this old field
+      system.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They tell us, too, of the way in which attempts were made to force the
+      growth of particular crops, and in many parishes you will find a &ldquo;flax
+      piece,&rdquo; which reminds us of a foolish Act of Henry VIII. ordering
+      the cultivation of that plant. Metals, too, which have long ago been
+      worked out, and trades which no longer exist, have left their traces
+      behind in the names of our lanes and fields. Also they speak of the early
+      days when the wolf or the bear might be seen in our woods or fields, or of
+      the beaver which loved the quietude of our streams, of the eagle which
+      carried off the lambs undisturbed by sound of the keeper&rsquo;s gun.
+      Sometimes he was disturbed in his thefts by the flight of a good strong
+      English arrow, which came from a sturdy English bow drawn by a good strong
+      English arm. The English archers were famous everywhere, and many a battle
+      has been won by their valour and their skill. A law was passed in the
+      reign of Edward IV. that every Englishman should have a bow of his own
+      height, and that butts for the practice of archery should be set up in
+      every village; and every man was obliged to shoot up and down on every
+      feast-day, or be fined one halfpenny. Consequently, in some villages we
+      find a field called &ldquo;The Butts,&rdquo; where this old practice took
+      place.[<a href="#linkb11">11</a>]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many villages are associated with the lives of distinguished men&mdash;authors,
+      soldiers, and statesmen. Perhaps your village may have bred other poets
+      besides &ldquo;the mute inglorious Milton&rdquo; of Gray&rsquo;s <i>Elegy</i>.
+      Not far from where I am writing was Pope&rsquo;s early home, the village
+      of Binfield, which he calls&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;My paternal home,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;A little
+            house, with trees arow,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And, like its master, very
+            low.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      On the other side lies the village of Three Mile Cross, where Miss Mitford
+      lived and wrote &ldquo;Our Village&rdquo;; and Arborfield, called in her
+      book Arborleigh, about which she tells some pleasant stories, is the
+      adjoining parish. Sometimes, as I ride down a grassy lane, a favourite
+      haunt of the distinguished authoress, I seem to see her seated on a fallen
+      tree weaving her pretty romances, while her favourite dog, which she often
+      describes, plays and barks around her. A few miles in another direction
+      lies Eversley, the loved abode of Charles Kingsley, about whom many
+      stories linger in the countryside. To visit the uncomfortable brick-paved
+      study where he wrote, the garden where he used to pace and think out his
+      great thoughts, is delightfully refreshing and invigorating to a jaded
+      writer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link323" id="link323"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/323.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig">
+      <img alt="323h.jpg (34K)" src="images/323h.jpg" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> OLD COTTAGES <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These are only instances of places which have become interesting on
+      account of the famous men who once lived in them; and England has many
+      heroes of the sword and pen whose lives each Englishman should study; and
+      when you visit their dwelling-places you will recall their achievements,
+      and perhaps endeavour to imitate their examples. Here is an instance of
+      how little the villagers know of the distinguished men who once lived
+      amongst them. The great Duke of Wellington did not live a very long time
+      ago, and yet some friends of mine who were staying at Strathfieldsaye,
+      near the Iron Duke&rsquo;s house, and made inquiries amongst the villagers
+      about their recollections of the hero of Waterloo, could obtain no
+      information. At last one venerable rustic vouchsafed the extraordinary
+      intelligence, &ldquo;I believe as &rsquo;ow &rsquo;e were very good at war&rdquo;!
+      What a thing it is to be famous!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Much more remains to be said upon the various subjects which this history
+      of our village suggests. But the day is closing, and our walk through its
+      sequestered lanes and our thoughts about the various scenes which yonder
+      venerable oaks have witnessed, must cease. But enough has been said to
+      show what a wealth of interest lies beneath the calm exterior of ordinary
+      village life. An American truly observes that everything in the rural life
+      of England is associated with ideas of order, of quiet, sober,
+      well-established principles, of hoary usage, and reverent custom&mdash;the
+      growth of ages of regular and peaceful existence. The impression which the
+      appearance of an English village left on his mind is beautifully described
+      in the following passage:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The old church of remote architecture with its low, massive portal,
+      its gothic tower, its windows rich with tracery and painted glass, its
+      scrupulous preservation, its stately monuments of warriors and worthies of
+      olden times, ancestors of the present lords of the soil; its tombstones,
+      recording successive generations of sturdy yeomanry, whose progeny still
+      plough the same fields, and kneel at the same altar; the parsonage, a
+      quaint, irregular pile, partly antiquated, but repaired and altered in the
+      tastes of various eyes and occupants; the stile and footpath leading from
+      the churchyard, across pleasant fields, and along shady hedgerows,
+      according to an immemorial right-of-way; the neighbouring village, with
+      its venerable cottages, its public green sheltered by trees, under which
+      the forefathers of the present race have sported; the antique family
+      mansion, standing apart in some little rural domain, but looking down with
+      a protecting air on the surrounding scene. All these common features of
+      English landscape evince a calm and settled security, and hereditary
+      transmission of homebred virtues and local attachments, that speak deeply
+      and touchingly for the moral character of the nation.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+      continual decrease of its population. All our young men flock to the
+      towns, attracted by the greater excitement which town life offers, as
+      compared with the more homely pleasures of the country. The rural exodus
+      is an alarming and very real danger to the welfare of social England.
+      Agricultural machinery has greatly diminished the number of labourers
+      required on a farm. Agricultural depression and the decreased value of
+      land have caused many old country families to close their old
+      manor-houses, as they cannot afford to live on their estates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Let us hope that those whose happy lot it is to live in the quiet hamlets
+      of our native land, afar from the noise and din of busy towns, will learn
+      to love more deeply their village homes, and interest themselves in their
+      surroundings. To those who read the history of their native place, each
+      house and field, each stone and tree, will tell its story, and recount the
+      wonders it has witnessed. And as the stories of wars and fights, of
+      superstition and of crime, fall on our ears, we shall be thankful that our
+      lot is cast in more peaceful days, when no persecutions, religious or
+      political, disturb the tranquillity of our village life. And when we read
+      of the piety and simplicity of our forefathers, their veneration of their
+      church, their love of home, their innocent joys and social customs, we
+      should strive to imitate their virtues which have materially helped to
+      make England a great and powerful nation. It is hoped that these chapters
+      upon the old life of our country, and the manners and customs of our
+      forefathers, may induce many of my readers to read and study history more
+      deeply, may serve to create an interest in the relics that remain to us of
+      the past, and to preserve the fleeting traditions that Time doth
+      consecrate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb11" id="linkb11"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [11] In many cases the name &ldquo;Butts&rdquo; refers to the fact of the
+      land, under the common-field system, <i>abutting</i> on meadows or roads,
+      <i>e.g.</i> &ldquo;Butt-close,&rdquo; in the parish of St. Mary Bourne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="linkappendix" id="linkappendix"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      APPENDIX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village,
+      the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the
+      name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and old
+      county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor&rsquo;s <i>Words
+      and Places</i>, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in <i>Domesday</i>
+      and old documents. Bede&rsquo;s <i>History</i>, the <i>Anglo-Saxon
+      Chronicles</i>, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may
+      contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also Kemble&rsquo;s
+      <i>Saxons in England</i>. The <i>Domesday Book</i> is, of course, a mine
+      of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many documents which will be
+      of great service&mdash;the <i>Testa de Neville</i> (Edward II.), <i>Marshall
+      Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls,
+      Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem</i>, and the <i>Feet of Fines</i>.
+      The <i>Manor Court Rolls</i>, if they still exist, in the custody of the
+      lord of the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local
+      antiquarian societies and county histories will of course be examined. The
+      history of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The
+      British Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of <i>Heralds&rsquo;
+      Visitations</i>, and Burke&rsquo;s <i>Landed Gentry</i> and Dugdale&rsquo;s
+      <i>Baronage</i> are the chief sources of information. Old <i>wills</i>
+      will yield much information, many of which are in course of publication by
+      the Index Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House
+      and many diocesan registries contain the original documents. The
+      Historical Manuscripts Commission has published many volumes of borough
+      records which are of great service, and the lives of any great men
+      connected with the parish may be studied in the <i>Dictionary of National
+      Biography</i>. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains
+      valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and its
+      contents should be carefully examined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The registers of the diocese contain many documents relating to the
+      ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a list
+      of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any monastery,
+      Dugdale&rsquo;s <i>Monasticon</i> will furnish some information. The
+      Public Record Office contains the documents <i>Taxatio Ecclesiastica P.
+      Nicholai IV.</i> and <i>Valor Ecclesiasticus</i>, which give an account of
+      the value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the
+      sale of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the
+      saint to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in
+      spite of years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some
+      early will of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which
+      usually gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ
+      in stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the
+      help of Rickman&rsquo;s <i>Gothic Architecture</i> or Parker&rsquo;s <i>Glossary
+      of Gothic Architecture</i>. If there has ever been a monastery in the
+      parish, Dugdale&rsquo;s <i>Monasticon</i> should be consulted; and if
+      there are any remains of a castle, Clark&rsquo;s <i>Mediaeval Military
+      Architecture in England</i> will be useful. Prehistoric remains, such as
+      barrows, earthworks, pit dwellings, and caves should be described; also
+      any Roman roads and villas; the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood,
+      geology, folklore, and dialect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following books are recommended:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evans&rsquo; <i>Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain</i>.<br /> Evans&rsquo;
+      <i> Ancient Bronze Implements</i>.<br /> Boyd Dawkins&rsquo; <i>Cave
+      Hunting</i>.<br /> Boyd Dawkins&rsquo; <i>Early Man in Britain</i>.<br />
+      Greenwell&rsquo;s <i>British Barrows</i>.<br /> Fergusson&rsquo;s <i>Rude
+      Stone Monuments</i>.<br /> Cox&rsquo;s <i>How to Write the History of a
+      Parish</i>.<br /> Wright&rsquo;s <i>Essays on Archaeological Subjects</i>.<br />
+      Parker&rsquo;s <i>Mediaeval Domestic Architecture</i>.<br /> Sims&rsquo; <i>Manual
+      for the Topographer and Genealogist</i>.<br /> Burn&rsquo;s <i>History of
+      Parish Registers</i>.<br /> Seebohm&rsquo;s <i>English Village Community</i>.<br />
+      Toulmin Smith&rsquo;s <i>English Gilds</i>.<br /> Haine&rsquo;s <i>Manual
+      of Monumental Brasses</i>.<br /> Bloxam&rsquo;s <i>Principles of Gothic
+      Architecture</i>.<br /> Tanner&rsquo;s <i>Notitia Monastica</i>.<br /> Cutts&rsquo;
+      <i>Middle Ages</i>.<br /> Lee&rsquo;s <i>Glossary of Liturgical and
+      Ecclesiastical Terms</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="linkindex" id="linkindex"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      INDEX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Akeman Street, 60<br /> Aldhelm, church-builder, 103<br /> Alfriston
+      clergy-house, 180<br /> <i>Alignements</i>, 46<br /> Allington rectory, 180<br />
+      Almshouses, 181<br /> Altars, 191<br /> Amphitheatre, Roman, 67<br />
+      Anchoresses, 183<br /> Anchor-hold, 183<br /> Anglo-Saxon villages, 74-89<br />
+      Archery, 277, 298<br /> Architecture, English, 102-24<br /> Arresting a dead
+      body, 227<br /> Arrow-heads, 20<br /> <i>Art of Husbandry</i>, 255<br />
+      Astrology, belief in, 222<br /> Aumbry, 192<br /> Avebury cromlech, 46
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      B
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ball-flower moulding, 118<br /> Barkham in <i>Domesday</i>, 128<br />
+      Barnack Church, 106<br /> Barrows or tumuli, 23-3<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;long
+      and round, 25<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;near churchyards, 23<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Saxon, 90-3<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;their
+      contents, 24, 29<br /> Basilica, Roman, 66<br /> Beacons, 268<br /> Beating
+      the bounds, 276<br /> Bede, 75<br /> Bell-ringing customs, 250<br /> Bells,
+      245-53<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;christening of, 246<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;inscription on, 247-50<br /> Benedict
+      Biscop, 103<br /> Benedictine monks, 161<br /> Bewcastle cross, 98<br />
+      Bishops, treating of, 229<br /> Black Death, 255<br /> Blood-letting, 167-9<br />
+      Blowing Stone, 52<br /> <i>Bordarii</i>, 131<br /> Border castles, 140<br />
+      Brachycephalic race, 21<br /> Brasses, monumental, 212-18<br /> Bridal cup,
+      207<br /> Brief Book, 226<br /> Brighthampton, pit dwellings at, &nbsp;33<br />
+      British Church, 93<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;oppida, 34<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;roads, 60, 61<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;saints
+      and martyrs, 94<br /> Bronze Age, 21, 40<br /> Budworth hermitage, 182<br />
+      Burial urns, 29, 30<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;urns in woollen,
+      220
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      C
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Caesar&rsquo;s camps, 50<br /> Camps, 50-52<br /> Carthusian monks, 162<br />
+      Castles, 135-53<br /> Cave men, 16<br /> Celts, 21, 34, 37, 56<br />
+      Cemeteries, Saxon, 92<br /> Censers, 205<br /> Chancels, 190<br /> Charles
+      II., adventures of, 267<br /> Chaucer&rsquo;s satire on monks, 160<br />
+      Chepstow Castle, 140<br /> Chest, parish, 218-29<br /> Chivalry, 143, 148<br />
+      Chrismatory, 206<br /> Christmas in olden time, 278<br /> Chun Castle, 51<br />
+      Church ales, 258<br /> Church bells, 245-53<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;house,
+      258<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;plate, 200-8<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;"
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;yard, 243<br /> Churches, parish, 184 99<br />
+      Churchwardens&rsquo; account books, 223-6<br /> Cistercian monks, 114, 161<br />
+      Civil War, effects of, 153, 220, 265<br /> Cloister of monastery, 163<br />
+      Cluny, monks of, 161<br /> Consecration crosses, 239<br /> Conversion of
+      Saxons, 94, 95<br /> Crannogs, 38<br /> Cremation, 28, 29, 92<br />
+      Cromlechs, 46-9<br /> Crosses, Saxon, 95-101<br /> Cross-legged effigies,
+      211<br /> Cucking-stool, 280
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      D
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Decay of old sports, 271<br /> Decorated architecture, 117<br /> Desecration
+      of monasteries, 159<br /> Devil&rsquo;s Highway, 61<br /> Dog-tooth
+      ornament, 116<br /> Dog-whipper, 228<br /> Dolichocephalic race, 19<br />
+      Dolmen, 49, 50<br /> <i>Domesday Book</i>, 125-34<br /> Donnington Castle,
+      152<br /> Druids, 48, 50
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      E
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early English architecture, 115-17<br /> Earthworks, 50-6<br /> Easter
+      sepulchre, 193<br /> Edge Hill, battle of, 264<br /> Edwardian castles, 140<br />
+      Emblems on brasses, 217<br /> Enstone, menhir at, 45<br /> Eslithic man, 14<br />
+      Epitaphs, curious, 243<br /> Ermyn Street, 60<br /> &ldquo;Evil eye,&rdquo;
+      291-3
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      F
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fairford windows, 232<br /> Fairies, 56, 293<br /> Fairs, 261<br />
+      Feudalism, 141<br /> Field-names, 296-8<br /> Flint implements, discovery
+      of, 11<br /> Flint implements, 15, 20<br /> Fonts, 186<br /> Food in barrows,
+      24, 25<br /> Football, 277<br /> Force-pump, Roman, 68<br /> Frescoes, 234<br />
+      Friars, preaching, 161<br /> Future life, belief in, shown by barrows, 24
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      G
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gambassi, glass-painter, 232<br /> <i>Geburs</i>, 82<br /> Gentleman,
+      accomplishments of a, 149<br /> Geological changes, 11-13<br /> Glaciers in
+      Britain, 12<br /> Glass, stained, 230-3<br /> Glastonbury, pit dwellings at,
+      37, 41, 42<br /> Green, village, 8, 280<br /> Grims-dike, 54, 55<br />
+      Grosmont Castle, 141<br /> Guizot on castles, 141
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      H
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hagioscopes, 194<br /> Hall marks, 208<br /> Harvest homes, 275<br />
+      Hastings, battle of, 264<br /> Heart burial, 222<br /> Hedsor, pile
+      dwellings at, 37, 38<br /> <i>Hereivard the Wake</i>, 264<br /> Hermits, 181<br />
+      Hexham church, 104<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;crosses, 99<br />
+      Highwaymen, 283<br /> Hocktide sports, 225, 273<br /> Homes of famous men,
+      298<br /> Hospitium of monastery, 169<br /> House, evolution of country,
+      172-7<br /> Hundreds, origin of, 87<br /> Hurstbourne, Hants, pit dwellings
+      at, 34
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ice Age, 12, 13<br /> Iknield Street, 60<br /> Ilkley cross, 99<br /> Inigo
+      Jones, 176<br /> Inns, 7, 282-90<br /> Inventories, 201<br /> Iron Age, 21<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;work in churches, 233<br /> <i>Itinerary</i>
+      of Antoninus, 59
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      J
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jervais, glass-painter, 232<br /> Johnson, Dr., on monasteries, 159
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      K
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Keep of Norman castle, 137<br /> Kelvedon rectory, 179<br /> Kenilworth
+      Castle, 151<br /> King&rsquo;s evil, 228<br /> Knaresborough hermitage, 182<br />
+      Knighthood, admission to, 145
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      L
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laindon reclusorium, 183<br /> Lammas lands, 79<br /> Lecterns, 191<br />
+      Legends, 44, 55, 263<br /> &ldquo;Lepers&rsquo; windows,&rdquo; 195<br />
+      Lich-gate, 242<br /> Local Government, 254<br /> Low side windows, 195
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      M
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Manor-house, 172-7<br /> Manors, 79, 133<br /> Man-traps, 289<br /> Markets,
+      260<br /> May Day, 225, 273<br /> Mediaeval village, 254-70<br /> Menhir, 45<br />
+      &ldquo;Merry England,&rdquo; 256<br /> Milestones, Roman, 61<br /> Miracle
+      plays, 274<br /> <i>Misereres</i>, 191<br /> Monasteries, Saxon, 102<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;154-71<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;charity
+      of, 159<br /> Monastic day, 166, 167<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;inns,
+      282<br /> Monks, benefits conferred by, 155<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;corruption
+      of, 160<br /> Monstrances, 206<br /> Monumental effigies, 209-12<br />
+      Mothering Sunday, 273<br /> Mouldings, Decorated, 118, 120<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;"
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Early English, 116<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Norman,
+      112<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Perpendicular, 123<br /> Mural
+      paintings, 234-41
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      N
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Neolithic man, 15, 18, 20, 37<br /> Norman architecture, 109-15<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;"
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;castles, 135-53<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;place-names,
+      132<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;villages, 125-34<br /> Normans,
+      coming of, 125
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      O
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ockwells manor-house, 173<br /> Ogee arch, 118<br /> Organised condition of
+      society among prehistoric races, 31<br /> Ornaments, Saxon, 91<br /> <i>Osculatorium</i>,
+      192<br /> Oxford, poor scholar of, 229
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      P
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pageants, 149-52<br /> Paleolithic man, 14<br /> Palimpsests, 213<br />
+      Parish chest, 218-29<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;registers,
+      218-23<br /> Paschall money, 225<br /> Pastimes, 271-81<br /> Pavements,
+      Roman, 71, 72<br /> Pax, 192, 206<br /> Perpendicular architecture, 120<br />
+      Pews, 187<br /> <i>Piers Ploughman</i>, 165, 174, 181<br /> Pile dwellings,
+      37-43<br /> Pilgrimages, 259<br /> Piscina, 192<br /> Pit dwellings, 33-7<br />
+      Place-names, 76, 101<br /> Plague, 255-7<br /> Plate, church, 200-8<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;in bishop&rsquo;s
+      coffin, 202<br /> Ploughman&rsquo;s lament, 84<br /> Plough Monday, 272<br />
+      Porch, 185<br /> &ldquo;Pot-boilers,&rdquo; 36<br /> Pre-Reformation plate,
+      202-5<br /> Pulpits, 188<br /> Pytheas of Marseilles, 10<br /> Pyx, 191, 206
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Q
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Quintain, 277
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      R
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Raglan Castle, 141<br /> Reading Abbey, 171<br /> Reading-pews, 197<br />
+      Reclusorium, 183<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;at Rettenden, 183<br />
+      Rectories, 177-81<br /> Registers, parish, 218-23<br /> Religion of Saxons,
+      93<br /> &ldquo;Restoration,&rdquo; 199<br /> Rollright Stones, 46, 47<br />
+      Roman relics, 57-73<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;rig, 54<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;roads, 58-62<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;villas,
+      70-3<br /> Rood-loft, 188<br /> Royal arms in churches, 190<br /> Rural
+      exodus, 300<br /> Rush-bearing, 276<br /> Ruthwell cross, 97<br /> Ryknield
+      Street, 60
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      S
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sacring bell, 252<br /> St. Christopher, 238<br /> Salisbury Cathedral, 115<br />
+      Saltways, 61<br /> Sanctus bell, 252<br /> Saxon architecture, 106-9<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;house, 172<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;monasteries,
+      102<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;place-names, 76, 77<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;"
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;relics, 90-101<br /> Saxons, coming of, 74, 75<br />
+      Screens, 189<br /> Secret chambers, 177<br /> Settle, Victoria Cave at, 17<br />
+      Shires, origin of, 88<br /> Shrovetide sports, 273<br /> Signs of inns,
+      284-8<br /> Silchester, 54, 62-70<br /> Slavery under Saxons, 84<br />
+      Sluggard waker, 228<br /> Smoke farthings, 226<br /> <i>Socmen</i>, 83, 131<br />
+      Spenser&rsquo;s description of hermitage, 182<br /> Sports and pastimes,
+      271-81<br /> Stocks, 280<br /> Stonehenge, 46<br /> Stone monuments, 44-50<br />
+      Stourbridge Fair, 261<br /> Sudeley Castle, pageant at, 149-51<br />
+      Sun-worship, relics of, 27<br /> Superstitions, 44, 295<br /> Switzerland,
+      pile dwellings in, 38-41
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      T
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Terraces,&rdquo; 19<br /> <i>Tesserae</i>, 65, 71<br /> Thanes, 80<br />
+      Thane&rsquo;s house, 81<br /> Thuribles, 205<br /> Tiles, 233<br />
+      Tournaments, 146-9<br /> Tudor arch, 121<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;houses,
+      175<br /> Tumuli, <i>see</i> Barrows<br /> Turf monuments, 53, 54<br />
+      Twelfth Night, 272<br /> Tympana, Norman, 110
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      U
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Uffington, 52-4<br /> Ufton Court, Berks, 176, 178
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      V
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vernicle, 201<br /> Vestry, contents of, 196<br /> Vicarages, 177-81<br />
+      Villas, Roman, 70-3<br /> Villeins, 130, 255
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      W
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wars, 262-70<br /> Watling Street, 60<br /> Wayland Smith&rsquo;s Cave, 27,
+      294<br /> Whalley cross, 96<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;reclusorium,
+      184<br /> White Castle, 141<br /> White Horse Hill, 53<br /> Whittenham
+      Clumps, 52<br /> Wilfrid, St., 96, 104, 108, 230<br /> Witches, 291<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;turned into hares, 292<br /> Woollen,
+      burials in, 220<br /> Worlebury, pit dwellings at, 34
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Y
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yeomen, 83, 131<br /> Yew tree in churchyard, 241
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+***** This file should be named 9197-h.htm or 9197-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/9/1/9/9197/
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders.
+Illustrated HTML version by David Widger
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/9197-h/images/019.jpg b/9197-h/images/019.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c9b668
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/019.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/019h.jpg b/9197-h/images/019h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b875313
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/019h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/026.jpg b/9197-h/images/026.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..468a52c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/026.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/026h.jpg b/9197-h/images/026h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4559048
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/026h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/032.jpg b/9197-h/images/032.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2232c73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/032.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/033.jpg b/9197-h/images/033.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f19916
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/033.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/033h.jpg b/9197-h/images/033h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e33a73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/033h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/039.jpg b/9197-h/images/039.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f7c04a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/039.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/040.jpg b/9197-h/images/040.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b11051
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/040.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/043.jpg b/9197-h/images/043.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fb0d63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/043.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/048.jpg b/9197-h/images/048.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22790b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/048.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/051.jpg b/9197-h/images/051.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2addc14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/051.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/058.jpg b/9197-h/images/058.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8fdab6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/058.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/060.jpg b/9197-h/images/060.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3257d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/060.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/062.jpg b/9197-h/images/062.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a674b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/062.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/064.jpg b/9197-h/images/064.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ba3dfb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/064.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/066.jpg b/9197-h/images/066.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31bf94c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/066.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/077.jpg b/9197-h/images/077.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f52f14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/077.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/079.jpg b/9197-h/images/079.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa126e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/079.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/081.jpg b/9197-h/images/081.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbbd882
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/081.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/085.jpg b/9197-h/images/085.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0e2423
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/085.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/091.jpg b/9197-h/images/091.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bfef8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/091.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/094.jpg b/9197-h/images/094.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a96101
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/094.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/096.jpg b/9197-h/images/096.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d13e17f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/096.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/098.jpg b/9197-h/images/098.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3af8de2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/098.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/104.jpg b/9197-h/images/104.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0afc94c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/104.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/114.jpg b/9197-h/images/114.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6592486
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/114.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/114h.jpg b/9197-h/images/114h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4267c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/114h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/118.jpg b/9197-h/images/118.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a9fc94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/118.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/120.jpg b/9197-h/images/120.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec2ea43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/120.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/121.jpg b/9197-h/images/121.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29824c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/121.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/122.jpg b/9197-h/images/122.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7a320e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/122.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/124.jpg b/9197-h/images/124.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e758533
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/124.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/125.jpg b/9197-h/images/125.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a203229
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/125.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/126.jpg b/9197-h/images/126.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43d7b6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/126.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/127.jpg b/9197-h/images/127.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66c92c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/127.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/128.jpg b/9197-h/images/128.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..332f237
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/128.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/129.jpg b/9197-h/images/129.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0447e39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/129.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/130.jpg b/9197-h/images/130.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63f33e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/130.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/131.jpg b/9197-h/images/131.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05d8fae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/131.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/132.jpg b/9197-h/images/132.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad8732e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/132.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/133a.jpg b/9197-h/images/133a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0610503
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/133a.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/133b.jpg b/9197-h/images/133b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44518d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/133b.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/134.jpg b/9197-h/images/134.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89d2999
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/134.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/135.jpg b/9197-h/images/135.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d1ff620
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/135.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/136a.jpg b/9197-h/images/136a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2b41fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/136a.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/136b.jpg b/9197-h/images/136b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c77bb4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/136b.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/137.jpg b/9197-h/images/137.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54b35d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/137.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/147.jpg b/9197-h/images/147.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b53de13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/147.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/150.jpg b/9197-h/images/150.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f12fc85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/150.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/152.jpg b/9197-h/images/152.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d9f18f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/152.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/155.jpg b/9197-h/images/155.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f888f64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/155.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/155h.jpg b/9197-h/images/155h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..083d2d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/155h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/161.jpg b/9197-h/images/161.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fa4e7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/161.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/172.jpg b/9197-h/images/172.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20fc126
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/172.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/172h.jpg b/9197-h/images/172h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a9d9c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/172h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/178.jpg b/9197-h/images/178.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d22674
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/178.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/189.jpg b/9197-h/images/189.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f62468e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/189.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/189h.jpg b/9197-h/images/189h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f9848c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/189h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/189o.jpg b/9197-h/images/189o.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9575999
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/189o.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/190.jpg b/9197-h/images/190.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ffd944f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/190.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/191.jpg b/9197-h/images/191.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be746c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/191.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/192.jpg b/9197-h/images/192.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a27d31b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/192.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/193.jpg b/9197-h/images/193.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d272e12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/193.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/194.jpg b/9197-h/images/194.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b7f183
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/194.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/194h.jpg b/9197-h/images/194h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b2e267
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/194h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/196.jpg b/9197-h/images/196.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8668766
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/196.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/199.jpg b/9197-h/images/199.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1c1cf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/199.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/199h.jpg b/9197-h/images/199h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfd22b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/199h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/206.jpg b/9197-h/images/206.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8faa8cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/206.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/208.jpg b/9197-h/images/208.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa890ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/208.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/210.jpg b/9197-h/images/210.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6645079
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/210.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/210h.jpg b/9197-h/images/210h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a3e8ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/210h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/212.jpg b/9197-h/images/212.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3d806c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/212.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/215.jpg b/9197-h/images/215.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..50336a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/215.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/218.jpg b/9197-h/images/218.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5183c0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/218.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/223.jpg b/9197-h/images/223.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e31b8eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/223.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/224.jpg b/9197-h/images/224.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c96b45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/224.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/225.jpg b/9197-h/images/225.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd394cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/225.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/254.jpg b/9197-h/images/254.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26152a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/254.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/256.jpg b/9197-h/images/256.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4df2000
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/256.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/257.jpg b/9197-h/images/257.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a95171e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/257.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/259.jpg b/9197-h/images/259.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..65e239e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/259.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/261.jpg b/9197-h/images/261.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41f8d77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/261.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/271.jpg b/9197-h/images/271.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb4e6ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/271.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/279.jpg b/9197-h/images/279.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48718aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/279.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/279h.jpg b/9197-h/images/279h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c972cf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/279h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/294.jpg b/9197-h/images/294.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0b3683
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/294.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/294h.jpg b/9197-h/images/294h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db27a38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/294h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/303.jpg b/9197-h/images/303.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81d0116
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/303.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/303h.jpg b/9197-h/images/303h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..081ce8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/303h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/310.jpg b/9197-h/images/310.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..faa62a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/310.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/310h.jpg b/9197-h/images/310h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fcb9564
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/310h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/323.jpg b/9197-h/images/323.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f3e998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/323.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/323h.jpg b/9197-h/images/323h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9229063
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/323h.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/front.jpg b/9197-h/images/front.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd2ec13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/front.jpg
diff --git a/9197-h/images/title.jpg b/9197-h/images/title.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1a49b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197-h/images/title.jpg
diff --git a/9197.txt b/9197.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1bf07e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8462 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: English Villages
+
+Author: P. H. Ditchfield
+
+Release Date: August 13, 2004 [EBook #9197]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders.
+Illustrated HTML version by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+ENGLISH VILLAGES
+
+BY
+
+P.H. DITCHFIELD
+M.A., F.S.A.
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+Eleven years ago my little book on the antiquities of English villages
+was published. Its object was to interest our rustic neighbours in
+their surroundings, to record the social life of the people at various
+times--their feasts and fairs, sports and pastimes, faiths and
+superstitions--and to describe the scenes which once took place in the
+fields and lanes they know so well. A friendly reviewer remarked that
+the wonder was that a book of that kind had never been written before,
+and that that was the first attempt to give a popular and readable
+sketch of the history and associations of our villages. In the present
+work I have attempted to fill in the sketch with greater detail, and to
+write not only for the villagers themselves, but for all those who by
+education are able to take a more intelligent interest in the study of
+the past.
+
+During the last decade many village histories have been written, and
+if this book should be of service to anyone who is compiling the
+chronicles of some rural world, or if it should induce some who have
+the necessary leisure and ability to undertake such works, it will not
+have been written in vain.
+
+One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+continual decrease of the population. The rural exodus is an alarming
+and very real danger to the welfare of social England. The country is
+considered dull and life therein dreary both by squire and peasant
+alike. Hence the attractions of towns or the delights of travel empty
+our villages. The manor-house is closed and labourers are scarce. To
+increase the attractions of our villages, to arouse an interest in
+their past history and social life, is worth attempting; and perhaps
+this Story may be of some use in fostering local patriotism, and in
+reconciling those who spend their lives far from the busy hives of men
+to their lot, when they find how much interest lies immediately around
+them.
+
+The study of archaeology has been pursued with much vigour during
+recent years, and increased knowledge has overthrown the many wild
+theories and conjectures which were gravely pronounced to be
+ascertained facts by the antiquaries of fifty years ago. Gildas,
+Geoffrey of Monmouth, or Richard of Cirencester are no longer accepted
+as safe and infallible guides. We know that there were such people as
+the Druids, but we no longer attribute to them the great stone circles
+nor imagine them sacrificing on "Druid's altars," as our forefathers
+called the dolmens. The history of Britain no longer begins with the
+advent of Julius Caesar, nor is his account of the Celtic tribes and
+their manners accepted as a full and complete statement of all that
+is known about them. The study of flint implements, of barrows and
+earthworks, has considerably thrown back our historical horizon and
+enabled us to understand the conditions of life in our island in the
+early days of a remote past before the dawn of history. The systematic
+excavation of Silchester, so ably conducted by the Society of
+Antiquaries, and of other Roman sites of towns and villas, enables us
+to realise more clearly the history of Britain under the rule of the
+Empire; and the study of the etymology of place-names has overthrown
+many of the absurd derivations which found a place in the old county
+histories, and are often repeated by the writers of modern guide books.
+Moreover patient labour amid old records, rolls, and charters, has
+vastly increased our knowledge of the history of manors; and the
+ancient parish registers and churchwardens' account books have been
+made to yield their store of information for the benefit of industrious
+students and scholars. There has been much destruction and much
+construction; and this good work will doubtless continue, until at
+length English archaeology may be dignified with the title of an exact
+science. Destruction of another kind is much to be deplored, which has
+left its mark on many an English village. The so-called "restoration"
+of ancient parish churches, frequently conducted by men ignorant of the
+best traditions of English architecture, the obliteration of the old
+architectural features, the entire destruction of many interesting
+buildings, have wrought deplorable ruin in our villages, and severed
+the links with the past which now can never be repaired. The progress
+of antiquarian knowledge will I trust arrest the destroyer's hand and
+prevent any further spoliation of our diminished inheritance. If this
+book should be found useful in stimulating an intelligent interest in
+architectural studies, and in protecting our ancient buildings from
+such acts of vandalism, its purpose will have been abundantly achieved.
+
+I am indebted to many friends and acquaintances for much information
+which has been useful to me in writing this book; to Sir John Evans
+whose works are invaluable to all students of ancient stone and bronze
+implements; to Dr. Cox whose little book on _How to Write the History
+of a Parish_ is a sure and certain guide to local historians; to Mr.
+St. John Hope and Mr. Fallow for much information contained in their
+valuable monograph on _Old Church Plate_; to the late Dr. Stevens, of
+Reading; to Mr. Shrubsole of the same town; to Mr. Gibbins, the author
+of _The Industrial History of England_, for the use of an illustration
+from his book; to Mr. Melville, Mr. P.J. Colson, and the Rev. W.
+Marshall for their photographic aid; and to many other authors who are
+only known to me by their valuable works. To all of these gentlemen I
+desire to express my thanks, and also to Mr. Mackintosh for his
+artistic sketch of a typical English village, which forms the
+frontispiece of my book.
+
+P.H.D.
+
+BARKHAM RECTORY
+_May_, 1901
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.     INTRODUCTION
+II.    PREHISTORIC REMAINS
+III.   TUMULI OR BARROWS
+IV.    PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS
+V.     CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS
+VI.    ROMAN RELICS
+VII.   ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
+VIII.  SAXON RELICS
+IX.    ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
+X.     NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE "DOMESDAY BOOK"
+XI.    NORMAN CASTLES
+XII.   MONASTERIES
+XIII.  THE MANOR-HOUSE
+XIV.   PARISH CHURCHES
+XV.    CHURCH PLATE
+XVI.   MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES
+XVII.  THE PARISH CHEST
+XVIII. STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS
+XIX.   CHURCH BELLS
+XX.    THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE
+XXI.   VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES
+XXII.  THE VILLAGE INN
+XXIII. VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
+
+       APPENDIX--BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO
+       PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+
+       INDEX
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+FULL-PAGE
+
+An English village
+Village street
+Palaeolithic implements
+Neolithic and bronze implements
+Old market cross
+Broughton Castle
+Netley Abbey, south transept
+Southcote Manor, showing moat and pigeon-house
+Old Manor-house--Upton Court
+Stone Tithe Barn, Bradford-on-Avon
+Village church in the Vale
+An ancient village
+Anne Hathaway's cottage
+Old stocks and whipping-post
+Village inn, with old Tithe Barn of Reading Abbey
+Old cottages
+
+IN THE TEXT
+
+Barbed and leaf-shaped arrow-heads
+Plan of a tumulus
+Plan of tumulus called Wayland Smith's Cave, Berkshire
+Celtic cinerary urn
+Articles found in pit dwellings
+Iron spear-head found at Hedsor
+Menhir
+Rollright stones (from Camden's _Britannia_, 1607)
+Dolmen
+Plan and section of Chun Castle
+The White Horse at Uffington
+Plan of Silchester
+Capital of column
+Roman force-pump
+Tesselated pavement
+Beating acorns for swine (from the Cotton MS., _Nero_, c. 4)
+House of Saxon thane
+Wheel plough (from the Bayeux tapestry)
+Smithy (from the Cotton MS., B 4)
+Saxon relics
+Consecration of a Saxon church
+Tower of Barnack Church, Northamptonshire
+Doorway, Earl's Barton Church
+Tower window, Monkwearmouth Church
+Sculptured head of doorway, Fordington Church, Dorset
+Norman capitals
+Norman ornamental mouldings
+Croyland Abbey Church, Lincolnshire
+Semi-Norman arch, Church of St. Cross
+Early English piers and capitals
+Dog-tooth ornament
+Brownsover Chapel, Warwickshire
+Ball-flower mouldings, Tewkesbury Abbey
+Ogee arch
+Decorated capitals, Hanwell and Chacombe
+Decorated windows, Merton College Chapel; Sandiacre, Derbyshire
+Decorated mouldings, Elton, Huntingdonshire; Austrey, Warwickshire
+Perpendicular window, Merton College Chapel, Oxford
+Tudor arch, vestry door, Adderbury Church, Oxon
+Perpendicular parapet, St. Erasmus' Chapel, Westminster Abbey
+Perpendicular moulding, window, Christchurch, Oxford
+Diagram of a manor
+Ancient plan of Old Sarum
+A Norman castle
+Tournament
+A monk transcribing
+Ockwells manor-house
+Richmond Palace
+Doorway and staircase, Ufton Court
+The porch, Ufton Court
+Window of south wing, Ufton Court
+Ancient pew-work, Tysoe Church, Warwickshire
+Early English screen, Thurcaston, Leicestershire
+Norman piscina, Romsey Church, Hants
+Lowside window, Dallington Church, Northamptonshire
+Reading-pew, seventeenth century, Langley Chapel, Salop.
+Chalice and paten, Sandford, Oxfordshire
+Pre-Reformation plate
+Censer or thurible
+Mural paintings
+Ancient sanctus bell found at Warwick
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+Local histories--Ignorance and destruction--Advantages of the study
+of village antiquities--Description of an English village--The church--
+The manor-house--Prehistoric people--Later inhabitants--Saxons--Village
+inn--Village green--Legends.
+
+
+To write a complete history of any village is one of the hardest literary
+labours which anyone can undertake. The soil is hard, and the crop after
+the expenditure of much toil is often very scanty. In many cases the
+records are few and difficult to discover, buried amidst the mass of
+papers at the Record Office, or entombed in some dusty corner of the
+Diocesan Registry. Days may be spent in searching for these treasures
+of knowledge with regard to the past history of a village without any
+adequate result; but sometimes fortune favours the industrious toiler,
+and he discovers a rich ore which rewards him for all his pains. Slowly
+his store of facts grows, and he is at last able to piece together the
+history of his little rural world, which time and the neglect of past
+generations had consigned to dusty oblivion.
+
+In recent years several village histories have been written with varied
+success by both competent and incompetent scribes; but such books are few
+in number, and we still have to deplore the fact that so little is known
+about the hamlets in which we live. All writers seem to join in the same
+lament, and mourn over the ignorance that prevails in rural England with
+regard to the treasures of antiquity, history, and folklore, which are to
+be found almost everywhere. We may still echo the words of the learned
+author of _Tom Brown's Schooldays_, the late Mr. Hughes, who said that
+the present generation know nothing of their own birthplaces, or of the
+lanes, woods, and fields through which they roam. Not one young man in
+twenty knows where to find the wood-sorrel, or the bee-orchis; still
+fewer can tell the country legends, the stories of the old gable-ended
+farmhouses, or the place where the last skirmish was fought in the Civil
+War, or where the parish butts stood. Nor is this ignorance confined to
+the unlearned rustics; it is shared by many educated people, who have
+travelled abroad and studied the history of Rome or Venice, Frankfort or
+Bruges, and yet pass by unheeded the rich stores of antiquarian lore,
+which they witness every day, and never think of examining closely and
+carefully. There are very few villages in England which have no objects
+of historical interest, no relics of the past which are worthy of
+preservation. "Restoration," falsely so called, conducted by ignorant
+or perverse architects, has destroyed and removed many features of our
+parish churches; the devastating plough has well-nigh levelled many an
+ancient barrow; railroads have changed the character of rustic life and
+killed many an old custom and rural festival. Old legends and quaint
+stories of the countryside have given place to talks about politics and
+newspaper gossip. But still much remains if we learn to examine things
+for ourselves, and endeavour to gather up the relics of the past and save
+them from the destructive hand of Time.
+
+A great service may thus be rendered not only to the cause of history,
+but also to the villagers of rural England, by those who have time,
+leisure, and learning, sufficient to gain some knowledge of bygone times.
+It adds greatly to the interest of their lives to know something of the
+place where they live; and it has been well said that every man's concern
+with his native place has something more in it than the amount of rates
+and taxes that he has to pay. He may not be able to write a history of
+his parish, but he can gather up the curious gossip of the neighbourhood,
+the traditions and stories which have been handed down from former
+generations. And if anyone is at the pains to acquire some knowledge of
+local history, and will impart what he knows to his poorer neighbours, he
+will add greatly to their interest in life. Life is a burden, labour mere
+drudgery, when a man has nothing in which he can interest himself. When
+we remember the long hours which an agricultural labourer spends alone,
+without a creature to speak to, except his horses or the birds, we can
+imagine how dull his life must be, if his mind be not occupied. But here,
+on his own ground, he may find an endless supply of food for thought,
+which will afford him much greater pleasure and satisfaction than
+thinking and talking about his neighbours' faults, reflecting upon his
+wrongs, or imitating the example of one of his class who, when asked
+by the squire what he was thinking so deeply about, replied, "Mostly
+naught." To remove the pall of ignorance that darkens the rustic mind,
+to quicken his understanding and awaken his interest, are certainly
+desirable objects; although his ignorance is very often shared by his
+betters, who frequently hazard very strange theories and manifest many
+curious ideas with regard to village antiquities.
+
+We will walk together through the main roads of the village, and observe
+some of its many points of interest. Indeed, it is no small thing to live
+in such a "city of memories" as every village is, when at every turn and
+corner we meet with something that reminds us of the past, and recalls
+the pleasing associations of old village life. To those who have lived
+amid the din and turmoil of a large town, where everybody is in a hurry,
+and there is nothing but noise, confusion, and bustle, the delicious
+calm and quietude of an old English village, undisturbed by the world's
+rude noise, is most grateful. But to live in memory of what has gone
+before, of the lives and customs of our forefathers, of the strange
+events that have happened on the very ground upon which we are standing,
+all this will make us love our village homes and delight in them
+exceedingly. In most of our large towns the old features are fast
+disappearing; historical houses have been pulled down to make room
+for buildings more adapted to present needs, and everything is being
+modernised; but in the country everything remains the same, and it is
+not so difficult to let one's thoughts wander into the past, and picture
+to one's self the old features of village life in bygone times.
+
+Most of our villages have the usual common features, and it is not
+difficult to describe a typical example, though the details vary very
+much, and the histories of no two villages are identical. We see arising
+above the trees the church, the centre of the old village life, both
+religious, secular, and social. It stands upon a site which has been
+consecrated to the service of God for many centuries. There is possibly
+in or near the churchyard a tumulus, or burial mound, which shows that
+the spot was set apart for some religious observances even before
+Christianity reached our shores. Here the early Saxon missionary planted
+his cross and preached in the open air to the gathered villagers. Here
+a Saxon thane built a rude timber church which was supplanted by an
+early Norman structure of stone with round arches and curiously carved
+ornamentation. This building has been added to at various times, and now
+shows, writ in stone, its strange and varied history. The old time-worn
+registers, kept in the parish chest in the vestry, breathe the
+atmosphere of bygone times, and tell the stories and romances of the
+"rude forefathers of the hamlet." The tombs and monuments of knights and
+ancient heroes tell many a tale of valour and old-world prowess, of
+families that have entirely died out, of others that still happily
+remain amongst us, and record the names and virtues of many an
+illustrious house. The windows, brasses, bells, and inscriptions, have
+all some interesting story to relate, which we hope presently to examine
+more minutely.
+
+Nestling amid the trees we see the manor-house, standing probably on the
+site of a much older edifice; and this building carries our thoughts back
+to the Saxon and early Norman times, when the lord of the manor had
+vassals and serfs under him, held his manorial court, and reigned as a
+king in his own small domain. The history of the old English manor is a
+very important one, concerning which much has been written, many
+questions disputed, and some points still remain to be decided.
+
+Then we notice an old farmhouse which has doubtless seen better days, for
+there are the remains of an ancient moat around it, as if some family of
+importance once lived there, and wished to guard themselves and their
+possessions from troublesome visitors. This moat tells of the times of
+war and lawlessness, of wild and fierce animals roaming the countryside;
+and if the walls of the old house could speak how many stories could they
+tell of the strange customs of our ancestors, of bread riots, of civil
+wars, and disturbances which once destroyed the tranquillity of our
+peaceful villages!
+
+We shall endeavour to discover the earliest inhabitants of our villages
+who left their traces behind in the curious stone and bronze weapons of
+war or domestic implements, and who lived in far remote periods before
+the dawn of history. The barrows, or tumuli, which contain their dead
+bodies tell us much about them; and also the caves and lake dwellings
+help us to form some very accurate notions of the conditions of life in
+those distant days. We shall see that the Britons or Celts were far from
+being the naked woad-dyed savages described by Caesar, whose account has
+so long been deemed sufficient by the historians of our childhood. We
+shall call to mind the many waves of invaders which rolled over our
+country--the Celts, the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans--all of whom
+have left some traces behind them, and added sundry chapters to the story
+of our villages.
+
+The fields too proclaim their story, and tell us of the Saxon folk who
+were our first farmers, and made clearings in the forests, and tilled the
+same soil we work to-day. They tell us too of the old monks who knew so
+much about agriculture; and occasionally the plough turns up a rusty
+sword or cannon ball, which reveals the story of battles and civil wars
+which we trust have passed away from our land for ever. The very names of
+the fields are not without signification, and tell us of animals which
+are now extinct, of the manners of our forefathers, of the old methods of
+farming, and the common lands which have passed away.
+
+The old village inn, with its curiously painted signboard, has its own
+story to tell, of the old coaching days, and of the great people who used
+to travel along the main roads, and were sometimes snowed up in a drift
+just below "The Magpie," which had always good accommodation for
+travellers, and stabling for fifty horses. All was activity in the stable
+yard when the coach came in; the villagers crowded round the inn doors to
+see the great folks from London who were regaling themselves with
+well-cooked English joints; and if they stayed all night, could find
+comfortable beds with lavender-scented sheets, and every attention. But
+the railroads and iron steeds have changed all that; until yesterday the
+roads were deserted, and the glory of the old inns departed. Bicyclists
+now speed along in the track of the old coaches; but they are not quite
+so picturesque, and the bicycle bell is less musical than the cheerful
+posthorn.
+
+On the summit of a neighbouring hill we see a curious formation which is
+probably an earthwork, constructed many centuries ago by the early
+dwellers in this district for the purpose of defence in dangerous times,
+when the approach of a neighbouring tribe, or the advance of a company of
+free-booting invaders, threatened them with death or the destruction of
+their flocks and herds. These earthworks we shall examine more closely.
+An ivy-covered ruin near the church shows the remains of a monastic cell
+or monastery; and in the distance perhaps we can see the outlines of an
+old Norman keep or castle; all of these relate to the story of our
+villages, and afford us subjects for investigation and research.
+
+Then there is the village green where so many generations of the
+villagers have disported themselves, danced the old country dances
+(now alas! forgotten), and reared the merry May-pole, and crowned
+their queen. Here they held their rural sports, and fought their bouts
+of quarter-staff and cudgel-play, grinned through horse-collars, and
+played pipe and tabor at many a rustic feast, when life was young and
+England merry. We shall try to picture to ourselves these happy scenes
+of innocent diversion which cheered the hearts of our forefathers in
+bygone times.
+
+[Illustration: A VILLAGE STREET]
+
+We will try to collect the curious legends and stories which were told to
+us by our grandsires, and are almost forgotten by the present generation.
+These we should treasure up, lest they should be for ever lost. Local
+tradition has often led the way to important discoveries.
+
+In this brief circuit of an ordinary English village we have found many
+objects which are calculated to excite our imagination and to stimulate
+inquiry. A closer examination will well repay our study, and reward the
+labour of the investigator. It is satisfactory to know that all possible
+discoveries as to the antiquities of our villages have not yet been made.
+We have still much to learn, and the earth has not yet disclosed all its
+treasures. Roman villas still remain buried; the sepulchres of many a
+Saxon chieftain or early nomad Celt are still unexplored; the pile
+dwellings and cave domiciles of the early inhabitants of our country have
+still to be discovered; and piles of records and historical documents
+have still to be sought out, arranged, and examined. So there is much
+work to be done by the antiquary for many a long year; and every little
+discovery, and the results of every patient research, assist in
+accumulating that store of knowledge which is gradually being compiled
+by the hard labour of our English historians and antiquaries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+PREHISTORIC REMAINS
+
+Pytheas of Marseilles--Discovery of flint implements--Geological
+changes--Palaeolithic man--Eslithic--Palaeolithic implements--
+Drift men--Cave men--Neolithic man and his weapons--Dolichocephalic--
+Celtic or Brachycephalic race--The Iron Age.
+
+
+It was customary some years ago to begin the history of any country with
+the statement, "Of the early inhabitants nothing is known with any
+certainty," and to commence the history of England with the landing of
+Julius Caesar B.C. 55. If this book had been written forty or fifty
+years ago it might have been stated that our first knowledge of Britain
+dates from 330 B.C. when Pytheas of Marseilles visited it, and described
+his impressions. He says that the climate was foggy, a characteristic
+which it has not altogether lost, that the people cultivated the ground
+and used beer and mead as beverages. Our villagers still follow the
+example of their ancestors in their use of one at least of these drinks.
+
+Of the history of all the ages prior to the advent of this Pytheas all
+written record is silent. Hence we have to play the part of scientific
+detectives, examine the footprints of the early man who inhabited our
+island, hunt for odds and ends which he has left behind, to rake over
+his kitchen middens, pick up his old tools, and even open his burial
+mound.
+
+About fifty years ago the attention of the scientific world was drawn to
+the flint implements which were scattered over the surface of our fields
+and in our gravel pits and mountain caves; and inquiring minds began
+to speculate as to their origin. The collections made at Amiens and
+Abbeville and other places began to convince men of the existence of an
+unknown and unimagined race, and it gradually dawned on us that on our
+moors and downs were the tombs of a race of men who fashioned their
+weapons of war and implements of peace out of flint. These discoveries
+have pushed back our knowledge of man to an antiquity formerly never
+dreamed of, and enlarged considerably our historical horizon. So we will
+endeavour to discover what kind of men they were, who roamed our fields
+and woods before any historical records were written, and mark the very
+considerable traces of their occupation which they have left behind.
+
+The condition of life and the character and climate of the country were
+very different in early times from what they are in the present day; and
+in endeavouring to discover the kind of people who dwelt here in
+prehistoric times, we must hear what the geologists have to tell us
+about the physical aspect of Britain in that period. There was a time
+when this country was connected with the Continent of Europe, and the
+English Channel and North Sea were mere valleys with rivers running
+through them fed by many streams. Where the North Sea now rolls there
+was the great valley of the Rhine; and as there were no ocean-waves to
+cross, animals and primitive man wandered northwards and westwards from
+the Continent, and made their abode here. It is curious to note that the
+migratory birds when returning to France and Italy, and thence to the
+sunny regions of Algiers and other parts of Northern Africa, always
+cross the seas where in remote ages there was dry land. They always
+traverse the same route; and it appears that the recollection of the
+places where their ancestors crossed has been preserved by them through
+all the centuries that have elapsed since "the silver streak" was formed
+that severs England from her neighbours.
+
+In the times of which we are speaking the land was much higher than it
+is now. Snowdon was 600 feet greater, and the climate was much colder
+and more rigorous. Glaciers like those in Switzerland were in all the
+higher valleys, and the marks of the action of the ice are still plainly
+seen on the rocky cliffs that border many a ravine. Moreover we find in
+the valleys many detached rocks, immense boulders, the nature of which
+is quite different from the character of the stone in the neighbourhood.
+These were carried down by the glaciers from higher elevations, and
+deposited, when the ice melted, in the lower valleys. Hence in this
+glacial period the condition of the country was very different from what
+it is now.
+
+Then a remarkable change took place. The land began to sink, and its
+elevation so much decreased that the central part of the country became
+a huge lake, and the peak of Snowdon was an island surrounded by the sea
+which washed with its waves the lofty shoulder of the mountain. This is
+the reason why shells and shingle are found in high elevations. The Ice
+Age passed away and the climate became warmer. The Gulf Stream found its
+way to our shores, and the country was covered by a warm ocean having
+islands raising their heads above the surface. Sharks swam around, whose
+teeth we find now buried in beds of clay. The land continued to rise,
+and attracted by the sunshine and the more genial clime animals from the
+Continent wandered northwards, and with them came man. Caves, now high
+amongst the hills, but then on a level with the rivers, were his first
+abode, and contain many relics of his occupancy, together with the bones
+of extinct animals. The land appears to have risen, and the climate
+became colder. The sea worked its relentless way through the chalk hills
+on the south and gradually met the waves of the North Sea which flowed
+over the old Rhine valley. It widened also the narrow strait that
+severed the country from Ireland, and the outline and contour of the
+island began more nearly to resemble that with which we are now
+familiar.
+
+A vast period of time was necessary to accomplish all these immense
+changes; and it is impossible to speculate with any degree of certainty
+how long that period was, which transformed the icebound surface of
+our island to a land of verdure and wild forests. We must leave such
+conjectures and the more detailed accounts of the glacial and
+post-glacial periods to the geologists, as our present concern is
+limited to the study of the habits and condition of the men who roamed
+our fields and forests in prehistoric times. Although no page of history
+gives us any information concerning them, we can find out from the
+relics of arms and implements which the earth has preserved for us, what
+manner of men lived in the old cave dwellings, or constructed their rude
+huts, and lie buried beneath the vast barrows.
+
+The earliest race of men who inhabited our island was called the
+Palaeolithic race, from the fact that they used the most ancient form
+of stone implements. Traces of a still earlier race are said to have
+been discovered a few years ago on the chalk plateau of the North Down,
+near Sevenoaks. The flints have some slight hollows in them, as if
+caused by scraping, and denote that the users must have been of a very
+low condition of intelligence--able to use a tool but scarcely able to
+make one. This race has been called the Eolithic; but some antiquaries
+have thrown doubts upon their existence, and the discovery of these
+flints is too recent to allow us to speak of them with any degree of
+certainty.
+
+[Illustration: PALAEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS]
+
+The traces of Palaeolithic man are very numerous, and he evidently
+exercised great skill in bringing his implements to a symmetrical shape
+by chipping. The use of metals for cutting purposes was entirely
+unknown; and stone, wood, and bone were the only materials of which
+these primitive beings availed themselves for the making of weapons or
+domestic implements. Palaeolithic man lived here during that distant
+period when this country was united with the Continent, and when the
+huge mammoth roamed in the wild forests, and powerful and fierce animals
+struggled for existence in the hills and vales of a cold and inclement
+country. His weapons and tools were of the rudest description, and made
+of chipped flint. Many of these have been found in the valley gravels,
+which had probably been dropped from canoes into the lakes or rivers, or
+washed down by floods from stations on the shore. Eighty or ninety feet
+above the present level of the Thames in the higher gravels are these
+relics found; and they are so abundant that the early inhabitants who
+used them must have been fairly numerous. Their shape is usually oval,
+and often pointed into a rude resemblance of the shape of a spear-head.
+Some flint-flakes are of the knifelike character; others resemble awls,
+or borers, with sharp points evidently for making holes in skins for the
+purpose of constructing a garment. Hammer-stones for crushing bones,
+tools with well-wrought flat edges, scrapers, and other implements, were
+the stock-in-trade of the earliest inhabitant of our country, and are
+distinguishable from those used by Neolithic man by their larger and
+rougher work. The maker of the old stone tools never polished his
+implements; nor did he fashion any of those finely wrought arrowheads
+and javelin points, upon which his successor prided himself. The latter
+discovered that the flints which were dug up were more easily fashioned
+into various shapes; whereas Palaeolithic man picked up the flints that
+lay about on the surface of the ground, and chipped them into the form
+of his rude tools. However, the elder man was acquainted with the use
+of fire, which he probably obtained by striking flints on blocks of
+iron pyrites. Wandering about the country in families and tribes, he
+contrived to exist by hunting the numerous animals that inhabited the
+primeval forests, and has left us his weapons and tools to tell us what
+kind of man he was. His implements are found in the drift gravels by
+the riversides; and from this cause his race are known as drift men,
+in order to distinguish them from the _cave men_, who seem to have
+belonged to a little later period.
+
+The first dwellings of man were the caves on the hillsides, before he
+found out the art of building pile huts. In Palaeolithic times these
+caves were inhabited by a rude race of feral nomads who lived by the
+chase, and fashioned the rude tools which we have already described.
+They were, however, superior to the drift men, and had some notion of
+art. The principal caves in the British islands containing the relics of
+the cave folk are the following: Perthichoaren, Denbighshire, wherein
+were found the remains of Platycnemic man--so named from his having
+sharp shin-bones; Cefn, St. Asaph; Uphill, Somerset; King's Scar and the
+Victoria Cave, Settle; Robin Hood's Cave and Pinhole Cave, Derbyshire;
+Black Rock, Caldy Island, Coygan Caves, Pembrokeshire; King Arthur's
+Cave, Monmouth; Durdham Downs, Bristol; and sundry others, near Oban, in
+the valleys of the Trent, Dove, and Nore, and of the Irish Blackwater,
+and in Caithness.
+
+In these abodes the bones of both men and animals have been found; but
+these do not all belong to the same period, as the Neolithic people,
+and those of the Bronze and Iron Ages, followed the occupation of the
+earlier race. The remains of the different races, however, lie at
+various depths, those of the earlier race naturally lying the lowest. An
+examination of the Victoria Cave, Settle, clearly shows this. Outside
+the entrance there was found a layer of charcoal and burnt bones, and
+the burnt stones of fireplaces, pottery, coins of the Emperors Trajan
+and Constantine, and ornaments in bone, ivory, bronze and enamel. The
+animal remains were those of the _bos longifrons_ (Celtic ox), pig,
+horse, roe, stag, fowl (wild), and grouse. This layer was evidently
+composed of the relics of a Romano-British people. Below this were found
+chipped flints, an adze of melaphyre, and a layer of boulders, sand, and
+clay, brought down by the ice from the higher valley.
+
+Inside the cave in the upper cave earth were found the bones of fox,
+badger, brown bear, grizzly bear, reindeer, red deer, horse, pig, and
+goat, and some bones evidently hacked by man. In the lower cave earth
+there were the remains of the hyena, fox, brown and grizzly bears,
+elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, urus, bison, and red deer, the
+hacked bones of a goat, and a small leg-bone of a man.
+
+Some idea of the time which has elapsed since primitive man inhabited
+this rude dwelling may be formed from these excavations. Two feet below
+the surface lay the Romano-British layer, and we know therefore that
+about 1,600 years was required for the earth to accumulate to that
+depth. The Neolithic layer was six feet below this; hence 4,800 years
+would be necessary to form this depth of earth. So we may conclude that
+at least 6,400 years ago Neolithic man used the cave. A long time
+previous to this lived the creatures of the lower cave earth, the bison,
+elephant, and the hyena with the solitary human bone, which belonged to
+the sharp-shinned race (Platycnemic) of beings, the earliest dwellers in
+our country.
+
+It is doubtful whether Palaeolithic man has left any descendants. The
+Esquimaux appear to somewhat resemble them. Professor Boyd Dawkins, in
+his remarkable book, _Cave Hunting_, traces this relationship in the
+character of implements, methods of obtaining food and cooking it, modes
+of preparing skins for clothing, and particularly in the remarkable
+skill of depicting figures on bone which both races display. In carving
+figures on bone and teeth early man in Britain was certainly more
+skilful than his successor; but he was a very inferior type of the human
+race, yet his intelligence and mode of life have been deemed not lower
+than those of the Australian aborigines.
+
+The animals which roamed through the country in this Pleistocene period
+were the elk and reindeer, which link us on to the older and colder
+period when Arctic conditions prevailed; the Irish deer, a creature of
+great size whose head weighed about eighty pounds; bison, elephant,
+rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lion, wolf, otter, bear, horse, red deer, roe,
+urus or gigantic ox, the short-horned ox (_bos longifrons_), boar,
+badger and many others which survive to the present day, and have
+therefore a very long line of ancestors.
+
+The successor of the old stone implement maker was Neolithic man, to
+whom we have already had occasion to refer. Some lengthy period of
+geological change separates him from his predecessor of the Old Stone
+Age. Specimens of his handiwork show that he was a much more civilised
+person than his predecessor, and presented a much higher type of
+humanity. He had a peculiarly shaped head, the back part of the skull
+being strangely prolonged; and from this feature he is called
+_dolichocephalic_. He was small in stature, about 5 feet 6 inches in
+height, having a dark complexion, and his descendants are the Iberian or
+Basque races in the Western Pyrenees and may still be traced in parts of
+Ireland and Wales. The long barrows or mounds, the length of which is
+greater than the breadth, contain his remains, and we find traces of his
+existence in all the western countries of Europe.
+
+He had made many discoveries which were unknown to his Old Stone
+predecessor. Instead of always hunting for his food, like an animal, he
+found out that the earth would give him corn with which he could make
+bread, if only he took the trouble to cultivate it. Instead of always
+slaying animals, he found that some were quite ready to be his servants,
+and give him milk and wool and food. He brought with him to our shores
+cows and sheep and goats, horses and dogs. Moreover he made pottery,
+moulding the clay with his hand, and baking it in a fire. He had not
+discovered the advantages of a kiln. He could spin thread, and weave
+stuffs, though he usually wore garments of skins.
+
+His dwellings were no longer the caves and forests, for he made for
+himself rude pit huts, and surrounded himself, his tribe, and cattle
+with a circular camp. Traces of his agricultural operations may still be
+found in the "terraces," or strips of ground on hillsides, which
+preserve the marks of our early Neolithic farmers.
+
+[Illustration: BARBED AND LEAF-SHAPED ARROW-HEADS]
+
+Their implements are far superior to those of the Old Stone men, and are
+found on the surface of our fields, or on hillsides, where they tended
+their flocks, or dug their rude pit shelters. Their weapons and tools
+are highly polished, and have evidently been ground on a grindstone.
+They are adapted for an endless variety of uses, and are most skilfully
+and beautifully fashioned. There are finely wrought arrowheads, of three
+shapes--barbed, tanged and barbed, and leaf-shaped; axes, scrapers for
+cleansing and preparing skins for clothing, hammer stones, wedges,
+drills, borers, knives, and many other tools. In the Reading Museum may
+be seen a heavy quartzite axe and chipped flint hatchet, which were
+found with some charred timber on an island in the Thames, and were
+evidently used for scooping out the interior of a boat from a tree with
+the aid of fire. So this New Stone man knew how to make boats as well as
+a vast number of other things of which we shall presently speak more
+particularly. His descendants linger on in South Wales and Ireland, and
+are short in stature, dark in complexion, and narrow-skulled, like their
+forefathers a few thousand years ago.
+
+[Illustration: NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE IMPLEMENTS]
+
+Another wave of invaders swept over our land, and overcame the
+long-headed Neolithic race. These were the Celtic people, taller and
+stronger than their predecessors, and distinguished by their fair hair
+and rounded skulls. From the shape of their heads they are called
+Brachycephalic, and are believed to have belonged to the original Aryan
+race, whose birthplace was Southern Asia. At some remote period this
+wave of invaders poured over Europe and Asia, and has left traces behind
+it in the languages of all Indo-European nations.
+
+Their weapons were made of bronze, although they still used polished
+stone implements also. We find chisels, daggers, rings, buttons, and
+spear-heads, all made of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, and
+fashioned by the skilled hands of these early Celtic folk. As they
+became more civilised, being of an inventive mind, they discovered the
+use of iron and found it a more convenient metal for fashioning axes to
+cut down trees.
+
+When Caesar came to Britain he found that the inhabitants knew the use
+of iron, even the less civilised early Celtic settlers driven northwards
+and westwards by the Belgae, had iron weapons, and the wild Caledonians
+in the time of Severus, although they were naked, woad-dyed savages,
+wore iron collars and girdles and were armed with metal weapons.
+
+Such are some of the relics of antiquity which the soil of our native
+land retains, as a memorial of the primitive people who first trod upon
+it. Concerning their lives and records history is silent, until the
+Conqueror tells us something of our Celtic forefathers. From the scanty
+remains of prehistoric races, their weapons and tools, we can gather
+something of the earliest inhabitants of our island, and try to realise
+their habits and mode of life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TUMULI OR BARROWS
+
+Barrows near churchyards--Their universality--Contents--Food in
+barrows--Curious burial customs--Belief in future life--Long and
+round barrows--Interior of barrow--Position of bodies--Cremation--
+Burial urns--Articles of dress and ornament--Artistic workmanship--
+Pottery--Remains of agriculture--Organised condition of society
+among prehistoric people.
+
+
+Throughout the country we find many artificial mounds which are called
+_tumuli_ or barrows, or in the neighbourhood of Wales, "tumps." These
+are the ancient burial-places of the early inhabitants of our island,
+the word "barrow" being derived from the Anglo-Saxon _beorh_, a hill or
+grave-mound. It is not unusual to see a barrow in the centre, or near,
+an old churchyard, as at Taplow, Bucks. The church was built, of course,
+much later than the erection of the mound; but doubtless the early
+preachers of the gospel took advantage of the reverence which was paid
+to these ancient tombs, proclaimed there the story of the cross, and on
+the spots so consecrated churches were ultimately built.
+
+These mounds have much to tell us of the early inhabitants. To cover the
+dead with a mound of earth was a custom common to all nations. All over
+Europe, in Northern Asia, India, and in the new world of America, we
+find burial-mounds. The pyramids of Egypt are only glorified mounds; and
+our islands can boast of an endless variety, sometimes consisting of
+cairns, or heaps of stones, sometimes of huge hills of earth, 130 feet
+in height, as at Silbury, Wilts, and covering five acres; while others
+are only small heaps of soil a few feet high.
+
+The contents of the tumuli differ also. Sometimes the bodies were burnt
+and the ashes preserved in rude urns; sometimes they were not cremated.
+Sometimes they were buried in stone cists, or in the hollowed trunk of
+trees; sometimes without any covering save that of the earth. In nearly
+all cases we find numerous articles buried with the dead, such as
+personal ornaments, weapons, pottery, and food.
+
+The presence of food in the tumuli testifies to the natural instinct
+implanted by the Creator in the human heart with regard to a future
+existence. The idea that the soul of the departed is about to take a
+long journey is constant and deeply rooted; the rainbow and the milky
+way have often been supposed to be the paths trod by the departed, who
+require sustenance for so long a journey. The Aztecs laid a water-bottle
+beside the bodies to be used on the way to Mictlan, the land of the
+dead. Bow and arrows, a pair of mocassins with a spare piece of deerskin
+to patch them if they wear out, and sinews of deer to sew on the patches
+with, together with a kettle and provisions, are still placed in the
+graves by the North American Indians. The Laplanders lay beside the
+corpse flint, steel, and tinder, to supply light for the dark journey. A
+coin was placed in the mouth of the dead by the Greeks to pay Charon,
+the ferryman of the Styx, and for a similar purpose in the hand of a
+deceased Irishman. The Greenlanders bury with a child a dog, for they
+say a dog will find his way anywhere. In the grave of the Viking warrior
+were buried his horn and armour in order that he might enter the halls
+of Valhalla fully equipped.
+
+These and many other examples might be quoted showing the universality
+of the belief in a future life, a belief that was evidently shared with
+other nations by the primeval races who inhabited our islands in
+prehistoric times.
+
+The presence of food and drinking vessels in the tumuli clearly shows
+this, and also the store of weapons and implements, adzes, hammers,
+scrapers, and other tools which the barrows have preserved through so
+many ages.
+
+These barrows are not confined to one period or one race, as their shape
+denotes. Some are long, measuring 200 to 400 feet in length by 60 or 80
+feet wide; others are circular. The former were made by the long-headed
+(dolichocephalic) race of whom we have already spoken; the latter by the
+round-headed (brachycephalic), conquerors of their feebler long-skulled
+forerunners. When we consider the poor tools used by these primitive
+peoples, we may wonder at the amount of labour they must have expended
+on the construction of these giant mounds. Picks made of deer's horns
+and pointed staves enabled them to loosen the earth which was then
+collected in baskets and thrown on the rising heap. Countless toilers
+and many years must have been needed to produce such wonderful memorials
+of their industry.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF A TUMULUS]
+
+With better tools we will proceed to dig into these mounds and discover
+what they contain. First we notice an encircling trench and mound
+surrounding the barrow, the purpose of which is supposed to have been to
+keep the dead person in the tomb, and prevent it from injuring the
+living. After much digging in the centre of the barrow we find a single
+stone chamber, entered by a passage underneath the higher and wider end
+of the mound. Sometimes the chamber is divided into three parts, the
+centre one being covered by a dome, formed by the overlapping of the
+stones in the upper parts of the walls. The passage leading to the
+centre chamber is also built with large stones erected with much care
+and skill. The contents of these long barrows are not so interesting, or
+numerous, as those contained in the round barrows. The skeletons are
+usually found in irregular positions, and few weapons or ornaments
+accompany the buried bones. Derbyshire possesses many barrows; wherever
+in a place-name the suffix _low_ occurs, derived from the Anglo-Saxon
+_hlow_, signifying a small hill or mound, a barrow is generally to be
+found. The long barrow is usually about 200 feet in length, 40 feet
+wide, and 8 to 12 feet high. They run east and west, frequently
+north-east by south-west, the principal interment being usually at the
+eastern and higher end. The bodies are often found in a cist or box made
+of large stones, and several were buried in one mound, generally on the
+south and east sides, so that they might lie in the sun. This practice
+may have been connected with sun-worship; and the same idea prevailed in
+modern times, when the south side of the churchyard was considered the
+favoured portion, and criminals and suicides were relegated to the
+colder north side.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF TUMULUS CALLED WAYLAND SMITH'S CAVE, BERKSHIRE]
+
+The position of the bodies varied, but usually they were buried in a
+crouching position, with knees bent and head drawn towards the knees.
+This was probably the natural position which a man would assume when he
+slept without a luxurious bed to lie upon, and with little to cover him,
+in order to keep himself as warm as possible. Hence when he sank into
+his last long sleep, his mourning relatives would place him in the same
+posture. In the Channel Islands bodies were often placed in a kneeling
+position.
+
+The custom of burning the body seems to have been adopted later by the
+same long-headed race who used the long barrows, and prevailed more in
+the north of England, in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Scotland, than in
+the south. The cremation was sometimes not very thoroughly performed.
+The bodies were placed together, wood being piled about them, and over
+the heap the mound was raised. Then the fire was lighted, which
+naturally only partly consumed the bodies. We find also, mingled with
+bones of men and women, the bones of animals, which were probably the
+remains of funeral feasts.
+
+As we have said the round-headed race introduced the circular barrow,
+and cremation was their usual, though not exclusive, practice. These
+people were much stronger and bigger men than their predecessors, their
+powerful jaws and projecting chins showing much more power of will than
+the softer narrow-faced dolichocephalic race. However, in the round
+barrows we also find the bodies of the latter, and we gather that they
+were not exterminated or driven out by their conquerors, but mingled
+with them, intermarried, until at length the type of the long-skulled
+race prevailed, and the Celt of later times possessed the features of
+the race he had formerly subdued. At least such seems to be the teaching
+of the barrows.
+
+The Celt became acquainted with the use of bronze, and his tomb was
+enriched with a store of the relics of the life and art of the
+workmanship of the time. As cremation was the usual practice, it was no
+longer necessary to have a chamber which the dead might inhabit; the
+size of the sleeping-place of the dead was reduced, and a cist was
+constructed for the receptacle of the urn in which the remains were
+placed. The mound also was reduced in size and looked much less imposing
+than the huge barrows of the Stone Age; but its contents were much more
+important.
+
+The ashes we find frequently contained in a rude urn of black pottery
+with some ornamentation. Then we discover pins made of bones, which were
+evidently used to fasten the dress. The people therefore were evidently
+not naked, woad-dyed savages; moreover we find bits of woollen fabric
+and charred cloth, and in Denmark people belonging to this same early
+race were buried in a cap, shirt, leggings, and boots, a fairly complete
+wardrobe. They also loved to adorn themselves, and had buttons of jet,
+and stone and bone ornaments. Besides flint implements we find adzes and
+hatchets and chisels, axe-hammers constructed with a hole in them for
+the insertion of a handle, grain rubbers, wheat stones, and hammer
+stones. The mounds also disclose a great variety of flint implements,
+hatchets, scrapers, both round and long, knife-daggers, knives, saws,
+drills, fabricators or flaking tools, sling stones, hammer stones,
+polishers, arrow-points, either leaf-shaped, triangular, or barbed, and
+heads of darts and javelins. A very curious object is sometimes found, a
+stone wrist guard, for the purpose of protecting the wrist from the bow
+string.
+
+These barrows and their contents bear evidences to the artistic
+workmanship of the prehistoric dwellers in our villages. Their tombs
+show that these people did not confine themselves to the fabrication of
+objects of utility, but that they loved to adorn themselves with
+personal ornaments, which required much art and skill in the
+manufacture. Necklaces of beads pleased their fancy, and these they made
+of jet, or shells, the teeth of deer, and the vertebrae of fish.
+Moreover they loved ear-rings, which were sometimes made of the teeth of
+pigs. Objects of gold, bronze, glass, ivory, amber, clay, and bone were
+also used as ornaments.
+
+[Illustration: CELTIC CINERARY URN]
+
+If we examine the pottery in the barrows we find that a vessel of
+earthenware was usually placed at the back of the head of the body when
+it was not cremated. There were also cinerary urns, cups, usually called
+incense cups, which were certainly not used for incense, whatever may
+have been their purpose, food and drinking vessels. This pottery was not
+sun-dried, but burnt in a fire, though not made in a kiln, and the form
+of the vessels shows that the makers were ignorant of the use of a
+potter's wheel. The ornamentation consisted of a series of straight
+lines made by a sharp-pointed instrument and by impressions of the
+finger nails or string, often revealing much skill and artistic
+workmanship.
+
+From a study of the barrows we may learn much about the early inhabitants
+of our island, who lived and worked and died on the same spots where we
+now are spending our days. We can see them hunting in the wild woodlands,
+rearing cows and sheep and goats, and cultivating their crops of corn.
+We can still trace on the hillsides some curious terraces fashioned by
+them for the growing of their grain, and discover querns, or hand
+millstones, and stones for bruising the corn. The bones of young
+oxen a few days old, discovered in the mounds, show that they knew the
+use of milk, and how to get a good supply. A rude spindle-whorl shows
+that they knew how to weave stuffs for their clothing, and the numerous
+buttons, fasteners, and belts prove that the clothes were fitted to the
+wearer, and not mere shapeless sacks.
+
+The barrows also bear evidence to the existence of some organised
+condition of society. In the early savage state of human existence
+the family is the only community; but as man progressed towards
+civilisation, he learnt how to combine with his fellows for mutual
+defence and support. We gather from our examination of the tombs of
+these early races that they had attained to this degree of progress.
+There were chiefs of tribes and families who were buried with more
+honour than that bestowed upon the humbler folk. Many families were
+buried in one mound, showing that the tribal state had been reached,
+while the many humbler graves denote the condition of servitude and
+dependence in which a large number of the race lived. All this, and
+much more, may be learnt from a careful study of the tombs of these
+prehistoric people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS
+
+Pit dwelling earliest form of house-building--Discoveries at
+Bright-hampton, Worlebury--British oppida--Hurstbourne--Contents of
+pit dwelling--Pot-boilers--Condition of civilisation--Pile dwellings--
+Switzerland--Glastonbury--Hedsor--Crannogs--Modern use of pile
+dwellings--Description of a lake dwelling--Contents--Bronze Age--
+Recent discoveries at Glastonbury.
+
+
+We have examined in our last chapter the abodes of the dead; we will
+now investigate the abodes of the living which the earth has preserved
+for us for so many centuries. The age of the cave dwellers had long
+passed; and the prehistoric folk, having attained to some degree of
+civilisation, began to devise for themselves some secure retreats from
+inclement rains and cold winds. Perhaps the burrowing rabbit gave them
+an idea for providing some dwelling-place. At any rate the earliest and
+simplest notion for constructing a habitation was that of digging holes
+in the ground and roofing them over with a light thatch. Hence we have
+the pit dwellings of our rude forefathers.
+
+Many examples of pit dwellings have been found by industrious explorers.
+Some labourers when digging gravel at Brighthampton, near Oxford, came
+across several such excavations. They were simply pits dug in the earth,
+large enough to hold one or two persons, and from the sides of these
+pits a certain quantity of earth had been removed so as to form a seat.
+At the bottom of these a few rude flint arrow-heads were found. In the
+remarkable British oppidum at Worlebury, near Weston-super-Mare, several
+circular, well-like pits may be seen, fairly preserved in shape owing to
+the rocky nature of the ground in which they have been excavated. One in
+particular is very perfect, and about two feet from the bottom is a seat
+formed of the rock extending all round the pit.
+
+These ancient pit dwellings are usually surrounded by an earthen
+rampart. Caesar says that "the Britons called that a town where they
+used to assemble for the sake of avoiding an incursion of enemies, when
+they had fortified the entangled woods with a rampart and ditch." The
+remains of many of these oppida may still be seen in almost all parts of
+the country; and in most of these hollows are plainly distinguishable,
+which doubtless were pit dwellings; but owing to the sides having fallen
+in, they have now the appearance of natural hollows in the earth.
+
+At Hurstbourne, Hants, nine of these early habitations were discovered
+by the late Dr. Stevens, some of which were rudely pitched with flint
+stones, and had passages leading into the pit. A few flints irregularly
+placed together with wood ashes showed the position of the hearths,
+where cooking operations had been carried on. The sloping
+entrance-passages are peculiar and almost unique in England, though
+several have been met with in France. A rude ladder was the usual mode
+of entrance into these underground dwellings. Fragments of hand-made
+British pottery and the commoner kinds of Romano-British ware were
+found, and portions of mealing stones and also a saddle-quern, or
+grain-crusher, which instruments for hand-mealing must have been in
+common use among the pit dwellers. The grain was probably prepared by
+parching it before crushing; the hollow understone prevented the grain
+from escaping; and the muller was so shaped as to render it easily
+grasped, while it was pushed backwards and forwards by the hands.
+Similar stones are used at the present time by the African natives, as
+travellers testify.
+
+[Illustration: ARTICLES FOUND IN PIT DWELLINGS
+(1) Knife of deer-antler
+(2) Bone needle
+(3) Marrow scoop
+(4, 5) Bone awls]
+
+One of the pits at Hurstbourne was evidently a cooking-hole, where the
+pit dwellers prepared their feasts, and bones of the Celtic ox (_bos
+longifrons_), pig, red deer, goat, dog, and hare or rabbit were found
+near it. One of the bones had evidently been bitten by teeth. The pit
+dwellers also practised some domestic industries, as Dr. Stevens found a
+needle, an awl or bodkin, and fragments of pointed bone, probably used
+for sewing skins together. A rude spindle-whorl shows that they knew
+something of weaving, and two bored stones were evidently buttons or
+dress-fasteners. A large supply of flint implements, scrapers, and
+arrow-heads, proves that the dwellings were inhabited by the Neolithic
+people before the Britons came to occupy them. I must not omit to notice
+the heating stones, or "pot-boilers." These were heated in the fire, and
+then placed among the meat intended to be cooked, in a hole in the
+ground which served the purpose of a cooking pot. I have found many such
+stones in Berkshire, notably from the neighbourhood of Wallingford and
+Long Wittenham. The writer of the _Early History of Mankind_ states that
+the Assineboins, or stone-boilers, dig a hole in the ground, take a
+piece of raw hide, and press it down to the sides of the hole, and fill
+it with water; this is called a "paunch-kettle"; then they make a number
+of stones red-hot in a fire close by, the meat is put into the water,
+and the hot stones dropped in until it is cooked. The South Sea
+Islanders have similar primitive methods of cooking. The Highlanders
+used to prepare the feasts of their clans in much the same way; and the
+modern gipsies adopt a not very dissimilar mode of cooking their stolen
+fowls and hedgehogs.
+
+We can now people these cheerless primitive pit dwellings with their
+ancient inhabitants, and understand something of their manners of life
+and customs. Their rude abodes had probably cone-shaped roofs made of
+rafters lashed together at the centre, protected by an outside coat of
+peat, sods of turf, or rushes. The spindle-whorl is evidence that they
+could spin thread; the mealing stones show that they knew how to
+cultivate corn; and the bones of the animals found in their dwellings
+testify to the fact that they were not in the wild state of primitive
+hunters, but possessed herds of cows and goats and other domestic
+animals.
+
+Who were these people? Mr. Boyd Dawkins is of opinion that the early pit
+dwellers belonged to the Neolithic folk of whom I have already told you,
+as the flint implements testify. But these dwellings were evidently
+occupied by a later people. The querns and spindle-whorl probably
+belonged to the Celts, or Britons, before the advent of the Roman
+legions; and that these people were the inhabitants of the Hampshire pit
+dwellings is proved by the presence of a British gold coin which is
+recognised by numismatists as an imitation of the Greek stater of Philip
+II. of Macedon. According to Sir John Evans, the native British coinage
+was in existence as early as 150 years before Christ. Hence to this
+period we may assign the date of the existence of these Celtic primitive
+habitations.
+
+Pit dwellings were not the only kind of habitations which the early
+inhabitants of our country used, and some of our villages possess
+constructions of remarkable interest, which recent industrious digging
+has disclosed. These are none other than lake dwellings, similar to
+those first discovered in Switzerland about fifty years ago. Few of our
+villages can boast of such relics of antiquity. Near Glastonbury, in
+1892, in a dried-up ancient mere a lake village was discovered, which I
+will describe presently; and recently at Hedsor in Buckinghamshire a
+pile dwelling has been found which some learned antiquaries are now
+examining. In Ireland and Scotland there are found the remains of
+fortified dwellings called Crannogs in some of the lakes, as in Dowalton
+Loch, Wigtownshire, and Cloonfinlough in Connaught, but these belong to
+later times and were used in the Middle Ages.
+
+[Illustration: IRON SPEAR-HEAD FOUND AT HEDSOR]
+
+In primitive times, when tribe warred with tribe, and every man's hand
+was against his fellow-man, and when wild and savage beasts roamed o'er
+moor and woodland, security was the one thing most desired by the early
+inhabitants of Europe. Hence they conceived the brilliant notion of
+constructing dwellings built on piles in the midst of lakes or rivers,
+where they might live in peace and safety, and secure themselves from
+the sudden attack of their enemies, or the ravages of beasts of prey.
+Switzerland is famous for its numerous clusters, or villages, of ancient
+lake dwellings, which were of considerable size. At Morges, on the Lake
+of Geneva, the settlement of huts extends 1,200 feet long by 150 in
+breadth; and that at Sutz on the Lake of Bienne covers six acres, and is
+connected with the shore by a gangway 100 feet long and 40 feet wide.
+Nor is the use of these habitations entirely abandoned at the present
+time. Venezuela, which means "little Venice," derives its name from the
+Indian village composed of pile dwellings on the shores of the Gulf of
+Maracaibo, as its original explorer Alonzo de Ojeda in 1499 chose to
+compare the sea-protected huts with the queen city of the Adriatic; and
+in many parts of South America, in the estuaries of the Orinoco and
+Amazon, such dwellings are still found, also among the Dyaks of Borneo,
+in the Caroline Islands, and on the Gold Coast of Africa. Herodotus
+describes similar dwellings on the Lake Prasias, existing in the fifth
+century B.C., and Lord Avebury states that now the Roumelian fishermen
+on the same lake "inhabit wooden cottages built over the water as in the
+time of Herodotus."
+
+These habitations of primitive man were built on piles driven into the
+bed of the lake or river. These piles were stems, or trunks of trees,
+sharpened with stone or bronze tools. A rude platform was erected on
+these piles, and on this a wooden hut constructed with walls of wattle
+and daub, and thatched with reeds or rushes. A bridge built on piles
+connected the lake village with the shore whither the dwellers used to
+go to cultivate their wheat, barley, and flax, and feed their kine and
+sheep and goats. They made canoes out of hollow trunks of trees. One of
+these canoes which have been discovered is 43 feet in length and over 4
+feet wide. The beams supporting the platform, on which the huts were
+erected, were fastened by wooden pins. Much ingenuity was exercised in
+the making of these dwellings. Sometimes they found that the mud of the
+lake was too soft to hold the piles; so they fashioned a framework of
+trunks of trees, which they let down to the bottom of the lake, and
+fastened the upright piles to it. Sometimes the rocky bed of the lake
+prevented the piles from being driven into it; so they heaped stones
+around the piles, and thus made them secure. The lake dwellers were very
+sociable, and had only one common platform for all the huts, which were
+clustered together. As all the actual dwellings have been destroyed by
+time's rude action, it is impossible to describe them accurately; but
+their usual size was about 20 feet by 12 feet. The floor was of clay,
+and in the centre of the building there was a hearth made of slabs of
+stone.
+
+The people who inhabited these structures belonged either to the later
+Stone Age, or the Bronze Age, as we learn from the relics which their
+huts disclose. In the earlier ones are found celts, flint flakes,
+arrow-heads, harpoons of stag's horn with barbs, awls, needles, chisels,
+and fish-hooks made of bone, and sometimes wooden combs, and skates made
+out of the leg-bone of a horse. Besides the remains of the usual
+domestic animals we find bones of the beaver, bear, elk, and bison.
+
+When the use of bronze was discovered the people still lived on in their
+lake dwellings. Fire often played havoc with the wooden wattle walls;
+hence we frequently find a succession of platforms. The first dwelling
+having been destroyed by flames, a second one was subsequently
+constructed; and this having shared the same fate, another platform with
+improved huts was raised upon the ruins of its predecessors. The relics
+of each habitation show that, as time went on, the pit dwellers advanced
+in civilisation, and increased the comforts and conveniences of life.
+
+Some of the dwellings of these early peoples belong to the Bronze Age,
+as do those of the Auvernier settlement in the Lake of Neuchatel; and
+these huts are rich in the relics of their former inhabitants. At Marin
+on the same lake the lake dwellers were evidently workers in iron; and
+the relics, which contain large spear-heads, shields, horse furniture,
+fibulas, and other ornaments, together with Roman coins, prove that they
+belonged to the period of which history tells us.
+
+I have described at length these Swiss lake dwellings, although they do
+not belong to the antiquities of our villages in England, because much
+the same kind of habitations existed in our country, though few have
+as yet been unearthed. Possibly under the peaty soil of some ancient
+river-bed, or old mere, long ago drained, you may be fortunate enough
+to meet with the remains of similar structures here in England. At
+Glastonbury a few years ago a lake village was discovered, which has
+created no small stir in the antiquarian world, and merits a brief
+description. Nothing was known of its existence previously; and this is
+an instance of the delightful surprises which explorers have in store
+for them, when they ransack the buried treasure-house of the earth,
+and reveal the relics which have been so long stored there.
+
+All that met the eyes of the diggers was a series of circular low
+mounds, about sixty in number, extending over an area of three acres.
+Imagine the delight of the gentlemen when they discovered that each of
+these mounds contained the remains of a lake dwelling which was
+constructed more than two thousand years ago.
+
+First they found above the soft peat, the remains of a lake long dried
+up, a platform formed of timber and brushwood, somewhat similar to the
+structures which we have seen in the Swiss lakes. Rows of small piles
+support this platform, and on it a floor of clay, or rather several
+floors. The clay is composed of several horizontal layers with
+intervening thin layers of decayed wood and charcoal, each layer
+representing a distinct floor of a dwelling. In the centre of each mound
+are the remains of rude hearths. The dwellings, of which no walls
+remain, were evidently built of timber, the crevices between the wood
+being filled with wattle and daub. In one of the mounds were found
+several small crucibles which show that the inhabitants knew how to work
+in metals. Querns, whetstones, spindle whorls, fibulae, and finger-rings
+of bronze, a horse's bit, a small saw, numerous implements of horn and
+bone, combs, needles, a jet ring and amber bead, all tell the tale of
+the degree of civilisation attained by these early folk. They worked in
+metals, made pottery and cloth, tilled and farmed the adjoining lands,
+and probably belonged to the late Celtic race before the advent of the
+Romans. These lake dwellers used a canoe in order to reach the mainland,
+and this primitive boat has been discovered. It is evidently cut out of
+the stem of an oak, is flat-bottomed, and its dimensions are 17 feet
+long, 2 feet wide, and 1 foot deep. The prow is pointed, and has a hole,
+through which doubtless a rope was passed, in order to fasten it to the
+little harbour of the lake village.
+
+It will be gathered that these people, whether dwelling in their pit or
+lake villages, showed so much capacity, industry, and social
+organisation, that even in the Neolithic Age they were far removed from
+a savage state, and a low condition of culture and civilisation. They
+showed great ingenuity in the making of their tools, their vessels of
+pottery, their ornaments, and clothing. They were not naked, woad-dyed
+savages. They could spin and weave, grow corn, and make bread, and had
+brought into subjection for their use domestic animals, horses and
+cattle, sheep and goats, and swine. They lived in security and comfort,
+and were industrious and intelligent; and it is interesting to record,
+from the relics which the earth has preserved of their civilisation, the
+kind of life which they must have lived in the ages which existed before
+the dawn of history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS
+
+Stone monuments--Traditions relating to them--Menhirs or hoar-stones--
+_Alignements_--Cromlechs--Stonehenge--Avebury--Rollright stones--Origin
+of stone circles--Dolmens--Earthworks--Chun Castle--Whittenham clumps--
+Uffington--Tribal boundaries--Roman rig--Grims-dike--Legends--Celtic
+words.
+
+
+Among the antiquities which some of our English villages possess, none
+are more curious and remarkable than the grand megalithic monuments of
+the ancient races which peopled our island. Marvellous memorials are
+these of their skill and labour. How did they contrive to erect such
+mighty monuments? How did they move such huge masses of stone? How did
+they raise with the very slender appliances at their disposal such
+gigantic stones? For what purpose did they erect them? The solution of
+these and many such-like problems we can only guess, and no one has as
+yet been bold enough to answer all the interesting questions which these
+rude stone monuments raise.
+
+Superstition has attempted to account for their existence. Just as the
+flint arrow-heads are supposed by the vulgar to be darts shot by fairies
+or witches which cause sickness and death in cattle and men, and are
+worn as amulets to ward off disease; just as the stone axes of early
+man are regarded as thunder bolts, and when boiled are esteemed as a
+sure cure for rheumatism, or a useful cattle medicine--so these stones
+are said to be the work of the devil. A friend tells me that in his
+childhood his nurse used to frighten him by saying that the devil lurked
+in a dolmen which stands near his father's house in Oxfordshire; and
+many weird traditions cluster round these old monuments.
+
+[Illustration: MENHIR]
+
+In addition to the subterranean sepulchral chambers and cairns which we
+have already examined, there are four classes of megalithic structures.
+The first consists of single stones, called in Wales, Cornwall, and
+Brittany, _menhirs_, a name derived from the Celtic word _maen_ or
+_men_ signifying a stone, and _hir_ meaning tall. In England they are
+known as "hoar-stones," _hoar_ meaning a boundary, inasmuch as they
+are frequently used in later times to mark the boundary of an estate,
+parish, or manor. There is one at Enstone, Oxfordshire, and at
+Wardington, Warwickshire. Possibly they were intended to mark the graves
+of deceased chieftains.
+
+The second class consists of lines of stones, which the French call
+_alignements_. Frequently they occur in groups of lines from two to
+fourteen in number, Carnac, in Brittany, possesses the best specimen
+in Europe of this curious arrangement of giant stones.
+
+The third class of megalithic monuments is the circular arrangement,
+such as we find at Avebury and Stonehenge. These are now usually called
+cromlechs, in accordance with the term used by French antiquaries,
+though formerly this name was applied in England to the dolmens, or
+chambered structures, of which we shall speak presently. According to
+the notions of the old curator of Stonehenge the mighty stones stood
+before the Deluge, and he used to point out (to his own satisfaction)
+signs of the action of water upon the stones, even showing the direction
+in which the Flood "came rushing in." The Welsh bards say that they were
+erected by King Merlin, the successor of Vortigern; and Nennius states
+that they were erected in memory of four hundred nobles, who were
+treacherously slain by Hengist, when the savage Saxons came. There is
+no need to describe these grand circles of huge stones which all
+antiquaries have visited.
+
+The cromlech at Avebury covers a larger area than that of Stonehenge,
+the circle being about 1,300 feet in diameter. There is a fine circle
+at Rollright, in Oxfordshire, which is the third largest in England.
+The diameter of the circle is about 107 feet, and the stones numbered
+originally about sixty. Near the circle stand the Five Whispering
+Knights, five large stones leaning together, probably the remains of
+a dolmen, and a large solitary stone, or menhir. Popular tradition has
+woven a strange legend about these curious relics of bygone ages. A
+mighty chieftain once ruled over the surrounding country; but he was
+ambitious, and wished to extend his sway, and become King of England.
+So he mustered his army, and the oracle proclaimed that if he could
+once see Long Compton, he would obtain his desire. Having proceeded
+as far as Rollright, he was repeating the words of the oracle--
+
+  "If Long Compton I can see,
+  King of England I shall be"--
+
+when Mother Shipton, who had doubtless ridden on her broomstick from
+her Norfolk home, appeared and pronounced the fatal spell--
+
+  "Move no more; stand fast, stone;
+  King of England thou shall none."
+
+[Illustration: ROLLRIGHT STONES From Camden's _Britannia_]
+
+Immediately the king and his army were changed into stone, as if the
+head of Medusa had gazed upon them. The solitary stone, still called the
+King Stone, is the ambitious monarch; the circle is his army; and the
+Five Whispering Knights are five of his chieftains, who were hatching a
+plot against him when the magic spell was uttered. The farmers around
+Rollright say that if the stones are removed from the spot, they will
+never rest, but make mischief till they are restored. Stanton Drew, in
+Somersetshire, has a cromlech, and there are several in Scotland, the
+Channel Islands, and Brittany. Some sacrilegious persons transported a
+cromlech bodily from the Channel Islands, and set it up at Park Place,
+Henley-on-Thames. Such an act of antiquarian barbarism happily has few
+imitators.
+
+For what purpose were these massive stones erected at the cost of such
+infinite labour? Tradition and popular belief associate them with the
+Druids. Some years ago all mysterious antiquarian problems were solved
+by reference to the Druids. But these priests of ancient days are now
+out of fashion, and it is certainly not very safe to attribute the
+founding of the great stone circles to their agency. The Druidical
+worship paid its homage to the powers of Nature, to the nymphs and genii
+of the woods and streams, whereas the great stone circles were evidently
+constructed by sun-worshippers. There is no doubt among antiquaries that
+they are connected with the burial of the dead. Small barrows have been
+found in the centre of them. Dr. Anderson is of opinion that the stone
+circles were developed out of the hedge, or setting of stone, which
+frequently surrounds the base of a barrow, and was intended to keep the
+ghost in, and prevent it from injuring the living. By degrees the wall
+was increased in size while the barrow or cairn decreased; until at last
+a small mound of earth, or heap of stones, only marked the place of
+burial, and the huge circle of stones surrounded it. Stonehenge, with
+its well-wrought stones and gigantic trilitha, is much later than the
+circles of Avebury and Rollright, and was doubtless constructed by the
+people who used iron, about two hundred years before our era. The
+earlier circles have been assigned to a period eight or ten centuries
+before Christ.
+
+[Illustration: DOLMEN]
+
+Many conjectures have been made as to how the huge capstones of the
+circle at Stonehenge were placed on the erect stones. Sir Henry Dryden
+thought that when the upright stones were set on end, earth or small
+stones were piled around them until a large inclined plane was formed,
+on which "skids" or sliding-pieces were placed. Then the caps were
+placed on rollers, and hauled up by gangs of men. Probably in some such
+way these wonderful monuments were formed.
+
+The last class of rude stone monuments is composed of dolmens, or
+chambered tombs, so named from the Welsh word _dol_, a table, and _maen_
+or _men_, a stone. They are in fact stone tables. Antiquaries of former
+days, and the unlearned folk of to-day, call them "Druids' altars," and
+say that sacrifices were offered upon them. The typical form is a
+structure of four or more large upright stones, supporting a large flat
+stone, as a roof. Sometimes they are covered with earth or stones,
+sometimes entirely uncovered. Some antiquaries maintain that they were
+always uncovered, as we see them now; others assert that they have been
+stripped by the action of wind and rain, and snow, frost, and thaw,
+until all the earth placed around them has been removed. Possibly
+fashions changed then as now; and it may console some of us that there
+was no uniformity of ritual even in prehistoric Britain. Dolmens contain
+no bronze or iron implements, or carvings of the same, and evidently
+belong to the time of the Neolithic folk.
+
+Among prehistoric remains none are more striking than the great camps
+and earthworks, which hold commanding positions on our hills and downs,
+and have survived during the countless years which have elapsed since
+their construction. Caesar's camps abound throughout England; it is
+needless to say that they had nothing to do with Caesar, but were made
+long years before the Conqueror ever set foot on British land. These
+early camps are usually circular in shape, or follow the natural curve
+of the hill on which they stand. Roman camps are nearly always square
+or rectangular. They consist of a high vallum, or rampart of earth,
+surrounded by a deep ditch, and on the _counterscarp_, or outside edge
+of the ditch, there is often another bank or rampart. The entrance to
+these strongholds was often ingeniously contrived, in order that an
+enemy endeavouring to attack the fortress might be effectually resisted.
+
+Chun Castle, in Cornwall, is an interesting specimen of ancient Celtic
+fortress. It consists of two circular walls separated by a terrace. The
+walls are built of rough masses of granite, some 5 or 6 feet long. The
+outer wall is protected by a ditch. Part of the wall is still about 10
+feet high. Great skill and military knowledge are displayed in the plan
+of the entrance, which is 6 feet wide in the narrowest part, and 16 in
+the widest, where the walls diverge and are rounded off on either side.
+The space within the fortress is about 175 feet in diameter. The
+Herefordshire Beacon on the Malvern Hills is a fine example of a
+triple-ramparted Celtic camp.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN AND SECTION OF CHUN CASTLE]
+
+In Berkshire we have the well-known Whittenham Clumps, the Sinodun
+of the Celts, on the summit of which there is a famous camp, with a
+triple line of entrenchment, the mound and ditch being complete. The
+circumference of the fortress is over a mile. Berkshire and Oxfordshire
+are very rich in these camps and earthworks, which guard the course of
+the old British road called the Iknield Way. Hill-forts crown the tops
+of the hills; and the camps of Blewberry, Scutchamore Knob (a corruption
+of Cwichelm's law), Letcombe, Uffington, and Liddington, command the
+ancient trackway and bid defiance to approaching foes.
+
+The object of these camps was to provide places of refuge, whither the
+tribe could retire when threatened by the advent of its enemy. The Celts
+were a pastoral people; and their flocks grazed on the downs and
+hillsides. When their scouts brought news of the approach of a hostile
+force, some signal would be given by the blowing of a horn, and the
+people would at once flee to their fortress driving their cattle before
+them, and awaiting there the advent of their foes.
+
+At Uffington there is a remarkable relic of British times called the
+Blowing Stone, or King Alfred's Bugle-horn, which was doubtless used by
+the Celtic tribes for signalling purposes; and when its deep low note
+was heard on the hillside the tribe would rush to the protecting shelter
+of Uffington Castle. There, armed with missiles, they were ready to hurl
+them at the invading hosts, and protect their lives and cattle until all
+danger was past. Those who are skilled at the art can still make the
+Blowing Stone sound. The name, King Alfred's Bugle-horn, is a misnomer,
+and arose from the association of the White Horse Hill with the battle
+which Alfred fought against the Danes at Aescendune, which may, or may
+not, have taken place near the old British camp at Uffington. There are
+several White Horses cut out in the turf on the hillsides in Wiltshire,
+besides the famous Berkshire one at Uffington, celebrated by Mr. Thomas
+Hughes in his _Scouring of the White Horse_. We have also some turf-cut
+crosses at White-leaf and Bledlow, in Buckinghamshire. The origin of
+these turf monuments is still a matter of controversy. It is possible
+that they may be Saxon, and may be the records of Alfred's victories;
+but antiquaries are inclined to assign them to an earlier date, and
+connect them with the builders of cromlechs and dolmens. It is certainly
+improbable that, when he was busily engaged fighting the Danes, Alfred
+and his men would have found time to construct this huge White Horse.
+
+[Illustration: THE WHITE HORSE AT UFFINGTON]
+
+In addition to the earthen mounds and deep ditch, which usually formed
+the fortifications of these ancient strongholds, there were wicker-work
+stockades, or palisading, arranged on the top of the vallum. Such
+defences have been found at Uffington; and during the present year on
+the ancient fortifications of the old Calleva Atrebatum, afterwards the
+Roman Silchester, a friend of the writer has found the remains of
+similar wattle-work stockades. Evidently tribal wars and jealousies were
+not unknown in Celtic times, and the people knew how to protect
+themselves from their foes.
+
+Another important class of earthen ramparts are the long lines of
+fortifications, which extend for miles across the country, and must have
+entailed vast labour in their construction. These ramparts were
+doubtless tribal boundaries, or fortifications used by one tribe against
+another. There is the Roman rig, which, as Mrs. Armitage tells us in her
+_Key to English Antiquities_, coasts the face of the hills all the way
+from Sheffield to Mexborough, a distance of eleven miles. A Grims-dike
+(or Grims-bank, as it is popularly called) runs across the southern
+extremity of Oxfordshire from Henley to Mongewell, ten miles in length;
+and near it, and parallel to it, there is a Medlers-bank, another
+earthen rampart, exceeding it in length by nearly a third. Near
+Salisbury there is also a Grims-dike, and in Cambridgeshire and
+Cheshire. Danes' Dike, near Flamborough Head, Wans-dike, and Brokerley
+Dike are other famous lines of fortifications.
+
+There are twenty-two Grims-dikes in England. The name was probably
+derived from Grim, the Saxon devil, or evil spirit; and was bestowed
+upon these mysterious monuments of an ancient race which the Saxons
+found in various parts of their conquered country. Unable to account for
+the existence of these vast mounds and fortresses, they attributed them
+to satanic agency.
+
+There is much work still to be done in exploring these relics of the
+prehistoric races; and if there should be any such in your own
+neighbourhood, some careful digging might produce valuable results.
+Perhaps something which you may find may throw light upon some disputed
+or unexplained question, which has perplexed the minds of antiquaries
+for some time. I do not imagine that the following legend will deter you
+from your search. It is gravely stated that years ago an avaricious
+person dug into a tumulus for some treasure which it was supposed to
+contain. At length after much labour he came to an immense chest, but
+the lid was no sooner uncovered than it lifted itself up a little and
+out sprang an enormous black cat, which seated itself upon the chest,
+and glowed with eyes of passion upon the intruder. Nothing daunted, the
+man proceeded to try to move the chest, but without avail; so he fixed a
+strong chain to it and attached a powerful team of horses. But when the
+horses began to pull, the chain broke in a hundred places, and the chest
+of treasure disappeared for ever.
+
+Some rustics assert that if you run nine times round a tumulus, and then
+put your ear against it, you will hear the fairies dancing and singing
+in the interior. Indeed it is a common superstition that good fairies
+lived in these old mounds, and a story is told of a ploughman who
+unfortunately broke his ploughshare. However he left it at the foot of a
+tumulus, and the next day, to his surprise, he found it perfectly whole.
+Evidently the good fairies had mended it during the night. But these
+bright little beings, who used to be much respected by our ancestors,
+have quite deserted our shores. They found that English people did not
+believe in them; so they left us in disgust, and have never been heard
+of since.
+
+If you have no other Celtic remains in your neighbourhood, at least you
+have the enduring possession of the words which they have bequeathed to
+us, such as _coat, basket, crook, cart, kiln, pitcher, comb, ridge_, and
+many others, which have all been handed down to us from our British
+ancestors. Their language also lives in Wales and Brittany, in parts of
+Ireland and Scotland, and in the Isle of Man, where dwell the modern
+representatives of that ancient race, which was once so powerful, and
+has left its trace in most of the countries of Europe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+ROMAN RELICS
+
+Roman remains numerous--Chedworth villa--Roads--Names derived from
+roads--_Itinerary_ of Antoninus--British roads--Watling Street--Iknield
+Street--Ryknield Street--Ermyn Street--Akeman Street--Saltways--
+Milestones--Silchester--Its walls--Calleva--Its gardens and villas--
+Hypocausts--Pavements--Description of old city--Forum--Temple--Baths--
+Amphitheatre--Church--Roman villa.
+
+
+"The world's a scene of change," sings Poet Cowley; but in spite of all
+the changes that have transformed our England, the coming and going of
+conquerors and invaders, the lapse of centuries, the ceaseless working
+of the ploughshare on our fields and downs, traces of the old Roman life
+in Britain have remained indelible. Our English villages are rich in the
+relics of the old Romans; and each year adds to our knowledge of the
+life they lived in the land of their adoption, and reveals the treasures
+which the earth has tenderly preserved for so many years.
+
+If your village lies near the track of some Roman road, many pleasing
+surprises may be in store for you. Oftentimes labourers unexpectedly
+meet with the buried walls and beautiful tesselated pavements of an
+ancient Roman dwelling-place. A few years ago at Chedworth, near
+Cirencester, a ferret was lost, and had to be dug out of the rabbit
+burrow. In doing this some Roman _tesserae_ were dug up; and when
+further excavations were made a noble Roman villa with numerous rooms,
+artistic pavements, hypocausts, baths, carvings, and many beautiful
+relics of Roman art were brought to light. Possibly you may be equally
+successful in your own village and neighbourhood.
+
+If you have the good fortune to live near a Roman station, you will
+have the pleasing excitement of discovering Roman coins and other
+treasures, when you watch your labourers draining the land or digging
+wells. Everyone knows that the names of many of the Roman stations
+are  distinguished by the termination _Chester, caster_, or _caer_,
+derived from the Latin _castra_, a camp; and whenever we are in the
+neighbourhood of such places, imagination pictures to us the
+well-drilled Roman legionaries who used to astonish the natives with
+their strange language and customs; and we know that there are coins
+and pottery, _tesserae_ and Roman ornaments galore, stored up beneath
+our feet, awaiting the search of the persevering digger. Few are the
+records relating to Roman Britain contained in the pages of the
+historians, as compared with the evidences of roads and houses, gates
+and walls and towns, which the earth has preserved for us.
+
+Near your village perhaps a Roman road runs. The Romans were famous for
+their wonderful roads, which extended from camp to camp, from city to
+city, all over the country. These roads remain, and are evidences of
+the  great engineering skill which their makers possessed. They liked
+their roads well drained, and raised high above the marshes; they liked
+them to go straight ahead, like their victorious legions, and never swerve
+to right or left for any obstacle. They cut through the hills, and
+filled up the valleys; and there were plenty of idle Britons about,
+who could be forced to do the work. They called their roads _strata_ or
+streets; and all names of places containing the word _street_, such as
+_Streatley_, or _Stretford_, denote that they were situated on one of
+these Roman roads.
+
+You may see these roads wending their way straight as a die, over hill
+and dale, staying not for marsh or swamp. Along the ridge of hills they
+go, as does the High Street on the Westmoreland hills, where a few
+inches below the grass you can find the stony way; or on the moors
+between Redmire and Stanedge, in Yorkshire, the large paving stones, of
+which the road was made, in many parts still remain. In central places,
+as at Blackrod, in Lancashire, the roads extend like spokes from the
+centre of a wheel, although nearly eighteen hundred years have elapsed
+since their construction. The name of Devizes, Wilts, is a corruption of
+the Latin word _divisae_, which marks the spot where the old Roman road
+from London to Bath was _divided_ by the boundary line between the Roman
+and the Celtic districts.
+
+In order to acquire a knowledge of the great roads of the Romans we must
+study the _Itinerary_ of Antoninus, written by an officer of the
+imperial Court about 150 A.D. This valuable road-book tells us the names
+of the towns and stations, the distances, halting-places, and other
+particulars. Ptolemy's _Geographia_ also affords help in understanding
+the details of the _Itinerary_, and many of the roads have been very
+satisfactorily traced. The Romans made use of the ancient British ways,
+whenever they found them suitable for their purpose. The British roads
+resembled the trackways on Salisbury Plain, wide grass rides, neither
+raised nor paved, and not always straight, but winding along the sides
+of the hills which lie in their course. There were seven chief British
+ways: Watling Street, which was the great north road, starting from
+Richborough on the coast of Kent, passing through Canterbury and
+Rochester it crossed the Thames near London, and went on through
+Verulam, Dunstable, and Towcester, Wellington, and Wroxeter, and thence
+into Wales to Tommen-y-Mawr, where it divided into two branches. One
+ran by Beth Gellert to Caernarvon and Holy Head, and the other through
+the mountains to the Manai banks and thence to Chester, Northwich,
+Manchester, Ilkley, until it finally ended in Scotland.
+
+The second great British road was the way of the Iceni, or Iknield
+Street, proceeding from Great Yarmouth, running through Cambridgeshire,
+Bedfordshire, Bucks, and Oxon, to Old Sarum, and finishing its course at
+Land's End. We have in Berkshire a branch of this road called the
+Ridgeway.
+
+The Ryknield Street beginning at the mouth of the Tyne ran through
+Chester-le-Street, followed the course of the Watling Street to
+Catterick, thence through Birmingham, Tewkesbury, and Gloucester, to
+Caermarthen and St. David's.
+
+The Ermyn Street led from the coast of Sussex to the south-east part of
+Scotland.
+
+The Akeman Street ran between the Iknield and Ryknield Streets, and
+led from what the Saxons called East Anglia, through Bedford, Newport
+Pagnel, and Buckingham to Alcester and Cirencester, across the Severn,
+and ending at St. David's.
+
+The Upper Saltway was the communication between the sea-coast of
+Lincolnshire and the salt mines at Droitwich; and the Lower Saltway led
+from Droitwich, then, as now, a great centre of the salt trade, to the
+sea-coast of Hampshire. Traces of another great road to the north are
+found, which seems to have run through the western parts of England
+extending from Devon to Scotland.
+
+Such were the old British roads which existed when the Romans came. The
+conquerors made use of these ways, wherever they found them useful,
+trenching them, paving them, and making them fit for military purposes.
+They constructed many new ones which would require a volume for their
+full elucidation. Many of them are still in use, wonderful records of
+the engineering skill of their makers, and oftentimes beneath the
+surface of some grassy ride a few inches below the turf you may find
+the hard concreted road laid down by the Romans nearly eighteen hundred
+years ago. Roman milestones we sometimes find. There is one near
+Silchester, commonly called the Imp Stone, probably from the first three
+letters of the Latin word _Imperator_, carved upon it. Curious legends
+often cluster round these relics of ancient times. Just as the
+superstitious Saxons, when they saw the great Roman roads, made by a
+people who had long vanished from the land, often attributed these great
+works to evil spirits, and called parts of these well-made streets the
+Devil's Highway, so they invented a strange legend to account for the
+Imp Stone, and said that some giant had thrown it from the city, and
+left on it the marks of his finger and thumb.
+
+Our English villages contain many examples of Roman buildings. Where
+now rustics pursue their calling, and sow their crops and reap their
+harvests, formerly stood the beautiful houses of the Roman nobles, or
+the flourishing towns of Roman citizens. Upon the sites of most of these
+old-world places new towns have been constructed; hence it is difficult
+often to trace the foundations of Roman cities in the midst of the
+masses of modern bricks and mortar. Hence we fly to the villages; and
+sometimes, as at Silchester, near a little English village, we find the
+remains of a large, important, and flourishing town, where the earth has
+kept safely for us during many centuries the treasures and memories of a
+bygone age.
+
+Every student of Roman Britain must visit Silchester, and examine the
+collections preserved in the Reading Museum, which have been amassed by
+the antiquaries who have for several years been excavating the ruins.
+The city contained a forum, or marketplace, having on one side a
+basilica, or municipal hall, in which prisoners were tried, business
+transactions executed, and the general affairs of the city carried on.
+On the other side of the square were the shops, where the butchers,
+bakers, or fishmongers plied their trade. You can find plenty of oyster
+shells, the contents of which furnished many a feast to the Romans who
+lived there seventeen hundred years ago. The objects which have been
+found tell us how the dwellers in the old city employed themselves,
+and how skilful they were in craftsmanship. Amongst other things we
+find axes, chisels, files for setting saws, hammers, a large plane, and
+other carpenters' tools; an anvil, a pair of tongs, and blacksmiths'
+implements; shoemakers' anvils, very similar to those used in our day,
+a large gridiron, a standing lamp, safety-pins, such as ladies use now,
+and many other useful and necessary objects.
+
+In order to protect the city it was surrounded by high walls, which seem
+to defy all the attacks of time. They are nine feet in thickness, and
+are still in many places twenty feet high. Outside the wall a wide ditch
+added to the strength of the fortifications. Watch-towers were placed at
+intervals along the walls; and on the north, south, east, and west sides
+were strongly fortified gates, with guard chambers on each side, and
+arched entrances through which the Roman chariots were driven.
+
+These walls inclose a space of irregular shape, and were built on the
+site of old British fortifications. Silchester was originally a British
+stronghold, and was called by them Calleva. The Celtic tribe which
+inhabited the northern parts of Hampshire was the Atrebates, who after a
+great many fights were subdued by the Romans about 78 A.D. Then within
+the rude fortifications of Calleva arose the city of Silchester, with
+its fine houses, temples, and baths, its strong walls, and gates, and
+streets, the great centre of civilisation, and the chief city of that
+part of the country.
+
+It is often possible to detect the course of Roman streets where now the
+golden corn is growing. On the surface of the roads where the ground is
+thin, the corn is scanty. Observation of this kind a few years ago led
+to the discovery of a Romano-British village at Long Whittenham, in
+Berks. In Silchester it is quite easy to trace the course of the streets
+by the thinness of the corn, as Leland observed as long ago as 1536. One
+is inclined to wonder where all the earth comes from, which buries old
+buildings and hides them so carefully; but any student of natural
+history, who has read Darwin's book on _Worms_, will cease to be
+astonished. It is chiefly through the action of these useful creatures
+that soil accumulates so greatly on the sites of ancient buildings.
+
+[Illustration: SILCHESTER. PLAN OF CITY]
+
+Within the walls of Silchester were gardens and villas replete with all
+the contrivances of Roman luxury. The houses were built on three sides
+of a square court. A cloister ran round the court, supported by pillars.
+The open space was used as a garden. At the back of the house were the
+kitchens and apartments for the slaves and domestics. The Romans adapted
+their dwellings to the climate in which they lived. In the sunny south,
+at Pompeii, the houses were more open, and would be little suited to our
+more rigorous climate. They knew how to make themselves comfortable,
+built rooms well protected from the weather, and heated with hypocausts.
+These were furnaces made beneath the house, which generated hot air; and
+this was admitted into the rooms by earthenware flue-tiles. The dwellers
+had both summer and winter apartments; and when the cold weather arrived
+the hypocaust furnaces were lighted, and the family adjourned to their
+winter quarters.
+
+The floors were made of _tesserae_, or small cubes of different
+materials and various colours, which were arranged in beautiful
+patterns. Some of these pavements were of most elegant and elaborate
+designs, having figures in them representing the seasons, or some
+mythological characters.
+
+The walls were painted with decorations of very beautiful designs,
+representing the cornfields, just as the Roman artists in Italy loved to
+depict the vine in their mural paintings. The mortar used by the Romans
+is very hard and tenacious, and their bricks were small and thin,
+varying from 8 inches square to 18 inches by 12, and were about 2 inches
+in thickness. Frequently we find the impression of an animal's foot on
+these bricks and tiles, formed when they were in a soft state before
+they were baked, and one tile recently found had the impression of a
+Roman baby's foot. Roman bricks have often been used by subsequent
+builders, and are found built up in the masonry of much later periods.
+
+[Illustration: CAPITAL OF COLUMN]
+
+It is quite possible to build up in imagination the old Roman city, and
+to depict before our mind's eye the scenes that once took place where
+now the rustics toil and till the ground. We enter the forum, the great
+centre of the city, the common resort and lounging-place of the
+citizens, who met together to discuss the latest news from Rome, to
+transact their business, and exchange gossip. On the west side stood the
+noble basilica, or hall of justice--a splendid building, its entrance
+being adorned with fine Corinthian columns; and slabs of polished
+Purbeck marble, and even of green and white marble from the Pyrenees,
+covered the walls. It was a long rectangular hall, 233 feet in length by
+58 feet in width, and at each side was a semicircular apse, which was
+called the Tribune. Here the magistrate sat to administer justice, or an
+orator stood to address the citizens. In the centre of the western wall
+was another apse, where the _curia_ met for the government of the city.
+Two rows of columns ran down the hall, dividing it into a nave with two
+aisles, like many of our churches. Indeed the form of the construction
+of our churches was taken from these Roman basilica. Several chambers
+stood on the west of the hall, one of which was another fine hall,
+probably used as a corn exchange. The height of this noble edifice, the
+roof of which was probably hidden by a coffered ceiling, must have been
+about fifty-seven feet.
+
+Passing along the main street towards the south gate we come to the
+foundations of a nearly circular temple. Two square-shaped buildings
+stood on the east of the city, which were probably temples for some
+Gaulish form of religion, as similar sacred buildings have been
+discovered in France. A quadrangle of buildings near the south gate,
+having various chambers, contained the public baths, whither the Romans
+daily resorted for gossip and discussion as well as for bathing. There
+is an ingenious arrangement for using the waste water for the purpose of
+flushing the drains and sewers. Nor were they ignorant of the invention
+of a force-pump, as the accompanying illustration on the next page
+shows.
+
+[Illustration: ROMAN FORCE-PUMP]
+
+The amphitheatre stands outside the gate, whither the citizens flocked
+to see gladiatorial displays or contests between wild beasts. With the
+exception of one at Dorchester, it is the largest in Britain. It is made
+of lofty banks of earth, which surround the arena, and must have been an
+imposing structure in the days of its glory, with its tiers of seats
+rising above the level arena. It is difficult to imagine this
+grass-covered slope occupied by a gay crowd of Romans and wondering
+Britons, all eagerly witnessing some fierce fight of man with man, or
+beast with beast, and enthusiastically revelling in the sanguinary
+sport. The modern rustics, who have no knowledge of what was the
+original purpose of "the Mount," as they name the amphitheatre, still
+call the arena "the lions' den."
+
+Silchester was a very busy place. There were dye works there, as the
+excavations show; hence there must have been some weaving, and therefore
+a large resident population. Throngs of travellers used to pass through
+it, and carts and baggage animals bore through its streets the
+merchandise from London, which passed to the cities and villas so
+plentifully scattered in western Britain.
+
+By far the most important of the discoveries made in Roman Britain is
+the little church which stood just outside the forum. It is very similar
+in form to the early churches in Italy and other parts of the Roman
+Empire, and is of the basilican type. The orientation is different from
+that used after the reign of Constantine, the altar being at the west
+end. The churches of S. Peter and S. Paul at Rome had the same
+arrangement; and the priest evidently stood behind the altar facing the
+congregation and looking towards the east at the time of the celebration
+of the Holy Communion. There is an apse at the west end, and the
+building is divided by two rows of columns into a nave and two aisles.
+The nave had probably an ambon, or reading-desk, and was mainly used by
+the clergy, the aisles being for the use of the men and women
+separately. A vestry stood at the western end of the north aisle. Across
+the eastern end was the narthex, or porch, where the catechumens stood
+and watched the service through the three open doors. Outside the
+narthex was the atrium, an open court, having in the centre the remains
+of the labrum, or laver, where the people washed their hands and faces
+before entering the church. We are reminded of a sermon by S.
+Chrysostom, who upbraided his congregation, asking them what was the use
+of their washing their hands if they did not at the same time cleanse
+their hearts by repentance. This interesting memorial of early
+Christianity was probably erected soon after the Emperor Constantine's
+Edict of Toleration issued in 313 A.D.
+
+But not only at Silchester and at other places, once the great centres
+of the Roman population, do we find Roman remains. In addition to the
+stations, camps, and towns, there were the villas of the rich Roman
+citizens or Gaulish merchants on the sunny slopes of many a hillside.
+Although hundreds of the remains of these noble houses have been
+discovered, there are still many to be explored.
+
+The villa consisted of the house of the proprietor, which occupied the
+centre of the little colony, together with the smaller houses of the
+servants and slaves, stables, cowsheds, mills, and granaries, and all
+the other usual outbuildings connected with a large estate. The main
+house was built around a central court, like an Oxford college; and
+resembled in architectural style the buildings which the excavations at
+Pompeii have disclosed. A corridor ran round the court supported by
+pillars, from which the rooms opened. In a well-defended town like
+Silchester the houses were usually built on three sides of the court;
+but the country villas, which had occasionally to be fortified against
+the attacks of wandering bands of outlaws and wild Britons, and the
+inroads of savage beasts, were usually built on all the four sides of
+the square court. They were usually of one story, although the existence
+of a force-pump in Silchester shows that water was laid on upstairs in
+one house at least. As the wells were less than thirty feet deep, a
+force-pump would not be needed to lift the water to the earth-level.
+Hence in some houses there must have been some upper chambers, a
+conclusion that is supported by the thickness of the foundations, which
+are far more substantial than would be required for houses of one story.
+The rooms were very numerous, often as many as sixty or seventy, and
+very bright they must have looked decorated with beautiful marbles and
+stuccoes of gorgeous hues, and magnificent pavements, statues and
+shrines, baths and fountains, and the many other objects of Roman luxury
+and comfort. The floors were made of _opus signinum_, such as the
+Italians use at the present day, a material composed of cement in which
+are embedded fragments of stone or brick, the whole being rubbed down to
+a smooth surface, or paved with mosaic composed of _tesserae_. In
+whatever land the Roman dwelt, there he made his beautiful tesselated
+pavement, rich with graceful designs and ever-enduring colours,
+representing the stories of the gods, the poetry of nature, and the
+legends of the heroes of his beloved native land. Here we see Perseus
+freeing Andromeda, Medusa's locks, Bacchus and his band of revellers,
+Orpheus with his lyre, by which he is attracting a monkey, a fox, a
+peacock, and other animals, Apollo singing to his lyre, Venus being
+loved by Mars, Neptune with his trident, attended by hosts of seamen.
+The seasons form an accustomed group, "Winter" being represented, as at
+Brading, by a female figure, closely wrapped, holding a lifeless bough
+and a dead bird. Satyrs and fauns, flowers, Graces and wood-nymphs,
+horns of plenty, gladiators fighting, one with a trident, the other with
+a net--all these and countless other fanciful representations look at us
+from these old Roman pavements. The Roman villa at Brading is an
+excellent type of such a dwelling, with its magnificent suites of rooms,
+colonnades, halls, and splendid mosaic pavements. As at Silchester, we
+see there fine examples of hypocausts. The floor of the room, called a
+_suspensura_, is supported by fifty-four small pillars made of tiles.
+Another good example of a similar floor exists at Cirencester, and many
+more at Silchester.
+
+[Illustration: TESSELATED PAVEMENT]
+
+Here is a description of a Roman gentleman's house, as drawn by the
+writer of _The History of Oxfordshire_:--
+
+"His villa lay sheltered from wild winds partly by the rising brow of
+the hill, and partly by belts of trees; it was turned towards the south,
+and caught the full sun. In the spring the breath of his violet beds
+would be as soft and sweet as in Oxfordshire woods to-day; in the summer
+his quadrangle would be gay with calthae, and his colonnade festooned
+with roses and helichryse. If we are to believe in the _triclinium
+aestivum_ of Hakewill, it says much for the warmth of those far-away
+summers that he was driven to build a summer dining-room with a north
+aspect, and without heating flues. And when the long nights fell, and
+winter cold set in, the slaves heaped higher the charcoal fires in the
+_praefurnium_; the master sat in rooms far better warmed than Oxford
+country houses now, or sunned himself at midday in the sheltered
+quadrangle, taking his exercise in the warm side of the colonnade among
+his gay stuccoes and fluted columns. Could we for a moment raise the
+veil, we should probably find that the country life of 400 A.D. in
+Oxfordshire was not so very dissimilar to that of to-day, ... and that
+the well-to-do Roman of rustic Middle England was ... a useful,
+peaceful, and a happy person."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
+
+Departure of Romans--Coming of Saxons--Bede--Saxon names of places--
+Saxon village--Common-field system--_Eorl_ and _ceorl_--Thanes,
+_geburs_, and _cottiers_--Description of village life--Thane's
+house--_Socmen_--Ploughman's lament--Village tradesmen--Parish
+council--Hundreds--Shires.
+
+
+The scene changes. The Roman legions have left our shores, and are
+trying to prop the tottering state of the falling empire. The groans
+of the Britons have fallen on listless or distracted ears, and no one
+has come to their succour. The rule of the all-swaying Roman power has
+passed away, and the Saxon hordes have poured over the hills and vales
+of rural Britain, and made it the Angles' land--our England.
+
+The coming of the Saxons was a very gradual movement. They did not
+attack our shores in large armies on one or two occasions; they came
+in clans or families. The head of the clan built a ship, and taking
+with him his family and relations, founded a settlement in wild Britain,
+or wherever the winds happened to carry them. They were very fierce
+and relentless in war, and committed terrible ravages on the helpless
+Britons, sparing neither men, women, nor children, burning buildings,
+destroying and conquering wherever they went.
+
+Bede tells the story of doings of the ruthless Saxons:--
+
+"The barbarous conquerors ... plundered all the neighbouring cities and
+country, spread the conflagration from the eastern to the western sea
+without any opposition, and covered almost every part of the devoted
+island. Public as well as private structures were overturned; the
+priests were everywhere slain before the altars; the prelates and
+the people, without any respect of persons, were destroyed with fire
+and sword; nor was there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly
+slaughtered. Some of the miserable remainder, being taken in the
+mountains, were butchered in heaps. Others, spent with hunger, came
+forth and submitted themselves to the enemy for food, being destined
+to undergo perpetual servitude, if they were not killed even upon the
+spot. Some, with sorrowful hearts, fled beyond the seas; others,
+continuing in their own country, led a miserable life among the woods,
+rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food to support life, and
+expecting every moment to be their last."
+
+Many antiquaries believe that the extirpation of the Britons was not so
+complete as Bede asserts, and that a large number of them remained in
+England in a condition of servitude. At any rate, the almost entire
+extinction of the language, except as regards the names of a few rivers
+and mountains, and of a few household words, seems to point to a fairly
+complete expulsion of the Britons rather than to a mingling of them with
+the conquering race.
+
+What remains have we in our English villages of our Saxon forefathers,
+the makers of England? In the first place we notice that many of the
+names of our villages retain the memory of their founders. When the
+family, or group of families, formed their settlements, they avoided the
+buildings and walled towns, relics of Roman civilisation, made clearings
+for themselves in the primeval forests, and established themselves in
+village communities. In the names of places the suffix _ing_, meaning
+_sons of_, denotes that the village was first occupied by the clan of
+some chief, whose name is compounded with this syllable _ing_. Thus the
+Uffingas, the children of Offa, formed a settlement at Uffinggaston, or
+Uffington; the Redingas, or sons of Rede, settled at Reading; the
+Billings at Billinge and Billingham; the Wokings or Hocings, sons of
+Hoc, at Woking and Wokingham. The Billings and Wokings first settled at
+Billinge and Woking; and then like bees they swarmed, and started
+another hive of industry at Billingham and Wokingham.
+
+These family settlements, revealed to us by the patronymic _ing_, are
+very numerous. At Ardington, in Berkshire, the Ardings, the royal race
+of the Vandals, settled; the Frankish Walsings at Wolsingham; the
+Halsings at Helsington; the Brentings at Brentingley; the Danish
+Scyldings at Skelding; the Thurings at Thorington; and many other
+examples might be quoted.
+
+Many Saxon names of places end in _field_, which denotes a forest
+clearing, or _feld_, made by the axes of the settlers in the primeval
+woods, where the trees were _felled_. These villages were rudely
+fortified, or inclosed by a hedge, wall, or palisade, denoted by the
+suffix _ton_, derived from the Anglo-Saxon _tynan_, to hedge; and all
+names ending with this syllable point to the existence of a Saxon
+settlement hedged in and protected from all intruders. Thus we have
+Barton, Preston, Bolton, and many others. The terminations _yard_,
+_stoke_, or stockaded place, as in Basingstoke, _worth_ (Anglo-Saxon
+_weorthig_), as in Kenilworth, Tamworth, Walworth, have much the same
+meaning.
+
+Perhaps the most common of all the terminations of names denoting the
+presence of Anglo-Saxon settlers is the suffix _ham_. When the _a_ is
+pronounced short the syllable denotes an inclosure, like _stoke_ or
+_ton_; but when the _a_ is long, it means home, and expresses the
+reverence with which the Anglo-Saxon regarded his own dwelling. England
+is the land of homes, and the natural affection with which we Englishmen
+regard our homes is to a great extent peculiar to our race. The
+Frenchman, the Spaniard, the Italian, do not have the same respect for
+home. Our Saxon forefathers were a very home-loving people, and it is
+from them doubtless that we inherit our love for our homes.
+
+We find, then, the Saxon holding the lands. The clan formed settlements;
+sections of each clan formed branch settlements; and several members of
+each section cut their way through the thick forests, felled the trees,
+built homesteads, where they tilled the land and reared their cattle.
+
+In early Saxon times the settlement consisted of a number of families
+holding a district, and the land was regularly divided into three
+portions. There was the village itself, in which the people lived in
+houses built of wood or rude stonework. Around the village were a few
+small inclosures, or grass yards, for rearing calves and baiting farm
+stock; this was the common farmstead. Around this was the arable land,
+where the villagers grew their corn and other vegetables; and around
+this lay the common meadows, or pasture land, held by the whole
+community, so that each family could turn their cattle into it, subject
+to the regulations of an officer elected by the people, whose duty it
+was to see that no one trespassed on the rights of his neighbour, or
+turned too many cattle into the common pasture.
+
+[Illustration: BEATING ACORNS FOR SWINE
+Cotton MS., _Nero_, c. 4]
+
+Around the whole colony lay the woods and uncultivated land, which
+was left in its natural wild state, where the people cut their timber
+and fuel, and pastured their pigs in the glades of the forest. The
+cultivated land was divided into three large fields, in which the
+rotation of crops was strictly enforced, each field lying fallow once
+in three years. To each freeman was assigned his own family lot, which
+was cultivated by the members of his household. But he was obliged to
+sow the same crop as his neighbour, and compelled by law to allow his
+lot to lie fallow with the rest every third year. The remains of this
+common-field system are still evident in many parts of the country, the
+fields being termed "lot meadows," or "Lammas lands." Our commons, too,
+many of which remain in spite of numerous inclosures, are evidences of
+the communal life of our village forefathers.
+
+How long the Saxon villages remained free democratic institutions, we do
+not know. Gradually a change came over them, and we find the manorial
+system in vogue. Manors existed in England long before the Normans came,
+although "manor" is a Norman word; and in the time of Canute the system
+was in full force. The existence of a manor implies a lord of the manor,
+who exercised authority over all the villagers, owned the home farm, and
+had certain rights over the rest of the land. How all this came about,
+we scarcely know. Owing to the Danish invasions, when the rude barbarous
+warriors carried fire and sword into many a peaceful town and village,
+the villagers found themselves at the mercy of these savage hordes.
+Probably they sought the protection of some thane, or _eorl_, with his
+band of warriors, who could save their lands from pillage. In return for
+their services they acknowledged him as the lord of their village, and
+gave him rent, which was paid either in the produce of these fields or
+by the work of their hands. Thus the lords of the manor became the
+masters of the villagers, although they too were governed by law, and
+were obliged to respect the rights of their tenants and servants.
+
+Saxon society was divided into two main divisions, the _eorl_ and the
+_ceorl_, the men of noble birth, and those of ignoble origin. The chief
+man in the village was the manorial lord, a _thane_, who had his demesne
+land, and his _gafol_ land, or _geneat_ land, which was land held in
+villeinage, and cultivated by _geneats_, or persons holding by service.
+These villein tenants were in two classes, the _geburs_, or villeins
+proper, who held the yardlands, and the _cottiers_, who had smaller
+holdings. Beneath these two classes there were the _theows_, or slaves,
+made up partly of the conquered Britons, partly of captives taken in
+war, and partly of freemen who had been condemned to this penalty for
+their crimes, or had incurred it by poverty.
+
+There were degrees of rank among Saxon gentlemen, as among those of
+to-day. The thanes were divided into three classes: (i.) those of royal
+rank (_thani regis_), who served the king in Court or in the management
+of State affairs; (ii.) _thani mediocres_, who held the title by
+inheritance, and corresponded to the lords of the manor in the later
+times; (iii.) _thani minores_, or inferior thanes, to which rank
+_ceorls_ or merchants could attain by the acquisition of sufficient
+landed property.
+
+We can picture to ourselves the ordinary village life which existed in
+Saxon times. The thane's house stood in the centre of the village, not a
+very lordly structure, and very unlike the stately Norman castles which
+were erected in later times. It was commonly built of wood, which the
+neighbouring forests supplied in plenty, and had stone or mud
+foundations. The house consisted of an irregular group of low buildings,
+almost all of one story. In the centre of the group was the hall, with
+doors opening into the court. On one side stood the kitchen; on the
+other the chapel when the thane became a Christian and required the
+services of the Church for himself and his household. Numerous other
+rooms with lean-to roofs were joined on to the hall, and a tower for
+purposes of defence in case of an attack. Stables and barns were
+scattered about outside the house, and with the cattle and horses lived
+the grooms and herdsmen, while villeins and _cottiers_ dwelt in the
+humble, low, shedlike buildings, which clustered round the Saxon thane's
+dwelling-place. An illustration of such a house appears in an ancient
+illumination preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 603. The lord and lady
+of the house are represented as engaged in almsgiving; the lady is thus
+earning her true title, that of "loaf-giver," from which her name "lady"
+is derived.
+
+[Illustration: HOUSE OF SAXON THANE]
+
+The interior of the hall was the common living-room for both men and
+women, who slept on the reed-strewn floor, the ladies' sleeping-place
+being separated from the men's by the arras. The walls were hung with
+tapestry, woven by the skilled fingers of the ladies of the household. A
+peat or log fire burned in the centre of the hall, and the smoke hid the
+ceiling and finally found its way out through a hole in the roof. Arms
+and armour hung on the walls, and the seats consisted of benches called
+"mead-settles," arranged along the sides of the hall, where the Saxon
+chiefs sat drinking their favourite beverage, mead, or sweetened beer,
+out of the horns presented to them by the waiting damsels. When the hour
+for dinner approached, rude tables were laid on trestles, and forthwith
+groaned beneath the weight of joints of meat and fat capons which the
+Saxon loved dearly. The door of the hall was usually open, and thither
+came the bards and gleemen, who used to delight the company with their
+songs and stories of the gallant deeds of their ancestors, the weird
+legends of their gods Woden and Thor, their Viking lays and Norse sagas,
+and the acrobats and dancers astonished them with their strange
+postures.
+
+Next to the thane ranked the _geburs_, who held land granted to them by
+the thane for their own use, sometimes as much as one hundred and twenty
+acres, and were required to work for the lord on the home farm two or
+three days a week, or pay rent for their holdings. This payment
+consisted of the produce of the land. They were also obliged to provide
+one or more oxen for the manorial plough team, which consisted of eight
+oxen.
+
+There was also a strong independent body of men called _socmen_, who
+were none other than our English yeomen. They were free tenants, who
+have by their independence stamped with peculiar features both our
+constitution and our national character. Their good name remains;
+English yeomen have done good service to their country, and let us hope
+that they will long continue to exist amongst us, in spite of the
+changed condition of English agriculture and the prolonged depression in
+farming affairs, which has tried them severely.
+
+[Illustration: WHEEL PLOUGH
+From Bayeux Tapestry]
+
+Besides the _geburs_ and _socmen_ there were the _cottiers_, who had
+small allotments of about five acres, kept no oxen, and were required to
+work for the thane some days in each week. Below them were the _theows_,
+serfs, or slaves, who could be bought and sold in the market, and were
+compelled to work on the lord's farm.
+
+Listen to the sad lament of one of this class, recorded in a dialogue of
+AElfric of the tenth century:--
+
+"What sayest thou, ploughman? How dost thou do thy work?"
+
+"Oh, my lord, hard do I work. I go out at daybreak, driving the oxen to
+field, and I yoke them to the plough. Nor is it ever so hard winter that
+I dare loiter at home, for fear of my lord, but the oxen yoked, and the
+ploughshare and the coulter fastened to the plough, every day must I
+plough a full acre, or more."
+
+"Hast thou any comrade?"
+
+"I have a boy driving the oxen with an iron goad, who also is hoarse
+with cold and shouting."
+
+"What more dost thou in the day?"
+
+"Verily then I do more. I must fill the bin of the oxen with hay, and
+water them, and carry out the dung. Ha! Ha! hard work it is, hard work
+it is! because _I am not free._"
+
+Evidently the ploughman's want of freedom was his great hardship; his
+work in ploughing, feeding, and watering his cattle, and in cleansing
+their stable, was not harder than that of an ordinary carter in the
+present day; but servitude galled his spirit, and made the work
+intolerable. Let us hope that his lord was a kind-hearted man, and gave
+him some cattle for his own, as well as some land to cultivate, and then
+he would not feel the work so hard, or the winter so cold.
+
+Frequently men were thus released from slavery; sometimes also freemen
+sold themselves into slavery under the pressure of extreme want. A man
+so reduced was required to lay aside his sword and lance, the symbols
+of the free, and to take up the bill and the goad, the implements of
+slavery, to fall on his knees and place his head, in token of submission,
+under the hands of his master.
+
+[Illustration: SMITHY
+From the Cotton MS., B 4]
+
+Each trade was represented in the village community. There were the
+_faber_, or smith, and the carpenter, who repaired the ironwork and
+woodwork of the ploughs and other agricultural implements, and in return
+for their work had small holdings among the tenants free from ordinary
+services. There was the _punder_, or pound-man, who looked after the
+repair of the fences and impounded stray cattle; the _cementarius_, or
+stonemason; the _custos apium_, or bee-keeper, an important person, as
+much honey was needed to make the sweetened ale, or mead, which the
+villagers and their chiefs loved to imbibe; and the steward, or
+_prepositus_, who acted on behalf of the lord, looked after the
+interests of the tenants, and took care that they rendered their legal
+services. The surnames Smith, Baker, Butcher, Carter, and many others,
+preserve the remembrance of the various trades which were carried on in
+every village, and of the complete self-dependence of the community.
+
+We have inherited many customs and institutions from our Saxon
+forefathers, which connect our own age with theirs. In recent years we
+have established parish councils in our villages. Formerly the pet
+theory of politicians was centralisation; everything had to be done at
+one centre, at one central office, and London became the head and centre
+of all government. But recently politicians thought that they had
+discovered a new plan for carrying on the internal affairs of the
+country, and the idea was to leave each district to manage its own
+affairs. This is only a return to the original Saxon plan. In every
+village there was a moot-hill, or sacred tree, where the freemen met to
+make their own laws and arrange their agricultural affairs. Here
+disputes were settled, plough lands and meadow lands shared in due lot
+among the villagers, and everything arranged according to the custom of
+the village.
+
+Our county maps show that the shires are divided into hundreds. This we
+have inherited from our Saxon forefathers. In order to protect
+themselves from their neighbours, the Saxon colonists arranged
+themselves in hundreds of warriors. This little army was composed of
+picked champions, the representatives of a hundred families; men who
+were ready in case of war to uphold the honour of their house, and to
+fight for their hearths and homes. These hundred families recognised a
+bond of union with each other and a common inheritance, and ranged
+themselves under one name for general purposes, whether for defence,
+administration of justice, or other objects.
+
+On a fixed day, three times a year, in some place where they were
+accustomed to assemble--under a particular tree,[1] or near some
+river-bank--these hundred champions used to meet their chieftain, and
+gather around him when he dismounted from his horse. He then placed his
+spear in the ground, and each warrior touched it with his own spear in
+token of their compact, and pledged himself to mutual support. At this
+assembly criminals were tried, disputes settled, bargains of sale
+concluded; and in later times many of these transactions were inserted
+in the chartularies of abbeys or the registers of bishops, which thus
+became a kind of register too sacred to be falsified. A large number of
+the hundreds bear the name of some chieftain who once used to call
+together his band of bearded, light-haired warriors and administer rude
+justice beneath a broad oak's shade.[2] Others are named after some
+particular spot, some tree, or ford, or stone, or tumulus, where the
+hundred court met.
+
+Our counties or shires were not formed, as is popularly supposed, by
+King Alfred or other royal person by the dividing up of the country into
+portions, but were the areas occupied by the original Saxon tribes or
+kingdoms. Most of our counties retain to this day the boundaries which
+were originally formed by the early Saxon settlers. Some of our counties
+were old Saxon kingdoms--such as Sussex, Essex, Middlesex--the kingdoms
+of the South, East, and Middle Saxons. Surrey is the Sothe-reye, or
+south realm; Kent is the land of the Cantii, a Belgic tribe; Devon is
+the land of the Damnonii, a Celtic tribe; Cornwall, or Corn-wales, is
+the land of the Welsh of the Horn; Worcestershire is the shire of the
+Huiccii; Cumberland is the land of the Cymry; Northumberland is the land
+north of the Humber, and therefore, as its name implies, used to extend
+over all the North of England. Evidently the southern tribes and
+kingdoms by conquest reduced the size of this large county and confined
+it to its present smaller dimensions. In several cases the name of the
+county is derived from that of its chief town, _e.g._ Oxfordshire,
+Warwickshire; these were districts which were conquered by some powerful
+earl or chieftain, who held his court in the town, and called his newly
+acquired property after its name.
+
+We have seen the picture of an ordinary English village in early Saxon
+times, the villeins and slaves working in the fields and driving their
+oxen, and the thane dressed in his linen tunic and short cloak, his hose
+bandaged to the knee with strips of cloth, superintending the farming
+operations. We have seen the freemen and thanes taking an active part in
+public life, attending the courts of the hundred and shire, as well as
+the folk moot or parish council of those times, and the slave mourning
+over his lack of freedom. But many other relics of Saxon times remain,
+and these will require another chapter for their examination.
+
+
+[1] Until the eighteenth century there stood a pollard oak in the parish
+of Shelford, Berks, where the hundred court used to be held.
+
+[2] Other theories with regard to the origin of the hundred have been
+suggested. Some writers maintain that the hundred was a district whence
+the hundred warriors were derived, or a group of townships. But the
+Bishop of Oxford in his _Constitutional History_ states: "It is very
+probable that the colonists of Britain arranged themselves in hundreds
+of warriors; it is not probable that the country was carved into equal
+districts. The only conclusion that seems reasonable is that under the
+name of geographical hundreds we have the variously sized _pagi_, or
+districts, in which the hundred warriors settled, the boundaries of
+these being determined by other causes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SAXON RELICS
+
+Peculiarities of Saxon barrows--Their contents--Weapons--Articles
+of personal adornment--Cremation--Saxon Cemeteries--Jutes--Saxons--
+Angles--Religion of Saxons--British Church in Wales--Conversion
+of Saxons--Saxon crosses--Whalley--St. Wilfrid--Ruthwell cross--
+Bewcastle cross--Eyam cross--Ilkley cross--Hexham cross--Cross at
+St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland--Cheeping crosses--Pilgrim crosses.
+
+
+The earth has preserved a vast store of relics of the Saxons, and for
+these we must search in the barrows which contain their dead. There are
+certain peculiarities which characterise these memorials of the race.
+The larger tumuli, whether belonging to Celt or Roman, usually stand
+alone, or in groups of not more than two or three, and were the
+monuments of distinguished people; whereas the Saxon barrows form a
+regular cemetery, each group being the common burying-place of the
+people in the district. Another characteristic is the large number of
+articles which they contain. Moreover it was the practice of the other
+races to lay the body on the ground, and build up the chamber and mound
+above it. The Saxons on the other hand laid the body in a deep grave
+before they began to construct the barrow.
+
+The body was usually stretched out on its back, but is sometimes found
+in a sitting position, as in graves recently discovered on Lord
+Wantage's estate, Berks. Coffins of hollowed trunks of trees were
+occasionally used, but these were not common. If the dead man was a
+warrior, his weapons were buried with him, and we find the head and
+spike of his spear, heads of javelins, a long iron broad-sword, a long
+knife, occasionally an axe, and over his breast the iron boss of his
+shield, the wooden part of which has of course decayed away.
+
+[Illustration: SAXON RELICS
+(1) Sword
+(2) Top of Sword Handle
+(3) Buckle
+(4) Spear-head
+(5) Plain Fibula]
+
+The articles of personal adornment are very numerous. Fibulae, or
+brooches, and buckles, made of bronze, are very beautifully ornamented.
+Gold fibulae of circular form are found in the Kentish barrows,
+frequently ornamented with real or fictitious gems. Rings, bracelets,
+necklaces of beads, pendants for the neck and ears, are very common. The
+beads are of glass, or amber, or variegated clay. Hairpins with which
+the Saxon ladies bound up their tresses, chatelaines with tweezers for
+removing superfluous hairs, toothpicks, scissors, and small knives, are
+very frequent, and combs made of bone.
+
+When cremation was used the ashes were deposited in an urn made of rude
+earthenware without the help of a lathe. Drinking-vessels of glass of
+fine and delicate workmanship, pointed or rounded at the bottom, are
+common. From the construction of these cups it is evident that the Saxon
+allowed no "heel-taps." Bronze bowls, dishes, and basins are found in
+Saxon barrows, and occasionally buckets.
+
+A pair of dice was found in a grave at Kingston Down, which indicates a
+favourite pastime of the Saxons. The presence of a large number of Roman
+coins shows that they used Roman money long after the legions had left
+our shores. Sceattas, or Saxon silver coins, are also frequently
+discovered.
+
+Many Saxon cemeteries have been discovered in various parts of England,
+but a vast number have never been examined; and the careful inspection
+of the contents of barrows must throw much light upon Saxon settlements
+in England. Bede tells us that there were three different branches of
+this race. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons
+settled in Essex, the country of the East Saxons, Sussex, that of the
+South Saxons, and Wessex, of the West Saxons. The Angles settled in East
+Anglia. Now an examination of barrows shows that the Angles practised
+cremation and urn burial, which was not so common amongst the Jutes and
+Saxons, and the fibulae found in the tombs of these tribes differ
+considerably in shape and size. The contents of these graves throw much
+light on the history of the people, their customs and habits. The action
+of the plough has often obliterated the traces of ancient barrows. It is
+advisable that the position of all such mounds should be carefully noted
+and recorded, and where possible excavations made which may help in
+settling many vexed questions, and enable us to understand more fully
+the condition of the pagan Saxon, ere the light of Christianity had
+dawned upon him.
+
+Our names for the days of the week tell us of the gods of our Saxon
+forefathers, whom they worshipped in their pagan and unregenerate state.
+Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuisco's-day, Woden's-day, Thor's-day, Frya's-day,
+Saeter's-day, link us on to the times when these "whelps from the
+kennels of barbarism," as the Britons loved to call their conquerors,
+swept away the old British Church, and established their heathen rites
+and customs. Their religion resembled that of their Scandinavian
+neighbours. Each village had its sacred spot, some clearing in the
+forest, a tree, or well, whither the people resorted to pray to their
+gods, and practise superstitious rites and customs which lingered long
+after the introduction of Christianity, and even still survive. They had
+also a few temples whither the freemen came three times a year.
+
+Driven out of England the ancient British Church found a refuge in the
+wilds of Wales and Cornwall, where it lived on and flourished
+vigorously, allied to the Churches of Ireland and Scotland, sending out
+missionaries to the Continent of Europe, having schools and colleges,
+monasteries, and numerous churches. Llancarvan, in Glamorganshire, was a
+celebrated seat of learning; and all places named Bangor, such as
+Bangor-Iscaed, St. Asaph, and many others, possessed schools and
+colleges. The village names of numerous places in Wales and Cornwall
+record the labours of many earnest, saintly men, who brought
+Christianity to the savage folk in these wild regions. There are nearly
+five hundred names of these holy men in Wales alone, whose memory is
+retained by this simple record; and Cornwall is dotted over with
+churches dedicated to men and women whose names are strange, and of whom
+we know nothing. History tells us of some of these early saints and
+martyrs, of St. Alban, the first British martyr, who was slain 303 A.D.
+during the Diocletian persecution in the city which bears his name; of
+St. David, a Welsh prince, who followed the active life of John the
+Baptist, and preached like him. The memory of early saints is enshrined
+in the names, St. Ives, St. Neots, St. Bees, and in St. Edmund's Bury,
+named after St. Edmund, who was taken prisoner by Ingvar the Viking, and
+having been bound to a tree, was scourged, and served as a target for
+the arrows of the Danes, being afterwards beheaded. All these record the
+bravery and zeal of the holy men of old who loved their God, and for His
+sake feared not to die.
+
+Nothing need be said of the conversion of the English. That is a story
+which has been often told. The scene is again changed. The temples of
+Woden and Thor at Canterbury and Godmundingham and elsewhere, with their
+heathen altars and shrines and idols, have been changed into Christian
+churches, and other houses of God have been raised in the various
+kingdoms; while Paulinus, Berinus, Aidan, Winfrid, and other preachers,
+travelled through the country, exhorting the people to accept the
+Christian faith.
+
+Memorials of these early Christian missionaries remain in many a village
+churchyard. Often there stands near the village church an old stone
+cross, its steps worn away by the rains and frosts of thirteen
+centuries; its head has doubtless gone, broken off by the force of the
+gales, or by the wild rage of human passion and Puritanical iconoclastic
+zeal; but it preserves the memory of the first conversion of the Saxon
+villagers to Christianity, and was erected to mark the spot where the
+people assembled to hear the new preacher, and to consecrate it for this
+purpose.
+
+In the life of St. Willibald we read that it was the custom of the Saxon
+nation, on the estates of some of their nobles or great men, to erect,
+not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God,
+beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common
+use of daily prayer. It is recorded also that St. Kentigern used to
+erect a cross in any place where he had converted the people, and where
+he had been staying for some time. Very probably the Saxon preacher
+would make use of the old open-air meeting-place, where the pagan
+villagers used to worship Woden; and thus the spots still used for
+public worship are in many cases the same which used to echo with the
+songs of Thor and the prayers of pagan Saxons.
+
+These crosses were the rallying-points for Christian congregations
+before churches arose, and the bells in their turrets summoned the
+people to the service of God. In Somersetshire alone there are two
+hundred relics of the piety of our forefathers; and the North of England
+and Scotland are especially rich in crosses. No two are ever quite
+similar. Some are of simple design or character; but many have such
+beautiful carving and scrollwork that we are astonished at the skill of
+the workmen who, with very simple and rude tools, could produce such
+wonderful specimens of art.
+
+The pagan Saxons worshipped stone pillars; so in order to wean them from
+their ignorant superstition, the Christian missionaries, such as St.
+Wilfrid, erected these stone crosses, and carved upon them the figures
+of the Saviour and His Apostles, displaying before the eyes of their
+hearers the story of the cross written in stone.
+
+The North of England has very many examples of the zeal of these early
+preachers of the faith, and probably most of them were fashioned by the
+monks and followers of St. Wilfrid, who was Archbishop of York at the
+beginning of the eighth century.
+
+When he travelled about his diocese a large body of monks and workmen
+attended him; and amongst these were the cutters in stone who made the
+crosses and erected them on the spots which Wilfrid consecrated to the
+worship of God.
+
+The Whalley cross is earlier than the time of Wilfrid. It is one of the
+crosses of Paulinus, who was one of the priests sent by Pope Gregory to
+help Augustine in the work of converting the Saxons, and who became
+Archbishop of York. Under the shadow of this very cross Paulinus, who
+came to England in 601 A.D., preached nearly thirteen hundred years ago.
+Indeed an old monkish writer wished to represent that Augustine himself
+came to Whalley and erected the cross, which he calls "St. Augustine's
+Cross"; but there is little doubt that Paulinus was the founder. In
+Puritan times this and other relics of early faith suffered badly, and
+was removed with two others from the churchyard, and used as a gatepost;
+but the spoiler repented, and restored it once more to its old
+resting-place.
+
+But how did the founders learn to make such beautiful patterns and
+designs? St. Wilfrid had travelled much; he had been to Rome and seen
+the wonderful examples of Roman skill in the great city. The Romans had
+left behind them in England their beautiful pavements, rich in designs,
+with splendid borders of fine workmanship. These, doubtless, the monks
+copied on parchment in the writing-rooms of their monasteries, and gave
+their drawings to the monks in the stone-shed, who reproduced them in
+stone. The only tool they had to produce all this fine and delicate work
+was the pick, and this increases our wonder at the marvels they were
+able to accomplish.
+
+There is a famous cross at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire, which for a short
+time formed part of the kingdom of Northumbria. Scenes from early
+Christian history are portrayed, and these are surrounded by bands with
+sentences in Latin describing them. The lowest panel is too defaced for
+us to determine the subjects; on the second we see the flight into
+Egypt; on the third figures of Paul, the first hermit, and Anthony, the
+first monk, are carved; on the fourth is a representation of our Lord
+treading under foot the heads of swine; and on the highest there is the
+figure of John the Baptist with the Lamb. On the opposite side are the
+Annunciation, the Salutation, and other scenes of gospel history. On the
+side of the cross is some beautiful scrollwork, which shows a wonderful
+development of skill and art.
+
+In addition to the Latin sentences there are five stanzas of an
+Anglo-Saxon poem of singular beauty. It is the story of the crucifixion
+told in touching words by the cross itself, which narrates its own sad
+tale from the time when it was a growing tree by the woodside, until at
+length, after the body of the Lord had been taken down--
+
+  "The warriors left me there,
+  Standing defiled with blood."
+
+On the head of the cross are inscribed the words, "Caedmon made me."
+This Caedmon was the holy monk, on whom the gift of writing verses was
+bestowed by Heaven, who in the year 680 A.D. began to pour forth his
+songs in praise of Almighty God, and told in Anglo-Saxon poetry the
+story of the creation and the life of our Lord. The Bewcastle cross is
+somewhat similar to that at Ruthwell. We see again the figure of our
+Lord standing on the heads of swine, but the lower figure is represented
+with a hawk, the sign of nobility, and is probably that of a person to
+whom the cross is a memorial. The ornamentation on this cross is very
+perfect and beautifully executed. The very beautiful cross at Eyam, in
+Derbyshire, differs both in style and workmanship from almost any other.
+The shaft has evidently been broken. In the panels of the head of the
+cross are figures of angels.
+
+Sometimes we find some very strange beasts carved on the old crosses. On
+the cross at Ilkley we observe some of these curious animals with their
+long tails interlacing. Sometimes the tail is wound round the creature's
+body, and the idea of the artist was to represent the animal reduced to
+a state of powerlessness. One forepaw is held up in sign of submission.
+Above is a figure of our Lord triumphing over the powers of evil, and
+these animals represent probably man's lower nature owning the supremacy
+of the King of Heaven. On the other side of the cross are figures of the
+four evangelists. The upper half of the figures alone appears dressed in
+flowing garments; each is carrying a book; circles of glory surround
+their heads, which are the symbols of the evangelists. St. Matthew has a
+man's head; St. Mark a leopard's; St. Luke's a calf's; and St. John an
+eagle's head.
+
+The crosses at Hexham, where Archbishop Wilfrid founded a monastery, are
+very ancient. We are able to tell the date of these stones, for they
+were placed at the head and feet of the grave of Bishop Acca, who was a
+follower of St. Wilfrid, and accompanied him on his missionary journeys.
+Acca succeeded Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham, and according to the old
+chronicler Bede, "being a most active man and great in the sight of God
+and man, he much adorned and added to his church." Acca died in 738
+A.D., and as the monastery of Hexham was soon destroyed, these crosses
+must have been erected eleven hundred and sixty-three years ago.
+
+The cross at St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland, is of much later date, and
+the workmanship is not nearly so fine and delicate as in the earlier
+crosses. The Saxons had deteriorated as a race just before the Normans
+came, and although the cross still appears on the flat stone, the design
+on the shaft of the cross merely represents a hunting scene; and a Saxon
+bowman is shown shooting at some animals. The religious conceptions of
+an earlier and purer time have disappeared. The moustache of the
+sportsman also shows that the stone belonged to a period very near the
+Norman Conquest, when that fashion of wearing the hair was in vogue.
+
+England is remarkable for these specimens of ancient art. On the
+Continent there are very few of these elaborately carved crosses; but
+it is noteworthy that wherever the English or Irish missionaries went,
+they erected these memorials of their faith. In Switzerland, where
+they founded some monasteries, there are some very similar to those
+in England.
+
+There are several other kinds of crosses besides those in churchyards.
+There are market crosses, called "cheeping" crosses after the
+Anglo-Saxon _cheap_, to buy, from which Cheapside, in London, Chippenham
+and Chipping Norton derive their names. Some crosses are "pilgrim"
+crosses, and were erected along the roads leading to shrines where
+pilgrimages were wont to be made, such as the shrine of St. Thomas
+a Becket at Canterbury, Glastonbury, Our Lady of Walsingham. Sometimes
+they were erected at the places where the corpse rested on its way to
+burial, as the Eleanor crosses at Waltham and Charing, in order that
+people might pray for the soul of the deceased. Monks also erected
+crosses to mark the boundaries of the property of their monastery.
+
+[Illustration: AN OLD MARKET CROSS]
+
+Time has dealt hardly with the old crosses of England. Many of them
+were destroyed by the Puritans, who by the Parliamentary decree of
+1643, ordered that all altars and tables of stones, all crucifixes,
+images and pictures of God and the saints, with all superstitious
+inscriptions, should be obliterated and destroyed. In London, St.
+Paul's Cross, Charing Cross, and that in Cheapside, were levelled
+with the ground, and throughout the country many a beautiful work
+of art which had existed hundreds of years shared the same fate.
+Place-names sometimes preserve their memory, such as Gerard's Cross,
+in Buckinghamshire, Crosby, Crossens, Cross Inn, Croston; these and
+many others record the existence in ancient times of a cross, and
+probably beneath its shade the first preachers of the gospel stood,
+when they turned the hearts of our heathen ancestors, and taught them
+the holy lessons of the Cross.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
+
+Saxon monasteries--Parish churches--Benedict Biscop--Aldhelm--St.
+Andrew's, Hexham--Brixworth Church--Saxon architecture--Norman
+architecture--Characteristics of the style--Transition Norman--
+Early English style--Decorated style--Perpendicular style.
+
+
+The early Saxon clergy lived in monasteries, where they had a church
+and a school for the education of the sons of thanes. Monastic houses,
+centres of piety and evangelistic zeal, sprang up, the abodes of
+religion, civilisation, peace, and learning. They were the schools of
+culture, sacred and profane, of industry and agriculture; the monks were
+the architects, the painters, the sculptors, the goldsmiths of their
+time. They formed the first libraries; they taught the young; they
+educated women in convents, and by degrees dispersed the shades of
+ignorance, idolatry, and barbarism, and reformed England.
+
+To record the number of these monastic houses which were erected in the
+seventh and eighth centuries would require much space; and as our chief
+concern is with the vestiges that remain in our English villages, and
+as most of these Saxon monasteries were plundered and destroyed by the
+Danes, or rebuilt on a grander scale by the Normans, we will not now
+enumerate them.
+
+After the country had been evangelised by the itinerant monks and
+preachers, the next process was to establish a church in every village,
+and to provide a pastor to minister therein. Archbishop Theodore
+encouraged the thanes to build and endow churches on their estates, and
+introduced to this country the parochial system, by means of which all
+villages could have the services of a resident pastor.
+
+Then the thane's house was not considered complete without its chapel;
+and in the scattered hamlets and village communities churches arose,
+rudely built of wood and roofed with thatch, wherein the Saxon _ceorls_
+and _cottiers_ loved to worship.
+
+The great Churchmen of the day were not content with such humble
+structures. They had travelled to Rome, and seen there some of the fine
+buildings dedicated for divine service; so they determined to have the
+like in their own country. One of these noble builders was Benedict
+Biscop, founder of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. When he
+built the former, he imported foreign artists from Gaul, who constructed
+the monastery after the Roman style, and amongst other things introduced
+glazed windows, which had never been seen in England before. Nor was his
+new house bare and unadorned. He brought from Rome vast stores of church
+furniture, many books, and the "arch-chanter" John, to teach his monks
+the music and ritual of Rome.
+
+Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, and first Bishop of Sherborne, was one of
+the foremost church-builders of the time, and the beautiful churches at
+Malmesbury, Sherborne, Bradford-on-Avon, Frome, and Wareham, owe their
+erection to his instrumentality. Wilfrid also was one of the saintly
+architects of the period. Here is a description of the church of St.
+Andrew, at Hexham, taken from the writings of Richard, prior of the
+monastery there:--
+
+"The foundations of this church St. Wilfrid laid deep in the earth for
+the crypts and oratories, and the passages leading to them, which were
+then with great exactness contrived and built under ground. The walls,
+which were of great length, and raised to an immense height, and divided
+into three several stones or tiers, he supported by square and other
+kinds of well-polished columns. Also, the walls, the capitals of the
+columns which supported them, and the arch of the sanctuary, he
+decorated with historical representations, imagery, and various figures
+of relief, carved in stone, and painted with a most agreeable variety of
+colour. The body of the church he compassed about with pentices and
+porticoes, which, both above and below, he divided with great and
+inexpressible art, by partition walls and winding stairs. Within the
+staircases, and above them, he caused flights of steps and galleries of
+stone, and several passages leading from them both ascending and
+descending, to be so artfully disposed, that multitudes of people might
+be there, and go quite round the church, without being seen by anyone
+below in the nave. Moreover in the several divisions of the porticoes or
+aisles, he erected many most beautiful and private oratories of
+exquisite workmanship; and in them he caused to be placed altars in
+honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Michael, St. John the Baptist,
+and the holy Apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, with all decent
+and proper furniture to each of them, some of which, remaining at this
+day, appear like so many turrets and fortified places."
+
+[Illustration: CONSECRATION OF A SAXON CHURCH]
+
+The Danish wars had a disastrous effect on such noble structures raised
+by these monastic architects, as well as on many a rustic village
+church, which fell a prey to the ruthless invading bands of pagan
+warriors. But frequently, as we study the history written in the
+stonework of our churches, we find amid the massive Norman walls traces
+of the work of Saxon builders, an arch here, a column there, which link
+our own times with the distant past when England was divided into eight
+kingdoms, or when Danegeld was levied to buy off the marauding
+strangers.
+
+Roman buildings served as a model for our Saxon architects, and Roman
+bricks were much used by them. Brixworth Church is perhaps the finest
+specimen of our early Saxon churches. It has semicircular arches, made
+of Roman bricks, springing from square massive piers with single abaci.
+
+[Illustration: TOWER OF BARNACK CHURCH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE]
+
+We will try to point out the distinguishing features of Saxon work, in
+order that you may be able to detect the evidence of its existence in
+your own village and neighbourhood. The walls are chiefly formed of
+rubble or rag stone, having "long and short work," _i.e._ long block of
+cut stone laid alternately horizontally and vertically, at the corners
+of the building and in the jambs of the doors. Often narrow ribs of
+masonry run vertically up the walls, and a string-course runs
+horizontally. The churches of Barnack and Wittering in Northamptonshire,
+St. Michael's, Oxford, and the towers of Earl's Barton are good examples
+of this.
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY, EARL'S BARTON CHURCH]
+
+Saxon doorways have semicircular arches, and sometimes the head is
+shaped in the form of a triangle. The jambs are square-edged, the stone
+of the arch is plain, and a hood or arch of ribwork projecting from the
+surface of the wall surrounds the doorway. Belfry windows have two
+semicircular-headed lights divided by a _baluster_ shaft, _i.e._ a
+column resembling a turned-wood pillar. This feature is quite peculiar
+to Saxon architecture.
+
+Anglo-Saxon single-light windows have two splays, increasing in width
+from the centre of the wall in which the window is placed. Norman
+windows have only one splay on the internal side of the building. Saxon
+arches separating the nave from the aisles and chancel are plain. There
+is no sub-arch as in Norman buildings. They are often very small,
+sometimes only five or six feet wide, and stand on square piers.
+
+[Illustration: TOWER WINDOW, MONKWEARMOUTH CHURCH
+Built by Benedict Biscop, _circa_ A.D. 674]
+
+Some Saxon churches have crypts, but few of them remain. The crypt made
+by St. Wilfrid at Hexham, mentioned above, still exists, and also one at
+Ripon Cathedral, in which there is a small window called "Wilfrid's
+needle." There is a legend about this which states that if a maid goes
+through the "needle," she will be married within the year. Repton Church
+has a very perfect specimen of Saxon crypt.
+
+The ground plan of Saxon churches differed. Many were cruciform, and
+consisted of nave, transepts, and chancel. The east wall of the chancel
+was often semicircular or polygonal, sometimes rectangular. The church
+of St. Lawrence, at Bradford-on-Avon, mentioned by William of
+Malmesbury, is a fine specimen of a Saxon church, and also the little
+church at Escombe, Durham, and that of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire,
+recently rescued from being used as a farmstead.
+
+After the close of the thousandth year after the birth of Christ a new
+impulse was given to church-building. People imagined that with that
+year the millennium would arrive and the Second Advent take place. It
+would be vain to build beautiful churches, if they were so soon to
+perish in the general destruction of the world, as vain as to heap up
+treasure by means of trade. Hence people's minds were unsettled, and the
+churches left in ruins. But when the millenary had safely passed away,
+they began to restore the fallen shrines, and build new churches, and
+the late Saxon or early Norman style came into vogue. Canute was a great
+church-builder, and Edward the Confessor rebuilt Westminster Abbey after
+the new fashion. Then came William the Conqueror with his Norman
+builders, and soon nearly every village had its church, which was
+constructed, according to William of Malmesbury, _novo aedificandi
+genere_.
+
+We will now notice the characteristics of early Norman work, traces of
+which you may be able to recognise in your own church. The doorways are
+very remarkable, profusely adorned with richly carved ornamental
+mouldings and sculpture. The archways are round, and are composed of a
+succession of receding arches, all elaborately carved. The doorway of
+Malmesbury Church has eight arches, recessed one within the other. These
+arches are supported by one or more shafts, which are sometimes carved.
+Above the door and below the arch is the tympanum, covered with
+sculpture, representing scriptural subjects, such as the figure of the
+Saviour in allusion to His saying, "I am the door," or the _Agnus Dei_,
+or Adam and Eve, or such legendary or symbolical subjects as St. George
+and the Dragon, or the Tree of Life.
+
+[Illustration: SCULPTURED HEAD OF DOORWAY, FORDINGTON CHURCH, DORSETSHIRE]
+
+Porches are not very common in early Norman structures, but several
+still exist, notably at Malmesbury, Balderton, and Brixworth. The
+windows are usually small and narrow, the jambs being splayed only on
+the inside of the church. Three such windows placed together usually
+give light over the altar. The walls of Norman buildings are thick and
+massive, and are often faced with cut stone. String-courses or mouldings
+projecting from the walls, run horizontally along them, and are often
+adorned with the zigzag or other Norman patterns of ornament. The tower
+often stands between the nave and the chancel, and is usually low and
+massive. In the eastern counties are found many round towers made of
+flint masonry. Flat buttresses are a sure sign of Norman work, as they
+were not used in any of the subsequent styles of architecture.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN CAPITALS
+(1) Crypt, Worcester Cathedral
+(2) Winchester Cathedral]
+
+The arches of the Norman builders are easily recognised. The piers in
+country churches are nearly always cylindrical; but there are several
+examples of massive square or octagonal piers, and also a number
+of round columns attached, so as to form one pier. The _cushion_
+capital is the most common form used in the Norman style. It is easily
+recognisable, but difficult to be described; and perhaps the
+accompanying sketch will enable the reader to discover a cushion
+capital when he sees it. The early Norman builders loved to bestow
+much labour on their capitals; and while preserving the usual cushion
+form, enriched them with much elaboration. The _scallop_ frequently
+occurs, and also the _volute_, which was copied from the work of Roman
+builders, who themselves imitated the Greek sculptures. Sometimes the
+capitals are elaborately carved with figures of men, or animals, or
+foliage.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN ORNAMENTAL MOULDINGS.
+(1)  Indented. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(2)  Zig-zag. Iffley, Oxfordshire
+(3)  Alternate Billet. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(4)  Double Cone. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(5)  Pellet. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(6)  Lozenge. Essendine, Rutland
+(7)  Cable. Fritwell, Oxfordshire
+(8)  Star. Stringham, Norfolk
+(9)  Medallion. Iffley, Oxfordshire
+(10) Beak-Head. Steetley, Derbyshire
+(11) Nail-Head. St. Ethelred's, Norwich
+(12) Embattled. Lincoln Cathedral]
+
+Norman arches resemble the doorways in having sub-arches recessed within
+an outer arch, the intrados often being decorated with mouldings such as
+the zigzag or the lozenge. The chancel arch is usually very elaborately
+ornamented with various mouldings, which are very numerous and peculiar.
+Those illustrated on the previous page are the most common.
+
+[Illustration: CROYLAND ABBEY CHURCH, LINCOLNSHIRE]
+
+The Normans were also much skilled in vaulting with stone, as the crypts
+in our churches testify. Over the vaulted roof of the aisles was the
+_triforium_, a kind of gallery between this roof and the external roof
+of the church. Very few of the wooden roofs of Norman churches remain.
+The fonts are large, square or cylindrical in shape, and are decorated
+with mouldings or sculpture, often very elaborate but rudely executed.
+At Winchester Cathedral the font is carved with a representation of the
+baptism of King Cynigils at Dorchester. Other favourite subjects were
+the creation of man, the formation of Eve, the expulsion from Paradise,
+Christ upon the cross, the Four Evangelists, the baptism of our Lord,
+and legendary or symbolical representations.
+
+[Illustration: SEMI-NORMAN ARCH, CHURCH OF ST. CROSS]
+
+This style of architecture prevailed until about the middle of the
+twelfth century, when the _Transition Norman_ became in vogue. It is
+characterised by the introduction of the pointed arch. Many conjectures
+as regards its origin have been made. Some suppose that the idea of
+making the arch pointed was suggested by the intersection of
+semicircular arches in ornamental arcades. Others say that the Crusaders
+introduced it on their return from the East, or that it was suggested by
+the Norman vaulting, or from the form of the _vesica piscis_, the most
+ancient of Christian symbols. The Cistercian monks were the first to
+introduce it to this country, and the Cistercian abbeys of Fountains,
+Kirkstall, Furness, and Tintern are noble specimens of Transition Norman
+work. Religious zeal and enthusiasm are often reflected in the improved
+condition of our churches, and the grand buildings of this period are
+outward and visible signs of a great religious revival. Semicircular
+arches, however, continued to be used for windows and for the triforium;
+the capitals of the piers were decorated with foliage somewhat similar
+to that used in a subsequent period.
+
+[Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH PIERS AND CAPITALS
+(1) Salisbury Cathedral
+(2) Lincoln Cathedral]
+
+Then arose the Early English style of architecture which flourished
+from about the year 1175 to 1275, and is characterised by a gradual
+abandonment of the heavy and massive features of the Norman style, and
+the adoption of lighter and more elegant forms of construction and
+decoration. Salisbury Cathedral, erected 1220-1260 A.D., is the most
+perfect example of this period. The arches are pointed, and the piers
+supporting them are often composed of an insulated cylindrical column
+surrounded by slender detached shafts, all uniting together under one
+capital, and divided into parts by horizontal bands. In small churches
+plain octagonal or circular piers are frequently used, as in the
+succeeding style, from which they can only be distinguished by the
+mouldings. Mouldings are often the surest guides in helping us to
+ascertain the date of a building. We have already studied the Norman
+mouldings. In this style they are composed of bold rounds and deep
+hollows, usually plain, or ornamented with the dog-tooth.
+
+[Illustration: TOOTH OR DOG-TOOTH ORNAMENT]
+
+The lancet window is now introduced, at first of only one light, very
+narrow and long, and differing from the Norman window in having a
+pointed arch. At the east end of the chancel there are often three
+lancet windows, the centre one higher than the rest, with one dripstone
+over them. The first idea of window-tracery was the introduction of a
+plain lozenge-shaped opening over a double lancet window, the whole
+being covered by a single dripstone. From this simple arrangement it
+was not difficult to develop the beautiful bar-tracery which came into
+vogue in the subsequent period of English architecture. The capitals
+of the Early English style are bell-shaped, at first quite plain, but
+subsequently these are often covered with beautifully sculptured foliage
+of a very graceful character. Circular windows at this period came
+into vogue in the gables of churches. They were either plain or
+quatre-foiled. Norman towers were sometimes capped with spires in the
+thirteenth century. The walls are not so thick or massive as in the
+Norman period, and the buttresses are stouter and more numerous, and
+project further from the wall. Flying buttresses were also introduced at
+this period. We can generally distinguish Early English work from that
+of the Norman style by its lightness and elegance, as compared with the
+roughness and massiveness of the latter; and its plainness and
+simplicity sufficiently distinguish it from that of the Decorated
+period.
+
+[Illustration: BROWNSOVER CHAPEL, WARWICKSHIRE]
+
+The Decorated style (1275-1375) which prevailed during the reigns of
+the three Edwards was ushered in by a period of Transition, during which
+there was gradually developed the most perfect style which English
+architectural skill has ever attained. In the thirteenth century our
+builders were striving to attain the highest forms of graceful design
+and artistic workmanship. In the fourteenth their work reached
+perfection, while in the fifteenth there was a marked decline in their
+art, which in spite of its elaborate details lacked the beauty of the
+Decorated style.
+
+[Illustration: MOULDINGS, TEWKESBURY ABBEY]
+
+[Illustration: OGEE ARCH]
+
+The arches of this period are usually wider, and are distinguished from
+those of the Early English by the character of the mouldings. The
+ball-flower, consisting of a ball inclosed by three or four leaves,
+somewhat resembling a rosebud, is the favourite ornament, and a
+four-leaved flower is often used. Roll mouldings, quarter, half, or
+three-quarters round, frequently occur, and produce a very pleasing
+effect. The form of the arch is in many instances changed, and the
+graceful _ogee_ arch is introduced. The piers are round or octagonal in
+village churches, and in large churches are formed by a cluster of
+cylindrical shafts, not detached as in the preceding period, but closely
+united. The capitals are bell-shaped, and in large churches richly
+sculptured. Few of the wooden roofs remain, as they have been superseded
+in later times; but the marks of the old roofs may often be seen on the
+eastern wall of the tower. The windows are larger than those of the
+earlier style, and are filled with geometrical and flowing tracery of
+great variety and beauty. Small windows have heads shaped in the ogee or
+trefoil forms. Square-headed windows are not uncommon, especially in the
+clerestory, and in monastic churches circular windows are frequently met
+with. It is characteristic of this style that the carving is not so deep
+as in the previous work. We find groups of shallow mouldings separated
+by one cut deeper than the others.
+
+[Illustration: CAPITALS
+(1) Hanwell
+(2) Chacombe Church]
+
+[Illustration: DECORATED WINDOWS
+(1) Merton College Chapel
+(2) Sandiacre, Derbyshire]
+
+[Illustration: MOULDINGS
+(1) Elton, Huntingdonshire
+(2) Austrey, Warwickshire]
+
+At length the glories of the Decorated period pass away and are merged
+and lost in the _Perpendicular_ which held sway from 1375 to 1540. The
+work is now more elaborate and richer, but lacks the majestic beauty of
+the Decorated style. It is easy to distinguish Perpendicular windows.
+They are larger than any which we have seen before; the mullions are
+carried straight up through the head of the window; smaller mullions
+spring from the heads of the principal lights, and thus the windows
+are broken up into panel-like compartments, very different from the
+beautiful curves of the Decorated style. Simple pointed arches are still
+in use, but gradually they become flattened; and the arch, commonly
+known as the Tudor arch, is a peculiar feature of this style. In village
+churches the mouldings of the arch are often continued down the piers
+without any capital or shaft.
+
+[Illustration: MERTON COLLEGE CHAPEL, OXFORD]
+
+Piers are commonly formed from a square or parallelogram with the angles
+fluted, having on the flat face of each side a semicyclindrical shaft.
+The base mouldings are polygonal. The most common doorway is the Tudor
+arch having a square head over it. The doors are often richly
+ornamented. There are a large number of square-headed windows, and so
+proud were these builders of their new style of window that they
+frequently inserted Perpendicular windows in walls of a much earlier
+date. Hence it is not always safe to determine the age of a church by an
+examination of the windows alone. Panel-work tracery on the upper part
+of the interior walls is a distinctive feature of this style.
+
+[Illustration: VESTRY DOOR, ADDERBURY CHURCH, OXON]
+
+[Illustration: ST. ERASMUS' CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY]
+
+The slope of the roof is much lower than before, and often the former
+high-pitched roofs were at this period replaced by the almost flat roofs
+prevalent in the fifteenth century. The parapets are often embattled.
+
+The rose, the badge of the houses of York and Lancaster, is often used
+as an ornamental detail, and also rows of the Tudor flower, composed of
+four petals, frequently occur. One of the most distinctive mouldings is
+the _cavetto_, a wide shallow hollow in the centre of a group of
+mouldings. Also we find a peculiar wave, and a kind of double ogee
+moulding which are characteristic of the style.
+
+[Illustration: WINDOW, CHRISTCHURCH, OXFORD]
+
+Spires of this period are not very common, and usually spring from
+within the parapet. The interiors of our churches were enriched at this
+time with much elaborate decoration. Richly carved woodwork in screens,
+rood-lofts, pulpits, and pews, sculptured sedilia and a noble reredos,
+and much exuberance of decorative imagery and panel-work, adorned our
+churches at this time, much of which was obliterated or destroyed by
+spoliators of the Reformation period, the iconoclastic Puritans of the
+seventeenth century, or the "restorers" of the nineteenth. However, we
+may be thankful that so much remains to the present day of the work of
+our great English church-builders, while we endeavour to trace the
+history of each church written in stone, and to appreciate these relics
+of antiquity which most of our villages possess.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE _DOMESDAY BOOK_
+
+The coming of the Normans--_Domesday Book_--Its objects--Its contents--
+Barkham in _Domesday_--Saxon families--Saxons who retained their
+estates--Despoiled landowners--Village officers and artisans--
+Villeins--_Bordarii_--_Cottarii_--_Servi_--Socmen--Presbyter--Names
+of Normans--The teaching of _Domesday_.
+
+
+There was a great stir in our English villages when the news was brought
+to them that William of Normandy had landed in England, and intended to
+fight for the English Crown. News travelled very slowly in those days.
+First the villeins and the cottiers who were not fighting with their
+lord heard that a great battle had been fought at Stamford Bridge, in
+Yorkshire, in which their gallant King Harold had defeated his own
+brother Tostig, aided by the King of Norway, Hardrada, and a large army.
+Then the news reached them that William of Normandy had arrived, and
+that Harold was marching night and day to meet him. Then they heard of
+the fatal battle of Hastings; and when it was told them that their brave
+King Harold was slain, and that William, the Norman, was the conqueror
+of England and the acknowledged king of the country, all England groaned
+to hear the fatal news. And then, after a few years, they found that
+their old lord had been deprived of his estates, and a new, haughty,
+proud Norman, who talked like a Frenchman, and laughed at their dear old
+Saxon language, came and ruled over them. He brought Norman servants
+with him, who took the best of the land, and made the Saxons do all the
+hard work on the farm, treating them like slaves.
+
+And now we must examine a most valuable document which throws a
+wonderfully clear light on the condition of England just before and
+after the Conquest. I refer to the _Domesday Book_, or survey of the
+country which William caused to be made. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler
+tells us that after a great Council at Gloucester the king "sent his men
+over all England, into every shire, and caused to be ascertained how
+many hundred hides were in the shire, or what land the king himself had,
+and cattle within the land, or what dues he ought to have in twelve
+months from the shire. Also he caused to be written how much land his
+archbishops had, and his suffragan bishops, and abbots, and earls; and
+though I may narrate somewhat prolixly, what or how much each man had
+who was a holder of land in England, in land, or in cattle, and how much
+money it might be worth. So very narrowly he caused it to be traced out,
+that there was not one single hide, nor one yard of land, nor even, it
+is shame to tell, though it seemed to him no shame to do, an ox, nor a
+cow, nor a swine was left that was not set down in his writ. And all the
+writings were brought to him afterwards."
+
+The commissioners appointed by the king, among whom were Remigius,
+Bishop of Lincoln, and Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, were to
+inquire the following details concerning each parish:--
+
+Its name. Who held it in the time of King Edward the Confessor. The
+present possessor. Number of hides in the manor, number of ploughs, of
+homagers, villeins, cottars, free tenants, tenants in socage; how much
+wood, meadow, and pasture; number of mills and fishponds; the value in
+the time of the last king; and its present value.
+
+Such a survey was of immense value. Its object, according to the king,
+was that every man might know and be satisfied with his rightful
+possessions, and not with impunity usurp the property of others. But it
+was also of great service to the king, so that he might know who were
+his vassals, the amount of taxation which he could draw from them, and
+the actual strength of his new kingdom.
+
+The commissioners performed their work with much care and exactness. The
+survey is wonderfully complete, and was compiled in a very short time.
+It is of great value to the historians of subsequent ages. The writing
+of the book is very clear and beautiful, the abbreviations alone
+presenting some difficulty to an unaccustomed reader. No illuminations
+adorn the text. At the head of each page the name of the county is
+written in red ink. The book is preserved in an ancient chest in the
+Public Record Office, where it was removed from the Chapter House at
+Westminster.
+
+As an example we may take the _Domesday_ description of the parish of
+Barkham, which runs as follows:--
+
+"IN CERLEDONE HD.
+
+"Rex ten in dnio Bercheha. AElmer Tenuit de rege. E. Te 7 m  iii hid.
+Tra e iii car. In dnio e una, 7 vi uilli 7 iiii bord cu iii car. Ibi
+v. ac pti. Silua de XL pore. Valuit iiii lib. T.R.E. 7 m: iii. lib."
+
+TRANSLATION.
+
+"In the hundred of Charlton.
+
+"The king holds Barkham in demesne. AElmer held it of King Edward. Then,
+as now, it was rated for three hides. The land is three ploughlands. In
+demesne there is one ploughland. There are six villeins, four borderers
+with three ploughs. There are five acres of pasture. Wood for the
+pasturage of forty hogs. It was worth 4l. in the time of King Edward,
+afterwards, and now, 3l."
+
+King Edward here mentioned was Edward the Confessor. A hide, when it is
+used as a measure of land, may be taken at about one hundred and twenty
+acres. A ploughland was as much land as one plough with oxen could
+plough in a year. The villeins were men who tilled their lord's land,
+and in return for certain services had holdings under him. The borderers
+were cottagers who also worked for their lord and held smaller holdings,
+from one to ten acres. In other entries we find the number of serfs
+recorded, and also mention of the hall of the lord of the manor, where
+the manorial courts were held, the church, the priest's house, the names
+of landowners and tenants, the mill, and of the various officers and
+artisans who made up the village community.
+
+_Domesday_ tells us of the old Saxon families, many of whom lost their
+estates when the Conqueror came, and were supplanted by the favourites
+of the new king. Some of them contrived to weather the storm and retain
+their lands. Almer, or Almar, the lord of Barkham, who succeeded his
+brother Stigand as Bishop of Elmham in 1047, when the latter became
+archbishop, was among the number of the dispossessed, and probably found
+shelter with many of his compatriots in the cloister. Several of
+William's Norman adventurers married the heiresses of the old Saxon
+gentry, and thus became possessed of great estates. Thus Robert D'Oili
+married the daughter of Wigod, lord of Wallingford, and soon gained
+possession of his father-in-law's property.
+
+However, the names of the fortunate Saxons who retained their estates
+are few in comparison with those who were dispossessed. We find Edgar
+Atheling, real heir to the throne, retaining a small estate; but he was
+a feeble prince, and therefore not to be feared by William. His sister
+Cristina had also land in Oxfordshire. Bishop Osbern, of Exeter, a
+kinsman of the late king, also held his estates; and amongst the list we
+find Seward the huntsman, of Oxfordshire; Theodric the goldsmith; Wlwi
+the huntsman, of Surrey; Uluric the huntsman, of Hampshire, who were not
+deprived of their lands, their occupations being useful to the king.
+
+The list of despoiled landowners is a long one, and need not here be
+recorded. One Brictric was very unfortunate. When ambassador to Baldwin
+of Flanders he refused to marry the count's daughter Maud. The slighted
+lady became the Conqueror's consort, and in revenge for her despised
+love caused Brictric to be imprisoned and his estates confiscated, some
+of which were given to the queen. The luckless relations and connections
+of the late royal house were consistently despoiled, amongst them
+Editha, the beautiful queen of King Edward, and daughter of Earl Godwin,
+of whom it was written: "_Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwynus Editham_";
+and Gida, the mother of Harold; Godric, his son; and Gwith, his brother.
+Harold himself--the earl, as he is called, and not the king, who fought
+and died at Senlac, if he did not, as the romance states, end his life
+as a holy hermit at Chester--had vast estates all over England, which
+went to enrich William's hungry followers. Hereward the Wake, the
+English hero, also held in pre-Norman days many fat manors. Few of the
+Saxon landowners were spared, and it is unnecessary here to record the
+names of the Uchtreds, Turgots, Turchils, Siwards, Leurics, who held
+lands "in the time of King Edward," but whose place after Domesday knows
+them no more.
+
+_Domesday_ tells us also the names of the officers and artisans who
+played important parts in the old village communities. The _villani_, or
+villeins, corresponding to the Saxon _ceorls_, were the most important
+class of tenants in villeinage, and each held about thirty acres in
+scattered acre or half-acre strips, each a furlong in length and a perch
+or two in breadth, separated by turf balks. The villein thus supported
+himself and his family, and in return was bound to render certain
+services to the lord of the manor, to work on the home farm, and provide
+two or more oxen for the manorial plough-team. He was not a free tenant,
+could acquire no property, and his lord's consent was needed for the
+marriage of his daughters. But the law protected him from unjust usage;
+his holdings were usually regranted to his son. He could obtain freedom
+in several ways, and by degrees acquired the rights and privileges of a
+free tenant.
+
+Next to the villeins were the _bordarii_, who lived in _bords_ or
+cottages, _i.e._ boarded or wooden huts, and ranked as a lower grade of
+villeins. They held about five acres, but provided no oxen for the
+manorial plough-team. Below them were the _cottarii_, or cottiers, who
+were bound to do domestic work and supply the lord's table. They
+corresponded to the modern labourer, but lacked his freedom. The lowest
+class of all were the _servi_, or serfs, who corresponded to the Saxon
+_theows_. In Norman times their condition was greatly improved; they
+mingled with the cottiers and household servants, and gradually were
+merged with them.
+
+The _sochemanni_, or socmen, our yeomen, who abounded chiefly in the
+Danish district of England, were inferior landowners who had special
+privileges, and could not be turned out of their holdings, though they
+rendered certain services to the lord of the manor, and in this respect
+differed little from the villeins. _Domesday Book_ also mentions a class
+of men called _burs_ or _geburs_, who were the same as _coliberti_; also
+the _commendati_, who received privileges in return for services
+rendered to the lord of the manor.
+
+Each village community was self-contained, and had its own officers.
+Although _Domesday Book_ was not compiled in order to ascertain the
+condition of the Church and its ministers, and frequently the mention of
+a parish church is omitted where we know one existed, the _presbyter_,
+or priest, is often recorded. Archbishop Egbert's _Excerptiones_
+ordained that "to every church shall be allotted one complete holding
+(mansa), and that this shall be free from all but ecclesiastical
+services." According to the Saxon laws every tenth strip of land was
+set aside for the Church, and _Domesday_ shows that in many villages
+there was a priest with his portion of land set apart for his support.
+
+Then there was a _prepositus_, bailiff or reeve, who collected the lord's
+rents, assisted by a _bedellus_, beadle or under-bailiff. _Bovarii_, or
+oxherds, looked after the plough-teams. The _carpentarius_, or carpenter;
+the _cementarius_, or bricklayer; the _custos apium_, or beekeeper; the
+_faber_, or smith; the _molinarius_, or miller--were all important
+officers in the Norman village; and we have mention also of the
+_piscatores_ (fishermen), _pistores_ (bakers), _porcarii_ (swineherds),
+_viccarii_ (cowmen), who were all employed in the work of the village
+community.
+
+_Domesday Book_ enables us to form a fairly complete picture of our
+villages in Norman and late Saxon times. It tells us of the various
+classes who peopled the village and farmed its fields. It gives us a
+complete list of the old Saxon gentry and of the Norman nobles and
+adventurers who seized the fair acres of the despoiled Englishmen. Many
+of them gave their names to their new possessions. The Mandevilles
+settled at Stoke, and called it Stoke-Mandeville; the Vernons at
+Minshall, and called it Minshall-Vernon. Hurst-Pierpont, Neville-Holt,
+Kingston-Lysle, Hampstead-Norris, and many other names of places
+compounded of Saxon and Norman words, record the names of William's
+followers, who received the reward of their services at the expense of
+the former Saxon owners. _Domesday Book_ tells us how land was measured
+in those days, the various tenures and services rendered by the tenants,
+the condition of the towns, the numerous foreign monasteries which
+thrived on our English lands, and throws much light on the manners and
+customs of the people of this country at the time of its compilation.
+_Domesday Book_ is a perfect storehouse of knowledge for the historian,
+and requires a lifetime to be spent for its full investigation.
+
+[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A MANOR]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+NORMAN CASTLES
+
+Castle-building--Description of Norman castle--A Norman household--
+Edwardian castles--Border castles--Chepstow--Grosmont--Raglan--Central
+feature of feudalism--Fourteenth-century castle--Homes of chivalry--
+Schools of arms--The making of a knight--Tournaments--Jousts--Tilting
+at a ring--Pageants--"Apollo and Daphne"--Pageants at Sudeley Castle
+and Kenilworth--Destruction of castles--Castles during Civil War period.
+
+
+Many an English village can boast of the possession of the ruins of an
+ancient castle, a gaunt rectangular or circular keep or donjon, looking
+very stern and threatening even in decay, and mightily convincing of the
+power of its first occupants. The new masters did not feel very safe in
+the midst of a discontented and enraged people; so they built these huge
+fortresses with strong walls and gates and moats. Indeed before the
+Conquest the Norman knights, to whom the weak King Edward the Confessor
+granted many an English estate, brought with them the fashion of
+building castles, and many a strong square tower began to crown the
+fortified mounds. Thence they could oppress the people in many ways, and
+the writers of the time always speak of the building of castles with a
+kind of shudder. After the Conquest, especially during the regency of
+William's two lieutenants, Bishop Odo and Earl William Fitz-osbern, the
+Norman adventurers who were rewarded for their services by the gift of
+many an English manor, built castles everywhere. The wretched men of
+the land were cruelly oppressed by forced labour in erecting these
+strongholds, which were filled "with devils and evil men." Over a
+thousand castles were built in nineteen years, and in his own castle
+each earl or lord reigned as a small king, coining his own money, making
+his own laws, having power of life and death over his dependants, and
+often using his power most violently and oppressively.
+
+[Illustration: OLD SARUM]
+
+The original Norman castle consisted of a keep, "four-square to every
+wind that blew," standing in a bailey court. It was a mighty place with
+walls of great thickness about one hundred and fifty feet high. It
+contained several rooms, one above the other. A deep well supplied the
+inhabitants with water. Spiral stone steps laid in the thickness of the
+wall led to the first floor where the soldiers of the garrison resided.
+Above this was the hall, with a chimney and fireplace, where the lord
+of the castle and his guests had their meals, and in the thickness of
+the wall there were numerous chambers used as sleeping-apartments and
+garderobes, and the existence of a piscina in one of these shows that it
+was a small chapel or oratory. The upper story was divided by wooden
+partitions into small sleeping-rooms; and unlike our modern houses, the
+kitchen was at the top of the keep, and opened on the roof.
+
+Descending some stone steps which led from the ground floor in ancient
+time we should visit the dungeons, dark, gloomy, and dreadful places,
+where deep silence reigns, only broken by the groans of despairing
+captives in the miserable cells. In one of these toads and adders were
+the companions of the captive. Another poor wretch reposed on a bed of
+sharp flints, while the torture-chamber echoed with the cries of the
+victims of mediaeval cruelty, who were hanged by their feet and smoked
+with foul smoke, or hung up by their thumbs, while burning rings were
+placed on their feet. In Peak Castle, Derbyshire, a poor, simple squire,
+one Godfrey Rowland, was confined for six days without either food or
+drink, and then released from the dungeon with his right hand cut off.
+In order to extract a heavy ransom, to obtain lands and estates, to
+learn the secrets of hidden treasure, the most ingenious and devilish
+tortures were inflicted in these terrible abodes.
+
+[Illustration: A NORMAN CASTLE
+(1) The dungeon.
+(2) Chapel.
+(3) Stable.
+(4) Inner bailey.
+(5) Outer bailey.
+(6) Barbican.
+(7) Mount.
+(8) Soldiers' lodgings.]
+
+The same style of castle-building continued for a century and a half
+after the Norman Conquest. It is possible to distinguish the later keeps
+by the improved and fine-jointed ashlar stonework, by the more frequent
+use of the stone of the district, instead of that brought from Caen, by
+the ribs upon the groins of the vaulting of the galleries and chambers
+in the walls, and by the more extensive use of ornaments in the bosses,
+windows, doors, and fireplaces. The style of the decoration approaches
+the Early English character.
+
+The walls of the keep were not the only protection of the fortress. A
+moat surrounds the whole castle, crossed by a drawbridge, protected
+on the side remote from the castle by a barbican. High walls with an
+embattled parapet surround the lower court, or ballium, which we enter
+by a gate defended by strong towers. A portcullis has to be raised, and
+a heavy door thrown back, before we can enter; while above in the stone
+roof of the archway there are holes through which melted lead and pitch
+can be poured upon our heads, if we attempt to enter the castle as
+assailants. In the lower court are the stables, and the mound where the
+lord dispenses justice, and where criminals and traitors are executed.
+Another strong gateway flanked by towers protects the inner court, on
+the edge of which stands the keep which frowns down upon us as we enter.
+
+An immense household was supported in every castle. Not only were there
+men-at-arms, but also cooks and bakers, brewers and tailors, carpenters,
+smiths, masons, and all kinds of craftsmen; and all the crowd of workers
+had to be provided with accommodation by the lord of the castle. Hence
+a building, in the form of a large hall, was erected sometimes of stone,
+usually of wood, in the lower or upper court for these soldiers and
+artisans, where they slept and had their meals.
+
+A new type of castle was introduced during the reigns of the three
+Edwards. The stern, massive, and high-towering keep was abandoned, and
+the fortifications arranged in a concentric fashion. A fine hall with
+kitchens occupied the centre of the fortress; a large number of chambers
+was added, and the inner and outer courts both defended by walls, as we
+have already described, were introduced. The Edwardian castles of
+Caernarvon and Beaumaris belong to this type of fortress.
+
+[Illustration: BROUGHTON CASTLE]
+
+The border counties of Wales are remarkable for the number and beauty
+of their ancient castles. On the site of British earthworks the Romans
+established their camps. The Saxons were obliged to erect their rude
+earthen strongholds in order to keep back the rebellious Welsh, and
+these were succeeded by Norman keeps. Monmouthshire is famous for its
+castles; out of the eleven hundred erected in Norman times twenty-five
+were built in that county. There is Chepstow Castle, with its early
+Norman gateway spanned by a circular arch flanked by round towers. In
+the inner court there are the gardens and ruins of a grand hall, and in
+the outer the ruins of a chapel with evidences of beautifully groined
+vaulting, and also a winding staircase leading to the battlements. In
+the dungeon of the old keep at the south-east corner of the inner court
+Roger de Britolio, Earl of Hereford, was imprisoned for rebellion
+against the Conqueror, and in later times Henry Martin, the regicide,
+lingered as a prisoner for thirty years, employing his enforced leisure
+in writing a book in order to prove that it is not right for a man to be
+governed by one wife. Then there is Grosmont Castle, the fortified
+residence of the Earl of Lancaster; Skenfrith Castle; White Castle, the
+_Album Castrum_ of the Latin records, the Landreilo of the Welsh, with
+its six towers, portcullis, and drawbridge flanked by massive tower,
+barbican, and other outworks; and Raglan Castle, with its splendid
+gateway, its Elizabethan banqueting-hall ornamented with rich stone
+tracery, its bowling-green, garden terraces, and spacious courts, an
+ideal place for knightly tournaments in ancient days. Raglan is
+associated with the gallant defence of the castle by the Marquis of
+Worcester in the Civil War.
+
+The ancient castles of England were the central feature of feudal
+society. They were the outward and visible sign of that system. M.
+Guizot in his _History of Civilisation_ says, "It was feudalism which
+constructed them; their elevation was, so to speak, the declaration of
+its triumph." On the Continent they were very numerous long before
+castle-building became the fashion in England, and every suzerain saw
+with displeasure his vassal constructing his castle; for the vassal thus
+insured for himself a powerful means of independence. The Norman barons
+in the troublous times of Stephen lived a life of hunting and pillage;
+they were forced to have a fortified retreat where they might shut
+themselves up after an expedition, repel the vengeance of their foes,
+and resist the authorities who attempted to maintain order in the
+country.
+
+Others followed the example of the barons. The townsfolk fortified their
+towns, monks their monasteries; and even within the town-walls many
+houses had their towers and gates and barriers in order to keep back
+troublesome visitors.
+
+Here is a description of a French castle in the fourteenth century:--
+
+"First imagine to yourself a superb position, a steep mountain,
+bristling with rocks, furrowed with ravines and precipices; upon the
+declivity is the castle. The small houses which surround it set off its
+grandeur; the river seems to turn aside with respect; it forms a large
+semicircle at its feet. This castle must be seen when, at sunrise, the
+outward galleries glimmer with the armour of the sentinels, and the
+towers are shown all brilliant with their large new gratings. Those high
+buildings must be seen, which fill those who defend them with courage,
+and with fear those who should be tempted to attack them.
+
+"The door presents itself covered with heads of boars or wolves, flanked
+with turrets and crowned with a high guard-house. Enter, there are three
+inclosures, three moats, three drawbridges to pass. You find yourself in
+a large square court, where are cisterns, and on the right and left the
+stables, hen-houses, pigeon-houses, coach-houses; the cellars, vaults,
+and prisons are below; above are the dwelling-apartments; above these
+are the magazines, larders, or salting-rooms, and arsenals. All the
+roofs are bordered with machicolations, parapets, guard-walks, and
+sentry-boxes. In the middle of the court is the donjon, which contains
+the archives and the treasure. It is deeply moated all round, and can
+only be entered by a bridge, almost always raised. Although the walls,
+like those of the castle, are six feet thick, it is surrounded up to
+half its height with a chemise, or second wall, of large cut stones.
+This castle has just been rebuilt. There is something light, fresh,
+laughing about it, not possessed by the heavy massive castles of the
+last century."
+
+One would scarcely expect to hear a castle described as "light, fresh,
+laughing"; yet so a fourteenth-century castle seemed to eyes accustomed
+to the gloomy, stern, and massive structures of the eleventh and twelfth
+centuries. In these no beauty or display of art was attempted. Defence
+and safety were the only objects sought after in the construction of our
+ancient strongholds.
+
+Strange as it may seem, these castles were the birthplaces and homes of
+chivalry. Women were raised to an exalted position, and honoured and
+reverenced by knights and warriors. A prize won in a tournament was
+esteemed of vastly greater value, if it were bestowed upon the
+successful combatant by some lady's hand. "Queens of Beauty" presided at
+these contests of knightly skill and daring. The statutes and ordinances
+for jousts and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, at
+the command of Edward IV., conclude thus: "Reserving always to the
+queenes highness and the ladyes there present, the attributing and gift
+of the prize after the manner and forme accustomed." If a knight was
+guilty of any impropriety of conduct, he was soundly beaten by the other
+knights, in order to teach him to respect the honour of the ladies and
+the rights of chivalry.
+
+In the days of chivalry a knight vowed in somewhat extravagant language
+eternal love to his particular lady fair, wore her glove or her guerdon
+on his helmet, and swore to protect it with his life. Family ties and
+domestic joys were cultivated. The wife of a knight was often herself a
+warrior. Fair ladies have donned armour and followed their lords to the
+Crusades; and often during her lord's absence at the wars in France, or
+Scotland, or the Holy Land, the wife would defend his fief and castle,
+and sometimes was called upon to withstand a siege, when some
+neighbouring lord coveted the fair estates of the absent warrior, and
+sought to obtain them by force of arms.
+
+The castles also were schools, not of learning, but of arms and
+chivalry, where the sons of vassals were trained in all the qualites
+that become a knight. The sons of vassals were sent to the castle of the
+suzerain to be brought up with his sons. Numerous reasons have been
+assigned for the origin of this custom, which we need not now enumerate.
+The practice, however, became general, and concerning it an ancient work
+entitled _L'ordre de la Chevalerie_ records:--
+
+"It is fitting that the son of the knight, while he is a squire, should
+know how to take care of a horse; and it is fitting that he should serve
+before and be subject to his lord; for otherwise he will not know the
+nobleness of his lordship when he shall be a knight; and to this end
+every knight shall put his son in the service of another knight, to the
+end that he may learn to carve at table and to serve, and to arm and
+apparel a knight in his youth. According as to the man who desires to
+learn to be a tailor or a carpenter, it is desirable that he should have
+for a master one who is a tailor or a carpenter; it is suitable that
+every nobleman who loves the order of chivalry, and wishes to become and
+be a good knight, should first have a knight for a master."
+
+When the young squire attained the age of manhood he was admitted to the
+honour of knighthood, which was bestowed upon him with much ceremony and
+dignity. First he was divested of his garments and put in a bath, a
+symbol of purification; then they clothed him in a white tunic, a symbol
+of purity, in a red robe, a symbol of the blood which he was bound to
+shed in the service of the faith; and then in a close black coat, a
+reminder of the death which awaited him. Then he was obliged to observe
+a fast for twenty-four hours, and in the evening entered the church and
+there passed the night in prayer. On the morrow after confession and the
+receiving of Holy Communion, he heard a sermon upon the duties of
+knighthood, and then advancing to the altar presented his sword to the
+priest, who blessed it. Kneeling before his lord he was asked, "With
+what design do you desire to enter into the order? If it is in order to
+become rich, to repose yourself, and to be honoured without doing honour
+to chivalry, you are unworthy of it, and would be to the order of
+chivalry what the simoniacal priest is to the prelacy."
+
+His answers being satisfactory, knights, or ladies, advance and clothe
+him with the equipments of his order, spurs, the hauberk or coat of
+mail, the cuirass, the vambraces and gauntlets, and lastly his sword.
+Then his lord gives him three blows of a sword on his shoulder, saying,
+"In the name of God, of Saint Michael, and Saint George I dub thee
+knight," adding, "Be brave, adventurous, and loyal." He then mounts his
+horse, caracoles about, brandishing his lance, and afterwards in the
+courtyard he repeats the performances before the people ever eager to
+take part in the spectacle.
+
+[Illustration: TOURNAMENT]
+
+The young knight was now able to take part in the jousts, and all kinds
+of chivalric displays, which were common and frequent. Many castles
+have, like that at Carisbrooke, a tilting-ground within the walls; but
+great and important tournaments were held outside the castle. Richard I.
+appointed five special places for the holding of tournaments, namely
+between Sarum and Wilton, between Stamford and Wallingford, between
+Warwick and Kenilworth, between Brakely and Mixeberg, and between Blie
+and Tykehill. There was much pomp and ceremony attached to these
+knightly exercises. The lists, as the barriers were called which
+inclosed the scene of combat, were superbly decorated, and surrounded by
+pavilions belonging to the champions, ornamented with their arms and
+banners. The seats reserved for the noble ladies and gentlemen who came
+to see the fight were hung with tapestry embroidered with gold and
+silver. Everyone was dressed in the most sumptuous manner; the minstrels
+and heralds were clothed in the costliest garments; the knights who were
+engaged in the sports and their horses were most gorgeously arrayed. The
+whole scene was one of great splendour and magnificence, and, when the
+fight began, the shouts of the heralds who directed the tournament, the
+clashing of arms, the clang of trumpets, the charging of the combatants,
+and the shouts of the spectators, must have produced a wonderfully
+impressive and exciting effect upon all who witnessed the strange
+spectacle.
+
+The regulations and laws of the tournament were very minute. When many
+preliminary arrangements had been made with regard to the examination of
+arms and helmets and the exhibition of banners, etc., at ten o'clock on
+the morning of the appointed day, the champions and their adherents were
+required to be in their places. Two cords divided the combatants, who
+were armed with a pointless sword and a truncheon hanging from their
+saddles. When the word was given by the lord of the tournament, the
+cords were removed, and the champions charged and fought until the
+heralds sounded the signal to retire. It was considered the greatest
+disgrace to be unhorsed. A French earl once tried to unhorse our King
+Edward I., when he was returning from Palestine, wearied by the journey.
+The earl threw away his sword, cast his arms around the king's neck, and
+tried to pull him from his horse. But Edward put spurs to his horse and
+drew the earl from the saddle, and then shaking him violently, threw him
+to the ground.
+
+The joust (or just) differed from the tournament, because in the former
+only lances were used, and only two knights could fight at once. It was
+not considered quite so important as the grand feat of arms which I have
+just described, but was often practised when the more serious encounter
+had finished. Lances, or spears without heads of iron, were commonly
+used, and the object of the sport was to ride hard against one's
+adversary and strike him with the spear upon the front of the helmet, so
+as to beat him backwards from his horse, or break the spear. This kind
+of sport was of course rather dangerous, and men sometimes lost their
+lives at these encounters. In order to lessen the risk and danger of the
+two horses running into each other when the knights charged, a boarded
+railing was erected in the midst of the lists, about four or five feet
+high. The combatants rode on separate sides of this barrier, and
+therefore they could not encounter each other except with their lances.
+Sometimes two knights would fight in mortal combat. If one knight
+accused the other of crime or dishonour, the latter might challenge him
+to fight with swords or lances; and, according to the superstition of
+the times, the victor was considered to be the one who spoke the truth.
+But this ordeal combat was far removed from the domain of sport.
+
+When jousts and tournaments were abandoned, tilting on horseback at a
+ring became a favourite courtly amusement. A ring was suspended on a
+level with the eye of the rider; and the sport consisted in riding
+towards the ring, and sending the point of a lance through it, and so
+bearing it away. Great skill was required to accomplish this surely and
+gracefully. Ascham, a writer in the sixteenth century, tells us what
+accomplishments were required from the complete English gentleman of the
+period:--
+
+"To ride comely, to run fair at the tilt or ring, to play at all
+weapons, to shoot fair in bow, or surely in gun; to vault lustily, to
+run, to leap, to wrestle, to swim, to dance comely, to sing, and play of
+instruments cunningly; to hawk, to hunt, to play at tennis, and all
+pastimes generally which be joined to labour, containing either some fit
+exercises for war, or some pleasant pastime for peace--these be not only
+comely and decent, but also very necessary for a courtly gentleman to
+use."
+
+In the days of pageants and royal progresses these old castles were the
+scenes of very lively exhibitions of rustic histrionic talent. The
+stories of Greek and Roman mythology were ransacked to provide scenes
+and subjects for the rural pageant. Shepherds and shepherdesses, gods
+and goddesses, clowns and mummers, all took part in the rural drama
+which kings and queens delighted to honour. When Queen Elizabeth visited
+the ancient and historic castle of Sudeley, great preparations were made
+for the event, and a fine classical pageant was performed in her
+presence, a sketch of which may not be without interest.
+
+The play is founded on the old classical story of Apollo and Daphne. The
+sun-god Apollo was charmed by the beauty of the fair Daphne, the
+daughter of a river-god, and pursued her with base intent. Just as she
+was about to be overtaken, she prayed for aid, and was immediately
+changed into a laurel tree, which became the favourite tree of the
+disappointed lover. The pageant founded on this old classical legend
+commenced with a man who acted the part of Apollo, chasing a woman who
+represented Daphne, followed by a young shepherd bewailing his hard
+fate. He, too, loved the fair and beautiful Daphne, but Apollo wooed her
+with fair words, and threatened him with diverse penalties, saying he
+would change him into a wolf, or a cockatrice, or blind his eyes. The
+shepherd in a long speech tells how Daphne was changed into a tree, and
+then Apollo is seen at the foot of a laurel tree weeping, accompanied by
+two minstrels. The repentant god repeats the verse:--
+
+  "Sing you, play you; but sing and play my truth;
+  This tree my lute, these sighs my note of ruth:
+  The laurel leaf for ever shall be green,
+  And chastity shall be Apollo's queen.
+  If gods may die, here shall my tomb be placed,
+  And this engraven, 'Fond Phoebus, Daphne chaste.'"
+
+A song follows, and then, wonderful to relate, the tree opens, and
+Daphne comes forth. Apollo resigns her to the humble shepherd, and then
+she runs to Her Majesty the Queen, and with a great deal of flattery
+wishes her a long and prosperous reign.
+
+Such was the simple play which delighted the minds of our forefathers,
+and helped to raise them from sordid cares and the dull monotony of
+continual toil. In our popular amusements the village folk do not take
+part, except as spectators, and therefore lose half the pleasure;
+whereas in the time of the Virgin Queen the rehearsals, the learning the
+speeches by heart, the dresses, the excitement, all contributed to give
+them fresh ideas and new thoughts. The acting may not have been very
+good; indeed Queen Elizabeth did not always think very highly of the
+performances of her subjects at Coventry, and was heard to exclaim,
+"What fools ye Coventry folk are!" But I think Her Majesty must have
+been pleased at the concluding address of the players at Sudeley. After
+the shepherds had acted a piece in which the election of the King and
+Queen of the Bean formed a part, they knelt before the real queen, and
+said--
+
+"Pardon, dread Sovereign, poor shepherds' pastimes, and bold shepherds'
+presumptions. We call ourselves kings and queens to make mirth; but when
+we see a king or queen we stand amazed. At chess there are kings and
+queens, and they of wood. Shepherds are no more, nor no less, wooden.
+In theatres workmen have played emperors; yet the next day forgotten
+neither their duties nor occupation. For our boldness in borrowing their
+names, and in not seeing Your Majesty for our blindness, we offer these
+shepherds' weeds; which, if Your Majesty vouchsafe at any time to wear,
+it shall bring to our hearts comfort, and happiness to our labours."
+
+When the queen visited Kenilworth Castle, splendid pageants were
+performed in her honour. As she entered the castle the gigantic porter
+recited verses to greet Her Majesty, gods and goddesses offered gifts
+and compliments on bended knee, and the Lady of the Lake, surrounded
+by Tritons and Nereids, came on a floating island to do homage to the
+peerless Elizabeth and to welcome her to all the sport the castle could
+afford. For an account of the strange conduct of Orion and his dolphin
+upon this occasion, we refer our readers to Sir Walter Scott's
+_Kenilworth_; and the lover of pageants will find much to interest him
+in Gascoigne's _Princely Progress_.
+
+The glories of our ancient castles have passed away; some indeed are
+preserved, and serve as museums, or barracks, or the country house of
+some noble lord; but most of them are in ruins. All traces of many a
+Norman castle have completely vanished. There was once a castle at
+Reading, but the only relics of it are the names Castle Hill and Castle
+Street. The turbulent barons made such terrible use of their fortresses
+during the troublous times of the civil war in Stephen's reign that in
+the more settled reign of Henry II. they were deprived of this means of
+oppression and their castles destroyed wholesale. The civil war in the
+reign of Charles I. was also another great cause of the destruction of
+these old fortresses. They were of great service during the progress of
+the war to those who were fortunate enough to possess them, and many of
+them in spite of Cromwell's cannon were most gallantly held and stoutly
+defended. Donnington Castle, Berkshire, was bravely held in spite of a
+prolonged siege during all the time that the war lasted by gallant
+Colonel Boys, who beat off the flower of the Parliamentary army; and
+when in obedience to the King's command he yielded up the castle, he and
+his brave garrison marched out with all the honours of war, having
+earned the respect of both friend and foe. Many other castles could tell
+the story of similar sieges in the days when "the gallants of England
+were up for the King."
+
+But these brave sieges were the cause of their destruction. Cromwell
+when in power recognised their strength; they were too dangerous, these
+castles, and must be destroyed. His cannon-balls had rattled against
+their stone walls without much effect during the war; but their fate was
+sealed with that of their King, and the gunpowder of Cromwell's soldiers
+was soon employed in blowing up the walls that resisted him so long, and
+left them battered and smoking ruins.
+
+Since then the ivy has grown over them to hide their nakedness. Forlorn
+and lonely the ruined castle stands. Where once loud clarion rang, the
+night owls hoot; vulgar crowds picnic where once knights fought in all
+the pride and pomp of chivalry. Kine feed in the grass-grown bailey
+court; its glory is departed. We need no castles now to protect us from
+the foes of our own nation. Civil wars have passed away, we trust, for
+ever; and we hope no foreign foeman's foot may ever tread our shores.
+But if an enemy threatened to attack England her sons would fight as
+valiantly as in the brave days of old, though earthen ramparts have
+replaced the ancient castles and iron ships the old wooden walls of
+England.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MONASTERIES
+
+Beautiful surroundings--Benefits conferred by monasteries--Charity--
+Learning--Libraries--Monks not unhappy--Netley--Cluny--Alcuin--
+Monastic friendships--St. Bernard--Anselm--Monks shed happiness
+around them--Desecration--Corruption of monasteries--Chaucer's
+prior--Orders of monks--Plan of a monastery--_Piers Ploughman's_
+description of a monastery--A day in a monastery--Regulations as
+regards blood-letting--The infirmary--Food--Hospitium--Chapter-house.
+
+
+In the neighbourhood of many of our villages stand the ruins of an old
+monastery. Who were the builders of these grand and stately edifices?
+What kind of men lived within those walls? What life did they lead? We
+will try to picture to ourselves the condition of these noble abbeys, as
+they were in the days of their glory, before the ruthless hands of
+spoilers and destroyers robbed them of their magnificence.
+
+It has often been remarked that the monks knew well how to choose the
+most beautiful spots for their monastic houses, establishing them by the
+banks of some charming river, surrounded by beautiful scenery and
+fertile fields.
+
+They loved the beauties of nature, and had a keen sense for discovering
+them. They had a delicate and profound appreciation of the delights of
+the country, and loved to describe the beauties that surrounded their
+habitations. Nature in its loveliness and wild picturesqueness was a
+reflection of God's beauty, a temple of His light and goodness. Moreover
+they built their monasteries amidst forests and wild scenery, far from
+the haunts of men, seeking solitude, wherein they could renew their
+souls by the sweetness of a life of contemplation, and consecrate their
+energies to the service of God. In the days of war and bloodshed, of
+oppression and lawlessness, holy men found it very difficult to be "in
+the world and yet not of it." Within the monastic walls they found
+peace, seclusion, solitude; they prayed, they worked, they wrote and
+studied. They were never idle. To worship, to labour, to fight as the
+_milites Christi_ with weapons that were not carnal, these were some of
+the duties of the monks.
+
+The world owes much to these dwellers in monasteries. They rescued the
+people from barbarism, and uplifted the standard of the cross. They
+emerged from their cells to direct councils, to preach and teach at the
+universities, to build churches and cathedrals, and astonish the world
+by their skill and learning. Who can tell what services they rendered to
+their nation and to all mankind by pouring forth that ceaseless stream
+of intercession day and night for the averting of the judgments of
+divine wrath which the crimes and follies of men so richly deserved?
+"What the sword is to the huntsman, prayer is to the monk," says St.
+Chrysostom; and well did they use this weapon for the spiritual and
+material benefit of all.
+
+Another great benefit they conferred upon the world was that of charity.
+They were the true nurses of the poor. There were no poor laws, and
+union workhouses, and hospitals. The monks managed to supply all the
+wants of all who suffered from poverty, privation, and sickness. "The
+friendship of the poor constitutes us the friends of kings," says St.
+Bernard; "but the love of poverty makes kings of us." They welcomed in
+their ranks poor men, who were esteemed as highly as those of noble
+birth on entering the cloister. All men were equal who wore the monk's
+robe.
+
+Amongst other services the monks rendered was the cultivation of
+learning and knowledge. With wonderful assiduity they poured forth
+works of erudition, of history, of criticism, recorded the annals of
+their own times, and stored these priceless records in their libraries,
+which have done such good service to the historians of modern times. The
+monasteries absorbed nearly all the social and intellectual movement of
+the thirteenth century. Men fired with poetical imagination frequently
+betook themselves to the cloister, and consecrated their lives to the
+ornamentation of a single sacred book destined for the monastery which
+gave them in exchange all the necessaries of life. Thus the libraries of
+the monastic houses were rich in treasures of beautifully illuminated
+manuscripts, which were bound by members of the community. The Abbot of
+Spanheim in the fifteenth century gives the following directions to his
+monks:--
+
+"Let that one fasten the leaves together, and bind the book with boards.
+You, prepare those boards; you, dress the leather; you, the metal
+plates, which are to adorn the binding."
+
+[Illustration: NETLEY ABBEY, SOUTH TRANSEPT]
+
+Terrible is it to think of the dreadful destruction of these libraries
+at the time of the spoliation of monasteries and of the priceless
+treasures which they contained.
+
+We are apt to suppose that the lives of the monks were gloomy, hard,
+severe, and that few rays of the sunshine of happiness could have
+penetrated the stern walls of the cloister. But this does not appear to
+have been the case. The very names of monasteries show that they
+rejoiced in their solitude and labour. Netley Abbey was called the
+Joyous Place, _loeto loco_; and on the Continent there are many names
+which bear witness to the happiness that reigned in the cloister.
+Moreover the writings of the monks proclaim the same truth. Cluny is
+called by Peter Damien his _hortus deliciarum_ (garden of delights), and
+it is recorded that when Peter de Blois left the Abbey of Croyland to
+return to France he stopped seven times to look back and contemplate
+again the place where he had been so happy. Hear how Alcuin laments on
+leaving the cloister for the Court of Charlemagne:--
+
+"O my cell! sweet and well-beloved home, adieu for ever! I shall see no
+more the woods which surround thee with their interlacing branches and
+aromatic herbs, nor thy streams of fish, nor thy orchards, nor thy
+gardens where the lily mingles with the rose. I shall hear no more those
+birds who, like ourselves, sing matins and celebrate their Creator, in
+their fashion--nor those instructions of sweet and holy wisdom which
+sound in the same breath as the praises of the Most High, from lips and
+hearts always peaceful. Dear cell! I shall weep thee and regret thee
+always."
+
+The life was very peaceful, entirely free from care, and moreover
+lighted by the whole-hearted friendships which existed between the
+brethren. A chapter might be written on the love of the cloister, which
+like that of David for Jonathan, was "wonderful, passing the love of
+women." Thus St. Bernard burst out in bitter grief at the loss of a
+brother monk:--
+
+"Flow, flow, my tears, so eager to flow! he who prevented your flowing
+is here no more! It is not he who is dead, it is I who now live only to
+die. Why, oh, why have we loved, and why have we lost each other?"
+
+The letters of Anselm to Lanfranc and Gondulph, his dearest friends,
+abound in expressions of the most affectionate regard and deep true
+friendship. He writes:--
+
+"How can I forget thee? Can a man forget one who is placed like a seal
+upon his heart? In thy silence I know that thou lovest me; and thou
+also, when I say nothing, thou knowest that I love thee. What can my
+letter tell thee that thou knowest not already, thou who art my second
+soul?"
+
+The monks' lot was not sad and melancholy. They loved God and His
+service, and rejoicing in their mutual regard and affection were happy
+in their love and work. Orderic Vitalis writes, "I have borne for
+forty-two years with happiness the sweet yoke of the Lord." Moreover
+they shed happiness on those who dwelt around them, on the crowds of
+masons and carpenters, traders and workmen, who dwelt under the shadow
+of the monastery or farmed the fields of the monastic estates. No
+institution was ever more popular; no masters more beloved. They took a
+hearty interest in the welfare of all their tenants, and showed an
+active sympathy for all. The extent of their charity was enormous. In a
+French abbey, when food was scarce, they fed 1,500 to 2,000 poor in the
+course of the year, gave monthly pensions to all the families who were
+unable to work, entertained 4,000 guests, and maintained eighty monks--a
+wonderful record truly.
+
+The influence of the monastery was felt in all the surrounding
+neighbourhood--the daily services, the solemn and majestic chants, the
+processions, must have created a deep impression on the minds of people.
+Many of the great writers and thinkers of subsequent ages have
+appreciated the wonderful labours of the monks. Dr. Johnson wrote:--
+
+"I never read of a hermit, but in imagination I kiss his feet; never of
+a monastery, but I fall on my knees and kiss the pavement."
+
+And now these noble buildings, hallowed by a thousand memories, exist
+only as dishonoured ruins. Some have been pulled down entirely, and the
+site used for gaols or barracks. Convicts labour where once monks
+prayed. The renowned abbey of Cluny is a racing stable, and Le Bec, the
+home of Anselm, has suffered a like profanation. Factories have invaded
+some of these consecrated sites. Many have been used as quarries for
+generations. All the carved and wrought stone has been cut off, and used
+for making bridges and roads and private houses. Nature has covered the
+remains with clinging ivy, and creeping plants, and wild flowers, and
+legends cluster round the old stones and tell the story of their
+greatness and their ruin. The country folk of western Ireland show the
+marks on the stones furrowed by the burning tears of the monks when they
+were driven out of their holy home. I am describing the condition of the
+monasteries in the days of their glory, when the spirit of the religious
+orders was bright and pure and enthusiastic. It cannot be denied that
+often the immense wealth which kings and nobles poured into the treasury
+of the monks begat luxury and idleness. Boccaccio in Italy, and even
+Dante, and our own Chaucer, write vigorously against the corruption of
+the monks, their luxury, love of sport, and neglect of their duty. Thus
+Chaucer wrote of a fourteenth-century prior:--
+
+  "Therefore he was a prickasoure a right:
+  Greihounds he hadde as swift as foul of flight:
+  Of pricking and of hunting for the hare
+  Was all his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.
+  I saw his sleves purfiled at the hond
+  With gris, and that the finest in the loud.
+  And for to fasten his hood under his chinne,
+  He hadde of gold ywrought a curious pinne:
+  A love-knotte in the greter end ther was.
+  His head was balled, and shone as any glas,
+  And eke his face, as it had been anoint.
+  He was a lord full fat and in good point
+  His eye stepe, and rolling in his bed,
+  That stemed as a forneis of led.
+  His botes souple, his hors in gret estat,
+  Now certainly he was a fayre prelat.
+  He was not pale as a forpined gost.
+  A fat swan loved he best of any rost.
+  His palfrey was as broune as is a bery."
+
+Many were the efforts to reform the abuses which crept into the monastic
+houses. Holy men grieved over the scandals of the times in which they
+lived. Many monasteries remained until the end homes of zeal and
+religion, and the unscrupulous tools of Henry VIII. could find naught
+to report against them. The only charge they could fabricate against
+one monastery was "that the monks would do evil, if they could."
+
+The foundation of the various orders of monks shows the efforts which
+were from time to time made by earnest men to revive the zeal and
+religious enthusiasm characteristic of the early dwellers in
+monasteries. The followers of St. Benedict and St. Columba were the
+first monks of the western Church who converted the peoples of England,
+Germany, Belgium, and Scandinavia. The Benedictines had many houses in
+England in Saxon times. In the tenth and eleventh centuries flourished
+a branch of the Benedictines, the order of Cluny, who worked a great
+religious revival, which was continued in the twelfth by the order of
+the Cistercians, founded at Citeaux in Burgundy. Some of our most
+beautiful English abbeys--Fountains, Kirkstall, Rievaulx, Tintern,
+Furness, and Byland--all belonged to this order. In the thirteenth and
+fourteenth centuries the new orders of preaching friars founded by St.
+Francis and St. Dominic arose, and exercised an immense influence in
+the world. They did not shut themselves up in the cloister, but went
+everywhere, preaching in the market-places, and tending the sick, the
+lepers, and the outcasts. At first they were immensely popular, but
+the orders degenerated like their predecessors, and long before the
+Reformation laid themselves open to the derision and the scoffs of the
+more enlightened men of the age. Since the days of the Friars there
+has been no building of monasteries in England. Wealth, luxury, and
+corruption had destroyed the early piety of the monks, and rich men
+preferred to give their wealth for the purpose of founding colleges
+and hospitals, rather than in increasing the number of religious houses.
+
+[Illustration: A MONK TRANSCRIBING]
+
+We will now visit these monasteries, and try to picture them as they
+stood in the days of their glory, and see the daily life which the monks
+led. The rules of the orders differed somewhat, some being stricter than
+others; and likewise the arrangements of the buildings were not all
+based upon one plan. The Carthusian monasteries differ widely from those
+of the other orders, owing to the rule that each monk should have his
+separate cell, wherein he lived and had his food, and only met his
+brethren in church and in the chapter-house. We will examine the usual
+plan of a monastery, the main buildings of which clustered round the
+cloister-court. This was called the paradise, around which was a covered
+ambulatory. Here the monks read and wrote, and sometimes had little
+spaces partitioned off for studies, with bookstands and cupboards. It
+was the great centre of the monastic life. The earlier ambulatories were
+open, but in the fourteenth century they had windows looking on to the
+cloister-court, filled with stained glass. The monks must have found the
+open cloister a somewhat chilly place for writing, and although their
+fingers were endured to hardness, had sometimes to abandon their tasks.
+Orderic Vitalis tells us that his fingers were so numbed by the cold in
+a hard winter that he was obliged to leave his writing until a more
+congenial season.
+
+On the north of the cloister-court stood the monastic church, the
+grandest and noblest of the monastic buildings, adorned with shrines,
+and tombs, and altars. Several of our cathedrals were monastic churches,
+and afford us some idea of the splendour and magnificence of these
+stately buildings. Many other churches built by the monks, quite as
+large and noble as any of our cathedrals, are now in ruins, with only a
+wall or a buttress remaining to mark the site of the once noble minster.
+The church was usually cruciform, with nave and aisles. East of the
+high altar in the choir stood the lady-chapel, and round the choir a
+retro-choir, or presbytery. There was a door on the south side of the
+church, opposite the eastern ambulatory, for the entrance of the monks.
+The south transept formed part of the eastern side of the cloister. On
+the same side stood the chapter-house, a large chamber richly ornamented
+with much architectural detail, and adorned with mural paintings.
+Between the chapter-house and the church there is a narrow room, which
+was the sacristy, and on the south of the chapter-house a building in
+two stories, the ground floor being the frater-house, where the monks
+retired after meals to converse, the upper room being the dortor, or
+dormitory, where they slept. A passage often separated the chapter-house
+from this building.
+
+On the south side of the cloister-court stood the refectory, a long
+room in which the monks took their meals; and on the west was a range
+of buildings the use of which differed in various monasteries, in some
+for cellars and larders, in others for dormitories. Sometimes this
+western building was the _domus conversorum_, or house of the lay
+brethren. The abbot's lodging was a fine house, consisting of hall,
+chambers, kitchen, buttery, and cellars, capable of entertaining a
+large number of guests, and frequently stood on the east side of the
+chapter-house quite separate from the other buildings. In small monastic
+houses governed by a prior his residence often formed the western side
+of the cloister-court. The farmery, or infirmary, where sick monks were
+nursed during illness, was a separate building, having its own kitchen,
+refectory, and chapel. The hospitium was also a separate building near
+the outer gate of the abbey, and consisted of a hall, dormitories, and a
+chapel, in which each night a goodly company of guests were entertained
+and courteously welcomed by the hospitaller. A high wall surrounded the
+abbey precincts, in which was the outer gate, consisting of a porter's
+lodge, a prison, and a large room in which the manorial court was held,
+or the abbot met the representatives of the townsfolk in order to direct
+their affairs and choose their chief magistrate or settle their
+differences.
+
+The author of _Piers Ploughman_ gives a description of the appearance of
+a monastery in the fourteenth century. As he approached the monastic
+buildings he was so bewildered by their greatness and beauty that for a
+long time he could distinguish nothing certainly but stately buildings
+of stone, pillars carved and painted, and great windows well wrought. In
+the centre quadrangle he notices the stone cross in the middle of grass
+sward. He enters the minster, and describes the arches as carved and
+gilded, the wide windows full of shields of arms and merchants' marks on
+stained glass, the high tombs under canopies, with armed effigies in
+alabaster, and lovely ladies lying by their sides in many gay garments.
+He passes into the cloister, and sees it pillared and painted, and
+covered with lead, and conduits of white metal pouring water into bronze
+lavatories beautifully wrought. The chapter-house was like a great
+church, carved and painted like a parliament-house. Then he went into
+the refectory, and found it a hall fit for a knight and his household,
+with broad tables and clean benches, and windows wrought as in a church.
+And then he wandered and wondered at "the halls full high and houses
+full noble, chambers with chimneys and chapels gay," and kitchens fit
+for a king in his castle, and their dorter or dormitory with doors full
+strong, their fermerye (infirmary) and frater, and many more houses, and
+strong stone walls, enough to harbour the queen. The author was
+evidently amazed at all the sights which he witnessed in the monastery.
+
+We will now see the monks at work, and spend a day with them in their
+monastic home. It is not easy definitely to map out a monk's day. The
+difficulty arises in a measure from the want of distinct marks of time.
+A monastic day was divided into twelve hours of uncertain length,
+varying according to the season; but the religious observances began at
+midnight, when the brethren rose at the sound of a bell in the dortor
+for the continuous service of Mattins and Lauds. They then retired to
+sleep, until the bell again summoned them at sunrise, when Prime was
+said, followed by the morning Mass, private masses and confessions, and
+the meeting of the Chapter; after this, work; then Tierce; then High
+Mass, followed by Sext. A short time was then devoted to reading, during
+which the _ministri_ and the reader at table dined; and then the monks
+sat down to dinner. This was the first food of the day, though the
+weaker brethren were allowed to sustain themselves with wine and water,
+or bread steeped in wine. Dinner was followed by a brief rest in the
+dormitory. If the monks did not wish to sleep they could read in the
+dorter; but they were to be careful not to disturb their resting
+brethren by any noise, such as that caused by turning over the leaves of
+their books. At one o'clock the bell rang for None, a short service
+consisting of a hymn, two psalms, some collects, the Lord's Prayer, and
+versicles. Then the brethren washed themselves, had a stoup of wine in
+the frater, and worked until Evensong, which was followed by supper.
+After supper they read in the cloister until the bell rang for
+Collation, which consisted of a reading in the chapter-house, whence
+they retired to the fratery for a draught of wine or beer. Then followed
+Compline, and then the monks were ready for bed, and retired to the
+dortor. Even there rules followed them, and directed them how they were
+to take off their shoes, and "to behave with more quiet, self-restraint,
+and devotion than elsewhere."
+
+I have not exhausted all the services which the monks attended. In
+addition to the principal ones there were several minor functions, at
+which devotion to the Blessed Virgin was the chief feature. The life was
+hard and the discipline severe; and lest the animal spirits of the monks
+should rise too high, the course of discipline was supplemented by
+periodical blood-letting. The doctors of the day were firm believers in
+the utility of this practice, and perhaps it had special advantages for
+dwellers in monasteries. According to the mediaeval metrical treatise on
+medicine, _Flos Medicinae_, or _Regimen Sanitatis Salerni_--
+
+  "Spiritus uberior exit per phlebotomaniam."
+
+  "It maketh cleane your braine, releeves your eie,
+  It mends your appetite, restoreth sleep,
+  Correcting humours that do waking keep;
+  And inward parts and sences also clearing
+  It mends the voyce, touch, smell, taste, hearing."
+
+According to the _Observances_ of the Augustinian Priory at Barnwell,
+Cambridge, each brother was compelled to be bled seven times a year. It
+was probably a welcome duty, as the monks enjoyed a regular holiday, and
+were solaced with unwonted good fare.
+
+Those who wished to be bled asked leave in Chapter, and having received
+a formal licence, attended High Mass. After the gospel they left the
+quire, and were bled in the farmery, where they remained three days.
+During this period they were excused attendance at the daily services,
+except on very special occasions; and minute directions are given for
+their personal comfort. They were allowed fire and lights, with suitable
+food, eggs and vegetables being specially mentioned; and they might take
+exercise within the precincts, and even beyond them, should the prelate
+give them leave. The infirmary seems to have been the most cheerful
+place in the monastery. Its inmates were "to lead a life of joy and
+freedom from care, in comfort and happiness." Conversation was freely
+permitted, though sarcastic and abusive language was strictly forbidden.
+"Games of dice and chess, and other games unsuitable to those who lead a
+religious life, were forbidden"; "because beyond all doubt they are
+offensive to God, and frequently give occasion to strife and contention
+among those who play them." We notice that invalids were allowed to walk
+in the "vineyards"; evidently the monks grew their own grapes, and made
+their own wine. The infirmary must have been well frequented. The
+complaints which are often specially mentioned as likely to compel the
+monks to resort to it are "irksomeness of life in the cloister," "long
+continuance of silence," "fatigue in the quire or extension of fasting,"
+and "sleeplessness and overwork."
+
+With regard to blood-letting the various orders had different customs.
+The Benedictines and Cluniacs had no stated times or seasons for the
+operation. The Cistercians prescribe bleeding four times in the year.
+The Carthusians were bled five times, and the Dominicans four times in
+the year.
+
+The food of the monastery was varied and plentiful. Fish and flesh were
+brought to the table, the former being obtained from the monastic
+stew-ponds. Fruit was supplied, both raw and cooked, and a good supply
+of beer and wine. Wine seems to have been very commonly used, and some
+relaxation was evidently permitted in the matter of drink.
+
+The hospitium, or guest-house, is worthy of a visit. Thither flocked a
+mixed crowd of knights and dames, monks and clerks, palmers, friars,
+traders with their wares, minstrels with their songs, and beggars,
+enjoying to the full the hospitality of the monks, who recognised it as
+one of their duties "to entertain strangers." The religious houses were,
+to a great extent, the inns of the Middle Ages; and when they were
+situated on the high roads, the guests were numerous and their
+entertainment costly. We are reminded, however, by the _Observances_ of
+Barnwell Priory that "by showing hospitality to guests the reputation of
+the monastery is increased, friendships are multiplied, animosities are
+blunted, God is honoured, charity is increased, and a plenteous reward
+in heaven is promised." It was enjoined that the hosteller, or brother
+in charge of the hospitium, should have "facility of expression, elegant
+manners, and a respectable bringing up; and if he have no substance to
+bestow he may at any rate exhibit a cheerful countenance and agreeable
+conversation, for friends are multiplied by agreeable words." He had to
+provide clean cloths and towels, cups without flaws, spoons of silver,
+mattresses, blankets and untorn sheets, pillows, quilts, etc. His duties
+are laid down with much minuteness; every morning he was required to go
+through the inventory, lest anything should be missing.
+
+The meeting in the chapter-house we must not omit to describe. When all
+the brethren had taken their seats, one monk went to the pulpit and read
+aloud the martyrology for the day. Then some psalms and collects were
+read, and a portion of the monastic rule, and briefs announcing the
+deaths of persons in whom the brethren were interested. The _tabula_, or
+notice-board, recording the names of those who were responsible for
+certain duties, was read; and a sermon followed. After the precentor had
+given minute instructions with regard to the reading and singing of the
+services for the day, the abbot said: "Speak of your own order." This
+was the call to confession; and any brother who was conscious that he
+had transgressed any rule, or neglected his duty, came forward and asked
+pardon for his fault. This was followed by the report of the _circator_,
+whose duty was to play the spy, and discover the faults of the monks.
+And after this the brethren accused each other. One brother started up
+saying: "I accuse ---- a brother." The accused came forward and stood
+before the abbot, waiting patiently for the charge. The accuser then
+stated the charge, which was admitted, or denied, by the accused. If the
+abbot judged him to be flogged, the culprit might not be flogged by his
+accuser. He rose from his knees and modestly divested himself of his
+garments, remaining covered from his girdle downwards; and he who
+flogged him might not cease till the abbot bade him. Then he helped the
+brother to put on his clothes, who bowed to the abbot and went back to
+his place. The Chapter, after this exciting interlude, proceeded to
+transact the temporal business of the house, and then adjourned.
+
+The chapter-house was often the scene of great events in the history of
+England. At Reading Abbey in this noble chamber parliaments were held.
+Here Heraclius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, presented to Henry II. the
+keys of the Holy Sepulchre, and invoked his aid in the crusade against
+the Saracens. Here the bishops assembled and excommunicated Longchamp,
+Chancellor and Regent of the country. Here the marriage contract between
+John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster was signed, when there were great
+rejoicings in the ancient town, and tilts and tournaments took place
+daily. These gay scenes must have greatly disturbed the tranquil life of
+the monks, and contrasted strangely with their normal condition.
+
+The picture of monastic life, which a study of the records of a
+monastery brings before us, is strange and alien to our present ideas;
+but it is brightened by a spirit of sincere religion and true charity,
+and helps us to understand the attraction of the convent walls in
+turbulent and troublous times.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE MANOR-HOUSE
+
+Evolution of a country house--Saxon house--Addition of separate
+sleeping-chambers--Castles--Tudor houses--Old manor-houses--Secret
+chambers--Rectories and vicarages--Duty of hospitality--Kelvedon
+Rectory--Allington--Tithe-barns--Alfriston clergy-house--Almshouses--
+Hermitages--Little Budworth--Knaresborough--Reclusorium or anchor-hold--
+Laindon--Rattenden--Female recluses--Whalley.
+
+
+The two principal houses in an English village are the manor-house and
+the rectory, wherein according to the theories of the modern political
+Socialist and agitator "the two arch-tyrants" of the labourers dwell,
+the squire and the parson. There is much of interest in the growth and
+evolution of the country house, which resulted in the construction of
+these old, pleasant, half-timbered granges and manor-houses, which form
+such beautiful features of our English villages.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTHCOTE MANOR SHOWING MOAT AND PIGEON-HOUSE]
+
+[Illustration: OCKWELLS MANOR-HOUSE]
+
+In our description of the village in Anglo-Saxon times we gave a picture
+of a house of a Saxon gentleman, which consisted mainly of one large
+hall, wherein the members of the household lived and slept and had their
+meals. There was a chapel, and a kitchen, and a ladies' bower, usually
+separated from the great hall, and generally built of wood. In Norman
+times the same plan and arrangements of a country house continued. The
+fire still burnt in the centre of the hall, the smoke finding its way
+out through a louvre in the roof. Meals were still served on tables laid
+on trestles, which were removed when the meal was finished. The lord and
+lady, their family and guests, dined at the high table placed on the
+dais, as in a college hall, the floor of which was boarded. The
+household and retainers dined in the space below, which was strewn with
+rushes and called "the marsh," which, according to Turner's _History of
+Domestic Architecture_, "was doubtless dirty and damp enough to deserve
+that name." The timbers of the roof in the better houses were moulded,
+the walls hung with tapestry, and at the lower end of the hall was a
+screen, above which in later times was the minstrels' gallery. The
+screen formed a passage which led into a separate building at right
+angles to the hall, containing the cellar, buttery, and kitchen.
+Parallel with this at the upper end of the hall was a building of two
+stories, one used as a parlour, and the other was called the "great
+chamber," where the lady and her guests retired after dining in the
+hall.
+
+[Illustration: RICHMOND PALACE]
+
+Later on a greater refinement of domestic customs was introduced. In the
+twelfth century a separate sleeping-chamber for the lord was added. The
+next century saw him and his lady dining in a room apart from his
+servants, a custom which was much satirised by the author of _Piers
+Ploughman_, who wrote--
+
+  "Now hath each rich a rule
+  To eaten by themselve,
+  In a privy parlour
+  For poor man sake,
+  Or in a chamber with a chimney;
+  And leave the chief hall,
+  That was made for meals
+  Men to eaten in."
+
+Evidently the author did not approve of the new fashion. But the
+advantages of the custom were much appreciated by the squires and ladies
+of the day, and this process of development led to a multiplication of
+rooms, and the diminution of the size of the great hall. The walls were
+raised, and an upper room was formed under the roof for sleeping
+accommodation. There are many old farmhouses throughout the country,
+once manor-houses, which retain in spite of subsequent alterations the
+distinguishing features of this mediaeval style of architecture.
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY AND STAIRCASE, UFTON COURT]
+
+The nobles built their castles as late as the fourteenth century; but
+under the Tudor monarchs, when the government of the country was strong
+and more settled, fortified dwellings were deemed no longer necessary,
+and the great landowners built splendid country houses. English domestic
+architecture then reached the period of its highest perfection. Instead
+of castles men built palaces, the noblest specimens of our English
+style, before it became corrupted. Hatfield House and Hampton Court are
+its best examples.
+
+During the fifteenth century the common hall had decreased in
+importance; and now in smaller houses it disappeared altogether, and a
+grand entrance hall usually took its place. The number of rooms was
+increased enormously, and corridors were introduced. The principal
+features of an Elizabethan house are the gallery and noble staircase.
+
+[Illustration: THE PORCH, UFTON COURT]
+
+Early in the seventeenth century Inigo Jones introduced the revived
+classic style of architecture into England, and entirely altered the
+appearance and arrangement of our manor-houses. Palladio was the
+originator of this style. The old English model was declared obsolete,
+and fashion dictated that Italian villas must supersede the old houses.
+These new buildings were very grand with their porticos and colonnades;
+but the architects cared little for comfort and convenience. Indeed a
+witty nobleman suggested to the owner of one of these new houses that
+he had better hire a lodging over the way and look at it.
+
+[Illustration: OLD MANOR HOUSE, UPTON COURT]
+
+The old manor-houses are often surrounded by a moat, and not unfrequently
+contain secret rooms and underground passages, which were often used as
+places of refuge in troublous times. Those held by recusants usually had
+two or three hiding-places ingeniously contrived, which must have baffled
+all pursuers, and were needed for the concealment of the Roman Catholic
+priest, in the days when his services were proscribed. There are two
+cleverly designed hiding-places at Ufton Court, Berkshire, which was held
+by the Roman Catholic family of Perkins. In a subterranean vault under an
+old house at Hurley, in which the bones of monks were discovered, the
+supporters of William of Orange used to meet to plan his succession to
+the English Crown. The walls of many of the manor-houses and halls in
+Lancashire and Yorkshire could tell of many a plot for the restoration
+of the Stuarts to the throne, and of many a deep health drunk to "Bonnie
+Charlie," while the chorus rang--
+
+  "He's over the seas and far awa',
+  He's over the seas and far awa',
+  But of no man we'll stand in awe,
+  But drink his health that's far awa'."
+
+The rectories and vicarages scattered over the country have passed
+through the same transformation as the manor-houses, which they much
+resembled. The rectory was often surrounded by a moat, with an entrance
+protected by a gatehouse. The duty of entertaining strangers and
+travellers was always duly recognised by the clergy, and entailed a
+heavy charge upon their income. Those who lived off the main roads used
+to provide accommodation for an occasional guest, but the rectors in the
+more frequented districts had frequently to entertain many travellers.
+There _is_ a description of the rectory-house of Kelvedon, Essex, in a
+deed dated 1356, which runs as follows:--
+
+"One hall situate in the manor of the said abbot and convent
+[Westminster] near the said church, with a soler and chamber at one end
+of the hall, and with a buttery and cellar at the other. Also one other
+house in three parts, namely a kitchen with a convenient chamber in the
+end of the said house _for guests_, and a bakehouse. Also one other
+house in two parts next the gate at the entrance of the manor for a
+stable and cow-house. He [the vicar] shall also have a convenient
+grange, to be built within a year at the expense of the prior and
+convent. He shall also have the curtilage with the garden adjoining the
+hall on the north side enclosed as it is with hedges and ditches."
+
+[Illustration: WINDOW OF SOUTH WING, UFTON COURT]
+
+Here the house for guests is an important feature of the clergyman's
+house; and about the same date, in 1352, we find the Bishop of
+Winchester ordering the prior and convent of Merton to provide "a
+competent manse for the vicar, viz. a hall with two rooms, one at one
+end of the hall, and the other at the other end, with a drain to each,
+and a suitable kitchen with fireplace and oven, and a _stable for six
+horses_, all covered with tiles, and completed within one year, such
+place to remain to the use of the said vicar and his successors." Unless
+the vicar was a very sporting parson he would not require a stable for
+six horses, and this was doubtless intended for the accommodation of the
+steeds of his guests.
+
+The descriptions of these old rectory-houses are interesting. The Rector
+of Allington, Kent, possessed a house consisting of "a hall, parlour,
+and chamber over the parlour, stairs-head, beside the parson's
+bedchamber, parson's lodging-chamber, study, chamber behind the chimney,
+chamber next adjoining westward, buttery, priest's chamber, servants'
+chamber, kitchen, mill-house, boulting-house, larder, entries, women's
+chamber; gatehouse, still beside the gate, barn next the gate; cartlage,
+barn next the church, garden-house, court." The barn next the church was
+probably the tithe-barn. Tithe was then paid in kind; hence a barn was
+required to contain the dues of the parishioners. Sometimes these
+tithe-barns are very large and long, especially when the tithe-owner was
+the abbot of some monastery. Near Reading there is still standing the
+barn of the abbey, and at Cholsey, in Berkshire, there is one of the
+finest specimens of the kind in England.
+
+[Illustration: STONE TITHE BARN, BRADFORD-ON-AVON]
+
+There still remain several of these old pre-Reformation parsonages and
+rectories. The most noted is the clergy-house at Alfriston, Sussex,
+which has been carefully preserved. It follows the usual type of
+fourteenth-century house, and consists of a fine hall, the lower part
+divided off by a screen, a soler of two stories at one end, and a
+kitchen at the other. It is built of oak framework, filled in with
+"wattle and daub." There is a large chimney and grate in the hall, and
+huge beams support the thatched roof. Parsonages of mediaeval times
+remain at West Dean, Sussex; at King's Stanley and Notgrove,
+Gloucestershire; Wonstone, Hants; Helmsley, Yorkshire; and at several
+other places. The Rectory of Shellingford, Berks, though much disguised
+by modern additions, is an original fourteenth-century house.
+
+In many villages there are old almshouses founded by pious benefactors
+for "poor brethren and sisters." As we enter the quiet courtyard paved
+with cobble stones, the spirit of olden days comes over us. The chapel
+where daily prayer is said morning and evening; the panelled
+dining-hall, with its dark oaken table; the comfortable rooms of the
+brethren; the time-worn pump in the courtyard--all recall the memory of
+old times, when life was more tranquil, and there was less hurry and
+busy bustling.
+
+Sometimes we meet with a curious little house built of stone or timber,
+erected along the great highways, near some bridge or ford, wherein a
+"holy hermit" once dwelt, and served his generation by directing
+travellers to the nearest monastery or rectory, and spent his days in
+seclusion and prayer. Such indeed is the traditional idea of the
+hermit's life; but the real hermit of the Middle Ages did not always
+live a very lonely or ascetic life. He was supported by the alms of the
+charitable and did no work, but lived an idle life, endured no
+hardships, and escaped not the scoffs of the satirical. _Piers
+Ploughman_ tells us of workmen--"webbers and tailors, and carters'
+knaves, and clerks without grace, who liked not long labour and light
+wages; and seeing that lazy fellows in friars' clothing had fat cheeks,
+forsook their toil and turned hermits. They lived in boroughs among
+brewers and begged in churches." They had a good house, with sometimes a
+chaplain to say daily Mass for them, a servant or two to wait on them,
+and plenty of food and drink provided by a regular endowment or the
+donations of the charitable. They did not shut themselves up in their
+cells and hold no intercourse with their fellow-men; and herein they
+differed from the recluses who were not supposed to go outside the doors
+of their anchorages. Both males and females were enrolled as recluses,
+but only the latter seem to have taken upon themselves the vows of
+complete seclusion.
+
+Several of these hermitages remain. There is one at Little Budworth, in
+Cheshire, in the park of Sir Philip Egerton. Warkworth has a famous one,
+consisting of a chapel hewn out of the rock, with an entrance porch, and
+a long, narrow room with a small altar at the east end, wherein the
+hermit lived. At Knaresborough, Yorkshire, there is a good example of a
+hermitage, hewn out of the rock, consisting of a chapel, called St.
+Robert's Chapel, with groined roof, which was used as the living-room of
+the hermit. This chapel was the scene of Eugene Aram's murder. At
+Wetheral, near Carlisle; Lenton, near Nottingham; on the banks of the
+Severn, near Bewdley, Worcestershire, there are anchorages, and also at
+Brandon, Downham, and Stow Bardolph, in Norfolk. Spenser in the _Faery
+Queen_ gives the following description of a hermit's cell:--
+
+  "A little lowly hermitage it was,
+  Down by a dale, hard by a forest's side,
+  Far from resort of people that did pass
+  In traveill to and froe; a little wyde
+  There was an holy Chappell edifyde,
+  Wherein the hermite dewly wont to say
+  His holy things, each morne and eventyde;
+  Hereby a chrystall streame did gently play,
+  Which from a sacred fountaine welled forth alway."
+
+Within the churchyard of many a town or village church, and usually
+attached to the church, stood a reclusorium, or anchor-hold, wherein a
+recluse, male or female, once resided. At Laindon Church, Essex, there
+is a fine specimen of a house of this kind attached to the west end.
+Generally the anchor-hold was a small room, built of wood, connected
+with the church. Frequently there is a room over the porch of a church
+which may have been used for this purpose, the recluse living usually in
+the church. At Rettenden, Essex, there is a room over the vestry which
+has evidently been an anchor-hold. There was a window, now blocked up,
+through which the recluse could see the high altar, and the celebration
+of the holy mysteries, and another for him to look out, hold converse
+with his friends, and receive their alms. The church of St. Patricio,
+near Crickhowel, South Wales, has an anchor-hold; also Clifton Campville
+Church, Staffordshire; Chipping Norton Church, Oxfordshire; Warmington
+Church, Warwickshire; and many churches have rooms over the porch which
+were formerly used by recluses. The church itself was frequently the
+habitation of the anchorite. There is a notice of a hermit who lived in
+St. Cuthbert's Church, Thetford, and performed divine service therein.
+
+Of female recluses we gather many details in the _Ancren Riewle_ of
+Bishop Poore of Salisbury, who left very minute directions for the
+regulation of their austere and solitary lives. The little cell had an
+altar where the anchoress frequently prayed, and through a window saw
+the elevation of the Host in the daily Mass. The walls were covered
+with mural paintings. There was a table, a fire, and a cat lying before
+it. An unglazed window with a shutter was covered by a black curtain,
+through which she could converse with anyone outside without being seen.
+She was not allowed to put her head out of the open window. "A peering
+anchoress, who is always thrusting her head outward, is like an untamed
+bird in a cage," says the good bishop. The long hours of solitude were
+spent in devotion, working embroidery, reading her few books, talking to
+her servant or to those who desired to speak with her through the
+curtained window.
+
+The poor caged birds must often have wished to break the bars of their
+cage, and occasionally they escaped from their solitary confinement. In
+the churchyard of Whalley, Lancashire, there are two cottages which
+stand upon the site of a reclusorium, founded by Henry, Duke of
+Lancaster, in 1349. Here in the reign of Henry VI. lived one Isole de
+Heton, who wearied of her lot, and left the anchor-hold, an example
+which was followed by several of her successors. A scandal having
+arisen, the hermitage was dissolved.
+
+Many a sad story of ruined hopes and broken hearts could these walls
+tell, which were the living tombs of many a devout or erring sister,
+who, wounded in the world's war, sought the calm seclusion of a cell,
+and found there the peace which elsewhere they had failed to find.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+PARISH CHURCHES
+
+The Porch--Font--Stone benches--Pews--Pulpits--Rood-lofts--Destruction
+of--Screens--Royal arms--Chancel--Stalls--_Misereres_--Lectern--High
+altar and its furniture--Piscina--Credence--Aumbry--Sedilia--Easter
+sepulchre--Reredos--Shrines--Numerous altars--Chantry chapels--
+Hagioscopes--Images--Low side windows--Vestries--Vestments--Churches
+in olden times--Reading pews--Galleries--Destruction and profanation--
+Evils of "restoration."
+
+
+In the centre of our village stands the church, always the most
+important and interesting building in the place. We will suppose that
+it has not suffered overmuch at the hands of the "restorers" of the
+nineteenth, or the Puritans of the seventeenth, or the spoliators of
+an earlier century, so that we may observe all those details which
+characterise an ancient church. In spite of all the vandalism which has
+taken place, in spite of the changes in ceremonial and forms of worship,
+our beautiful old churches still retain relics of the past which time
+has spared.
+
+We will enter the church and notice first the porch, often a large
+structure with a chamber above. Why was it made so large? According to
+the Sarum use several services took place in the porch. Parts of the
+baptismal service and of the marriage service and the churching of women
+were there performed; hence the porch was an important building, and
+it was necessary to make it rather large. Above the door there is
+frequently a niche for the image of the patron saint of the church,
+which has not usually escaped the destructive hand of the Puritan. The
+room over the porch was frequently inhabited by a recluse, as I have
+already recorded in the previous chapter. Near the door always stands
+the font, signifying that baptism is the entrance to the Church of
+Christ. Ancient fonts are large enough to allow the infant to be totally
+immersed, and are made of stone or lead. Childrey Church, in our county
+of Berks, has a fine cylindrical, leaden font, of Norman date, carved
+with figures of bishops. Norman fonts are frequently carved, the
+favourite subjects being the Baptism of our Lord, the Twelve Apostles,
+and the evangelistic symbols. Early English and Decorated fonts are not
+usually carved, but in the Perpendicular style they are rich with
+ornamentation, the Seven Sacraments being a not uncommon design. We have
+sometimes noticed the symbols of Freemasonry carved on fonts, as at
+Bray, in Berkshire. To the same period belong the splendid spire-shaped
+font-covers, of immense weight, of which I am sometimes a little
+fearful, lest the mechanism by which they are raised should become
+damaged, and terrible disaster follow during the progress of a baptismal
+service. At Sonning, Berks, there is a small stone desk attached to a
+pillar for the service-book to rest on.
+
+The nave of the church is now filled with seats for the use of the
+congregation. In early times they do not seem to have been considered
+necessary, and until the fourteenth century the stone benches ranged
+against the walls were the only seats provided. Even as late as the
+fourteenth century it does not appear that many churches had pews, but
+in the fifteenth they became general. The hideous monstrosities of
+post-Reformation times did not then disfigure our churches. The pews
+were low open seats made of oak, sometimes carved at the back, and
+panelled, with the ends higher than the rest, and often richly carved.
+Many rich men left money in their wills for the _puying_ of churches.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT PEW-WORK, TYSOE CHURCH, WARWICKSHIRE]
+
+It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that the
+fashion of erecting high pews set in, which so disfigured our churches,
+and were frequently censured by the authorities. Some of these (as at
+Whalley) resemble four-posted beds; others are like cattle-pens, large
+square boxes with seats all round, wherein the occupants sit and sleep,
+screened from the rest of the congregation. The carving of the woodwork
+of these erections is often very elaborate. Modern pews are happily
+based upon the more primitive fashion.
+
+Preaching not being considered such an important part of the service in
+pre-Reformation times, pulpits in churches of that period were not so
+usual as in modern churches. Monastic refectories had pulpits, which the
+reader occupied when he read to his brethren during meals. Beaulieu
+Abbey has the most ancient pulpit in this country, which evidently
+belongs to the thirteenth century.
+
+The churches of Devonshire and Norfolk have wooden pulpits of the
+fifteenth century, which were painted and gilded, the figures of the
+four doctors of the church--SS. Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, and
+Jerome--being the favourite subjects. In 1603 the churchwardens were
+ordered to provide in every church "a comely and decent pulpit." Hence
+most of our pulpits date from this period. The sides were panelled and
+carved with scrollwork; and at the same time a sounding-board was
+introduced. Occasionally the hour-glass which regulated the length of
+the preacher's discourse remains, with its beautiful scroll-worked
+stand.
+
+The most striking feature of the pre-Reformation Church was the
+rood-loft, a narrow long gallery above the beautifully decorated screen,
+which separated the chancel from the nave. In this loft was erected the
+rood, or figure of our blessed Lord on the cross, together with figures
+of the Virgin and St. John on each side. Both the screen and the loft
+were richly panelled and ornamented with tracery and carvings, and
+before them hung one or more lamps. Sometimes tall candlesticks stood on
+pillars on each side of the figures. A staircase of stone, constructed
+in the wall near the chancel-arch, led to the rood-loft, and the
+blocked-up archway of this rood-stair frequently remains. The priest
+stood in the rood-loft to read the gospel and epistle, and sometimes
+preached there; official notices were read, and from it the bishop used
+to give the Benediction. The rood-cloth, or veil, hid the rood during
+Lent, and in some churches we have seen the roller which was used to
+raise this veil. A special altar, called the rood-altar, used to stand
+under the screen.
+
+[Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH SCREEN, THURCASTON, LEICESTERSHIRE]
+
+The Reformers played havoc with these old rood-lofts and screens, which
+were regarded as monuments of idolatry and superstition. The
+churchwardens' account-books of many churches bear witness to this
+destruction. Those of St. Giles', Reading, tell of certain _items_ "for
+pulling down the rood and carting away the rubbish." Instead of the
+figure of our Lord they put up the royal arms; and one John Serjente, of
+Hytchen, is licensed in 1614--
+
+"to paynte in all the Churches and Chappells, within this Realme of
+England, the Kinges Majesties armes in due forme with helme creste
+mantell and supporters as they oughte to be--and to wright in fayre text
+letters the tenn commandments, the beliefe, and the Lord's prayer, with
+some other fruitefull and profitable sentences of holye scripture."
+
+In spite of this destruction of the ancient roods, several lofts still
+remain, _e.g._ at Bradninch, Cullompton, Dartmouth, Hartland, Kenton,
+Ugborough, and Plymtree, in Devonshire; in several places in
+Somersetshire, and at Charlton-on-Otmoor (erected in 1485) and
+Handborough, Oxfordshire. A very large number of the old screens remain,
+ornamented with the arms of Elizabeth or James I.
+
+Proceeding eastward we enter the chancel, so called because it is
+inclosed with _cancelli_, or the lattice-work of the screen. If the
+church was formerly connected with some monastery we shall see some
+beautifully carved wooden stalls with rich canopies over them. The seats
+are curiously constructed. They can be turned up, and beneath the seats
+is a projecting bracket of wood, commonly adorned with carved
+work--animals, birds, leaves, and flowers, and often with grotesque,
+satirical, and irreverent devices. They are called miserere-stalls, and
+were used by the monks or canons to lean against during the portions of
+the long mediaeval services, when they were not allowed to be seated. As
+this practice was a concession to human weakness or infirmity, the seats
+were called in France _misericordes_, and in England _misereres_. The
+subjects of the sculptures are often extremely curious. Domestic scenes,
+fables, such as the "Fox and the Grapes," demons carrying off monks,
+"The Seven Deadly Sins," are some of these subjects. Miss Phipson has
+published a learned work on _Choir Stalls and their Carvings_, which
+contains reproductions of three hundred of her sketches of curiously
+wrought _misereres_.
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE CHURCH IN THE VALE]
+
+The lectern formerly stood in the chancel; and then, as now, was often
+in the form of a large eagle, emblematic of St. John. Most of these
+reading-desks belong to the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and are
+made of wood, latten, iron, or stone, as well as of brass. There is a
+very curious wooden one at East Hendred, Berks, representing a foot
+resting on the head of a dragon, emblematic of the word of God
+conquering the powers of evil. Ancient wooden double reading-desks are
+not uncommon. The ornamentation usually denotes the period when they
+were constructed.
+
+And now we approach the high altar of the church, made of stone, covered
+with a beautifully worked frontal and cloth, and inclosed at the sides
+with curtains suspended on iron rods projecting from the wall. A
+crucifix hangs above the altar, and two candlesticks stand, one on each
+side. The furniture and accessories of the altar in pre-Reformation
+times were numerous. There was the pyx, a box or vessel of precious
+metal, in which the Host was reverently preserved for the purpose of
+giving communion to the sick and infirm. There were two small cruets or
+vessels for containing the wine and water used in Holy Communion, one
+engraved with the letter "V" (_vinum_), and the other "A" (_aqua_). An
+_osculatorium_, or pax tablet, of ivory or wood, overlaid with gold, was
+used for giving the kiss of peace during the High Mass just before the
+reception of the Host. Of church plate generally we shall write in a
+subsequent chapter.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN PISCINA, ROMSEY CHURCH, HANTS]
+
+On the south we see the piscina, which is contained in a beautifully
+carved niche--a hollow basin with a stone drain, wherein the priest
+washed his hands before consecrating the elements, and poured the water
+from the rinsed chalice. Above it in the niche was the credence, a shelf
+of stone, on which were placed the chalice and paten and all things
+necessary for the celebration. In some churches there is a separate
+credence table. On the north side was the aumbry, or locker, where the
+sacred vessels, altar linen, and service books were kept, guarded by a
+strong wooden door. The doors have usually disappeared, but a very large
+number of churches have the hole in the wall which was formerly the
+aumbry.
+
+On the south side are the sedilia, or stone seats, for the assistant
+clergy, frequently with canopies richly carved, and usually three in
+number. Opposite to the sedilia in the north wall is a large arch,
+within which the holy sepulchre was set up at Easter. This was a wooden
+structure made for the deposition of the consecrated elements of the
+Eucharist from the evening of Good Friday until the morning of Easter
+Day; during which time it was watched by a quasi-guard, after the manner
+of our Lord's sepulchre. The books of St. Lawrence, Reading, record:--
+
+"Anno 1498. In primis payed for Wakyng of the Sepulchre viii'd."
+
+"Anno 1510. It. payed to Walter Barton to the new Sepulchur iiii'li
+xiii's x'd."
+
+As this sum of money was a considerable one at that period, the
+sepulchre must have been an object of unusual magnificence. Sometimes
+it was a permanent structure of stone, carved with figures of soldiers
+watching the tomb of our Lord. Behind the altar was the reredos. In
+village churches these screens were made up of recessed stone panels,
+surrounded by sculptured wallflowers and other devices; but in large
+churches they were very ornate, enriched with niches, statues,
+tabernacle-work, and other adornments. Many of them were destroyed at
+the Reformation, together with the stone altars. Some were covered up
+and concealed by plaster, in order to preserve them from iconoclastic
+violence. They were buried and forgotten, until by some happy accident
+their existence was revealed in modern times. Nearly all large churches,
+and some village churches, especially those connected with a monastery,
+had shrines, or receptacles for the body or relics of a saint. Some
+of them were fixed, and made of stone or wood, adorned with rich
+tabernacle-work, such as the shrine of St. Cuthbert at Durham, or of St.
+Frideswide at Oxford; and others were portable, shaped like coped boxes,
+covered with precious metal, enamels, and engraving. Sculptured stones
+in the walls of our churches often mark the spot in the building where
+relics were stored.
+
+It is evident from the existence of niches and piscinas in other parts
+of the church, besides in the south wall near the high altar, that there
+formerly existed many altars in the sacred building. At the east end of
+each aisle we usually find these indications of the existence of an
+altar, which belonged to a chantry chapel, separated from the rest of
+the church by a screen. Here a priest said Mass daily for the soul of
+the founder of the chantry, his ancestors, and posterity. Ancient stone
+altars still remain in some of our churches. Sometimes they have been
+removed from their place, and used as tombstones, or in paving the floor
+of the church. They can be recognised by the five crosses engraved on
+them, one at each corner, and one in the centre of the stone.
+
+Hagioscopes, or squints, are openings in the thickness of the wall,
+enabling worshippers in the chantry chapels to witness the elevation of
+the Host at the high altar. They are usually plain; but in some churches
+we find these curious apertures moulded and decorated with architectural
+designs.
+
+Pre-Reformation churches had several wooden images of saints, most of
+which were destroyed by the iconoclastic zeal of the Reformers or
+Puritans. The brackets on which these figures stood often remain, though
+the images have disappeared.
+
+[Illustration: LOW SIDE WINDOW, DALLINGTON CHURCH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE]
+
+Low side windows, commonly called "Lepers' windows," are very frequently
+found in our churches, and usually on the south wall of the chancel.
+Their object has been, and is, much disputed among antiquaries. The
+vulgar idea is that poor lepers used to come to this window to see the
+celebration of the Mass; but unfortunately it is quite impossible in
+many cases to see the high altar through this window, and moreover
+lepers were not allowed to enter a churchyard. Another idea is that
+they were used as confessionals, the priest in the church hearing the
+confession of the penitent who knelt on the grass in the churchyard.
+A more inconvenient arrangement could not have been devised; and this
+idea might be at once dismissed, were it not that one of Henry's
+commissioners for suppressing monasteries and chantries wrote: "We think
+it best that the place where these friars have been wont to hear outward
+confession of all-comers at certain times of the year, be walled up, and
+that use to be done for ever." It appears that sometimes at any rate the
+low side windows were used for this purpose. However, I am inclined to
+think that they were intended for the use of the anchorites or recluses,
+who dwelt in churches. The windows were not glazed, but had iron bars on
+the outside, and a wooden shutter on the inside of the church. These
+windows were probably their means of communication with the outside
+world.
+
+Many village churches then, as now, had no vestry. Where a _vestiarium_
+existed it was usually on the north side of the chancel, and its
+contents were more elaborate than the plain surplice stole and hood of
+recent times. In the vestry press we should find an alb of fine white
+linen, somewhat similar to a surplice, ornamented with "apparels,"
+_i.e._ embroidery, on the cuffs and skirts; a girdle made of white silk
+embroidered with colours; an amice, or oblong piece of fine linen, worn
+on the head or as a collar; a stole with embroidered ends; a maniple, or
+strip of ornamented linen worn by the priest in his left hand during
+celebrations; dalmatic, chasuble and other vestments which the ornate
+ritual of the mediaeval church required.
+
+Before the Reformation the appearance of our churches was certainly
+splendid, and differed much from the Puritan simplicity of later times.
+The walls were covered with mural paintings. The windows, soon to be
+
+"Shorn of their glass of a thousand colourings,
+Through which the deepened glories once could enter,"
+
+were then resplendent with stained glass. Above, the rood looked down on
+all the worshippers. Everywhere there was beautifully carved woodwork,
+gilded and painted, tombs of knights and dames all painted and adorned,
+altars with rich embroidered hangings. The floor was composed of
+encaustic tiles, and had many memorial brasses. Armour, crests, and
+banners hung upon the walls. Lights burned before numerous images, and
+the whole appearance of our churches was gorgeous and magnificent.
+
+Many changes have taken place since. Coatings of whitewash hide the
+mural paintings. Sacrilegious hands "have broken down all the carved
+work with axes and hammers." The stone altars have disappeared, and
+instead we have "an honest table decently covered." Reading-pews for the
+clergy were set up, and in the last century the hideous "three decker,"
+which hid the altar and utterly disfigured the sacred building. Instead
+of the low open seats great square high pews filled the nave. Hideous
+galleries were erected which obstructed the windows and hid the
+architectural beauties of former days. The old timber roofs were
+covered, and low flat ceilings substituted. Brasses were torn up and
+sold by dishonest churchwardens, and old monuments broken and defaced.
+The old stained-glass windows were destroyed. The Communion table was
+taken from the east end of the chancel, and seats erected round it.
+Crosses were defaced everywhere, and crucifixes destroyed. Puritan
+profanation and wanton destruction devastated our churches to a degree
+which has never been equalled since the hordes of heathens and barbaric
+Danish invaders carried fire and sword into the sanctuaries of God.
+
+[Illustration: READING-PEW, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, LANGLEY CHAPEL, SALOP]
+
+Much harm was done by the Goths and Vandals of the nineteenth century.
+Many old churches, replete with a thousand memories of the past, were
+pulled down entirely, and modern structures of "Victorian Gothic" style
+erected in their place, which can have none of the precious associations
+which the old churches had. Much harm was done to the old features of
+many churches by so-called "restoration," carried out by men ignorant of
+architecture and antiquities. But we are learning better now. The
+Society of Antiquaries has done much to prevent injudicious restoration
+and the destruction of our old churches, and if any incumbent and his
+parishioners are thinking of restoring their church, they cannot do
+better than to consult the secretaries of that learned body, who will
+show how best to preserve the interesting memorials of the past which
+time has spared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+CHURCH PLATE
+
+Spoliation--Few remains of pre-Reformation plate--Testimony of
+inventories--Plate found in graves of bishops--Characteristics of
+chalices in different periods--Inscriptions--Devices on patens--
+Censers--Pyx--Monstrance--Chrismatory--Pax--Sacring bell--Elizabethan
+chalice--Bridal cup--Post-Reformation plate--Hall marks.
+
+
+We have already mourned over the wanton destruction of much that was of
+intense interest and value in our churches; but the most systematic
+robbery and spoliation of our church goods at the time of the
+Reformation were carried out in the matter of church plate. Henry VIII.
+stripped our cathedrals and conventual churches of almost all that was
+valuable, and the unscrupulous commissioners of Edward VI. performed a
+like office for our parish churches and chantries. A large number of
+the old chalices were also melted down and converted into Communion
+cupsduring the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth. Hence of all the
+vast store of church plate which our churches possessed before the
+Reformation, at the present time throughout all England only thirty-four
+chalices and seventy-three patens remain. It is true that not all the
+ancient vessels fell into the hands of the commissioners of the king. In
+the churchwardens' account books of the period we read of sundry sales
+of church plate. Evidently the parishioners had some presentiment of the
+coming spoliation; so they sold their valuables, and kept the proceeds
+of the sale for "the paving of the streets," or other parochial
+necessities.
+
+The ancient inventories of church goods show the deplorable loss of the
+valuables of the church which has taken place. Thus at the church of St.
+Lawrence, Reading, in the year 1517, the inventory tells us of the
+following: a cross of silver and gilt; a censer of silver gilt; another
+censer; a ship of silver for holding incense; another ship of silver;
+two candlesticks of silver; two books bound in silver; two basins of
+silver; a pyx of silver gilt, with a silver pin; a monstrance of silver
+gilt; a silver gilt chrismatory for the holy oil; a pax; two cruets; a
+bell; a chalice, with a crucifix enamelled on the foot and the Trinity
+on the paten; another chalice, with a crucifix engraved on the foot
+and a hand on the paten; another chalice similarly described; another
+similar to first chalice; and two others, with a crucifix on the foot
+and a vernicle, or _vera icon_ (a representation of our Lord's face
+miraculously delineated on the napkin of St. Veronica). All these
+vessels were made of silver or silver gilt. Nor were these all the
+treasures. There were several reliquaries of silver gilt containing
+parts of the holy cross; a gridiron, with a bone of St. Lawrence, and
+other articles contained in silver boxes; and many books bound with
+silver clasps. The total weight of silver in this church amounted to
+seven hundred ounces.
+
+Village churches were, of course, less sumptuously furnished than this
+important town church, which being situated under the shadow of one of
+the largest and most important abbeys in the kingdom, would receive many
+costly gifts and benefactors. But the inventories of village churches
+show that there was no lack of plate, rich altar hangings, copes, and
+vestments, which helped to swell the goodly heap of spoil. In country
+churches in Oxfordshire there were silver chalices and patens, pyxes,
+censers, candlesticks, chrismatories, crosses, sanctus bells, and other
+articles of plate.
+
+It was the practice in mediaeval times to place in the coffin of a
+bishop a chalice and paten; hence some of the earliest specimens of
+church plate which we possess have been recovered from episcopal
+graves.[3] The Rites of Durham enjoin that on the death of a bishop
+he was to be buried "with a little chalice of silver, other metal, or
+wax" aid upon his breast within the coffin.[4] Most of these were made
+of pewter or lead, but some have been found of silver gilt, latten,
+and tin. It is perhaps scarcely necessary for our present purposes to
+describe these early specimens of sacred vessels, as the number of them
+is so limited; and few of my readers will be able to discover any
+mediaeval examples amongst the plate of their own church. However, I
+will point out a few peculiarities of the plate of each period.
+
+The earliest chalice, used in the church of Berwick St. James, Wilts,
+until a few years ago, and now in the British Museum, dates from the
+beginning of the thirteenth century. Its bowl is broad and shallow, the
+stem and knot (by which the vessel was held) and foot being plain and
+circular. Then the makers (from 1250 to 1275) fashioned the stem and
+knot separately from the bowl and foot, and shaped them polygonally.
+During the remaining years of the century the foot was worked into
+ornate lobes. Then the bowl is deepened and made more conical. About
+1350 the custom arose of laying the chalice on its side on the paten to
+drain at the ablutions at Mass; and as the round-footed chalices would
+have a tendency to roll, the foot was made hexagonal for stability.
+Henceforth all the mediaeval chalices were fashioned with a six-sided
+foot. By degrees the bowl became broader and shallower, and instead of
+the base having six points, its form is a sexfoil without any points.
+Several old chalices are engraved with the inscription--
+
+Calicem salutaris accipiam et nomen Domini inbocabo.
+
+[Illustration: CHALICE AND PATEN, SANDFORD, OXFORDSHIRE
+_Circa_ A.D. 1301]
+
+In one of the compartments of the base there was a representation of a
+crucifix, or the Virgin, or ihc, or xpc.
+
+The usual devices on ancient patens were the _Manus Dei_, or hand of
+God, in the act of blessing; on later ones the vernicle, or face of our
+Lord; the Holy Trinity; the Holy Lamb; the sacred monogram. The oldest
+paten in existence is that found at Chichester Cathedral in a coffin,
+and its date is about the year 1180. In the centre is a rude engraving
+of the _Agnus Dei_, and it bears the inscription--
+
+Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi miserere nobis.
+
+[Illustration: PRE-REFORMATION PLATE
+(1) 13th Century
+(2) Early 16th Century
+(3) Elizabethan
+(4) Manus Dei
+(5) Vernicle]
+
+The grave of Bishop Grostete at Lincoln yielded up an ancient paten
+(1230-53), which has the figure of a bishop vested, the right hand
+raised in the act of blessing, the left holding a crozier. The oldest
+piece of church plate still in use is a remarkable paten at Wyke Church,
+near Winchester, the date of which is about 1280. It bears an engraving
+of the _Agnus Dei_ holding a banner, and around the rim is the legend--
+
+CUNTA: CREO: VIRTUTE: REGO: PIETATE REFORMO.
+
+Another favourite inscription was _Benedicamus patrem et filium cum
+spiritu sancto_; but on the paten in the church of Great Waltham, Essex,
+the important word _spiritu_ is omitted for want of room.
+
+[Illustration: CENSER OR THURIBLE]
+
+We have already mentioned several of the important pieces of church
+plate which were in use in mediaeval times. Censers, or thuribles, were
+common in all our ancient parish churches, sometimes of gold or silver,
+more usually of brass or latten, and were in the shape of a covered vase
+or cup, perforated so as to allow the fumes of burning incense to
+escape. Most of our English censers are now in museums, but several
+ancient ones are still in use in the private chapels of Roman Catholic
+families.
+
+Old inventories always mention a pyx, a box or vessel of gold or silver,
+in which the Host was reserved for the sick and infirm. It often
+resembles a chalice, except that instead of the bowl there is a covered
+receptacle for the Host. A beautiful specimen was dug up a few years ago
+in the churchyard of Yateley, Hants. Another vessel was the monstrance,
+in which the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession, and exposed
+on the altar. The form varied. Sometimes monstrances were made in
+the shape of a tower, or a covered chalice; sometimes in the form of
+images carrying silver pyxes, elaborately ornamented with many jewels.
+Processions were always a great feature of mediaeval worship; hence the
+monstrance was frequently in use, especially on such occasions as the
+celebrations of Corpus Christi Day.
+
+Holy oil was much used in the services, as in the Roman Catholic Church
+at the present time. It was blessed by a bishop on Maundy Thursday, and
+used in Baptism, Confirmation, and Extreme Unction, as well as at the
+Consecration of Churches, Ordination, and the Coronation of Kings. The
+vessel for holding the oil was an important piece of church plate, and
+was called a chrismatory. Usually there were three distinct vessels, one
+for holding the oil for the sick, a second for use at confirmations, and
+a third for the baptismal oil. Sometimes these vessels are labelled with
+the words EXT. UNC., CAT., and CHR., according to the recommendation of
+St. Charles Borromeo, in order that each oil might be kept for its
+proper use, and that no confusion might arise.
+
+The pax was a small tablet of silver or other precious metal, used for
+giving the kiss of peace during High Mass. The celebrant kissed the
+tablet, and held it aloft before all the people. It was usually adorned
+with a representation of the _Agnus Dei_. Of the cruets containing wine
+and water for the celebration we have already written. Then there was a
+sacring bell, often made of silver, which was rung during the service at
+the time of the elevation of the Host, and at the sound the congregation
+knelt.
+
+We have now examined the aumbry, and noted its contents, upon which the
+commissioners in the reign of Edward VI. made such shameful inroads.
+Henceforth the plate was confined to a chalice and paten, alms-dish, and
+usually a large silver flagon. The form of the chalice was entirely
+changed. As we have noticed, the bowl of the pre-Reformation chalices
+became smaller and shallower, on account of the gradually introduced
+practice of refusing the wine to the laity. Now in the year 1562 the
+size of the bowl was greatly enlarged, and the "Communion cup" took
+the place of the "Massing chalice." Some poor parishes were obliged to
+content themselves with pewter vessels. St. Lawrence's Church, Reading,
+had a curious bridal cup, which was carried before all brides who
+were married in that church. The custom of drinking wine in the church
+at marriages is enjoined in the Hereford Missal, and the Sarum
+Missal ordered that the bread immersed in the wine, and consumed by
+the company, should first be blessed by the priest. Some of these
+post-Reformation vessels are extremely interesting. They record the
+thankofferings of pious donors on the occasion of some great event in
+the national annals, such as the Restoration, or of some private mercy
+vouchsafed to the individual. They record the connection of some family
+with the parish, the arms they bore; and the Hall marks tell us of their
+date, which is often anterior to the date of the inscription.
+
+Hall marks were first introduced in 1300 by Edward I. in order to keep
+up the purity of silver, and consisted of the lion's or leopard's head
+crowned. This was called the king's mark. The maker's mark was
+introduced in 1363, and was some initial or badge chosen by the
+silversmith. To these were added in 1438 the year letter or assayer's
+mark, a different letter being chosen for each year. When the alphabet
+was exhausted, another with differently shaped letters was begun. In
+1545 the lion passant was introduced, and since 1784 the portrait of the
+reigning sovereign has appeared. With the assistance of Mr. Cripps' _Old
+English Plate_, which contains a list of the alphabets used in marking
+plate, it is not very difficult to discover the date of any piece of
+silver. Inventories of church plate are being made in many counties and
+dioceses, and no more useful work can be undertaken by our local
+antiquarian societies.
+
+
+[3] _Mediaeval Chalices and Patens_, by W.H. St. John Hope and
+T.M. Fallow.
+
+[4] Surtees Society, vol. xv. pp. 45, 49.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES
+
+Reverence for the dead--Cists--Stone coffins--Devices--Introduction
+of effigies--Cross-legged effigies--Wooden effigies--Incised
+effigies--Brasses--Essentially English--Vast number of brasses--
+Palimpsests--Destruction--Costumes and fashions--Ecclesiastics--
+Lawyers--Soldiers--Canopies and inscriptions--Punning inscriptions--
+Contractions--Emblems--Heraldry.
+
+
+The pious care which we all love to bestow on the mortal remains of our
+nearest and dearest, and the respect and honour with which all men
+regard the bodies of departed heroes, kings, saints, and warriors, have
+produced a remarkable series of sepulchral monuments, examples of which
+may be found everywhere. The cairns and tumuli of the primitive races
+which inhabited our island were the results of the same feelings of
+reverent regard which inspired the beautifully carved mediaeval
+monuments, the memorial brass, or the cross-shaped tombstone of to-day.
+
+I have already mentioned the cromlechs and barrows and other memorials
+of the early inhabitants of Britain. We have seen the cists of Saxon
+times, the coffins formed of several stones placed together in the form
+of a table. The Normans introduced stone coffins for the sepulchre of
+their great men, many of which may be seen in our cathedrals and old
+conventual churches. On the lids of their coffins they frequently cut a
+single cross. When the style of architecture changed to that of the
+Early English and Decorated periods, monumental slabs were ornamented
+with much greater richness and elaboration, and inscriptions were added,
+and also some device which showed the trade, rank, or profession of the
+departed. Thus the chalice and paten denoted a priest; a sword showed
+the knight; an axe, a forester; an ink-horn, a notary; shears, a wool
+merchant.
+
+At the beginning of the thirteenth century it occurred to someone to
+preserve the likeness of his departed friend as well as the symbols of
+his rank and station. So effigies were introduced upon the surface of
+the slabs, and were carved flat; but ere fifty years had passed away the
+art of the sculptor produced magnificent monumental effigies. Knights
+and nobles lie clad in armour with their ladies by their sides. Bishops
+and abbots bless the spectators with their uplifted right hands. Judges
+lie in their official garb, and merchants with the emblems of their
+trade. At their feet lie animals, usually having some heraldic
+connection with the deceased, or symbolical of his work--_e.g._ a dragon
+is trodden down beneath the feet of a bishop, signifying the defeat of
+sin as the result of his ministry. The heads of effigies usually rest on
+cushions, which are sometimes supported by two angels.
+
+A peculiar characteristic of the military effigies in England is that
+the knights are often represented with the legs crossed. Many
+speculations have been made with regard to the meaning of this fashion
+of cross-legged effigy. It is a popular superstition, in which for some
+years the writer shared, that such effigies represented Crusaders. We
+were told in our young days that when the knight had his legs crossed at
+the feet he had gone to the Crusades once; when at the knees, that he
+had been to two Crusades; and when crossed at the thighs, he had been
+thrice to rescue the Holy City from the hands of the infidels. All this
+seemed very plausible and interesting, but it is undoubtedly a myth.
+Many known Crusaders have their effigies with uncrossed legs, and many
+who never went to the Crusades have cross-legged effigies. Moreover,
+there are no such monuments in any foreign country which swelled the
+army of Crusaders. Hence we must abandon the pleasing superstition, and
+reconcile ourselves to the fact that no particular signification can be
+assigned to these cross-legged effigies, and that only fashion prompted
+the mediaeval sculptors to adopt this attitude for their figures. This
+mode prevailed until about the year 1320.
+
+At the close of the fifteenth century the art of making monumental
+effigies degenerated together with the skill of the architects of that
+period. We see the husband and wife kneeling facing each other, with a
+faldstool before each figure. A company of small figures below the
+effigies represent the children, the boys on one side, the girls on the
+other.
+
+Early wooden effigies were also in use. There is one much battered by
+the careless hands of former generations of villagers in the rural
+church of my parish of Barkham. The artists often used much colour,
+gilding, and enamel in making these effigies; and often rich canopies
+were erected over them, containing fine tabernacle-work and figures of
+saints in niches.
+
+Another form of effigy was commonly in use, in addition to the figures
+just described. These are called incised effigies, which were cut
+in outline upon flat slabs of stone, the lines being filled in with
+enamelled metals. Thorton Abbey, Lincolnshire, and Brading, in the Isle
+of Wight, have examples of this work. But the great expense of these
+enamels, and also their frailty when exposed in the pavements of
+churches, led to the use of brass; and hence arose the introduction of
+memorial brasses for which our country is famous.
+
+We owe the application of brass to memorial tablets to the artists of
+Flanders, and the date of their introduction is about the middle of the
+thirteenth century. The execution of almost all of our English brasses
+is due to native artists. Foreign brasses are usually of great size,
+and consist of a quadrangular sheet of metal, on which is engraved
+the figure, usually under a canopy, the background being ornamented
+with rich diaper, foliage, or scrollwork, and the incisions filled
+with colouring. Several brasses in England conform to this style of
+workmanship, and are evidently the production of foreign artists. The
+English brasses, on the contrary, consist of separate pieces, with an
+irregular outline, corresponding with that of the figure. They have no
+brass background; and for delicacy of engraving and general appearance
+the English brasses are by far the best.
+
+The names of the makers of brasses have been almost entirely lost. Two
+only bear marks which are supposed to be those of the engraver. No other
+country can boast of so large a number of these memorials as England, in
+spite of the hard usage they have received and their wanton destruction.
+About four thousand remain; and constantly we find the matrices cut in
+stone slabs, from which brasses have been torn; so that we may assume
+that quite as many have been destroyed as those which survive. The
+southern and eastern counties are most richly furnished with these
+monuments, whereas the western and northern counties have but few
+brasses. Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent are the most rich in this
+respect. The earliest brass of which we have any record is that of
+Simon de Beauchamp, who died before 1208. This is mentioned by Leland.
+The earliest brass now in existence is that of Sir John D'Aubernown at
+Stoke Dabernon, Surrey, which was fashioned in 1277. In the fourteenth
+century a very large number of brasses, remarkable for their beauty of
+form and execution, were made. The artistic workmanship began to decline
+in the fifteenth century, and in the following became utterly degenerate.
+
+It was not an uncommon practice for subsequent generations to appropriate
+the memorials of their predecessors. Such brasses are called palimpsests.
+By the carelessness of churchwardens, by fraud, or spoliation, brasses
+were taken from the churches, and acquired by some maker in the town.
+When a new one was required, the tradesman would take from his stock,
+and on the reverse engrave the figure of the individual whose memory he
+was called upon to perpetuate. Hence when brasses are taken up from the
+pavements, frequently the remains of a much earlier memorial are found on
+the reverse side. There is an example of this curious method of procedure
+at St. Lawrence's Church, Reading, where on the reverse of a brass to the
+memory of Walter Barton was found the remains of the brass of Sir John
+Popham, who was buried at the Charterhouse, London. This monastery was
+dissolved in 1536, the monuments sold, Sir John Popham's brass among them,
+which was evidently soon converted into a memorial of Walter Barton.
+
+Sometimes the original brass was appropriated as it lay, the figure
+being slightly altered to suit the style of costume prevalent at the
+later date. In other cases the engraver did not even trouble himself to
+alter the figure, and simply added a new inscription and shield of arms.
+
+The wanton destruction and gross neglect of churchwardens, both before
+and after the Reformation, were very great. At St. Mary's Church,
+Reading, the accounts tell a sad tale of the disgraceful damage in the
+year 1547:--
+
+"Receyvid of John Saunders for iii cwt lacking ix'li of metall that was
+taken upp of the graves, and of olde candlestycks at vi's the hundred
+xlvj's ii'd."
+
+Evidently a clean sweep was made of most of the memorial brasses in the
+church, and few escaped destruction. The tale is too familiar. Most
+churches have suffered in the same way.
+
+The study of brasses throws much light upon the costumes and fashions of
+the day when they were engraved. We see priests, who may be recognised
+by the tonsure and vestments, amongst which we find the alb, amice,
+stole, maniple, and chasuble. The pastoral staff, ring, mitre, sandals,
+tunic, dalmatic, and gloves mark the graves of bishops and mitred
+abbots.
+
+A close skull-cap, a long robe with narrow sleeves, a hood, tippet, and
+mantle buttoned on the right shoulder, compose the dress of judges and
+officers of the law, as depicted on brasses. The changes in the fashion
+and style of armour, which took place between the fourteenth and the
+seventeenth centuries, are all accurately represented in these
+memorials; and also the picturesque costumes of ladies with their
+curious headgear; and the no less various fashions of the male
+civilian's dress. A study of brasses is an admirable guide to the
+prevailing style of dress during the periods of their construction.
+
+The beautiful canopies over the heads of the figures are well worthy of
+attention, and also the inscriptions. These usually take the form of
+Latin verses; and although many were written by learned abbots and
+scholars, the classical knowledge displayed is somewhat faulty. Here
+are a few examples:--
+
+Respice quid prodest precentis temporis aebum
+Omne quod est, nichil est, preter amare deum.
+
+Sometimes the author of the inscription recorded his name, as did the
+learned Dame Elizabeth Hobby on a brass at Shottesbrooke, which runs--
+
+O multum dilecte senex, pater atqz bocate,
+  Del quia grandaebis, bel quia probus eras.
+Annos bixisti nobies decem, atqz satelles
+  Fidus eras regum, fidus erasqz tuis.
+Iam satis functus baleas, sed tu, deus alme,
+  Sic mihi concedas bibere siqz mori.
+
+Variety was added sometimes by jumbling together various languages,
+Norman-French, Latin, and English being often oddly combined.
+
+People in the Middle Ages loved punning and playing upon the sound of
+words. Thus a brass to the memory of Thomas Hylle (or Hill) has some
+verses beginning "_Mons_ in valle jacet." John Day, the printer, had a
+very extravagant and jocular epitaph beginning--
+
+"Here lies the Daye that darkness could not blynd."
+
+"He set a Fox to wright how Martyrs runne
+By death to lyfe"--
+
+alluding to his publication of Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_. His widow
+probably married a man named Stone. Hence we read--
+
+"Als was the last encreaser of his store,
+Who mourning long for being left alone,
+Sett upp this tombe, her self turned to a Stone."
+
+"Orate pro anima," or "of your charite pray for the soul of ----" were
+usual inscriptions.
+
+It is somewhat difficult for the unpractised eye to read inscriptions on
+brasses, owing to the contractions and omissions of letters. Thus _m_
+and _n_ are often omitted, and a line is placed over the adjoining
+letter to indicate the omission. Thus a=ia stands for _anima_, leg=u for
+_legum_. The letter _r_ is also left out. Z stands for _que_, and there
+are many other contractions, such as D=ns for _Dominus_, D=s for _Deus_,
+E=ps for _Episcopus_, g=ia for _gratia_, m=ia for _misericordia_, and
+many others.
+
+The study of the emblems and devices is full of interest. Of
+ecclesiastical emblems we have the symbols of the Holy Trinity--God the
+Father represented as an aged person, holding a crucifix on which the
+dove, an emblem of the Holy Spirit, is alighting--representations of our
+Lord, angels, saints,[5] evangelists, the fylfot cross, roses, and
+figures of Death. Sometimes the figure on the brass holds a heart in his
+hand, which indicates a response on the part of the deceased to the old
+invitatory "Sursum corda."
+
+The armorial bearings of the deceased are usually represented on
+brasses, and also personal or professional devices. The founders of
+churches hold representations in miniature of the churches which they
+founded. Bishops and abbots have a pastoral staff; priests, a chalice,
+or a book; wool merchants have woolpacks beneath their feet, and other
+tradesmen have similar devices denoting their special calling.
+Merchants' marks also frequently appear; and the mediaeval taste for
+punning is shown by frequent rebuses formed on the names of the
+deceased, _e.g._ a peacock, for one named Pecok; a fox, for a Foxley;
+four tuns and a cross, for Master Croston.
+
+England may well be proud of the brass memorials of her worthy sons and
+daughters. It is, however, terribly sad to see the destruction which
+fanatical and greedy folk have wrought on these beautiful monuments.
+As we have already noticed, the spoliators of the Reformation period
+accomplished much wanton destruction, and removed tombs "for greedinesse
+of the brasse." Cromwell's soldiers and commissioners did a vast deal
+more damage, violating sepulchres and monuments, and destroying brasses
+everywhere. A third cause of the defacement and loss of these valuable
+memorials has been the gross carelessness of churchwardens and
+incumbents, who during any alterations or restoration of their churches
+have allowed them to be sold, destroyed, or appropriated by the
+builders. Truly we have entered upon a diminished inheritance. It
+behoves us to preserve with the utmost vigilance and care the memorials
+which fanaticism, greed, and carelessness have spared.
+
+
+[5] The following are the principal emblems of the Apostles:--
+St. Andrew, a cross saltier; St. Bartholomew, a knife; St. James the
+Great, a pilgrim's staff, wallet, escallop shell; St. James the Less, a
+fuller's bat, or saw; St. John, a chalice and serpent; St. Jude, a boat
+in his hand, or a club; St. Matthew, a club, carpenter's square, or
+money-box; St. Matthias, a hatchet, battle-axe, or sword; St. Paul, a
+sword; St. Peter, keys; St. Philip, a tau cross, or a spear; St. Simon,
+fishes; St. Thomas, an arrow or spear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE PARISH CHEST
+
+Contents of the parish chest--Parish registers--Effect of Civil War--
+Burials in woollen--"Not worth L600"--Care bestowed upon registers--
+Curious entries--Astrology--Gipsies--Jester--Heart-burial--Plagues--Royal
+visits--Licences for eating flesh, for to be touched for king's evil--
+Carelessness of custody of registers--Churchwardens' account books--Their
+value--Curious entries--Sports and pastimes--Paschall money--Brief
+books--Strange entries in registers and account books--Dog-whippers--
+King's evil--Treating bishops and poor scholars of Oxford.
+
+
+The parish chest in the vestry usually contains many documents, which
+are of profound interest to the student of village antiquities. It
+contains the old churchwardens' account books, the parish registers,
+lists of briefs, and often many other papers and records which bear on
+the history of the parish. The old register books record the names of
+past generations of villagers, and many curious facts about the parish
+and its people, which are not found in the dull dry columns of our
+modern books.
+
+Parish registers were first ordered by Thomas Cromwell in the year 1538,
+and from that date many of our registers begin.[6] But all vicars did
+not obey the injunctions of Viceregent Cromwell; they were renewed by
+Edward VI. in 1547 and by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and most of our old
+register books begin with this date. James I. ordered that the registers
+should be written over again in a parchment book, the entries previously
+having been recorded on paper. Hence many of our books, although they
+begin with the year 1538, are really copies of the paper records made
+previous to 1603.
+
+The disturbances of the Civil War period caused much neglect in the
+keeping of the registers. The incumbent was often driven away from his
+flock, and parish registrars were chosen by the parishioners and
+approved and sworn before a justice of the peace. Here is a record of
+this business taken from the books of this parish:--
+
+"Whereas Robtr Williams of the prish of Barkham in the County of Berks
+was elected and chosen by the inhabitants of the same prish to be there
+prish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms was approved and sworne this
+sixteenth day of November 1653. Ri: Bigg, J.P."
+
+Henceforth the children are registered as having been _born_, not
+_baptised_, until the Restoration brought back the clergyman to his
+flock again, and the entries are written in a scholarly hand, and the
+disorder of the previous years ceases.
+
+In 1679 an Act was passed requiring that the dead should be buried in
+woollen, the purpose being to lessen "the importation of linen from
+beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper
+manufacturers of this kingdom." A penalty of L5 was inflicted for a
+violation of this Act; and as frequently people preferred to be buried
+in linen, a record of the fine appears--_e.g._ at Gayton,
+Northamptonshire, where we find in the register--
+
+"1708. Mrs. Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5, in _Linnen_, and the
+forfeiture of the Act payd fifty shillings to ye informer and fifty
+shillings to ye poor of the parishe."
+
+Pope wrote the following lines on the burial of Mrs. Oldfield, the
+actress, with reference to this custom:--
+
+  "Odious! in woollen! 'twould _a_ saint provoke
+  (Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke);
+  No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace
+  Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face."
+
+Sometimes after the name in the register is added the words, "Not worth
+L600." This refers to the Act of William III. in 1694, which required
+that all persons baptised, married, or buried, having an estate of that
+value, should pay a tax of twenty shillings. The money was required for
+carrying on the war with France, and the Act was in force for five
+years. This description of the personal estate was not intended to be
+invidious, but was of practical utility in enforcing the Act.
+
+The parish registers reflect with wonderful accuracy the life of the
+people, and are most valuable to the student of history. Clergymen took
+great pride in recording "the short and simple annals of the poor." A
+Gloucestershire rector (1630 A.D.) wrote in his book the following good
+advice which might with advantage be taken in many other villages:--
+
+"If you will have this Book last, bee sure to aire it att the fier, or
+in the Sunne, three or four times a yeare--els it will grow dankish and
+rott, therefore look to it. It will not be amisse when you find it
+dankish to wipe over the leaves with a dry wollen cloth. This Place
+is very much subject to dankishness; therefore I say looke to it."
+
+A study of the curious entries which we occasionally find conveys much
+remarkable information. Sometimes, in the days of astrology, in order
+to assist in casting the nativity, it is recorded that at the time of
+the child's birth "the sun was in Libra," or "in Taurus." Gipsies were
+evidently numerous in the sixteenth century, as we constantly find
+references to "the roguish AEgyptians." The domestic jester finds
+his record in the entry: "1580. March 21, William, fool to my Lady
+Jerningham." The suicide is "infamously buried." Heart-burial is often
+recorded, as at Wooburn, Bucks: "1700. Cadaver Edi Thomas, equitis
+aurati, hic inhumatum fuit vicessimo tertio die Junii."
+
+Records of the visitations of the plague are very numerous in all parts
+of England, as at Egglescliffe, Durham: "1644. In this year there died
+of the plague in this towne one and twenty people; they are not all
+buried in the churchyard, and are not in the Register." Sometimes masses
+of human bones are found buried in fields outside towns and villages,
+memorials of this devastating plague.
+
+Parish clerks have not always had very musical voices when they shout
+out the "Amens." The Rector of Buxted, Sussex (1666 A.D.), records with
+a sigh of relief the death of his old clerk, "whose melody warbled forth
+as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone."
+
+Sometimes royal visits to the neighbourhood are recorded, even a royal
+hunt, as when James I. hunted the hare at Fordham, Cambridgeshire. The
+register of Wolverton gives "a license for eating flesh on prohibited
+days granted to Sir Tho. Temple, on paying 13s. 4d." Storms,
+earthquakes, and floods are described; and records of certificates
+granted to persons to go before the king to be touched for the disease
+called the king's evil.
+
+The Civil War is frequently mentioned, and also caused the omission of
+many entries. At Tarporley, Cheshire, there is a break from 1643 to
+1648, for which the rector thus accounts:--
+
+"This intermission hapned by reason of the great wars obliterating
+memorials, wasting fortunes, and slaughtering persons of all sorts."
+
+Parish registers have fared ill and suffered much from the gross
+carelessness of their custodians. We read of the early books of Christ
+Church, Hants, being converted into kettle-holders by the curate's wife.
+Many have been sold as waste paper, pages ruthlessly cut out, and
+village schoolbooks covered with the leaves of old registers. The
+historian of Leicestershire writes of the register of Scraptoft:--
+
+"It has not been a plaything for young pointers--it has not occupied a
+bacon scratch, or a bread and cheese cupboard--it has not been scribbled
+on within and without; but it has been treasured ever since 1538, to the
+honour of a succession of worthy clergymen."--_O si sic omnes_!
+
+The churchwardens' account books are even of greater value to the
+student of history than the registers, priceless as the latter are
+for genealogical purposes. The Bishop of Oxford states that "in the
+old account books and minute books of the churchwardens in town and
+country we possess a very large but very perishable and rapidly
+perishing treasury of information on matters the very remembrance
+of which is passing away, although their practical bearing on the
+development of the system of local government is indisputable, and
+is occasionally brought conspicuously before the eye of the people
+by quaint survivals.... It is well that such materials for the
+illustration of this economic history as have real value should be
+preserved in print; and that the customs which they illustrate should
+be reclaimed by History from the misty region of folklore, whilst they
+can." Many of these account books date from pre-Reformation times,
+and disclose the changes which took place in the fabric of our churches,
+the removal of roods and other ecclesiastical furniture, during the
+Reformation. They are usually kept with great exactness, and contain
+an accurate record of the receipts and expenditure for each year. Some
+of the entries are very curious, and relate to the sports and pastimes
+of our ancestors, the mystery plays, and church ales, which were all
+under the patronage of the churchwardens. The proceeds of these
+entertainments were devoted to the maintenance of the church, and
+were included in the accounts, as well as the necessary cost of the
+merry diversions. Thus in the books of St. Lawrence's Church, Reading,
+we find such items as the following:--
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"1499. Paid for a coat for Robin Hood             5  4
+         "  for a supper to Robin Hood and
+               his company                        1  6
+         "  for making the church clean
+               against the day of drinking
+               in the said church                    4"
+
+"1531. Paid for five ells of canvass for a coat
+            for Maid Marian                       1  6-1/4"
+
+"Bells for the Morris dancers," "liveries and coats," "bread and ale,"
+"horse-meat of the horses for the kings of Colen on May Day," are some
+of the items which appear in these books.
+
+Another book tells us about the "Gatherings" at Hock-tide, when on one
+day the men stopped the women, and on the next the women the men, and
+refused to let them go until they gave money. The women always succeeded
+in collecting the most money.
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"It'm.  receyved of the men's gatherynge          7  3
+   "       "       "    women's gatherynge       37  5"
+
+Traces of this custom are still found in many country places. The
+practice of "hocking" at Hungerford and "lifting" in Lancashire subsist
+still, but the money collected is no longer devoted to any pious uses.
+
+The item "Paschall money at Easter" frequently occurs. This was
+originally a collection for the Paschal taper, which burned before the
+high altar at Eastertide. When, in the reign of Elizabeth, the taper was
+no longer used, the money was devoted to buying the bread and the wine
+for the Easter Communion. Another item which often appears is a payment
+of "Smoke farthings" to the bishop of the diocese at his Visitation
+Court. This is another name for Peter's pence, formerly given to the
+Pope. In the accounts of Minchinhampton we find the entry under the year
+1576: "For Pentecost money, otherwyse peter pence, sometyme payed to
+Antecryst of Rome xvi'd." After the Reformation the tax was collected,
+but given to the bishop.
+
+There are very many other points of interest which a study of the
+churchwardens' books presents. In more recent times we find constant
+payments for the slaughter of sparrows, and many other items which
+scarcely come under the head of ecclesiastical charges.[7] But of course
+the vestry was then the council chamber of the parish, which managed all
+the temporal affairs of the village community. Possibly, in these days
+of Poor Law Unions, District and County Councils, our affairs may be
+managed better; but there is much to be said in favour of the older
+system, and Parish Councils are not much of an improvement on the old
+vestries.
+
+Another book which our parish chest contains is the Brief Book. Briefs
+were royal letters which were sent to the clergy directing that
+collections be made for certain objects. These were very numerous and
+varied. The building of St. Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire, a
+fire at Drury Lane Theatre, rebuilding of churches, the redemption of
+English slaves taken by pirates, the construction of harbours in
+Scotland, losses by hail, floods, French refugees, Reformed Episcopal
+churches in Great Poland and Polish Prussia, Protestants in Copenhagen,
+loss by fire, colleges in Philadelphia--these and many other objects
+were commended to the liberality of Churchmen. The sums collected were
+usually very small, and Pepys wrote in his _Diary_, June 30th, 1661:--
+
+"To church, when we observe the trade of briefs is come now up to so
+constant a course every Sunday that we resolve to give no more to them."
+
+The granting of briefs gave rise to much abuse, and they were finally
+abolished by the advice of Lord Palmerston.
+
+The contents of the parish chest afford an unlimited mass of material
+for those who love to study the curious customs of our forefathers and
+their strange usages. Here is a record of a much-married person:--
+
+"Mary Blewitt, ye wife of nine husbands successively, buried eight of
+ym, but last of all ye woman dy'd and was buried, May 7th 1681."
+
+In the margin of the register is written, "This was her funeral text."
+
+The register of Sparsholt, Berks, records an instance of the body of a
+dead man being arrested for debt. The entry is:--
+
+"The corpse of John Matthews, of Fawler, was stopt on the churchway for
+debt, August 27, 1689. And having laine there fower days, was by
+Justices warrant buryied in the place to prevent annoyances--but about
+sixe weekes after it was by an order of Sessions taken up and buried in
+the churchyard by the wife of the deceased."
+
+A dog-whipper was an ancient parish official, whose duty was to drive
+out all dogs from the church. The Wakefield accounts contain the
+items:--
+
+"1616. Paid to Gorby Stork for whippinge          s. d.
+    doggs                                         2  6"
+
+"1703. For hatts shoes and hoses for sexton
+    and dog-whipper                              18  6"
+
+Another official was the person appointed to arouse members of the
+congregation from their slumbers during divine service. The parish
+accounts of Castleton record:--
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"1702. Paid to sluggard waker                    10  0"
+
+Sometimes the cost of a journey to London was
+defrayed by the parish in order to enable a sufferer
+to be touched for the king's evil. The Ecclesfield
+accounts contain the following entry relating to this
+custom:--
+
+"1641. Given to John Parkin wife towards her
+    travell to London to get cure of his Majestie
+    for the disease called the Evill, which her   s. d.
+    Sonen Thorn is visited withall                6  8"
+
+The clergymen were required to keep a register of all who were so
+touched, in order that they might not again go to the king and receive
+the bounty which accompanied the touch. Hence we read in the register of
+Hambleden, Bucks:--
+
+"1685. May 17, Mary Wallington had a certificate to goe before the King
+for a disease called the King's Evil."
+
+The treating of bishops and clergy is often noticed in the accounts.
+Sometimes a sugar-loaf was presented, as at St. James', Bristol:--
+
+"1629. Paid for a sugar loaf for the Lord Bishop 15's 10'd"
+
+Sometimes items relate to their refreshment:--
+
+"1593. Pd for a galland of beer given to the
+    Beishopp of Hereford                            iiii'd"
+
+"1617. Pd for a quart of wine and sugar bestowed
+    upon two preachers                                 x'd"
+
+The status of students at the Universities was not so high in former
+days as at present, and poor scholars used to beg their way to Oxford
+and Cambridge, and receive the assistance of the charitable. Hence we
+read in the Leverton accounts:--
+
+"1562. Gave to a pore scholar at Oxford.            2s. 0d."
+
+With this record of "a pore scholar" we must leave our study of the
+contents of the parish chest, which afford such valuable and accurate
+information about village and town life of ancient times.
+
+
+[6] 812 registers begin in 1538, 40 of which contain entries prior to
+that date. 1,822 registers date from 1538 to 1558, and 2,448 from
+1558 to 1603.
+
+[7] In the Whitchurch books we find: "1671. Paide for a coate and
+wastcoate for good wife Clarke 13s., also for linen and shoes; to the
+Chiurgeons for looking at Ezechiell Huller's legg L3." And such-like
+entries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS
+
+Destruction of old windows--Wilfrid's glass-window makers--Glass,
+stained and painted--Changes in style--Work of foreign artists--Inlaid
+tiles--Ironwork on doors and screens--Norman hinges--Mediaeval
+plumbing work--Mural decoration, frescoes, and wall-painting--Cause
+of their destruction--St. Christopher--Consecration crosses--Norman
+art--Favourite subjects--Yew trees in churchyards--Lich-gates--The
+churchyard--Curious epitaphs.
+
+
+No branch of archaeology is more interesting than the study of our
+stained-glass windows, which illustrate so clearly the faith, history,
+and customs of our ancestors. We have again to thank the fanatics of
+the Reformation and Cromwellian periods for the shameful destruction
+of so many beautiful windows. How great has been the loss to art and
+history caused by their reckless demolition! And in addition to this
+miserable violence our windows have suffered greatly from the ignorant
+indifference of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which allowed
+priceless examples of old glass to be removed and replaced by the
+hideous specimens of the modern glass-painters.
+
+In Saxon times this art found a home in England, the _artifices
+lapidearum et vitrearum fenestrarum_ having been invited to this country
+by Wilfrid, Bishop of York, in 709. The earliest specimen of ancient
+glass now in existence is in the choir-aisles of Canterbury Cathedral,
+where it was probably fixed when the cathedral was rebuilt after the
+fire in 1174.
+
+Coloured glass is of two kinds: (1) _Stained glass_, made by mixing
+metallic oxides with the glass when in a state of fusion, the colours
+thus going through the whole mass; (2) _Painted glass_, in which
+colouring is laid upon the white or tinted glass, and fixed by the
+action of fire. As the style of architecture changed, so the art of the
+glass-painter changed with it. In the Early English period the colours
+were very rich, and the designs consisted of medallions containing
+subjects taken from Holy Scripture, or the lives of the saints, upon
+grounds of ruby and blue. Mosaic patterns form the groundwork of the
+medallions, and a border of scrolls and foliage incloses the whole
+design. The outlines of the figures are formed by the lead. In the
+Decorated period the medallions disappear, and in their place we find
+single figures of large size under canopies. Instead of the mosaic
+backgrounds diaper-work in whole colours is used. Lights and shades are
+introduced in the dresses and canopies, and foliage is painted on the
+panes. The artists of this period first introduced heraldic devices into
+the windows. A border of white glass intervenes between the window and
+the medallion.
+
+When the Perpendicular style was in vogue the art of the glass-painter
+degenerated, as did that of the architect. Stained glass was little
+used, and the artists painted with enamel colours their designs upon the
+glass. The figures were larger than before, and the canopies of great
+size and with much architectural detail, landscapes and buildings
+appearing in the background. During this period inscriptions began to be
+used. In the sixteenth century the progress of the art was in the same
+direction. Large figures, and groups of figures, fill the whole window,
+and the existence of mullions is disregarded in the execution of the
+design. Glass-painting flourished until the Civil War period, and then
+died out.
+
+English churches benefited much by the work of foreign artists. The
+great Florentine Francesco di Lievi da Gambassi visited this country.
+There is a letter dated 1434, written "to the master glass-painter
+Gambassi, then in Scotland, and who made works in glass of various
+kinds, and was held to be the best glass-painter in the world." How much
+must we regret the destruction of the windows made by this excellent
+artist in Holyrood chapel and elsewhere by fanatical mobs! The Fairford
+windows are perhaps the finest and most interesting in England. The
+story runs that they were made in Germany for a church in Rome, and that
+the vessel conveying them was captured by an English ship; and as the
+noble church at Fairford was then being built, the glass was sent there
+and given to it. Shiplake Church, Oxfordshire, has some of the beautiful
+glass which once adorned the ruined church of St. Bertin at St. Omer,
+plundered during the French Revolution.
+
+Some good work was accomplished in the seventeenth century by English
+artists, who practised enamel painting, notably by Jervais, who in 1717
+executed from designs by Sir Joshua Reynolds the beautiful west window
+of New College Chapel, Oxford.
+
+The floors of our churches were enriched with inlaid tiles. Various
+patterns and designs were impressed upon them when the clay was moist, a
+metallic glaze covered the surface, and then the tiles were placed in
+the furnace. Many designs are found on ancient tiles, such as heraldic
+devices, monograms, sacred symbols with texts, architectural designs,
+figures, and patterns. The age of the tiles may be determined by
+comparing the designs imprinted upon them with the architectural
+decorations belonging to particular periods. In the sixteenth century
+many Flemish tiles were brought to England, and superseded those of
+English manufacture.
+
+In the Middle Ages no branch of art was neglected. Even the smith, who
+made the ironwork for the doors, locks, and screens, was an artist, and
+took pains to adapt his art to the style of architecture prevailing in
+his time. Norman doors are remarkable for their beautifully ornamented
+hinges. They have curling scrollwork, and a large branch in the form of
+the letter C issuing from the straight bar near the head. Early English
+doors have much elaborate scrollwork, with foliage and animals' heads.
+During the Decorated period the hinges are simpler, on account of the
+carved panelling on the doors, and they continue to become plainer in
+the subsequent period. The knockers on the doors often assume very
+grotesque forms, as at Durham Cathedral. The mediaeval plumber was also
+an artist, and introduced shields of arms, fleur-de-lis, and other
+devices, for the enrichment of spires, and pipes for carrying off water
+from the roof.
+
+[Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION, ENBORNE CHURCH]
+
+No part of the ancient decoration of our churches has suffered more than
+the paintings and frescoes which formerly adorned their walls. In the
+whole of the country there are very few of the ancient edifices which
+retain any traces of the numerous quaint designs and figures painted on
+the inner surfaces of their walls during the Middle Ages. Our ancestors
+used to make free use of colour for the purpose of architectural
+decoration, and employed several means in order to produce the effect.
+They sometimes used fresco, by means of which they produced pictures
+upon the walls covered with plaster while the plaster was wet. Sometimes
+they employed wall-painting, _i.e._ they covered the walls when the
+plaster was dry with some pictorial representation. The distinction
+between fresco and wall-painting is frequently forgotten. Most of the
+early specimens of this art are monochromes, but subsequently the
+painters used polychrome, which signifies surface colouring in which
+various colours are employed. The vaulted ceilings, the timber roof, the
+screens and canopies, the monuments with their effigies, as well as the
+surface of the walls, were often coloured with diaper-work. Colour and
+gilding were marked features in all mediaeval buildings, and even richly
+carved fonts and sculptural monuments were embellished with this method
+of decoration. The appearance of our churches in those times must have
+been very different from what it is now. Then a blaze of colour met the
+eye on entering the sacred building, the events of sacred history were
+brought to mind by the representations upon the walls, and many an
+unlearned rustic acquired some knowledge of biblical history from the
+contemplation of the rude figures with which his village church was
+adorned.
+
+"Even the very walls of this dread place,
+And the tall windows, with their breathing lights,
+Speak to the adoring heart."
+
+The practice of painting the walls of our churches dates as far back as
+Saxon times; but very few fragments of pre-Norman art remain. Of Norman
+work we have numerous examples, and sometimes it is found that the early
+specimens of the art have been painted over in later Gothic times, and
+ruder and larger figures have eclipsed the more careful work of previous
+ages. An example of this was discovered in the church of St. Lawrence,
+Reading, where no less than five distinct series of paintings were
+discovered, painted one over another.
+
+[Illustration: THE CRUCIFIXION, HATFORD, BERKS]
+
+Several circumstances have combined to obliterate these specimens of the
+art of former days. It was not the intention of the Reformers themselves
+to destroy them. They distinguished carefully between "an embossed and
+gilt image, and a process of a story painted with the gestures and
+action of many persons; and commonly the sum of the story written withal
+hath another use in it than one dumb idol or image standing by itself."
+It was left to the Puritans, impelled by fanaticism and ignorance, to
+make "a slanderous desolation of the places of prayer," and it is to
+them we owe much of the destruction of the old mural paintings. At the
+end of the eighteenth century there was a prejudice against these works
+of art; for in 1773 we find the Bishop of London refusing to allow
+Reynolds, West, and Barry to clothe the naked walls of St. Paul's
+Cathedral with pictures painted by themselves. Coated over by layers of
+plaster, or whitewashed until all traces were obliterated, these relics
+of ancient art have remained for generations, and it is only when an old
+church is being restored, and the coats of plaster and whitewash
+removed, that their presence is revealed; and then too often the colours
+fade away on exposure to the air.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PAUL, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+One of the favourite subjects of mural decoration was a figure of St.
+Christopher with the Infant Saviour on his shoulder.[8] He usually has a
+staff, and strange-looking fish swim about his feet as he crosses the
+river; on one side there is a hermitage, with the figure of a hermit
+holding a lantern to guide the saint, and on the other a windmill. This
+figure usually was painted on the wall opposite the principal entrance,
+as it was deemed lucky to see St. Christopher on first entering a
+church. Moreover the sight of the saint was a preservative against
+violent death during the day, and also a preventive against drowsiness
+during the service, as the following verses show:--
+
+  "Christophori sancti speciem quicunque tuetur
+  Illo namque die nullo languore tenetur."
+
+Churchwardens' accounts record the painting of these figures--
+
+"1503-4.  It. payd to mylys paynter for payntyng
+              of Seynt X'fer viii's iiii'd"
+
+"1521.    It. payd to John Payne for payntyng
+              of Sent Leonard left by the wyffs
+              onpaynted xx'd"
+
+A curious order was issued by Edward III. for arresting painters to work
+in St. Stephen's Chapel at Westminster, to which artists of every
+description were liable to surrender as often as the king required their
+services.
+
+[Illustration: ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+In Saxon times Consecration crosses were painted on the interior walls,
+twelve in number, on the spots where the bishop marked the cross with holy
+oil; and sometimes twelve crosses were carved or painted on the exterior
+walls. During Norman times the art made progress, and there are many
+specimens of mural decoration of this period, which correspond with the
+mouldings generally used then; but not many scenes and figures were
+depicted. Representations of bishops, _Agnus Dei_, scenes from the life of
+our Lord, the apostles, the Last Judgment, St. George, scenes from the
+life of St. Nicholas, St. John writing the Apocalypse, were favourite
+subjects. At Copford the painter evidently tried to make the chancel
+figuratively to represent the glories of heaven.
+
+During the reign of Henry III. great progress was made, and travelling
+monks roamed the country leaving behind them in many a village church
+traces of their skill in artistic decoration. The murder of St. Thomas of
+Canterbury now became a favourite subject, also the lives of St. Catherine
+of Alexandria, St. Nicholas, St. Margaret, St. Edmund, the Seven Acts of
+Mercy, and the wheel of fortune. In the fourteenth century the Doom was
+the usual decoration of the space over the chancel arch, and scenes from
+the New Testament, legends of saints, "moralities," etc., were depicted on
+the walls. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the artists paid
+little respect to the work of their predecessors, and frequently painted
+new designs over the earlier mural decorations. They also adorned very
+beautifully the roofs and screens. The arrival of the Flemings in the
+eastern counties is shown by the portraying of subjects and saints not
+usually worshipped in England. The figures of St. George become more
+numerous and also of St. Christopher, who were regarded with much
+superstitious reverence by all classes.
+
+The vanity of human greatness is taught by the morality, "Les Trois Rois
+Morts et les Trois Rois Vifs," representing three kings going gaily
+hunting meeting three skeletons, the remains of kings once as powerful
+as they. "The Dance of Death," so popular abroad, also appears in some
+English churches. The wholesale destruction of so many specimens of
+mediaeval art cannot be too strongly condemned and deplored. If any of my
+readers should be fortunate enough to discover any traces of colouring
+hidden away beneath the coats of whitewash on the walls of their church,
+I would venture to advise them to very carefully remove the covering, and
+then to consult Mr. Keyser's book on _Mural Decorations_, where they will
+find an account of the best methods for preserving these valuable
+specimens of early art.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PETER, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+In the churchyard stands the old weather-beaten yew tree, looking like a
+sentinel keeping watch over the graves of our forefathers. Some of these
+trees are remarkable for their age; the yews at Fountains Abbey, in
+Yorkshire, were probably in a flourishing condition so long ago as the
+year 1132, and some are older still. Why they were planted in churchyards
+it is difficult to ascertain. It has been conjectured that they were
+planted in so secure a spot in order that the men might provide themselves
+with bows, as all the bows used by the English, with which they did such
+execution against their enemies, were made of yew. Others contend that its
+green boughs were used instead of palms on Palm Sunday, or for funerals.
+But I think that they were regarded with veneration by our forefathers
+when they were still heathen, and that some religious symbolism--such as
+of immortality--attached to them; and that when the Christian teachers
+came they made use of this religious sentiment of the people, planted the
+Christian cross by the side of the yew, and under its shade preached
+lessons of true immortality, of which the heathen ideals were only corrupt
+legends and vain dreams.
+
+At the entrance of the churchyard there is often a lich-gate, _i.e._ a
+corpse-gate, where the body may rest while the funeral procession is
+formed. _Lych_ is the Saxon word for a dead body, from which Lich-field,
+"the field of dead bodies," is derived. Bray, in Berkshire, famous for
+its time-serving vicar, is also famous for its lich-gate, which has two
+rooms over it.
+
+"God's acre" is full of holy associations, where sleep "the rude
+forefathers of the hamlet." There stands the village cross where the
+preachers stood in Saxon times and converted the people to Christianity,
+and there the old sundial on a graceful stone pedestal. Sometimes amid
+the memorials of the dead stood the parish stocks. Here in olden days
+fairs were held, and often markets every Sunday and holiday, and minstrels
+and jugglers thronged; and stringent laws were passed to prevent "improper
+and prohibited sports within the churchyard, as, for example, wrestling,
+football, handball under penalty of twopence forfeit." Here church ales
+were kept with much festivity, dancing, and merry-making; and here
+sometimes doles were distributed on the tombstones of parochial
+benefactors, and even bread and cheese scrambled for, according to the
+curious bequests of eccentric donors.
+
+And then there are the quaint epitaphs on the gravestones, of which many
+have made collections. Here is one to the memory of the driver of a
+coach that ran from Aylesbury to London:--
+
+  "Parker, farewell! thy journey now is ended,
+  Death has the whip-hand, and with dust is blended;
+  Thy way-bill is examined, and I trust
+  Thy last account may prove exact and just,
+  When He who drives the chariot of the day,
+  Where life is light, whose Word's the living way,
+  Where travellers, like yourself, of every age,
+  And every clime, have taken their last stage,
+  The God of mercy and the God of love,
+  Show you the road to Paradise above."
+
+Here is another to the memory of a once famous Yorkshire actor, buried
+at Beverley:--
+
+"In memory of Samuel Butler, a poor player that struts and frets his
+hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. Obt. June 15th, 1812,
+Aet. 62."
+
+Here is a strange one from Awliscombe, Devon:--
+
+"Here lie the remains of James Pady, brickmaker, late of this parish,
+in hopes that his clay will be remoulded in a workmanlike manner, far
+superior to his former perishable materials.
+
+  "Keep death and judgment always in your eye,
+  Or else the devil off with you will fly,
+  And in his kiln with brimstone ever fry;
+  If you neglect the narrow road to seek,
+  Christ will reject you like a half-burnt brick."
+
+Those interested in the brave mortals who go down to the sea in ships
+will like to read the following verses which appear on the tomb of
+William Harrison, mariner, buried in Hessle Road Cemetery, Hull:--
+
+  "Long time I ploughed the ocean wide,
+    A life of toil I spent;
+  But now in harbour safe arrived
+    From care and discontent.
+
+  "My anchor's cast, my sails are furled,
+    And now I am at rest;
+  Of all the ports throughout the world,
+    Sailors, this is the best."
+
+The following original epitaph in a neighbouring churchyard compares very
+favourably with the flattering and fulsome inscriptions prevalent at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century, written in what has been called
+"lapidary style ":--
+
+  "He was----
+    But words are wanting to say what;
+  Say what is just and kind,
+    And he was that."
+
+
+[8] At Sedgeford the Infant is portrayed with three heads, illustrating
+the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+CHURCH BELLS
+
+Bell customs and village life--Antiquity of bells--Christening of
+bells--"Ancients"--Inscriptions--Dedications--Inscriptions of
+praise--Leonine verses--Curious inscriptions--Historical events
+recorded--Uses of bells--Passing bell--Pancake bell--Curfew--Guiding
+bells--Names of benefactors--Great bells--Sanctus bell--Sacring
+bell--Frequent ringing of bell--Change-ringing--Care of bells.
+
+
+Bells play an important part in village life, and there are few more
+interesting branches of the study of village antiquities than bell-lore.
+Ringing customs throw much light upon the manners and doings of our
+ancestors. Bells rang to commemorate the great events in history, news
+of which was conveyed to the quiet village; they sounded forth the joys
+and sorrows of the parishioners in their generations, pealed merrily at
+their weddings, and mourned for them at their funerals. As the bell
+"Roland" of Ghent seemed endowed with a human voice, and was silenced
+for ever by Charles V. lest it should again rouse the citizens to arms,
+so these bells in our village steeples seem to speak with living tongues
+and tell the story of our village life.
+
+Bells have great antiquity. Odoceus, Bishop of Llandaff, in 550 A.D.,
+is said to have taken the bells away from his cathedral during a time
+of excommunication. Bede mentions them in the seventh century. In 680
+Benedict, Abbot of Wearmouth, imported some from Italy, and in the tenth
+century St. Dunstan hung many. Ireland probably had bells in the time
+of St. Patrick, who died in 493, and a bell that bears his name is
+preserved at Belfast. The earliest Saxon bells were not cast, but were
+made of plates of iron riveted together, and were probably used as
+hand-bells.
+
+Bells were usually christened. Those of Crowland Abbey were named Pega,
+Bega, Tatwin, Turketyl, Betelin, Bartholomew, and Guthlac. A fire in
+1091 destroyed this peal. Those of the priory of Little Dunmow, Essex,
+according to an old chartulary, were new cast and baptised in 1501.
+
+"Prima in honore Sancti Michaelis Archangeli."
+"Secunda in honore Sancti Johannis Evangelisti."
+"Tertia in honore S. Johannis Baptisti."
+"Quarta in honore Assumptionis beatae Mariae."
+"Quinta in honore Sanctae Trinitatis et omnium sanctorum."
+
+The tenor bell at Welford, Berks, has the inscription, "Missi de celis
+habeo nomen Gabrielis 1596."
+
+Bells dating from before the year 1600 are called "ancients," and it is
+a very pleasant discovery to find one of these in our church tower; and
+still more so if it be a pre-Reformation bell. Unfortunately a large
+number of "ancients" have been recast, owing chiefly to the craze for
+change-ringing which flourished in England between 1750 and 1830. The
+oldest bell in this country is said to be St. Chad's, Claughton, which
+bears the date 1296. Pre-Reformation bells are very seldom dated.
+
+Mediaeval bells have many curious inscriptions on them, which record the
+name of the donor, the bell-founder, together with heraldic and other
+devices. The inscriptions are often written in the first person, the
+bell being supposed to utter the sentiment, as it sends forth its sound.
+A study of the inscriptions on bells is full of interest. The earliest
+are simple dedications of the bell to our Lord, or to some saint. The
+principal inscriptions of this class are: "Jesus," "Jesus Nazarenus Rex
+Judeorum," "Sit nomen IHC benedictum," "Sum Rosa Pulsata Mundi Maria
+Vocata," "Sum Virgo Sancta Maria." The invocation, "Ora pro nobis," very
+frequently is inscribed on bells, followed by the name of some saint,
+and almost every saint in the Calendar is duly honoured in some bell
+inscription.
+
+Bells were always rung on joyful occasions; hence inscriptions
+expressing thankfulness and praise were appropriate. Consequently we
+find such words as "Laus et Gloria Deo," "Laus Deo Gratia
+Benefactoribus," "Alleluja," "Praise God," and other similar
+inscriptions of praise.
+
+Some old bells have Latin hexameter verses inscribed on them, composed
+by monks, which are called Leonine verses, from one Leoninus, a monk of
+Marseilles, who lived in the early part of the twelfth century. A few
+examples of these will suffice:--
+
+  "Est michi collatum ihc illud nomen amaetum."
+  "Protege Virgo pia quos convoco Sancta Maria."
+  "Voce mea viva depello cunta nocina."
+
+This refers to the belief that the ringing of bells drives away all
+demons and tempests, storms and thunders, and all other hurtful things.
+One bell proudly asserts:--
+
+  "Me melior vere non est campana sub ere."
+
+Inscriptions in English are often quaint and curious. Here is one from
+Somerset:--
+
+  "My treble voice
+  Makes hearts rejoice."
+
+Another self-complacent bell asserts--
+
+  "If you have a judicious ear,
+  You'll own my voice is sweet and clear."
+
+Loyal inscriptions are often found, such as--
+
+  "For Church and King
+  We always ring."
+
+  "I was made in hope to ring
+  At the crownacion of our King."
+
+  "Ye people all that hear me ring
+  Be faithful to your God and King."
+
+A bell that has been recast sometimes praises the merits of its new
+founder at the expense of its first maker, as at Badgworth,
+Gloucester:--
+
+  "Badgworth ringers they are mad,
+  Because Rigbe made me bad;
+  But Abel Rudhall you may see
+  Hath made me better than Rigbe."
+
+Sometimes all the bells which compose a peal tell their various uses.
+Thus at Bakewell we find some verses on each bell:--
+
+1. "When I begin our merry Din
+   This Band I lead from discord free;
+   And for the fame of human name,
+   May every Leader copy Me."
+
+2. "Mankind, like us, too oft are found
+   Possess'd of nought but empty sound."
+
+3. "When of departed Hours we toll the knell,
+   Instruction take and spend the future well."
+
+4. "When men in Hymen's Bands unite,
+   Our merry peals produce delight;
+   But when Death goes his dreary Rounds,
+   We send forth sad and solemn sounds."
+
+5. "Thro' grandsires and Tripples with pleasure men range,
+   Till Death calls the Bob and brings on the Last Change."
+
+6. "When Vict'ry crowns the Public Weal
+   With Glee we give the merry Peal."
+
+7. "Would men like us join and agree
+   They'd live in tuneful Harmony."
+
+8. "Possess'd of deep sonorous Tone
+   This Belfry King sits on his throne;
+   And when the merry Bells go round,
+   Adds to and mellows ev'ry Sound;
+   So in a just and well pois'd State,
+   Where all Degrees possess due Weight,
+   One greater Pow'r one greater Tone
+   Is ceded to improve their own."
+
+A Rutland bell has the following beautiful inscription:--
+
+  "Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei."
+  ("Not noise but love sings in the ear of God.")
+
+Historical events are sometimes recorded, as at Ashover, Derbyshire,
+where a recasted bell states:--
+
+  "This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April 1814."
+
+The uses of bells are often shown by their inscriptions. People were
+aroused by their sound each morning in many places, as at St. Ives,
+where a bell is inscribed--
+
+  "Arise and go about your business."
+
+The villagers were summoned to extinguish fires by ringing of bells.
+Thus Sherborne, Dorset, has a bell inscribed--
+
+  "Lord, quench this furious flame:
+  Arise, run, help put out the same."
+
+Bell-ringing customs are very numerous.[9] The passing bell has many
+variants. In some places three times three strokes are sounded for a
+man, three times two for a woman, and three times one for a child. Out
+of the first-named of these practices probably arose the phrase, "Nine
+tailors make a man," which is usually explained as more properly
+signifying "nine tellers make a man." Then we have a pancake bell,
+which formerly summoned people to confession, and not to eat pancakes;
+a gleaning bell, an eight hours' bell rung at 4 a.m., noon, and 8 p.m.
+The curfew bell survives in many places, which, as everyone knows, was
+in use long before William the Conqueror issued his edict. Peals are
+rung on "Oak Apple Day," and on Guy Fawkes' Day, "loud enough to call
+up poor Guy." Church bells played a useful part in guiding the people
+homewards on dark winter evenings in the days when lands were
+uninclosed and forests and wild moors abounded, and charitable folk,
+like Richard Palmer, of Wokingham, left bequests to pay the sexton for
+his labour in ringing at suitable times when the sound of the bells
+might be of service to belated travellers. Names of benefactors often
+find a permanent memorial on the bells which they gave; as at Binstead,
+Hants, where a bell has the inscription--
+
+  "Doctor Nicholas gave five pound
+  To help cast this peal tuneable and sound."
+
+And another bell in the same tower records the name of our famous
+Berkshire bell-founders, the Knight family. The inscription runs:--
+
+  "Samuel Knight made this ring
+  In Binstead steeple for to ding."
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT BELL FOUND AT WARWICK]
+
+The story of our great bells, of "Great Toms," "Big Bens," "Great
+Peters," need not be told here. They wake the echoes of our great
+cities, and are not heard among the hills and dales of rural England.
+Outside the church at the apex of the gable over the chancel arch there
+is sometimes a small bell-cote, wherein the sanctus or saunce bell once
+hung. This was rung during the service of High Mass when the _Ter
+Sanctus_ was sung, in order that those who were engaged at their work
+might know when the canon of the Mass was about to begin, in order that
+they might kneel at the sound and pray to God. At Bosham Harbour the
+fishermen used to so join in the service of the sanctuary, and it is
+said that when George Herbert's sanctus bell sounded for prayers, the
+ploughmen stopped from their work for a few moments and prayed. The
+sanctus bell differed from the sacring bell, which was a hand-bell rung
+inside the church at the elevation of the Host.
+
+Old churchwardens' accounts record the very frequent ringing of bells.
+In addition to the Great Festivals, Corpus Christi Day, Church feasts
+and ales, the occasions of royal visits, of episcopal visitations,
+victories, and many other great events, were always celebrated by the
+ringing of the church bells. In fact by the fondness of English folk
+for sounding their bells this country earned the title in the Middle
+Ages of "the ringing island." Peal-ringing was indeed peculiar to
+England. It was not until the seventeenth century that change-ringing
+became general, and our old bells suffered much at the hands of the
+followers of the new fashion.
+
+In recent years the study of our church bells has made great progress,
+and many volumes have been written upon the bells of various counties.
+Too long have our bells been left to the bats and birds, and the belfry
+is often the only portion of a church which is left uncared for. We are
+learning better now, and the bells which have sounded forth the joys
+and sorrows of our villagers for so many generations are receiving the
+attention they deserve.
+
+
+[9] A collection of these will be found in my book on _Old English
+Customs Extant at the Present Time_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE
+
+Local government--Changes in the condition of villeins and labourers--
+Famine and pestilence--Effects of the Great Plague--Spirit of
+independence--Picture of village life--Church house--Church ales--
+Pilgrimages--Markets--Old English fair--Wars--Hastings--Hereward
+the Wake--Great Civil War--Restoration--Beacons.
+
+
+Let us try to imagine the ordinary life and appearance of a mediaeval
+English village in the "piping times of peace." Of course, no two
+villages are quite alike; each has many distinguishing features; but
+a strong family likeness is observable. In the Middle Ages a village
+was much more independent than it is now. Then there were no Acts of
+Parliament to control its affairs, and it regulated its own conduct
+much to its own satisfaction, without any outside interference. Of
+course, sometimes things were managed badly; but the village knew
+it had only itself to blame, and therefore could not grumble at the
+Government, or the fickleness of members of Parliament, or the
+unreasonable conduct of Local Government Boards. Was not the lord
+of the manor quite capable of trying all criminals? and did not the
+rector and the vestry settle everything to the satisfaction of everyone,
+without any "foreigners" asking questions, or interfering?
+
+The position of the villeins and _cottiers_ has changed considerably
+since the days of William the Norman. The former were now free tenants,
+who paid rent for their land to the lord of the manor, and were not
+bound to work for him, while the latter worked for wages like our
+modern agricultural labourer. There was thus in the twelfth century a
+gradual approximation to modern conditions on many estates; the home
+farm was worked by hired labourers who received wages; while the
+villeins had bought themselves off from the obligation of doing
+customary work by paying a quit-rent.
+
+We should like to know something of the way in which our ancestors
+farmed their land, and fortunately several bailiffs have left us
+their account books very carefully kept, and one Walter de Henley
+in 1250 wrote a book on the _Art of Husbandry_, which gives us much
+information. The rent of land was about sixpence per acre. They
+ploughed three times a year, in autumn, April, and at midsummer, and
+used oxen for their plough-teams. Women helped their husbands in
+ploughing and harvest work. An old writer describes the farmer's wife
+"walking by him with a long goad, in a cutted cote cutted full high."
+Pigs and poultry were numerous on a mediaeval farm, but sheep were the
+source of the farmer's wealth. Large flocks of divers breeds roamed the
+hills and vales of rural England, and their rich fleeces were sent to
+Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent for the manufacture of cloth by the Flemish
+weavers. After the Black Death, a great plague which ravaged the
+country in 1348, the labourers were fewer in number, and their wages
+higher; hence the farmers paid increased attention to their sheep,
+which yielded rich profits, and required few labourers to look after
+them.
+
+Prior to the advent of this grim visitor, the Great Plague, the
+prosperity of our villages had greatly increased. The people were
+better fed and better clothed than any of their neighbours on the
+Continent. Moreover they were free men, and enjoyed their freedom.
+There was much happiness in our English villages in those days, and
+"Merry England" was not a misnomer. There were, however, two causes of
+suffering which for a time produced untold wretchedness--two unwelcome
+visitors who came very frequently and were much dreaded--famine and
+pestilence. There is necessarily a sameness in the records of these
+pestilences.
+
+The chief famine years were 1315 and 1316, but there is hardly any
+period of five years from the death of Edward I. to the coming of
+Henry of Richmond without these ghastly records of the sufferings of
+the people. Disease not only arrested the growth of the population,
+but reduced it considerably. It was mostly of a typhoid nature. The
+undrained soil, the shallow stagnant waters which lay upon the surface
+of the ground, the narrow and unhealthy homes, the filthy and neglected
+streets of the towns, the excessive use of salted provisions and
+absence of vegetables, predisposed the people to typhoid diseases, and
+left them little chance of recovery when stricken down with pestilence.
+
+The Great Plague arrived in England in 1348 from the shores of Italy,
+whither it had been wafted from the East. It was probably carried to
+the port of Bristol by travelling merchants, whence it spread with
+alarming rapidity over the whole land. Whole villages were depopulated,
+and about one-third of the people of England perished. It is difficult
+for us to imagine the sorrow and universal suffering which the plague
+caused. Its effects were, however, beneficial to the villagers who
+survived. Naturally labourers became very scarce and were much sought
+after. Wages rose enormously. The tenants and rustics discovered that
+they were people of importance. Manor lords found it too expensive to
+farm their lands, and were eager to hand them over to their tenants,
+many of whom became much richer and more independent than formerly. The
+spirit of independence pervaded all classes. There came to our village
+many wandering friars, followers of Wiklif, who preached discontent to
+the labouring rustics, told them that the gentry had no right to lord
+it over them, that they were as good as their masters, who ought not to
+live in fine houses in luxury supported by their toil and the sweat of
+their brows. And when oppressive taxes were levied, the rustics
+revolted, and gained much for which they strove. The golden age of the
+English labourer set in, when food was cheap, wages high, and labour
+abundant. A fat pig could be bought for fourpence, and three pounds of
+beef for a penny; and in spite of occasional visits of the plague, the
+villager's lot was by no means unhappy.
+
+Here is a picture of village life in those days. The village church
+stood in the centre of the hamlet, with a carefully made fence around
+it, in order that no swine or foul beast might desecrate the graves.
+Surrounded by the churchyard, with its yew tree and lich-gate, the
+church was very similar to the old building wherein the villagers still
+worship. All the houses had thatched roofs, and chief among the other
+dwellings stood the lord's hall. Near the church was a curious building
+called the church house, which has almost entirely passed away, except
+in the records of old churchwardens' accounts. It was a large building,
+in which could be stored wool, lime, timber, sand, etc., and was often
+let to pedlars, or wandering merchants, to deposit their goods during
+the fair.
+
+In this building there was a long low room with a large fireplace and
+hearth, around which a dozen or more could sit in comfort, except when
+the wind blew the smoke down the wide, open chimney; but our ancestors
+were accustomed to smoky chimneys, and did not mind them. In the centre
+of the room was a large oak table. This was the scene of some very
+festive gatherings. Aubrey thus describes the church house:--
+
+"In every parish was a church house, to which belonged spits, crocks,
+and other utensils for dressing provisions. Here the housekeepers met.
+The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at
+butts, etc., the ancients [_i.e._ old folks] sitting gravely by, and
+looking on."
+
+The churchwardens bought, and received presents of, a large quantity of
+malt, which they brewed into beer and sold to the company. Hence these
+feasts were called "church ales," and were held on the feast of the
+dedication of the church, the proceeds being devoted to the maintenance
+of the poor. Sometimes they were held at Whitsuntide also, sometimes
+four times a year, and sometimes as often as money was wanted or a
+feast desired. An arbour of boughs was erected in the churchyard on
+these occasions called Robin Hood's Bower, where the maidens collected
+money for the "ales," and "all went merry as a marriage bell"--rather
+too merry sometimes, for the ale was strong and the villagers liked it,
+and the ballad-singer was so merry, and the company so hearty--and was
+it not all for a good cause, the support of the poor? The character of
+these festivals deteriorated so much, until at last "church ales" were
+prohibited altogether, on account of the excess to which they gave
+rise.
+
+[Illustration: AN ANCIENT VILLAGE]
+
+There was a large amount of gaiety in the old villages in those days.
+Men were not in so great a hurry to grow rich as they are now. The
+Church authorised many holidays in the course of the year; and what
+with May Day festivities, Plough Mondays, Hocktide and Shrovetide
+sports, harvest suppers, fairs, and "ales," the villagers had plenty of
+amusement, and their lives certainly could not be described as dull.
+Sometimes the village would be enlivened by the presence of a company
+of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury, or
+to Holywell, blessed by St. Winifred, in order to be cured of some
+disease. Although these pilgrims were deemed to be engaged on a
+religious duty, they certainly were not generally very serious or sad.
+Chaucer describes a very joyous pilgrimage in his _Canterbury Tales_,
+how the company met at the Tabard Inn, in Southwark, including the
+knight and the abbot, the prioress and the shipman, the squire and the
+merchant, the ploughman and sompnour (or summoner, "of whose visage
+children were sore afeard"), and rode forth gaily in the spring
+sunshine--
+
+  "The holy blissful martyr for to seek,
+  That them hath holpen when that they were sick."
+
+Pilgrim crosses are numerous all over England, where the pilgrims
+halted for their devotions by the way, and sometimes we find churches
+planted on the roadside far from human habitations, with no
+parishioners near them; and some people wonder why they were so built.
+These were pilgrim churches, built for the convenience of the
+travellers as they wended their way to Canterbury. The villages through
+which they passed must have been much enlivened by the presence of
+these not very austere companies.
+
+The ordinary lives of the farmers were diversified by the visits
+to the weekly markets held in the neighbouring town, where they took
+their fat capons, eggs, butter, and cheese. Here is a curious relic
+of olden times, an ancient market proclamation, which breathes the
+spirit of former days, and which was read a few years ago at
+Broughton-in-Furness, by the steward of the lord of the manor, from
+the steps of the old market cross. These are the words:--
+
+"O yes, O yes, O yes![10] The lord of the manor of Broughton and of
+this fair and market strictly chargeth and commandeth on Her Majesty's
+behalf, that all manners of persons repairing to this fair and market
+do keep Her Majesty's peace, upon pain of five pounds to be forfeited
+to Her Majesty, and their bodies to be imprisoned during the lord's
+pleasure. Also that no manner of person within this fair and market do
+bear any bill, battle-axe, or other prohibited weapons, but such as be
+appointed by the lord's officers to keep this fair or market, upon pain
+of forfeiture of all such weapons and further imprisonment. Also, that
+no manner of person do pick any quarrel, matter, or cause for any old
+grudge or malice to make any perturbation or trouble, upon pain of five
+pounds, to be forfeited to the lord, and their bodies to be imprisoned.
+Also, that none buy or sell in corners, back sides, or hidden places,
+but in open fair or market, upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods
+and merchandise so bought and sold, and their bodies to imprisonment.
+Also, that no manner of persons shall sell any goods with unlawful mete
+or measures, yards or weights, but such as be lawful and keep the true
+assize, upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods and further
+imprisonment. Lastly, if any manner of persons do here find themselves
+grieved, or have any injuries or wrong committed or done against them,
+let them repair to the lord or his officers, and there they shall be
+heard according to right, equity, and justice. God save the Queen and
+the lord of the manor!"
+
+And besides the weekly markets there were the great annual fairs, which
+lasted many days, and were frequented by all classes of the population.
+These fairs were absolutely necessary for the trade of the country in
+the days when few people travelled far from their own homesteads, and
+even the towns with their small number of inhabitants did not afford a
+sufficient market for the farmer's and trader's stock.
+
+The greatest of all English fairs was held in the little village of
+Stourbridge, near Cambridge, now almost absorbed by the University
+town. Hither flocked merchants and traders from all parts of Europe.
+Flemish merchants brought their fine linen and cloths from the great
+commercial cities of Belgium. Genoese and Venetian traders came with
+their stores of Eastern goods. Spaniards and Frenchmen brought their
+wines, and the merchants of the Hanse towns of Germany sold furs and
+flax, ornaments and spices, while in return for all these treasures our
+English farmers brought the rich fleeces of their sheep, their corn,
+horses, and cattle. The booths were planted in a cornfield, and the
+circuit of the fair, which was like a well-governed city, was over
+three miles. The shops were built in streets or rows, some named after
+the various nations that congregated there, and others after the kind
+of goods offered for sale. There were Garlick Row, Bookseller's Row,
+Cook Row; there were a cheese fair, a hop fair, a wool fair, and every
+trade was represented, together with taverns, eating-houses, and in
+later years playhouses of various descriptions. In the eighteenth
+century one hundred thousand pounds' worth of woollen manufactures was
+sold in a week in one row alone. A thousand pack-horses were used to
+convey the goods of the Lancashire merchants to this famous fair. Now
+railways have supplanted the pack-horses; fairs have had their day; the
+trade of the country can now be carried on without them; and their
+relics with their shows and shooting-galleries and steam roundabouts
+have become a nuisance.
+
+The peaceful life of the villagers was sometimes disturbed by the
+sounds and sights of conflict. The exciting tales of war are connected
+with the history of many an English village, and many "little
+Wilhelmines" and labouring "grandsires" have discovered "something
+large and round," traces of these ancient conflicts and "famous
+victories."
+
+  "For often when they go to plough
+  The ploughshare turns them out,
+  'And many thousand men,' quoth he,
+  'Were slain in that great victory.'"
+
+Many a lance and sword, and gilt spur, beautifully enamelled, which
+once decked the heel of a noble knight, have been found in our fields,
+and remind us of those battles which were fought so long ago.
+
+        "The knights are dust,
+         Their good swords rust,
+  Their souls are with the saints, we trust."
+
+Sometimes the spectres of armed knights and warriors are supposed to
+haunt these scenes of ancient slaughter, and popular superstition has
+handed down the memory of the battles which were fought so long ago. It
+tells us of the mythical records of the fights of King Arthur and his
+Knights of the Round Table by the banks of the River Douglas, which ran
+with blood for three days, so terrible was the slaughter. It tells us
+how stubbornly the Britons resisted the Roman armies, so that on one
+occasion not one Briton was left to tell the tale of their defeat.
+
+When we visit the site of some battle with the history book in our hand,
+it is possible to imagine the lonely hillside peopled again with the
+dense ranks of English archers, or hear the clanging of the armour as
+the men-at-arms charged for "St. George and merry England"; and the air
+will be full again of the battle-cries, of the groans of the wounded and
+the shouts of the victors.
+
+Visit the scene of the battle of Hastings. Here on the high ground,
+flanked by a wood, stood the brave English, under the leadership of
+Harold, with his banner, woven with gold and jewels, shining
+conspicuously in the morning sunlight. Here they stood in the form of
+a wedge; there they turned the Normans, and put them to flight. Then
+the Normans rallied, pretended to fly, decoyed the brave English from
+their position, and by stratagem succeeded in defeating them at last.
+Or go to the Madingley Windmill, near Cambridge, and see the fifteen
+miles of rich drained cornfields which intervene between "Ely's stately
+fane" and the spot on which you are standing. Here read Kingsley's
+well-known story of _Hereward; or, The Last of the English_, and instead
+of the rich cornfields you will see that black abyss of mud and bottomless
+slime into which sank the flower of Norman chivalry as they tried to
+cross that treacherous bog to conquer the gallant Hereward and to
+plunder the monastery of Ely, the last stronghold of the English. On
+they came, thousands upon thousands, rushing along the floating bridge
+which they had formed, until at last it gave way beneath the weight, and
+the black slime swallowed up the miserable wretches.
+
+Or let us take our stand on the Round Tower, near the summit of the Edge
+Hill, and see the site of the first battle between the troops of Charles
+I. and the soldiers of the Parliament. The whole of that green lane was
+lined with troops. In a cottage which stood at our feet the king
+breakfasted before the battle; from that mound he surveyed the forces of
+the enemy. Just as the bells in yonder church had ceased to ring for
+service on Sunday afternoon the cannon began to roar, and the fight
+commenced. There Prince Rupert charged with headlong fury, carrying all
+before him. And so we can follow the fortunes of the fight until the
+brave Cavaliers retired to rest--
+
+  "And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered
+  The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die."
+
+The memory of many a fight is recorded in the names of the fields,
+places, and hills on which the battle raged. Lichfield (_i.e._ the
+field of the dead), Battlefield, Battle, Battleflats, Standard Hill,
+Slaughterford, and many others, all tell the tale of war and slaughter.
+
+In some parts of the country, especially in Oxfordshire, there are fine
+avenues of trees, which appear to lead to a large house; but when you
+have walked to the end of the trees there is nothing to be seen. These
+avenues tell the tale of war, of the destruction of the manor-house of
+some old Royalist who fought for his king when the "Roundheads" and
+Cromwell's "Ironsides" were more than a match for the gallant Cavaliers.
+His house was destroyed, he and his sons killed, unless they were
+fortunate enough to escape to France and wait the merry time "when the
+king should enjoy his own again." How many of our uplands and gentle
+vales have been stained with blood, and seen the terrible horrors of
+war, of which we in these favoured days know nothing from our own
+experience! We read about the sad battles and sieges which have taken
+place in other countries, but can hardly imagine the time when hostile
+soldiers were riding through our village lanes, and the noise of the
+cannon was booming in the distance, as on that famous Sunday morning in
+October, 1642, when Richard Baxter was disturbed in his preaching at
+Alcester by that strange sound, and knew that the terrible conflict had
+begun between the king and Parliament. Our English villages suffered
+very much. All farming was stopped, manor-houses destroyed, some of the
+best blood in England spilt, and many a home made desolate. Indeed, in
+some parts of the country the people had literally no bread to eat, and
+no clothing to cover their nakedness; and Cromwell ordered collections
+to be made in London for the relief of the distressed people in
+Lancashire. Then the old clergyman was driven from his flock, and some
+commissioner appointed who wrote in the register-books of the parish the
+names of the children who were born, but did not record their baptism as
+the clergyman did. And then some black-gowned Puritan, with his hair cut
+short, came and took possession of the living, and preached very long
+sermons about Cromwell "girding his sword upon his thigh," and about
+blinded Papists, and about Mahershalal-hash-baz, who made haste to
+divide the spoil.
+
+But in the glorious year 1660 everyone began to throw up his cap and
+welcome right royally the king from over the water; and the long-faced
+Puritan disappeared, and the writing in the register-books changed into
+that of a scholarly hand; and many of our churches were enriched by
+thankofferings of plate and other gifts, because the good people of
+England rejoiced exceedingly that their loved Church and her services
+were restored to them; and "the king at last enjoyed his own again." The
+memory of the adventures of King Charles II., when he was endeavouring
+to escape from England after the last crushing defeat of the royal
+troops at Worcester, called by Cromwell "the crowning mercy," still
+lingers in many of the country villages through which the unfortunate
+monarch passed. The king and a few faithful followers avoided the towns,
+passed the ford of the Salwarp at Hemford Mill, and proceeded by Chester
+Lane to Broadwaters and Kinfare Heath. Presently they reached Brewood
+Forest, where there stood two old hunting-lodges, built by the Giffards
+in troublous times as hiding-places for proscribed Papists. They were
+called White Ladies and Boscobel, and were inhabited by staunch
+Royalists named Penderel; so the king knew he would be safe there. He
+was disguised as a forester with leathern jerkin and trunk hose, his
+long hair cropped, and his hands blackened. All day he lay concealed in
+a coppice, and in the evening, under the name of Will Jackson, he supped
+with the Penderels, and then tried to cross the Severn, but all the
+fords and bridges were guarded. The next day he and Colonel Carlos
+remained concealed in a large oak near Boscobel, and the memory of Royal
+Oak day is still preserved. He had other narrow escapes, and was saved
+by Mistress Jane Lane, the beautiful daughter of Colonel Lane. A pass
+had been obtained for her and her groom to go to Abbot's Leigh, near
+Bristol. The plan was arranged that the king should act as groom; so
+Charles mounted his horse, and Mistress Lane sat behind him on a
+pillion, and together they rode through Warwickshire to Bristol. The
+king was nearly captured at Long Marston, for some troopers of Cromwell
+suspected the party, and came to examine the house where they rested.
+The cook, however, set Charles to wind up the jack, and because he was
+awkward struck him with the basting-ladle just as the soldiers entered
+the kitchen. Their suspicions were thus removed; and in this old house
+the remains of the jack are still preserved. The poor king was
+disappointed of his ship; the skipper unfortunately told his wife that
+he was going to take the king to France, and she was angry, and locked
+him up in his room, so that he could not fulfil his engagement. At last
+Lord Wilmot procured a ship for the fugitive king, who set sail joyfully
+from Shoreham, near Brighton, and reached Paris in safety. There must
+have been great excitement in the villages of England when the troopers
+were scouring the country in all directions, and the unfortunate king
+was known to be wandering about disguised as a servant.
+
+If there are any hills or high ground in your neighbourhood commanding
+an extensive view of the country, it is probable that in olden days a
+beacon was placed there, so that the country might be aroused in case of
+an invasion, and frequently we find that the tower of a church was used
+as a beacon, and occasionally the iron brazier remains, as at Little
+Budworth, Cheshire. When the Spaniards determined to invade England in
+the reign of "Good Queen Bess," and sent the Invincible Armada,
+consisting of an enormous number of ships and men and guns, bonfires
+were placed on every hill; and when a gallant merchant vessel brought
+the news that the Spaniards were coming, the bonfires were lighted, and
+everyone prepared to resist their attack. Macaulay has told us in very
+stirring verse of how the news spread, as each fire was lighted,
+
+  "From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay";
+
+how Beachy Head caught the signal from St. Michael's Mount, and sent it
+swiftly over the country from tower to hill-top,
+
+  "Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile,
+  And the red glare of Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle."
+
+Again, within the memory of the old inhabitants of your village, the
+hill beacons were brought into use when Napoleon I. threatened to invade
+England; and on January 31, 1803, by some mistake, the fire on Hume
+Castle, in Berwickshire, was lighted; other beacons responded, and ere
+morning dawned thousands were marching ankle-deep through the dense mud
+of the winter roads to their appointed stations. The mistake was not
+without its uses, as Napoleon saw that England was ready, and did not
+venture to attack our shores. A similar accident took place in the reign
+of Henry VIII. There was a conspiracy against the king by the Roman
+Catholics, who did not like their monasteries being destroyed, called
+"The Pilgrimage of Grace." Beacons were erected on the heights of
+Pendel, in Lancashire, and on the various hills of Yorkshire and
+Derbyshire; but the beacon on Pendel was fired before the conspirators
+were quite ready for action, and their plot came to nothing.
+
+Once again in the history of our country were these beacon fires
+lighted; but it was not to announce the approach of an enemy, but to
+reflect the gladness of the nation which for so many years had enjoyed
+the reign of so good a ruler as Queen Victoria, who has now passed away
+from us, and whom the whole nation mourns. And as we witnessed the
+sudden blaze of the beacons we thought, perhaps, of other occasions when
+they were used, and were thankful that rejoicings and thanksgivings were
+the cause, and not invasions or conspiracies.
+
+
+[10] This is a corruption of the old Norman-French word _oyez_,
+"hear ye."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES
+
+Decay of old sports--Twelfth Night--Shrovetide--Mothering Sunday--
+Hocktide--May Day--Miracle plays--St. John's Day--Rush-bearing--Beating
+the bounds--Archery--Quintain--Football--Christmas games--Stocks--
+Cucking-stool.
+
+
+It is the custom of some writers to represent the lot of an English
+villager in past ages as having been particularly hard and disagreeable;
+to enlarge upon the scanty wages which he received; and to compare his
+position unfavourably with that of the agricultural labourer of the
+present day. I have already pointed out that the small wages which he
+received are no test of his poverty, because he received so much more in
+lieu of wages; and certainly he had far more opportunities of enjoyment
+and recreation than the present generation has. Now we have scarcely any
+village games or sports, except when some energetic rector or curate
+starts a cricket club. Old social customs, which added such diversity to
+the lives of the rustics two centuries ago, have died out. The village
+green, the source of so much innocent happiness, is no more; and a
+recent writer has observed that the ordinary existence of agricultural
+labourers is so dull that in East Anglia they have almost forgotten how
+to laugh!
+
+We will now try to realise how our village forefathers used to enjoy
+themselves, how they used to spend their holidays, and to picture to
+ourselves the scenes of happy social intercourse which once took place
+in our own hamlet. Every season of the year had its holiday customs and
+quaint manner of observance, some of them confined to particular
+counties, but many of them universally observed.
+
+On the eve of Twelfth Night, January 5th, we see the good farmer and his
+labourers in Devonshire joining hands round his apple trees, and
+singing--
+
+      "Here's to thee, old apple tree!
+  Hence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow!
+  And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
+        Hats full! caps full!
+        Bushel, bushel, sacks full,
+      And my pockets full too! Huzza!"
+
+A hearty supper followed, and with laughter, songs, and good wishes to
+the farmer and his wife, the company passed a very joyous evening. In
+Herefordshire, Yorkshire, and other parts of England similar customs
+prevailed.
+
+[Illustration: ANN HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE]
+
+Then followed Twelfth Night, which was celebrated by great rejoicings
+and merry-makings, a game called the choosing of kings and queens being
+played, and Twelfth Night cakes consumed in plenty. The next Monday was
+called Plough Monday, when the labourers used to draw a plough round
+the parish and receive presents of money, favouring the spectators with
+sword-dancing and mumming, preparatory to beginning to plough after the
+Christmas holidays. The men were decked out with gay ribbons, and were
+accompanied by morris-dancers. The Christmas holidays lasted these
+twelve days, and during them it was customary for the gentlemen to
+feast the farmers, and for the farmers to feast their labourers. Then
+came the Shrovetide festivities, on Shrove Tuesday, when pancakes,
+football, and cock-fighting, and a still more barbarous custom of
+throwing sticks at hens, were generally in vogue. On Mid-Lent Sunday,
+commonly called "Mothering Sunday," it was the pleasing custom for
+servants and apprentices to carry cakes or furmity as presents to their
+mother, and to receive from her a cake with her blessing. This was
+called "going a-mothering." The old poet Herrick alludes to the custom
+in Gloucestershire in these words:--
+
+  "I'll to thee a simnell bring,
+  'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering;
+  So that when she blesseth thee,
+  Half that blessing thou'lt give me."
+
+Then came the diversions of Hocktide, on the second Monday and Tuesday
+after Easter, when the men and women intercepted the public on alternate
+days with ropes, and boldly exacted money for pious purposes. There was
+a Hocktide play, which was acted before Queen Elizabeth, and caused her
+much amusement. She gave the players two bucks and five marks of money,
+which delighted them exceedingly.
+
+Very shortly afterwards the great rural festival of our forefathers
+took place, the glad May Day, when, in the early dawn, the lads and
+lassies left their towns and villages, and going into the woods to the
+sound of music, gathered the may or blossomed branches of the tree,
+and bound them with wreaths of flowers. At sunrise they returned, and
+decorated the lattices and doors with the sweet-smelling spoil of
+their joyous journey, and spent the rest of the day in sports and
+pastimes, and dancing round the Maypole. The setting-up of the
+May-pole was a very joyous ceremony. A long string of oxen, gaily
+decked with flowers, drew to the village green the time-honoured pole,
+decked with streamers, flowers, and flags, where it was raised amidst
+laughter and shouts; and the Queen of the May was enthroned in an
+arbour and all danced round; and the morris-dancers, Robin Hood, Friar
+Tuck, and Maid Marian performed wonderful antics as they led the
+revels. Targets were set up at the other end of the green, and archery
+formed an important part of the day's pleasures. The preachers at the
+time of the Reformation thought the people made an idol of the
+Maypole, and condemned the innocent amusements, which were revived
+again when Charles II. came to the throne. After May Day our villagers
+had not long to wait until the Whitsuntide holiday came round--
+
+    "A day of jubilee,
+    An ancient holiday;
+  When, lo! the rural revels are begun,
+  And gaily echoing to the laughing sky,
+    On the smooth-shaven green,
+    Resounds the voice of mirth."
+
+I have already given a description of these Whitsuntide rejoicings in
+a preceding chapter.
+
+Then there were the miracle plays, or "mysteries," as they were called,
+in June, on Corpus Christi Day, which were performed before the
+Reformation, principally in the neighbourhood of large monasteries;
+Coventry, Chester, London, York being specially renowned for these
+performances. The subjects were taken from Holy Scripture, or from
+the lives of saints, and were intended to teach the people religious
+knowledge, but the scenes were disfigured by many absurdities and
+grotesque perversions. Their history is a curious one, too long to
+enter upon in this chapter; but often in the open fields, at the bottom
+of natural amphitheatres, were these plays performed, very similar in
+construction to the famous passion play performed by the peasants, at
+Ober Ammergau, in Bavaria, the last surviving specimen of the ancient
+religious drama.
+
+Then there were the bonfires to be lighted on St. John's Day upon the
+hillsides, and the dance of the young people around them, the more
+venturesome youths leaping through the flames, all carrying home the
+firebrands and forming a glad procession. Afterwards followed the busy
+harvest-time, when everyone was too hard at work, and too tired at the
+end of the day's labours, to think of holiday-making; but at length
+came the harvest home, when the last sheaf was gathered in, and the
+harvest supper was a very joyous occasion. With light hearts, smiling
+faces, and cheerful shouts, the harvest labourers and their wives and
+children, carrying green boughs, a sheaf of wheat, and rude flags,
+formed a glad procession to the farmer's house, where they found the
+fuelled chimney blazing wide, and "the strong table groaning beneath
+the smoking sirloin." The feast over, they retired to some near
+hillock, and made the welkin ring with their shouts, "Holla, holla,
+holla, largess!"--largess being the presents of money and good things
+which the farmer had bestowed. Such was the harvest home in the good
+old days, a joy and delight to both old and young. Shorn of much of its
+merriment and quaint customs, it still lingers on; but modern habits
+and notions have deprived it of much of its old spirit and
+light-heartedness.
+
+The floors of the old churches were formerly unpaved and unbearded,
+simply made of clay, and were covered over with rushes. Once a year
+there was a great ceremony, called "rush-bearing." Rushes were cut in
+the neighbouring marsh, and made up into long bundles, decked with
+ribands and flowers. Then a procession was formed, everyone bearing a
+bundle of rushes, or placing them in the rush-cart beautifully adorned;
+and with music, drums, and ringing of bells, they marched to the church
+and strewed the floor with their honoured burdens. Long after the
+rushes ceased to be used in church the ceremony was continued, and I
+have myself witnessed a rush-bearing procession such as I have
+described. A village feast, followed by dancing round the May-pole,
+generally formed the conclusion to the day's festivities.
+
+"Beating the bounds" of the parish was another annual ceremony, which
+often took place on Ascension Day and is still in use at Oxford.
+Boundaries of property were not so clearly defined in those days as
+they are now; and hedgerows, walls, and railings were scarce. The
+bounds of the parish were often marked by trees, called "gospel trees,"
+because the clergyman used to read the gospel for the day under their
+shade. The people carried a processional cross and willow wands, and
+boys were generally flogged at the boundaries, or ducked in the river,
+if that constituted a boundary, in order to impress upon their memories
+where the bounds were. The village feast afterwards made some amends to
+them for their harsh treatment.
+
+The village sports were a great source of enjoyment, and were frequently
+indulged in. The time-honoured archery developed the skill of our
+English bowmen, and won for them many a battle before the days of
+gunpowder and cannons. Then there was the very ancient game of the
+quintain, which consisted of an upright post with a cross-post turning
+upon a pin. At one end of the latter was a broad board, at the other a
+heavy sand-bag. The play, which required skill and dexterity, was to
+ride against the broad end with a lance, and pass by before the sandbag,
+swinging round, could strike the player to the ground. This was a common
+sport at wedding festivities. There were also the games of singlestick,
+cudgelling, and wrestling, which had many votaries, and the famous game
+of quarter-staff, so general in Berkshire, and so graphically described
+in _The Scouring of the White Horse_, by Mr. Hughes. An old parishioner
+of mine was the reputed champion of this game, which has now almost died
+out. Football is an ancient sport, and the manner formerly in vogue most
+nearly resembles the game authorised by the Rugby rules. The football
+was thrown down in the churchyard, and the object was to carry it
+perhaps two or three miles, every inch of ground being keenly contested.
+"Touch-downs" were then unknown, but it is evident from old records that
+"scrimmages" and "hacking" were much in vogue. Sack-racing, grinning
+through horse-collars, running after pigs with greased tails, were some
+of the lighter forms of amusement which pleased the villagers.
+
+Then in the winter evenings there were "carols" to be practised for
+Christmas, and each village boasted of its own musicians, who played
+violins, flutes, clarionets, and other instruments in church, before
+the days of harmoniums and organs. Their music might not be of a very
+first-rate order, but they delighted in it, took an interest in it; and
+how pleased they were to take part in the service, and to play over
+their favourite hymn tunes, with a great many twirls and variations, to
+their children during the winter evenings! Christmas brought its
+accustomed merry-makings. In the north every farmer gave two feasts,
+one called "t' ould foaks' neet," and the other "t' young foaks' neet."
+Here is Sir Walter Scott's description of an ancient Christmas:--
+
+  "And well our Christian sires of old
+  Loved when the year its course had roll'd
+  And brought blithe Christmas back again,
+  With all its hospitable train.
+  Domestic and religious rite
+  Gave honour to the holy night:
+  On Christmas Eve the bells were rung;
+  On Christmas Eve the Mass was sung;
+  That only night in all the year
+  Saw the staled priest the chalice rear.
+  The damsel donn'd her kirtle sheen;
+  The hall was dressed with holly green;
+  Forth to the wood did merry men go,
+  To gather in the mistletoe.
+  Then open wide the baron's hall,
+  To vassal, tenant, serf, and all;
+  Power laid his rod of rule aside,
+  And Ceremony doft'd his pride.
+  The heir with roses in his shoes,
+  That night might village partner choose;
+  The lord, underogating, share
+  The vulgar game of 'post and pair.'
+  All hailed with uncontrolled delight
+  The general voice, the happy night,
+  That to the cottage, as the crown,
+  Brought tidings of salvation down.
+
+  "The fire, with well-dried logs supplied,
+  Went roaring up the chimney wide;
+  The huge hall-table's oaken face
+  Scrubb'd till it shone, the day of grace,
+  Bore then upon its massive board
+  No mark to part the squire and lord.
+  Then was brought in the lusty brawn,
+  By old blue-coated serving man;
+  Then the grim boar's head frowned on high
+  Crested with bays and rosemary.
+  Well can the green-garb'd ranger tell
+  How, when, and where the monster fell;
+  What dogs before his death he tore,
+  And all the baiting of the boar;
+  While round the merry wassail bowl,
+  Garnished with ribbons, blithe did trowl.
+  Then the huge sirloin reek'd: hard by
+  Plum-porridge stood, and Christmas pie;
+  Nor fail'd old Scotland to produce
+  At such high time her savoury goose.
+  Then came the merry maskers in,
+  And carols roared with blithesome din;
+  If unmelodious was the song,
+  It was a hearty note, and strong.
+  Who lists may in this mumming see
+  Traces of ancient mystery;
+  White shirts supply the masquerade,
+  And smutted cheeks the visor made;
+  But, oh! what masquers, richly dight,
+  Can boast of bosoms half so light!
+  England was merry England when
+  Old Christmas brought his sports again.
+  'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale;
+  'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale.
+  A Christmas gambol oft would cheer
+  A poor man's heart through half the year."
+
+Such was the manner of keeping Christmas in olden times; and if "the
+mightiest ale" was sometimes too mighty, and although the intemperance
+of our forefathers was a vice much to be deplored, at any rate their
+hearty manner of keeping this annual feast was effectual in promoting
+"goodwill amongst men," and in cheering the hearts of the poor.
+
+In this chapter I have attempted to show the varied amusements and
+recreations in which our village ancestors took part. On the old village
+green, which in too many of our villages has been inclosed and become a
+thing of the past, many of these sports and pastimes once took place.
+There stood the village stocks, in which the refractory paid the penalty
+of their misdeeds; and sometimes, too, a pillory was added, which held
+fast the head, arms, and legs of the culprit, while the villagers, rude
+vindicators of the law, threw stones, rotten eggs, and other missiles at
+the unhappy victim. At the edge of the pond you might have seen a long
+plank which turned on a swivel, with a chair at the end overhanging the
+water. This was called a "cucking-stool," and was used to duck scolds or
+brawlers. The culprit was placed in the chair, and the other end of the
+plank was raised several times, so that the ardour of the culprit was
+effectually cooled by frequent immersions. These were rough methods of
+administering justice, but often very effectual in checking vice.
+
+The social customs which formerly existed in each village, the sports
+and pastimes associated with the village green, the May Day festivals,
+and the Christmas carollings were of great value, inasmuch as they
+tended to infuse some poetical feeling into the minds of the people,
+softened the rudeness of rustic manners, and gave the villagers simple
+pleasures which lightened their labours. They prevented them from
+growing hard, grasping, and discontented with their lot. They promoted
+good feeling between the farmers and their labourers. The customs of
+the town were a poor exchange for the ancient country manners and
+amusements; and it was a sad day for our country when the villagers
+lost their simplicity and the power of appreciating the primitive
+pleasures of rural England.
+
+[Illustration: OLD STOCKS AND WHIPPING POST]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE VILLAGE INN
+
+Monastic inns--Village inns--Highwaymen--Inn signs--Famous inns--
+Man-traps.
+
+
+In almost every village in England there is an inn. Before the
+Reformation there were very few of these hostelries, as travellers
+were always accommodated at the monasteries, each of which, as we have
+seen, had a hospitium, or guest-house, where their wants were attended
+to by special officers appointed for the purpose, and where they could
+remain for several days. But the destruction of the monasteries
+produced many changes in the condition of the country; it introduced
+the necessity of a poor law, for the poor were always relieved by the
+monasteries; it required the erection of schools and places for
+education, as all the education of the country had been carried on in
+these monastic buildings; and when the old guesthouses ceased to
+exist, travellers, merchants, and pedlars required some place in which
+to lodge when they moved about the country, and inns became plentiful
+as time went on. Hence in almost every village in England there is an
+inn, which is generally a landmark; and if you wish to direct a
+stranger to some place where he desires to go, you doubtless tell him
+to turn to the right by "The Bull," or to keep straight on until he
+comes to "The Magpie." Indeed, a friend of mine, who is a strong
+teetotaler, asserts that the only good use inns have is to help people
+to find their road. But old inns have a great history. In former days
+they used to be meeting-places of plotters and conspirators. All the
+distinguished people in the country used to pass through the villages
+and towns on the great roads through the country, and when the horses
+were being changed they used to partake of the good fare which the
+landlord provided. Those were busy times for the old inns, when there
+was stabling for fifty or sixty horses, and the coaches used to rattle
+through the village to the inn door long before the iron horses began
+to drag their freight of passengers along the iron roads, and the
+scream of the engines took the place of the cheerful notes of the
+posthorn.
+
+Sometimes a gentleman would ride to an inn door on a beautiful,
+fleet-looking steed, and receive a hearty welcome from the landlord;
+but the pistols in his belt looked ominous, and presently some
+soldiers would steal noiselessly into the inn where the gentleman was
+refreshing himself, and there would be heard the sounds of vigorous
+fighting; and often, in some wonderful way, Claude Duval or the noted
+Dick would fight his way out, whistle to his steed, jump into the
+saddle, and ride away before his less nimble pursuers had recovered
+from their astonishment. Very many exciting scenes have taken place in
+our old inns, but in these days railways have changed all things; and
+in many streets where the coaches used to rattle along, and the place
+was alive with merry sounds, the moss now grows, and all is silence
+and desolation. We should certainly think it inconvenient to take
+three days to travel from London to Bath, and it would not be pleasant
+to have a visit from Dick Turpin on the way, and to have all one's
+valuables appropriated by that notorious highwayman; but in these days
+of worry and busy bustling it would be refreshing to catch a glimpse
+of those quiet times when people were not so much in a hurry, and to
+hear the sound of the posthorn once more instead of the whistle of the
+steam-engine.
+
+The quaint-looking pictures and curious names which attract our notice
+as we pass an inn door have some queer stories to tell. We notice a very
+curious collection of animals sometimes, and a strange assortment of
+things; and the reason why our ancestors put some of these curious
+things together is somewhat difficult for us to find out. In olden days,
+other houses of tradesmen besides inns had signs. Grocers, tailors,
+candlestick-makers, all had signs; but most of these have disappeared,
+except one belonging to a certain sweep of my acquaintance, whose house
+is adorned with the figure of a man coming out of a globe, with the
+motto, "Help me through the world." Over their doors barbers still have
+their poles, which represented once the fact that the barber was
+prepared to bandage up wounded arms and legs, and to perform the office
+of blood-letting; the stripes on the pole were intended to represent the
+bandages, and the barber was the surgeon of the town. We do not seem to
+have so much blood to spare as our forefathers, as the barber always
+bled his customers once or twice a year, especially in the springtime,
+the operation being considered very beneficial.
+
+One reason for the curious mixture of animals and other things which we
+see on signboards is that an apprentice, when he had finished his time
+and begun to set up for himself, adopted some sign, and then joined with
+it the sign of his old master. This will account for such curiosities as
+"The Lamb and Dolphin," "The Goose and Gridiron," "The Fox and Seven
+Stars," combinations of things for which it would otherwise be difficult
+to account. Another reason is that signs were taken from the armorial
+bearings, or crests, of some popular character, or of some great family
+in the neighbourhood. For example, I may mention "The Bear with the
+Ragged Staff," which was the crest of Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick,
+commonly called "The Kingmaker," who was slain in the battle of Barnet,
+1471 A.D. "The Blue Boar" was one of the badges of the House of York.
+"The Bull" is a very common sign, because it was a very common crest,
+and we have them in all colours--black, red, white; lions also rage in
+blue, white, and red attire. Sometimes we meet with "The Cross Keys,"
+the keeper of which was probably an old servant or tenant of an abbey or
+monastery, and chose his sign from that of the monastery with which he
+was connected. Frequently, in olden times, a cross was erected at the
+meeting of two or three roads, or where the pilgrims to Canterbury used
+to pass; afterwards an inn was built near it, and was, in many cases,
+called the Cross Inn.
+
+One very common cause of curious signs is the way in which the original
+word has been corrupted by ignorant people frequently repeating words
+which they did not understand, and thus changing their whole meaning.
+You may have seen an inn described as "The Swan with Two Necks"--a very
+rare bird indeed. But it was never intended to disfigure the bird by
+giving it two necks; the original sign was "The Swan with Two _Nicks_"
+and nicks were the marks which were cut on a swan's bill to distinguish
+it from other swans, so that it might be known to whom the bird
+belonged. But _nicks_ became _necks_ in course of conversation, until at
+last a fabulous creature with two beautifully curved necks appeared on
+the signboard. This same cause will account for the two strange signs,
+"Bull and Gate" and "Bull and Mouth." The original signs were "Boulogne
+Gate" and "Boulogne Mouth," _i.e._ the gate and harbour of the town of
+Boulogne, in France, which was captured by the English under King Henry
+VIII. in the year 1544. The English were very pleased to hear of the
+defeat of the French, and of the taking of that important town, and
+several inns were named in honour of the event; but the French
+"Boulogne" was too much for our good English mouths to speak, so it
+became "Bull and."
+
+Another name which puzzled our forefathers was "_La Belle Sauvage_"
+("the Beautiful Savage"), which was named after a noted savage beauty
+who was the rage at Paris. Others assert that the name of the landlady
+was Isabella Savage, shortened into Bella Savage. However, in course of
+time the name was altered into "Bell and Savage," and a picture
+representing this odd combination stood over the door. In the same way
+the original sign, "Whip and Nag," between which there is often a very
+close connection, became "Whip and Egg"; and the reason why these two
+articles should be placed together is not so evident. So also there does
+not seem any reason for an inn to be called "Bag o' Nails"; but when we
+are told that the original word was "Bacchanals," _i.e._ followers of
+Bacchus, the old god of wine, we can understand how the corruption, "Bag
+o' Nails," arose. Before the days of licensing, when everyone could sell
+liquor who chose without obtaining any licence from the magistrates, it
+was the custom to put a bush over the doorway, in order to inform the
+passers-by that liquor could be purchased there. This is the origin of
+the saying, "Good wine needs no bush."
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE INN WITH OLD TITHE BARN OF READING ABBEY]
+
+"The Catherine Wheel" tells us the sad story of St. Catherine, who was
+born at Alexandria, and for converting fifty heathen philosophers to
+Christianity was sentenced by the Emperor Maxentius to death on a wheel,
+devised by most ingenious cruelty, armed with knives, saws, and nails.
+It is recorded that she was rescued from this fate, but was afterwards
+beheaded (305 A.D.). It is curious that this instrument of torture and
+the story of St. Catherine's heroism should be recorded on a signboard.
+But it may have been brought before the public by a certain miracle
+play, founded on the life of St. Catherine, which used to be performed
+on festival days. However, the Catherine wheel appears frequently on the
+coats-of-arms of several families, and it may be that the sign was taken
+from these.
+
+"The George," also, is a very popular sign; and the "St. George of
+merry England" is the patron saint of this country, and the battle-cry
+of her knights and yeomen of ancient days. Who does not remember that
+stirring scene on St. George's Mount during the Crusades, described in
+Sir Walter Scott's _Talisman_, when King Richard tore down the Austrian
+banner, which the Austrian monarch had dared to erect beside the Royal
+Standard of England? St George is generally represented as slaying
+a dragon. He was a soldier who served gallantly under the Emperor
+Diocletian, and commanded a legion of soldiers; he was a Christian,
+and by the dragon whom he slew is meant the devil, red with the blood
+of the Christians. So popular a personage as St. George, whose name
+inspired our ancestors with courage, and was often borne by them into
+the heart of the foe, would soon be recorded in paintings and become a
+general sign. "The Goat" is a common sign, and is taken from the crest
+of the Duke of Bedford; but "The Goat and Compasses" has puzzled many
+people as to its origin. It appears to be a corruption of a pious
+expression, "God encompasseth us"; and this shows how strangely words
+may be twisted and converted by ignorant and careless usage.
+
+There are some very noted inns where great events have taken place,
+amongst which I may mention the Bull Inn at Coventry. Here Henry VII.
+was entertained the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, when
+he won for himself the English crown. Here Mary Queen of Scots was
+detained by order of Elizabeth. Here the conspirators of the Gunpowder
+Plot met to devise their scheme for blowing up the Houses of
+Parliament. And when the citizens refused to open their gates to
+Charles I. and his soldiers, no doubt there were great disputings
+amongst the frequenters of "The Bull" as to what would be the result
+of their disloyal refusal.
+
+Some of the inns in remote country places did not enjoy a very enviable
+reputation, and were little better than man-traps, where the
+unfortunate traveller was robbed and murdered. At Blewbury, in
+Berkshire, there was an inn, the landlord of which was suspected of
+murdering his guests with great secrecy and mystery, and no one could
+tell what he did with the bodies of the victims he was supposed to have
+murdered. A few years ago an old tree in the neighbourhood of the inn
+was blown down, and on digging up the roots a skeleton was found among
+them. People wondered how it could have been placed there, but at last
+a very old inhabitant told the story of the mysterious disappearance of
+the bodies of the late landlord's guests, and the mystery was at length
+accounted for. Whenever he slew a man he planted a tree, placing the
+body of the murdered victim beneath it. The constables never thought of
+looking there; and probably under every tree which he planted (and
+there were several), when their roots are dug up, the bones of his
+numerous victims will be discovered.
+
+Another story is connected with the old "Hind's Head" at Bracknell,
+which was another of these mantraps, where many travellers slept to
+rise no more. One winter's night a stout-hearted farmer stayed there,
+and joined several jovial companions round the kitchen fire. They ate
+and drank merrily, and at last the serving-maid showed the traveller
+to his chamber. She told him that he was surrounded by robbers and
+murderers, showed him a trap-door at the side of the bed, on which if
+he stepped he would tumble headlong into a deep well. She directed him
+to tie the bed into a bundle, put it on the trap-door, and escape by
+the window. He did so; down went the bundle, instead of the farmer,
+into the well, and he managed to effect his escape. Rousing the
+neighbourhood he captured the villains, who were all executed, and the
+bones of many of their victims were found in the well. Happily such
+inns were rare.
+
+To describe the conditions of the old inns for which England was
+famous, of the good fare which awaited the travellers by the coach, of
+the spacious corridors, of the comfortable beds hung with silk and
+smelling of lavender; to tell of all the great folk who entered their
+doors--kings, queens, poets, generals, highwaymen, statesmen, grooms,
+conspirators, coachmen--all this would require much space to relate.
+When railways came in, their ancient glory departed; the old stables
+are destroyed; grass grows in the courtyard; and the object of their
+existence has almost ceased to be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
+
+Belief in witches--Survival of water ordeal--Witches turned into hares--
+Cruelties practised on witches--Bishop Jewel on the "evil eye"--
+Fairies--Berkshire popular superstitions--Field-names--Homes of famous
+men--Washington Irving's description of an English village--Rural
+exodus--Conclusion.
+
+
+There is yet another class of subjects connected with old village life,
+of absorbing interest and importance. I refer to the old superstitions
+and folklore which still linger on in the recollections of the "oldest
+inhabitant," and which ought to be at once treasured up, lest they
+should be altogether lost. The generation of those who believed firmly
+in the power of the "evil eye" of the witch, and who feared to disturb
+the revels of the fairies on their rings and mounds, is only just
+passing away. An old gipsy has told me some strange stories of the
+superstitions of former days. He has told me of the witch at Farnham
+who made the cows wild and prevented them from giving milk; of another
+witch who lived at Henley-on-Thames, and who when thrown into the river
+"floated like a cork." Here we have a survival of the old Saxon method
+of trying culprits by the water ordeal, often used in examining
+witches. This particular witch could turn herself into a hare, so my
+venerable gipsy friend, aged one hundred and six years, informed me,
+and the dogs hunted her. He told me of the Tadley witch, who "wished"
+several people, and greatly injured them. It seems to have been a
+common practice of the old witches to turn themselves into hares, in
+order to vex the squires, justices, and country parsons, who were fond
+of hunting, as the old dames could elude the speed of the swiftest
+dogs. An old writer states "that never hunters nor their dogs may be
+bewitched, they cleave an oaken branch, and both they and their dogs
+pass over it." Mary Dore, a witch of Beaulieu, Hampshire, used to turn
+herself into a hare in order to escape detection when caught in the act
+of wood-stealing, to which she was somewhat addicted.
+
+Old women were rather harshly used in the days when people believed in
+the power of witches. If any farmer's cattle died, it was immediately
+concluded that the animals were bewitched; and some wretched old woman
+was singled out, and summarily tried and burnt. If anyone fell ill,
+some "witch" had evidently a waxen image of the sufferer, and stuck
+needles into it; and such was the power of the witch that, wherever the
+person was, he felt the stab of the cruel needle. Hence the witch had
+to be found and burnt. If the corn crops failed, was not witchcraft the
+cause? for had not old Mother Maggs been heard to threaten Farmer
+Giles, and had not her black cat been seen running over his fields?
+Even good Bishop Jewel did not disbelieve in the power of the evil eye.
+In preaching before Queen Elizabeth he said: "It may please Your Grace
+to understand that witches and sorcerers are marvellously increased
+within Your Grace's realm. Your Grace's subjects pine away even unto
+the death, their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is
+benumbed, their senses are bereft. I pray God they never practise
+further than on the subject." To so great an extent did faith in the
+witches' fatal power prevail. Our forefathers used to believe in the
+existence of other, and more pleasant little companions than the old
+toothless witches--the bright little fairies who, on account of the
+neglect which they have received from the present generation of
+Englishmen, have, so it is reported, left our shores in disgust, never
+to return. The previous inhabitants of our villages did not so treat
+them; and did not the fairies always bring them luck? They nailed the
+horseshoe to the stable door to keep out the witches, lest the old
+beldams should ride their steeds by night to the witches' revels; but
+no one wished to exclude the fairies. Did not the dairymaids find the
+butter ready churned, and the cows milked by these kind assistants? Was
+there not an old lady in Yorkshire who knew all about the fairies, had
+often heard them making butter, and had seen the butter smeared all
+over the gate by a little green man with a queer cap who had been seen
+slipping under a culvert? Canon Atkinson told us of this lady who knew
+all these strange things, and of the Hart Hall "Hob" who worked so hard
+with his flail, and of many other curious folk who frequented the
+Yorkshire moors in olden days. The last witch had just died before he
+went to Danby, but he found the whole atmosphere of the folklore
+firmament so surcharged with the being and work of the witch, that he
+seemed able to trace her presence and her activity in almost every nook
+and corner of the neighbourhood.
+
+The wells all over England were haunted by fairies, and is it not
+confidently asserted that "the good people" (as the fairies are called)
+live in wilds and forests, and shun great cities because of the
+wickedness which exists therein? Have they never appeared to the lonely
+traveller, clothed in green, with long hair floating over their
+shoulders, and with faces more blooming than the blush of a summer
+morning? Then there were the fairy rings formed by the dancing of their
+merry feet.
+
+  "Some say the screech-owl, at each midnight hour,
+  Awakes the fairies in yon ancient tower.
+  Their nightly dancing ring I always dread,
+  Nor let my sheep within that circle tread;
+  When round and round all night, in moonlight fair,
+  They dance to some strange music in the air."
+
+Then there were brownies; and knockers, who worked in mines, and showed
+rich veins of silver; and elves--all of whom were included in old
+village superstitions, and many were the tales told of the good deeds
+they did, and the luck they brought. Nor must we forget the story of
+the invisible smith who inhabited Wayland Smith's Cave, in Berkshire.
+Whenever a farmer tied up his horse in the cave, and left the money on
+a particular stone, on his return he found his horse shod by the kind
+efforts of the invisible smith. There is also the old Berkshire story
+of the old witch who lived in a cave by the roadside, and who, by the
+power of her "evil eye," could stop the strongest team of horses, so
+that, however much the carters lashed and swore at them, the animals
+would not budge an inch until she permitted them to go. Here are a few
+of the common superstitions current in Berkshire. If a corpse be kept
+over a Sunday another death will occur before the week is out; should a
+big bumble-bee enter the window, a guest may be expected; and when the
+woodpecker, commonly called the yaffle, laughs, they say the rain is
+coming. When the thick mist lies in the valley, the people say it is
+the White Lady, a belief closely akin to the Dame Blanche, who is said
+in Normandy to haunt streams. If one row of freshly sown seeds or
+potatoes does not come up, it foretells a death in the family. If a
+girl mends her clothes on her back, she risks having a drunken husband.
+A screech-owl is unlucky, and so also is it if a bird fly against the
+window.
+
+A woman came to the rectory a few years ago for a drop of sacramental
+wine, which she wanted for an infant who had "the graspings." This
+complaint I discovered to be a craving for something, accompanied by
+restlessness; and it was supposed that a drop of sacramental wine would
+cure an infant so troubled. If the mother before the child was born
+craved for drink, this craving was communicated to the child, and could
+only be remedied by a drop of wine used in Holy Communion. This
+superstition, which I have met with elsewhere, probably is a relic of
+pre-Reformation days, and of sacramental Reservation.
+
+A tramp was passing through a Hampshire village a short time ago, and
+calling at a house, begged for a glass of water. The woman who lived
+there said that she was sorry she could not give him water to drink, as
+there was a child in the house unbaptised, and therefore it would be
+unlucky. The origin of this superstition it is difficult to trace.
+
+These are some of the legends and superstitions which linger amongst
+us. Every neighbourhood has its stories, its legends, and romantic
+histories. It is a sad pity that these should pass away without any
+record being made. Many curious customs and ceremonies relating to
+christenings, marriages, and burials linger in remote hamlets; and
+charms, curious remedies, and other relics of the quaint superstitions
+of our forefathers, are full of interest to the lover of our English
+villages.
+
+As we walk in the fields, or study the old map of the parish, the names
+of the fields invite our attention. These are full of interest, and
+often tell us about matters which would be entirely forgotten. Some
+names tell us of the great forests which used to exist all over the
+country, when kings and noblemen, outlaws and poachers, used to hunt
+the deer and the wild boars in many a successful run. These forests
+were large tracts of country in its natural state, partly wood, partly
+heather and grass, which were owned by the king, and were especially
+brought under the harsh forest laws of the Norman sovereigns.
+
+Some of our field-names remind us of the existence of these old forests
+where corn now grows, and also of swamps and islands where everything
+now is dry and far removed from water. Sometimes they tell us of the
+old common lands which used to be farmed by the villeins and borderers,
+and of the strange way in which they used to manage their farming. Each
+man used to keep one or more oxen for the village plough until they
+made up the team into eight; then they ploughed the land in strips of
+an acre or half-acre each, divided by a bit of unploughed turf called
+a balk. Each strip was a furlong, _i.e._ a "furrow long," _i.e._ the
+length of the drive of a plough before it is turned. This was forty
+rods, or poles, and four of these furrows made up the acre. These
+pieces of land were called "shots," and there were "headlands," or
+common field-ways, to each shot; and "gored acres," which were corners
+of the fields which could not be cut up into strips, and odds and ends
+of unused land, which were called "No Man's Land," or "Jack's Land." It
+is curious, too, that all the strips belonging to one man did not lie
+together, but were scattered all over the common land, which must have
+been a very inconvenient arrangement for farming purposes. There were
+also in each village community a blacksmith, whose duty it was to keep
+in repair the ironwork of the village ploughs, a carpenter for the
+woodwork, and a pound-keeper, or punder, who looked after the stray
+cattle. Many of the "balks" still remain on the hillsides where these
+old common lands existed, and the names of the fields bear witness to
+the prevalence of this old field system.
+
+They tell us, too, of the way in which attempts were made to force the
+growth of particular crops, and in many parishes you will find a "flax
+piece," which reminds us of a foolish Act of Henry VIII. ordering the
+cultivation of that plant. Metals, too, which have long ago been
+worked out, and trades which no longer exist, have left their traces
+behind in the names of our lanes and fields. Also they speak of the
+early days when the wolf or the bear might be seen in our woods or
+fields, or of the beaver which loved the quietude of our streams, of
+the eagle which carried off the lambs undisturbed by sound of the
+keeper's gun. Sometimes he was disturbed in his thefts by the flight
+of a good strong English arrow, which came from a sturdy English bow
+drawn by a good strong English arm. The English archers were famous
+everywhere, and many a battle has been won by their valour and their
+skill. A law was passed in the reign of Edward IV. that every
+Englishman should have a bow of his own height, and that butts for the
+practice of archery should be set up in every village; and every man
+was obliged to shoot up and down on every feast-day, or be fined one
+halfpenny. Consequently, in some villages we find a field called "The
+Butts," where this old practice took place.[11]
+
+Many villages are associated with the lives of distinguished
+men--authors, soldiers, and statesmen. Perhaps your village may have
+bred other poets besides "the mute inglorious Milton" of Gray's
+_Elegy_. Not far from where I am writing was Pope's early home, the
+village of Binfield, which he calls--
+
+          "My paternal home,
+  A little house, with trees arow,
+  And, like its master, very low."
+
+On the other side lies the village of Three Mile Cross, where Miss
+Mitford lived and wrote "Our Village"; and Arborfield, called in her
+book Arborleigh, about which she tells some pleasant stories, is the
+adjoining parish. Sometimes, as I ride down a grassy lane, a favourite
+haunt of the distinguished authoress, I seem to see her seated on a
+fallen tree weaving her pretty romances, while her favourite dog, which
+she often describes, plays and barks around her. A few miles in another
+direction lies Eversley, the loved abode of Charles Kingsley, about
+whom many stories linger in the countryside. To visit the uncomfortable
+brick-paved study where he wrote, the garden where he used to pace and
+think out his great thoughts, is delightfully refreshing and
+invigorating to a jaded writer.
+
+[Illustration: OLD COTTAGES]
+
+These are only instances of places which have become interesting on
+account of the famous men who once lived in them; and England has many
+heroes of the sword and pen whose lives each Englishman should study;
+and when you visit their dwelling-places you will recall their
+achievements, and perhaps endeavour to imitate their examples. Here is
+an instance of how little the villagers know of the distinguished men
+who once lived amongst them. The great Duke of Wellington did not live
+a very long time ago, and yet some friends of mine who were staying at
+Strathfieldsaye, near the Iron Duke's house, and made inquiries amongst
+the villagers about their recollections of the hero of Waterloo, could
+obtain no information. At last one venerable rustic vouchsafed the
+extraordinary intelligence, "I believe as 'ow 'e were very good at
+war"! What a thing it is to be famous!
+
+Much more remains to be said upon the various subjects which this
+history of our village suggests. But the day is closing, and our walk
+through its sequestered lanes and our thoughts about the various scenes
+which yonder venerable oaks have witnessed, must cease. But enough has
+been said to show what a wealth of interest lies beneath the calm
+exterior of ordinary village life. An American truly observes that
+everything in the rural life of England is associated with ideas of
+order, of quiet, sober, well-established principles, of hoary usage,
+and reverent custom--the growth of ages of regular and peaceful
+existence. The impression which the appearance of an English village
+left on his mind is beautifully described in the following passage:--
+
+"The old church of remote architecture with its low, massive portal,
+its gothic tower, its windows rich with tracery and painted glass,
+its scrupulous preservation, its stately monuments of warriors and
+worthies of olden times, ancestors of the present lords of the soil;
+its tombstones, recording successive generations of sturdy yeomanry,
+whose progeny still plough the same fields, and kneel at the same
+altar; the parsonage, a quaint, irregular pile, partly antiquated,
+but repaired and altered in the tastes of various eyes and occupants;
+the stile and footpath leading from the churchyard, across pleasant
+fields, and along shady hedgerows, according to an immemorial
+right-of-way; the neighbouring village, with its venerable cottages,
+its public green sheltered by trees, under which the forefathers of
+the present race have sported; the antique family mansion, standing
+apart in some little rural domain, but looking down with a protecting
+air on the surrounding scene. All these common features of English
+landscape evince a calm and settled security, and hereditary
+transmission of homebred virtues and local attachments, that speak
+deeply and touchingly for the moral character of the nation."
+
+One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+continual decrease of its population. All our young men flock to the
+towns, attracted by the greater excitement which town life offers, as
+compared with the more homely pleasures of the country. The rural
+exodus is an alarming and very real danger to the welfare of social
+England. Agricultural machinery has greatly diminished the number of
+labourers required on a farm. Agricultural depression and the decreased
+value of land have caused many old country families to close their old
+manor-houses, as they cannot afford to live on their estates.
+
+Let us hope that those whose happy lot it is to live in the quiet
+hamlets of our native land, afar from the noise and din of busy towns,
+will learn to love more deeply their village homes, and interest
+themselves in their surroundings. To those who read the history of
+their native place, each house and field, each stone and tree, will
+tell its story, and recount the wonders it has witnessed. And as the
+stories of wars and fights, of superstition and of crime, fall on our
+ears, we shall be thankful that our lot is cast in more peaceful days,
+when no persecutions, religious or political, disturb the tranquillity
+of our village life. And when we read of the piety and simplicity of
+our forefathers, their veneration of their church, their love of home,
+their innocent joys and social customs, we should strive to imitate
+their virtues which have materially helped to make England a great and
+powerful nation. It is hoped that these chapters upon the old life of
+our country, and the manners and customs of our forefathers, may induce
+many of my readers to read and study history more deeply, may serve to
+create an interest in the relics that remain to us of the past, and to
+preserve the fleeting traditions that Time doth consecrate.
+
+
+[11] In many cases the name "Butts" refers to the fact of the land,
+under the common-field system, _abutting_ on meadows or roads, _e.g._
+"Butt-close," in the parish of St. Mary Bourne.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+
+To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village,
+the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the
+name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and
+old county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor's _Words
+and Places_, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in
+_Domesday_ and old documents. Bede's _History_, the _Anglo-Saxon
+Chronicles_, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may
+contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also
+Kemble's _Saxons in England_. The _Domesday Book_ is, of course, a mine
+of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many documents which will
+be of great service--the _Testa de Neville_ (Edward II.), _Marshall
+Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls,
+Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem_, and the _Feet of Fines_. The
+_Manor Court Rolls_, if they still exist, in the custody of the lord of
+the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local antiquarian
+societies and county histories will of course be examined. The history
+of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The British
+Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of _Heralds'
+Visitations_, and Burke's _Landed Gentry_ and Dugdale's _Baronage_
+are the chief sources of information. Old _wills_ will yield much
+information, many of which are in course of publication by the Index
+Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House and many
+diocesan registries contain the original documents. The Historical
+Manuscripts Commission has published many volumes of borough records
+which are of great service, and the lives of any great men connected
+with the parish may be studied in the _Dictionary of National
+Biography_. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains
+valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and
+its contents should be carefully examined.
+
+The registers of the diocese contain many documents relating to the
+ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a
+list of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any
+monastery, Dugdale's _Monasticon_ will furnish some information. The
+Public Record Office contains the documents _Taxatio Ecclesiastica P.
+Nicholai IV._ and _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, which give an account of the
+value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the sale
+of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the saint
+to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in spite of
+years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some early will
+of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which usually
+gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ in
+stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the
+help of Rickman's _Gothic Architecture_ or Parker's _Glossary of Gothic
+Architecture_. If there has ever been a monastery in the parish,
+Dugdale's _Monasticon_ should be consulted; and if there are any remains
+of a castle, Clark's _Mediaeval Military Architecture in England_ will
+be useful. Prehistoric remains, such as barrows, earthworks, pit
+dwellings, and caves should be described; also any Roman roads and
+villas; the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood, geology, folklore,
+and dialect.
+
+The following books are recommended:--
+
+Evans' _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_.
+Evans' _ Ancient Bronze Implements_.
+Boyd Dawkins' _Cave Hunting_.
+Boyd Dawkins' _Early Man in Britain_.
+Greenwell's _British Barrows_.
+Fergusson's _Rude Stone Monuments_.
+Cox's _How to Write the History of a Parish_.
+Wright's _Essays on Archaeological Subjects_.
+Parker's _Mediaeval Domestic Architecture_.
+Sims' _Manual for the Topographer and Genealogist_.
+Burn's _History of Parish Registers_.
+Seebohm's _English Village Community_.
+Toulmin Smith's _English Gilds_.
+Haine's _Manual of Monumental Brasses_.
+Bloxam's _Principles of Gothic Architecture_.
+Tanner's _Notitia Monastica_.
+Cutts' _Middle Ages_.
+Lee's _Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms_.
+
+
+INDEX
+
+Akeman Street, 60
+Aldhelm, church-builder, 103
+Alfriston clergy-house, 180
+_Alignements_, 46
+Allington rectory, 180
+Almshouses, 181
+Altars, 191
+Amphitheatre, Roman, 67
+Anchoresses, 183
+Anchor-hold, 183
+Anglo-Saxon villages, 74-89
+Archery, 277, 298
+Architecture, English, 102-24
+Arresting a dead body, 227
+Arrow-heads, 20
+_Art of Husbandry_, 255
+Astrology, belief in, 222
+Aumbry, 192
+Avebury cromlech, 46
+
+B
+
+Ball-flower moulding, 118
+Barkham in _Domesday_, 128
+Barnack Church, 106
+Barrows or tumuli, 23-3
+  "    long and round, 25
+  "    near churchyards, 23
+  "    Saxon, 90-3
+  "    their contents, 24, 29
+Basilica, Roman, 66
+Beacons, 268
+Beating the bounds, 276
+Bede, 75
+Bell-ringing customs, 250
+Bells, 245-53
+  "    christening of, 246
+  "    inscription on, 247-50
+Benedict Biscop, 103
+Benedictine monks, 161
+Bewcastle cross, 98
+Bishops, treating of, 229
+Black Death, 255
+Blood-letting, 167-9
+Blowing Stone, 52
+_Bordarii_, 131
+Border castles, 140
+Brachycephalic race, 21
+Brasses, monumental, 212-18
+Bridal cup, 207
+Brief Book, 226
+Brighthampton, pit dwellings at,  33
+British Church, 93
+  "    oppida, 34
+  "    roads, 60, 61
+  "    saints and martyrs, 94
+Bronze Age, 21, 40
+Budworth hermitage, 182
+Burial urns, 29, 30
+  "    urns in woollen, 220
+
+C
+
+Caesar's camps, 50
+Camps, 50-52
+Carthusian monks, 162
+Castles, 135-53
+Cave men, 16
+Celts, 21, 34, 37, 56
+Cemeteries, Saxon, 92
+Censers, 205
+Chancels, 190
+Charles II., adventures of, 267
+Chaucer's satire on monks, 160
+Chepstow Castle, 140
+Chest, parish, 218-29
+Chivalry, 143, 148
+Chrismatory, 206
+Christmas in olden time, 278
+Chun Castle, 51
+Church ales, 258
+Church bells, 245-53
+  "    house, 258
+  "    plate, 200-8
+  "    yard, 243
+Churches, parish, 184 99
+Churchwardens' account books, 223-6
+Cistercian monks, 114, 161
+Civil War, effects of, 153, 220, 265
+Cloister of monastery, 163
+Cluny, monks of, 161
+Consecration crosses, 239
+Conversion of Saxons, 94, 95
+Crannogs, 38
+Cremation, 28, 29, 92
+Cromlechs, 46-9
+Crosses, Saxon, 95-101
+Cross-legged effigies, 211
+Cucking-stool, 280
+
+D
+
+Decay of old sports, 271
+Decorated architecture, 117
+Desecration of monasteries, 159
+Devil's Highway, 61
+Dog-tooth ornament, 116
+Dog-whipper, 228
+Dolichocephalic race, 19
+Dolmen, 49, 50
+_Domesday Book_, 125-34
+Donnington Castle, 152
+Druids, 48, 50
+
+E
+
+Early English architecture, 115-17
+Earthworks, 50-6
+Easter sepulchre, 193
+Edge Hill, battle of, 264
+Edwardian castles, 140
+Emblems on brasses, 217
+Enstone, menhir at, 45
+Eslithic man, 14
+Epitaphs, curious, 243
+Ermyn Street, 60
+"Evil eye," 291-3
+
+F
+
+Fairford windows, 232
+Fairies, 56, 293
+Fairs, 261
+Feudalism, 141
+Field-names, 296-8
+Flint implements, discovery of, 11
+Flint implements, 15, 20
+Fonts, 186
+Food in barrows, 24, 25
+Football, 277
+Force-pump, Roman, 68
+Frescoes, 234
+Friars, preaching, 161
+Future life, belief in, shown by barrows, 24
+
+G
+
+Gambassi, glass-painter, 232
+_Geburs_, 82
+Gentleman, accomplishments of a, 149
+Geological changes, 11-13
+Glaciers in Britain, 12
+Glass, stained, 230-3
+Glastonbury, pit dwellings at, 37, 41, 42
+Green, village, 8, 280
+Grims-dike, 54, 55
+Grosmont Castle, 141
+Guizot on castles, 141
+
+H
+
+Hagioscopes, 194
+Hall marks, 208
+Harvest homes, 275
+Hastings, battle of, 264
+Heart burial, 222
+Hedsor, pile dwellings at, 37, 38
+_Hereivard the Wake_, 264
+Hermits, 181
+Hexham church, 104
+  "    crosses, 99
+Highwaymen, 283
+Hocktide sports, 225, 273
+Homes of famous men, 298
+Hospitium of monastery, 169
+House, evolution of country, 172-7
+Hundreds, origin of, 87
+Hurstbourne, Hants, pit dwellings at, 34
+
+I
+
+Ice Age, 12, 13
+Iknield Street, 60
+Ilkley cross, 99
+Inigo Jones, 176
+Inns, 7, 282-90
+Inventories, 201
+Iron Age, 21
+  "    work in churches, 233
+_Itinerary_ of Antoninus, 59
+
+J
+
+Jervais, glass-painter, 232
+Johnson, Dr., on monasteries, 159
+
+K
+
+Keep of Norman castle, 137
+Kelvedon rectory, 179
+Kenilworth Castle, 151
+King's evil, 228
+Knaresborough hermitage, 182
+Knighthood, admission to, 145
+
+L
+
+Laindon reclusorium, 183
+Lammas lands, 79
+Lecterns, 191
+Legends, 44, 55, 263
+"Lepers' windows," 195
+Lich-gate, 242
+Local Government, 254
+Low side windows, 195
+
+M
+
+Manor-house, 172-7
+Manors, 79, 133
+Man-traps, 289
+Markets, 260
+May Day, 225, 273
+Mediaeval village, 254-70
+Menhir, 45
+"Merry England," 256
+Milestones, Roman, 61
+Miracle plays, 274
+_Misereres_, 191
+Monasteries, Saxon, 102
+  "    154-71
+  "    charity of, 159
+Monastic day, 166, 167
+  "    inns, 282
+Monks, benefits conferred by, 155
+  "    corruption of, 160
+Monstrances, 206
+Monumental effigies, 209-12
+Mothering Sunday, 273
+Mouldings, Decorated, 118, 120
+  "    Early English, 116
+  "    Norman, 112
+  "    Perpendicular, 123
+Mural paintings, 234-41
+
+N
+
+Neolithic man, 15, 18, 20, 37
+Norman architecture, 109-15
+  "    castles, 135-53
+  "    place-names, 132
+  "    villages, 125-34
+Normans, coming of, 125
+
+O
+
+Ockwells manor-house, 173
+Ogee arch, 118
+Organised condition of society among prehistoric races, 31
+Ornaments, Saxon, 91
+_Osculatorium_, 192
+Oxford, poor scholar of, 229
+
+P
+
+Pageants, 149-52
+Paleolithic man, 14
+Palimpsests, 213
+Parish chest, 218-29
+  "    registers, 218-23
+Paschall money, 225
+Pastimes, 271-81
+Pavements, Roman, 71, 72
+Pax, 192, 206
+Perpendicular architecture, 120
+Pews, 187
+_Piers Ploughman_, 165, 174, 181
+Pile dwellings, 37-43
+Pilgrimages, 259
+Piscina, 192
+Pit dwellings, 33-7
+Place-names, 76, 101
+Plague, 255-7
+Plate, church, 200-8
+  "    "    in bishop's coffin, 202
+Ploughman's lament, 84
+Plough Monday, 272
+Porch, 185
+"Pot-boilers," 36
+Pre-Reformation plate, 202-5
+Pulpits, 188
+Pytheas of Marseilles, 10
+Pyx, 191, 206
+
+Q
+
+Quintain, 277
+
+R
+
+Raglan Castle, 141
+Reading Abbey, 171
+Reading-pews, 197
+Reclusorium, 183
+  "    at Rettenden, 183
+Rectories, 177-81
+Registers, parish, 218-23
+Religion of Saxons, 93
+"Restoration," 199
+Rollright Stones, 46, 47
+Roman relics, 57-73
+  "    rig, 54
+  "    roads, 58-62
+  "    villas, 70-3
+Rood-loft, 188
+Royal arms in churches, 190
+Rural exodus, 300
+Rush-bearing, 276
+Ruthwell cross, 97
+Ryknield Street, 60
+
+S
+
+Sacring bell, 252
+St. Christopher, 238
+Salisbury Cathedral, 115
+Saltways, 61
+Sanctus bell, 252
+Saxon architecture, 106-9
+  "    house, 172
+  "    monasteries, 102
+  "    place-names, 76, 77
+  "    relics, 90-101
+Saxons, coming of, 74, 75
+Screens, 189
+Secret chambers, 177
+Settle, Victoria Cave at, 17
+Shires, origin of, 88
+Shrovetide sports, 273
+Signs of inns, 284-8
+Silchester, 54, 62-70
+Slavery under Saxons, 84
+Sluggard waker, 228
+Smoke farthings, 226
+_Socmen_, 83, 131
+Spenser's description of hermitage, 182
+Sports and pastimes, 271-81
+Stocks, 280
+Stonehenge, 46
+Stone monuments, 44-50
+Stourbridge Fair, 261
+Sudeley Castle, pageant at, 149-51
+Sun-worship, relics of, 27
+Superstitions, 44, 295
+Switzerland, pile dwellings in, 38-41
+
+T
+
+"Terraces," 19
+_Tesserae_, 65, 71
+Thanes, 80
+Thane's house, 81
+Thuribles, 205
+Tiles, 233
+Tournaments, 146-9
+Tudor arch, 121
+  "    houses, 175
+Tumuli, _see_ Barrows
+Turf monuments, 53, 54
+Twelfth Night, 272
+Tympana, Norman, 110
+
+U
+
+Uffington, 52-4
+Ufton Court, Berks, 176, 178
+
+V
+
+Vernicle, 201
+Vestry, contents of, 196
+Vicarages, 177-81
+Villas, Roman, 70-3
+Villeins, 130, 255
+
+W
+
+Wars, 262-70
+Watling Street, 60
+Wayland Smith's Cave, 27, 294
+Whalley cross, 96
+  "    reclusorium, 184
+White Castle, 141
+White Horse Hill, 53
+Whittenham Clumps, 52
+Wilfrid, St., 96, 104, 108, 230
+Witches, 291
+  "    turned into hares, 292
+Woollen, burials in, 220
+Worlebury, pit dwellings at, 34
+
+Y
+
+Yeomen, 83, 131
+Yew tree in churchyard, 241
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+***** This file should be named 9197.txt or 9197.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/9/1/9/9197/
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders.
+Illustrated HTML version by David Widger
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/9197.zip b/9197.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c28cf4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/9197.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d8c5b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #9197 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9197)
diff --git a/old/7vilg10.txt b/old/7vilg10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c812082
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/7vilg10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8439 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+#2 in our series by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: English Villages
+
+Author: P. H. Ditchfield
+
+Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9197]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on September 15, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+ENGLISH VILLAGES
+
+BY
+
+P.H. DITCHFIELD
+M.A., F.S.A.
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+Eleven years ago my little book on the antiquities of English villages
+was published. Its object was to interest our rustic neighbours in
+their surroundings, to record the social life of the people at various
+times--their feasts and fairs, sports and pastimes, faiths and
+superstitions--and to describe the scenes which once took place in the
+fields and lanes they know so well. A friendly reviewer remarked that
+the wonder was that a book of that kind had never been written before,
+and that that was the first attempt to give a popular and readable
+sketch of the history and associations of our villages. In the present
+work I have attempted to fill in the sketch with greater detail, and to
+write not only for the villagers themselves, but for all those who by
+education are able to take a more intelligent interest in the study of
+the past.
+
+During the last decade many village histories have been written, and
+if this book should be of service to anyone who is compiling the
+chronicles of some rural world, or if it should induce some who have
+the necessary leisure and ability to undertake such works, it will not
+have been written in vain.
+
+One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+continual decrease of the population. The rural exodus is an alarming
+and very real danger to the welfare of social England. The country is
+considered dull and life therein dreary both by squire and peasant
+alike. Hence the attractions of towns or the delights of travel empty
+our villages. The manor-house is closed and labourers are scarce. To
+increase the attractions of our villages, to arouse an interest in
+their past history and social life, is worth attempting; and perhaps
+this Story may be of some use in fostering local patriotism, and in
+reconciling those who spend their lives far from the busy hives of men
+to their lot, when they find how much interest lies immediately around
+them.
+
+The study of archaeology has been pursued with much vigour during
+recent years, and increased knowledge has overthrown the many wild
+theories and conjectures which were gravely pronounced to be
+ascertained facts by the antiquaries of fifty years ago. Gildas,
+Geoffrey of Monmouth, or Richard of Cirencester are no longer accepted
+as safe and infallible guides. We know that there were such people as
+the Druids, but we no longer attribute to them the great stone circles
+nor imagine them sacrificing on "Druid's altars," as our forefathers
+called the dolmens. The history of Britain no longer begins with the
+advent of Julius Caesar, nor is his account of the Celtic tribes and
+their manners accepted as a full and complete statement of all that
+is known about them. The study of flint implements, of barrows and
+earthworks, has considerably thrown back our historical horizon and
+enabled us to understand the conditions of life in our island in the
+early days of a remote past before the dawn of history. The systematic
+excavation of Silchester, so ably conducted by the Society of
+Antiquaries, and of other Roman sites of towns and villas, enables us
+to realise more clearly the history of Britain under the rule of the
+Empire; and the study of the etymology of place-names has overthrown
+many of the absurd derivations which found a place in the old county
+histories, and are often repeated by the writers of modern guide books.
+Moreover patient labour amid old records, rolls, and charters, has
+vastly increased our knowledge of the history of manors; and the
+ancient parish registers and churchwardens' account books have been
+made to yield their store of information for the benefit of industrious
+students and scholars. There has been much destruction and much
+construction; and this good work will doubtless continue, until at
+length English archaeology may be dignified with the title of an exact
+science. Destruction of another kind is much to be deplored, which has
+left its mark on many an English village. The so-called "restoration"
+of ancient parish churches, frequently conducted by men ignorant of the
+best traditions of English architecture, the obliteration of the old
+architectural features, the entire destruction of many interesting
+buildings, have wrought deplorable ruin in our villages, and severed
+the links with the past which now can never be repaired. The progress
+of antiquarian knowledge will I trust arrest the destroyer's hand and
+prevent any further spoliation of our diminished inheritance. If this
+book should be found useful in stimulating an intelligent interest in
+architectural studies, and in protecting our ancient buildings from
+such acts of vandalism, its purpose will have been abundantly achieved.
+
+I am indebted to many friends and acquaintances for much information
+which has been useful to me in writing this book; to Sir John Evans
+whose works are invaluable to all students of ancient stone and bronze
+implements; to Dr. Cox whose little book on _How to Write the History
+of a Parish_ is a sure and certain guide to local historians; to Mr.
+St. John Hope and Mr. Fallow for much information contained in their
+valuable monograph on _Old Church Plate_; to the late Dr. Stevens, of
+Reading; to Mr. Shrubsole of the same town; to Mr. Gibbins, the author
+of _The Industrial History of England_, for the use of an illustration
+from his book; to Mr. Melville, Mr. P.J. Colson, and the Rev. W.
+Marshall for their photographic aid; and to many other authors who are
+only known to me by their valuable works. To all of these gentlemen I
+desire to express my thanks, and also to Mr. Mackintosh for his
+artistic sketch of a typical English village, which forms the
+frontispiece of my book.
+
+P.H.D.
+
+BARKHAM RECTORY
+_May_, 1901
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.     INTRODUCTION
+II.    PREHISTORIC REMAINS
+III.   TUMULI OR BARROWS
+IV.    PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS
+V.     CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS
+VI.    ROMAN RELICS
+VII.   ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
+VIII.  SAXON RELICS
+IX.    ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
+X.     NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE "DOMESDAY BOOK"
+XI.    NORMAN CASTLES
+XII.   MONASTERIES
+XIII.  THE MANOR-HOUSE
+XIV.   PARISH CHURCHES
+XV.    CHURCH PLATE
+XVI.   MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES
+XVII.  THE PARISH CHEST
+XVIII. STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS
+XIX.   CHURCH BELLS
+XX.    THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE
+XXI.   VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES
+XXII.  THE VILLAGE INN
+XXIII. VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
+
+       APPENDIX--BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO
+       PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+
+       INDEX
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+FULL-PAGE
+
+An English village
+Village street
+Palaeolithic implements
+Neolithic and bronze implements
+Old market cross
+Broughton Castle
+Netley Abbey, south transept
+Southcote Manor, showing moat and pigeon-house
+Old Manor-house--Upton Court
+Stone Tithe Barn, Bradford-on-Avon
+Village church in the Vale
+An ancient village
+Anne Hathaway's cottage
+Old stocks and whipping-post
+Village inn, with old Tithe Barn of Reading Abbey
+Old cottages
+
+IN THE TEXT
+
+Barbed and leaf-shaped arrow-heads
+Plan of a tumulus
+Plan of tumulus called Wayland Smith's Cave, Berkshire
+Celtic cinerary urn
+Articles found in pit dwellings
+Iron spear-head found at Hedsor
+Menhir
+Rollright stones (from Camden's _Britannia_, 1607)
+Dolmen
+Plan and section of Chun Castle
+The White Horse at Uffington
+Plan of Silchester
+Capital of column
+Roman force-pump
+Tesselated pavement
+Beating acorns for swine (from the Cotton MS., _Nero_, c. 4)
+House of Saxon thane
+Wheel plough (from the Bayeux tapestry)
+Smithy (from the Cotton MS., B 4)
+Saxon relics
+Consecration of a Saxon church
+Tower of Barnack Church, Northamptonshire
+Doorway, Earl's Barton Church
+Tower window, Monkwearmouth Church
+Sculptured head of doorway, Fordington Church, Dorset
+Norman capitals
+Norman ornamental mouldings
+Croyland Abbey Church, Lincolnshire
+Semi-Norman arch, Church of St. Cross
+Early English piers and capitals
+Dog-tooth ornament
+Brownsover Chapel, Warwickshire
+Ball-flower mouldings, Tewkesbury Abbey
+Ogee arch
+Decorated capitals, Hanwell and Chacombe
+Decorated windows, Merton College Chapel; Sandiacre, Derbyshire
+Decorated mouldings, Elton, Huntingdonshire; Austrey, Warwickshire
+Perpendicular window, Merton College Chapel, Oxford
+Tudor arch, vestry door, Adderbury Church, Oxon
+Perpendicular parapet, St. Erasmus' Chapel, Westminster Abbey
+Perpendicular moulding, window, Christchurch, Oxford
+Diagram of a manor
+Ancient plan of Old Sarum
+A Norman castle
+Tournament
+A monk transcribing
+Ockwells manor-house
+Richmond Palace
+Doorway and staircase, Ufton Court
+The porch, Ufton Court
+Window of south wing, Ufton Court
+Ancient pew-work, Tysoe Church, Warwickshire
+Early English screen, Thurcaston, Leicestershire
+Norman piscina, Romsey Church, Hants
+Lowside window, Dallington Church, Northamptonshire
+Reading-pew, seventeenth century, Langley Chapel, Salop.
+Chalice and paten, Sandford, Oxfordshire
+Pre-Reformation plate
+Censer or thurible
+Mural paintings
+Ancient sanctus bell found at Warwick
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+Local histories--Ignorance and destruction--Advantages of the study
+of village antiquities--Description of an English village--The church--
+The manor-house--Prehistoric people--Later inhabitants--Saxons--Village
+inn--Village green--Legends.
+
+
+To write a complete history of any village is one of the hardest literary
+labours which anyone can undertake. The soil is hard, and the crop after
+the expenditure of much toil is often very scanty. In many cases the
+records are few and difficult to discover, buried amidst the mass of
+papers at the Record Office, or entombed in some dusty corner of the
+Diocesan Registry. Days may be spent in searching for these treasures
+of knowledge with regard to the past history of a village without any
+adequate result; but sometimes fortune favours the industrious toiler,
+and he discovers a rich ore which rewards him for all his pains. Slowly
+his store of facts grows, and he is at last able to piece together the
+history of his little rural world, which time and the neglect of past
+generations had consigned to dusty oblivion.
+
+In recent years several village histories have been written with varied
+success by both competent and incompetent scribes; but such books are few
+in number, and we still have to deplore the fact that so little is known
+about the hamlets in which we live. All writers seem to join in the same
+lament, and mourn over the ignorance that prevails in rural England with
+regard to the treasures of antiquity, history, and folklore, which are to
+be found almost everywhere. We may still echo the words of the learned
+author of _Tom Brown's Schooldays_, the late Mr. Hughes, who said that
+the present generation know nothing of their own birthplaces, or of the
+lanes, woods, and fields through which they roam. Not one young man in
+twenty knows where to find the wood-sorrel, or the bee-orchis; still
+fewer can tell the country legends, the stories of the old gable-ended
+farmhouses, or the place where the last skirmish was fought in the Civil
+War, or where the parish butts stood. Nor is this ignorance confined to
+the unlearned rustics; it is shared by many educated people, who have
+travelled abroad and studied the history of Rome or Venice, Frankfort or
+Bruges, and yet pass by unheeded the rich stores of antiquarian lore,
+which they witness every day, and never think of examining closely and
+carefully. There are very few villages in England which have no objects
+of historical interest, no relics of the past which are worthy of
+preservation. "Restoration," falsely so called, conducted by ignorant
+or perverse architects, has destroyed and removed many features of our
+parish churches; the devastating plough has well-nigh levelled many an
+ancient barrow; railroads have changed the character of rustic life and
+killed many an old custom and rural festival. Old legends and quaint
+stories of the countryside have given place to talks about politics and
+newspaper gossip. But still much remains if we learn to examine things
+for ourselves, and endeavour to gather up the relics of the past and save
+them from the destructive hand of Time.
+
+A great service may thus be rendered not only to the cause of history,
+but also to the villagers of rural England, by those who have time,
+leisure, and learning, sufficient to gain some knowledge of bygone times.
+It adds greatly to the interest of their lives to know something of the
+place where they live; and it has been well said that every man's concern
+with his native place has something more in it than the amount of rates
+and taxes that he has to pay. He may not be able to write a history of
+his parish, but he can gather up the curious gossip of the neighbourhood,
+the traditions and stories which have been handed down from former
+generations. And if anyone is at the pains to acquire some knowledge of
+local history, and will impart what he knows to his poorer neighbours, he
+will add greatly to their interest in life. Life is a burden, labour mere
+drudgery, when a man has nothing in which he can interest himself. When
+we remember the long hours which an agricultural labourer spends alone,
+without a creature to speak to, except his horses or the birds, we can
+imagine how dull his life must be, if his mind be not occupied. But here,
+on his own ground, he may find an endless supply of food for thought,
+which will afford him much greater pleasure and satisfaction than
+thinking and talking about his neighbours' faults, reflecting upon his
+wrongs, or imitating the example of one of his class who, when asked
+by the squire what he was thinking so deeply about, replied, "Mostly
+naught." To remove the pall of ignorance that darkens the rustic mind,
+to quicken his understanding and awaken his interest, are certainly
+desirable objects; although his ignorance is very often shared by his
+betters, who frequently hazard very strange theories and manifest many
+curious ideas with regard to village antiquities.
+
+We will walk together through the main roads of the village, and observe
+some of its many points of interest. Indeed, it is no small thing to live
+in such a "city of memories" as every village is, when at every turn and
+corner we meet with something that reminds us of the past, and recalls
+the pleasing associations of old village life. To those who have lived
+amid the din and turmoil of a large town, where everybody is in a hurry,
+and there is nothing but noise, confusion, and bustle, the delicious
+calm and quietude of an old English village, undisturbed by the world's
+rude noise, is most grateful. But to live in memory of what has gone
+before, of the lives and customs of our forefathers, of the strange
+events that have happened on the very ground upon which we are standing,
+all this will make us love our village homes and delight in them
+exceedingly. In most of our large towns the old features are fast
+disappearing; historical houses have been pulled down to make room
+for buildings more adapted to present needs, and everything is being
+modernised; but in the country everything remains the same, and it is
+not so difficult to let one's thoughts wander into the past, and picture
+to one's self the old features of village life in bygone times.
+
+Most of our villages have the usual common features, and it is not
+difficult to describe a typical example, though the details vary very
+much, and the histories of no two villages are identical. We see arising
+above the trees the church, the centre of the old village life, both
+religious, secular, and social. It stands upon a site which has been
+consecrated to the service of God for many centuries. There is possibly
+in or near the churchyard a tumulus, or burial mound, which shows that
+the spot was set apart for some religious observances even before
+Christianity reached our shores. Here the early Saxon missionary planted
+his cross and preached in the open air to the gathered villagers. Here
+a Saxon thane built a rude timber church which was supplanted by an
+early Norman structure of stone with round arches and curiously carved
+ornamentation. This building has been added to at various times, and now
+shows, writ in stone, its strange and varied history. The old time-worn
+registers, kept in the parish chest in the vestry, breathe the
+atmosphere of bygone times, and tell the stories and romances of the
+"rude forefathers of the hamlet." The tombs and monuments of knights and
+ancient heroes tell many a tale of valour and old-world prowess, of
+families that have entirely died out, of others that still happily
+remain amongst us, and record the names and virtues of many an
+illustrious house. The windows, brasses, bells, and inscriptions, have
+all some interesting story to relate, which we hope presently to examine
+more minutely.
+
+Nestling amid the trees we see the manor-house, standing probably on the
+site of a much older edifice; and this building carries our thoughts back
+to the Saxon and early Norman times, when the lord of the manor had
+vassals and serfs under him, held his manorial court, and reigned as a
+king in his own small domain. The history of the old English manor is a
+very important one, concerning which much has been written, many
+questions disputed, and some points still remain to be decided.
+
+Then we notice an old farmhouse which has doubtless seen better days, for
+there are the remains of an ancient moat around it, as if some family of
+importance once lived there, and wished to guard themselves and their
+possessions from troublesome visitors. This moat tells of the times of
+war and lawlessness, of wild and fierce animals roaming the countryside;
+and if the walls of the old house could speak how many stories could they
+tell of the strange customs of our ancestors, of bread riots, of civil
+wars, and disturbances which once destroyed the tranquillity of our
+peaceful villages!
+
+We shall endeavour to discover the earliest inhabitants of our villages
+who left their traces behind in the curious stone and bronze weapons of
+war or domestic implements, and who lived in far remote periods before
+the dawn of history. The barrows, or tumuli, which contain their dead
+bodies tell us much about them; and also the caves and lake dwellings
+help us to form some very accurate notions of the conditions of life in
+those distant days. We shall see that the Britons or Celts were far from
+being the naked woad-dyed savages described by Caesar, whose account has
+so long been deemed sufficient by the historians of our childhood. We
+shall call to mind the many waves of invaders which rolled over our
+country--the Celts, the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans--all of whom
+have left some traces behind them, and added sundry chapters to the story
+of our villages.
+
+The fields too proclaim their story, and tell us of the Saxon folk who
+were our first farmers, and made clearings in the forests, and tilled the
+same soil we work to-day. They tell us too of the old monks who knew so
+much about agriculture; and occasionally the plough turns up a rusty
+sword or cannon ball, which reveals the story of battles and civil wars
+which we trust have passed away from our land for ever. The very names of
+the fields are not without signification, and tell us of animals which
+are now extinct, of the manners of our forefathers, of the old methods of
+farming, and the common lands which have passed away.
+
+The old village inn, with its curiously painted signboard, has its own
+story to tell, of the old coaching days, and of the great people who used
+to travel along the main roads, and were sometimes snowed up in a drift
+just below "The Magpie," which had always good accommodation for
+travellers, and stabling for fifty horses. All was activity in the stable
+yard when the coach came in; the villagers crowded round the inn doors to
+see the great folks from London who were regaling themselves with
+well-cooked English joints; and if they stayed all night, could find
+comfortable beds with lavender-scented sheets, and every attention. But
+the railroads and iron steeds have changed all that; until yesterday the
+roads were deserted, and the glory of the old inns departed. Bicyclists
+now speed along in the track of the old coaches; but they are not quite
+so picturesque, and the bicycle bell is less musical than the cheerful
+posthorn.
+
+On the summit of a neighbouring hill we see a curious formation which is
+probably an earthwork, constructed many centuries ago by the early
+dwellers in this district for the purpose of defence in dangerous times,
+when the approach of a neighbouring tribe, or the advance of a company of
+free-booting invaders, threatened them with death or the destruction of
+their flocks and herds. These earthworks we shall examine more closely.
+An ivy-covered ruin near the church shows the remains of a monastic cell
+or monastery; and in the distance perhaps we can see the outlines of an
+old Norman keep or castle; all of these relate to the story of our
+villages, and afford us subjects for investigation and research.
+
+Then there is the village green where so many generations of the
+villagers have disported themselves, danced the old country dances
+(now alas! forgotten), and reared the merry May-pole, and crowned
+their queen. Here they held their rural sports, and fought their bouts
+of quarter-staff and cudgel-play, grinned through horse-collars, and
+played pipe and tabor at many a rustic feast, when life was young and
+England merry. We shall try to picture to ourselves these happy scenes
+of innocent diversion which cheered the hearts of our forefathers in
+bygone times.
+
+[Illustration: A VILLAGE STREET]
+
+We will try to collect the curious legends and stories which were told to
+us by our grandsires, and are almost forgotten by the present generation.
+These we should treasure up, lest they should be for ever lost. Local
+tradition has often led the way to important discoveries.
+
+In this brief circuit of an ordinary English village we have found many
+objects which are calculated to excite our imagination and to stimulate
+inquiry. A closer examination will well repay our study, and reward the
+labour of the investigator. It is satisfactory to know that all possible
+discoveries as to the antiquities of our villages have not yet been made.
+We have still much to learn, and the earth has not yet disclosed all its
+treasures. Roman villas still remain buried; the sepulchres of many a
+Saxon chieftain or early nomad Celt are still unexplored; the pile
+dwellings and cave domiciles of the early inhabitants of our country have
+still to be discovered; and piles of records and historical documents
+have still to be sought out, arranged, and examined. So there is much
+work to be done by the antiquary for many a long year; and every little
+discovery, and the results of every patient research, assist in
+accumulating that store of knowledge which is gradually being compiled
+by the hard labour of our English historians and antiquaries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+PREHISTORIC REMAINS
+
+Pytheas of Marseilles--Discovery of flint implements--Geological
+changes--Palaeolithic man--Eslithic--Palaeolithic implements--
+Drift men--Cave men--Neolithic man and his weapons--Dolichocephalic--
+Celtic or Brachycephalic race--The Iron Age.
+
+
+It was customary some years ago to begin the history of any country with
+the statement, "Of the early inhabitants nothing is known with any
+certainty," and to commence the history of England with the landing of
+Julius Caesar B.C. 55. If this book had been written forty or fifty
+years ago it might have been stated that our first knowledge of Britain
+dates from 330 B.C. when Pytheas of Marseilles visited it, and described
+his impressions. He says that the climate was foggy, a characteristic
+which it has not altogether lost, that the people cultivated the ground
+and used beer and mead as beverages. Our villagers still follow the
+example of their ancestors in their use of one at least of these drinks.
+
+Of the history of all the ages prior to the advent of this Pytheas all
+written record is silent. Hence we have to play the part of scientific
+detectives, examine the footprints of the early man who inhabited our
+island, hunt for odds and ends which he has left behind, to rake over
+his kitchen middens, pick up his old tools, and even open his burial
+mound.
+
+About fifty years ago the attention of the scientific world was drawn to
+the flint implements which were scattered over the surface of our fields
+and in our gravel pits and mountain caves; and inquiring minds began
+to speculate as to their origin. The collections made at Amiens and
+Abbeville and other places began to convince men of the existence of an
+unknown and unimagined race, and it gradually dawned on us that on our
+moors and downs were the tombs of a race of men who fashioned their
+weapons of war and implements of peace out of flint. These discoveries
+have pushed back our knowledge of man to an antiquity formerly never
+dreamed of, and enlarged considerably our historical horizon. So we will
+endeavour to discover what kind of men they were, who roamed our fields
+and woods before any historical records were written, and mark the very
+considerable traces of their occupation which they have left behind.
+
+The condition of life and the character and climate of the country were
+very different in early times from what they are in the present day; and
+in endeavouring to discover the kind of people who dwelt here in
+prehistoric times, we must hear what the geologists have to tell us
+about the physical aspect of Britain in that period. There was a time
+when this country was connected with the Continent of Europe, and the
+English Channel and North Sea were mere valleys with rivers running
+through them fed by many streams. Where the North Sea now rolls there
+was the great valley of the Rhine; and as there were no ocean-waves to
+cross, animals and primitive man wandered northwards and westwards from
+the Continent, and made their abode here. It is curious to note that the
+migratory birds when returning to France and Italy, and thence to the
+sunny regions of Algiers and other parts of Northern Africa, always
+cross the seas where in remote ages there was dry land. They always
+traverse the same route; and it appears that the recollection of the
+places where their ancestors crossed has been preserved by them through
+all the centuries that have elapsed since "the silver streak" was formed
+that severs England from her neighbours.
+
+In the times of which we are speaking the land was much higher than it
+is now. Snowdon was 600 feet greater, and the climate was much colder
+and more rigorous. Glaciers like those in Switzerland were in all the
+higher valleys, and the marks of the action of the ice are still plainly
+seen on the rocky cliffs that border many a ravine. Moreover we find in
+the valleys many detached rocks, immense boulders, the nature of which
+is quite different from the character of the stone in the neighbourhood.
+These were carried down by the glaciers from higher elevations, and
+deposited, when the ice melted, in the lower valleys. Hence in this
+glacial period the condition of the country was very different from what
+it is now.
+
+Then a remarkable change took place. The land began to sink, and its
+elevation so much decreased that the central part of the country became
+a huge lake, and the peak of Snowdon was an island surrounded by the sea
+which washed with its waves the lofty shoulder of the mountain. This is
+the reason why shells and shingle are found in high elevations. The Ice
+Age passed away and the climate became warmer. The Gulf Stream found its
+way to our shores, and the country was covered by a warm ocean having
+islands raising their heads above the surface. Sharks swam around, whose
+teeth we find now buried in beds of clay. The land continued to rise,
+and attracted by the sunshine and the more genial clime animals from the
+Continent wandered northwards, and with them came man. Caves, now high
+amongst the hills, but then on a level with the rivers, were his first
+abode, and contain many relics of his occupancy, together with the bones
+of extinct animals. The land appears to have risen, and the climate
+became colder. The sea worked its relentless way through the chalk hills
+on the south and gradually met the waves of the North Sea which flowed
+over the old Rhine valley. It widened also the narrow strait that
+severed the country from Ireland, and the outline and contour of the
+island began more nearly to resemble that with which we are now
+familiar.
+
+A vast period of time was necessary to accomplish all these immense
+changes; and it is impossible to speculate with any degree of certainty
+how long that period was, which transformed the icebound surface of
+our island to a land of verdure and wild forests. We must leave such
+conjectures and the more detailed accounts of the glacial and
+post-glacial periods to the geologists, as our present concern is
+limited to the study of the habits and condition of the men who roamed
+our fields and forests in prehistoric times. Although no page of history
+gives us any information concerning them, we can find out from the
+relics of arms and implements which the earth has preserved for us, what
+manner of men lived in the old cave dwellings, or constructed their rude
+huts, and lie buried beneath the vast barrows.
+
+The earliest race of men who inhabited our island was called the
+Palaeolithic race, from the fact that they used the most ancient form
+of stone implements. Traces of a still earlier race are said to have
+been discovered a few years ago on the chalk plateau of the North Down,
+near Sevenoaks. The flints have some slight hollows in them, as if
+caused by scraping, and denote that the users must have been of a very
+low condition of intelligence--able to use a tool but scarcely able to
+make one. This race has been called the Eolithic; but some antiquaries
+have thrown doubts upon their existence, and the discovery of these
+flints is too recent to allow us to speak of them with any degree of
+certainty.
+
+[Illustration: PALAEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS]
+
+The traces of Palaeolithic man are very numerous, and he evidently
+exercised great skill in bringing his implements to a symmetrical shape
+by chipping. The use of metals for cutting purposes was entirely
+unknown; and stone, wood, and bone were the only materials of which
+these primitive beings availed themselves for the making of weapons or
+domestic implements. Palaeolithic man lived here during that distant
+period when this country was united with the Continent, and when the
+huge mammoth roamed in the wild forests, and powerful and fierce animals
+struggled for existence in the hills and vales of a cold and inclement
+country. His weapons and tools were of the rudest description, and made
+of chipped flint. Many of these have been found in the valley gravels,
+which had probably been dropped from canoes into the lakes or rivers, or
+washed down by floods from stations on the shore. Eighty or ninety feet
+above the present level of the Thames in the higher gravels are these
+relics found; and they are so abundant that the early inhabitants who
+used them must have been fairly numerous. Their shape is usually oval,
+and often pointed into a rude resemblance of the shape of a spear-head.
+Some flint-flakes are of the knifelike character; others resemble awls,
+or borers, with sharp points evidently for making holes in skins for the
+purpose of constructing a garment. Hammer-stones for crushing bones,
+tools with well-wrought flat edges, scrapers, and other implements, were
+the stock-in-trade of the earliest inhabitant of our country, and are
+distinguishable from those used by Neolithic man by their larger and
+rougher work. The maker of the old stone tools never polished his
+implements; nor did he fashion any of those finely wrought arrowheads
+and javelin points, upon which his successor prided himself. The latter
+discovered that the flints which were dug up were more easily fashioned
+into various shapes; whereas Palaeolithic man picked up the flints that
+lay about on the surface of the ground, and chipped them into the form
+of his rude tools. However, the elder man was acquainted with the use
+of fire, which he probably obtained by striking flints on blocks of
+iron pyrites. Wandering about the country in families and tribes, he
+contrived to exist by hunting the numerous animals that inhabited the
+primeval forests, and has left us his weapons and tools to tell us what
+kind of man he was. His implements are found in the drift gravels by
+the riversides; and from this cause his race are known as drift men,
+in order to distinguish them from the _cave men_, who seem to have
+belonged to a little later period.
+
+The first dwellings of man were the caves on the hillsides, before he
+found out the art of building pile huts. In Palaeolithic times these
+caves were inhabited by a rude race of feral nomads who lived by the
+chase, and fashioned the rude tools which we have already described.
+They were, however, superior to the drift men, and had some notion of
+art. The principal caves in the British islands containing the relics of
+the cave folk are the following: Perthichoaren, Denbighshire, wherein
+were found the remains of Platycnemic man--so named from his having
+sharp shin-bones; Cefn, St. Asaph; Uphill, Somerset; King's Scar and the
+Victoria Cave, Settle; Robin Hood's Cave and Pinhole Cave, Derbyshire;
+Black Rock, Caldy Island, Coygan Caves, Pembrokeshire; King Arthur's
+Cave, Monmouth; Durdham Downs, Bristol; and sundry others, near Oban, in
+the valleys of the Trent, Dove, and Nore, and of the Irish Blackwater,
+and in Caithness.
+
+In these abodes the bones of both men and animals have been found; but
+these do not all belong to the same period, as the Neolithic people,
+and those of the Bronze and Iron Ages, followed the occupation of the
+earlier race. The remains of the different races, however, lie at
+various depths, those of the earlier race naturally lying the lowest. An
+examination of the Victoria Cave, Settle, clearly shows this. Outside
+the entrance there was found a layer of charcoal and burnt bones, and
+the burnt stones of fireplaces, pottery, coins of the Emperors Trajan
+and Constantine, and ornaments in bone, ivory, bronze and enamel. The
+animal remains were those of the _bos longifrons_ (Celtic ox), pig,
+horse, roe, stag, fowl (wild), and grouse. This layer was evidently
+composed of the relics of a Romano-British people. Below this were found
+chipped flints, an adze of melaphyre, and a layer of boulders, sand, and
+clay, brought down by the ice from the higher valley.
+
+Inside the cave in the upper cave earth were found the bones of fox,
+badger, brown bear, grizzly bear, reindeer, red deer, horse, pig, and
+goat, and some bones evidently hacked by man. In the lower cave earth
+there were the remains of the hyena, fox, brown and grizzly bears,
+elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, urus, bison, and red deer, the
+hacked bones of a goat, and a small leg-bone of a man.
+
+Some idea of the time which has elapsed since primitive man inhabited
+this rude dwelling may be formed from these excavations. Two feet below
+the surface lay the Romano-British layer, and we know therefore that
+about 1,600 years was required for the earth to accumulate to that
+depth. The Neolithic layer was six feet below this; hence 4,800 years
+would be necessary to form this depth of earth. So we may conclude that
+at least 6,400 years ago Neolithic man used the cave. A long time
+previous to this lived the creatures of the lower cave earth, the bison,
+elephant, and the hyena with the solitary human bone, which belonged to
+the sharp-shinned race (Platycnemic) of beings, the earliest dwellers in
+our country.
+
+It is doubtful whether Palaeolithic man has left any descendants. The
+Esquimaux appear to somewhat resemble them. Professor Boyd Dawkins, in
+his remarkable book, _Cave Hunting_, traces this relationship in the
+character of implements, methods of obtaining food and cooking it, modes
+of preparing skins for clothing, and particularly in the remarkable
+skill of depicting figures on bone which both races display. In carving
+figures on bone and teeth early man in Britain was certainly more
+skilful than his successor; but he was a very inferior type of the human
+race, yet his intelligence and mode of life have been deemed not lower
+than those of the Australian aborigines.
+
+The animals which roamed through the country in this Pleistocene period
+were the elk and reindeer, which link us on to the older and colder
+period when Arctic conditions prevailed; the Irish deer, a creature of
+great size whose head weighed about eighty pounds; bison, elephant,
+rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lion, wolf, otter, bear, horse, red deer, roe,
+urus or gigantic ox, the short-horned ox (_bos longifrons_), boar,
+badger and many others which survive to the present day, and have
+therefore a very long line of ancestors.
+
+The successor of the old stone implement maker was Neolithic man, to
+whom we have already had occasion to refer. Some lengthy period of
+geological change separates him from his predecessor of the Old Stone
+Age. Specimens of his handiwork show that he was a much more civilised
+person than his predecessor, and presented a much higher type of
+humanity. He had a peculiarly shaped head, the back part of the skull
+being strangely prolonged; and from this feature he is called
+_dolichocephalic_. He was small in stature, about 5 feet 6 inches in
+height, having a dark complexion, and his descendants are the Iberian or
+Basque races in the Western Pyrenees and may still be traced in parts of
+Ireland and Wales. The long barrows or mounds, the length of which is
+greater than the breadth, contain his remains, and we find traces of his
+existence in all the western countries of Europe.
+
+He had made many discoveries which were unknown to his Old Stone
+predecessor. Instead of always hunting for his food, like an animal, he
+found out that the earth would give him corn with which he could make
+bread, if only he took the trouble to cultivate it. Instead of always
+slaying animals, he found that some were quite ready to be his servants,
+and give him milk and wool and food. He brought with him to our shores
+cows and sheep and goats, horses and dogs. Moreover he made pottery,
+moulding the clay with his hand, and baking it in a fire. He had not
+discovered the advantages of a kiln. He could spin thread, and weave
+stuffs, though he usually wore garments of skins.
+
+His dwellings were no longer the caves and forests, for he made for
+himself rude pit huts, and surrounded himself, his tribe, and cattle
+with a circular camp. Traces of his agricultural operations may still be
+found in the "terraces," or strips of ground on hillsides, which
+preserve the marks of our early Neolithic farmers.
+
+[Illustration: BARBED AND LEAF-SHAPED ARROW-HEADS]
+
+Their implements are far superior to those of the Old Stone men, and are
+found on the surface of our fields, or on hillsides, where they tended
+their flocks, or dug their rude pit shelters. Their weapons and tools
+are highly polished, and have evidently been ground on a grindstone.
+They are adapted for an endless variety of uses, and are most skilfully
+and beautifully fashioned. There are finely wrought arrowheads, of three
+shapes--barbed, tanged and barbed, and leaf-shaped; axes, scrapers for
+cleansing and preparing skins for clothing, hammer stones, wedges,
+drills, borers, knives, and many other tools. In the Reading Museum may
+be seen a heavy quartzite axe and chipped flint hatchet, which were
+found with some charred timber on an island in the Thames, and were
+evidently used for scooping out the interior of a boat from a tree with
+the aid of fire. So this New Stone man knew how to make boats as well as
+a vast number of other things of which we shall presently speak more
+particularly. His descendants linger on in South Wales and Ireland, and
+are short in stature, dark in complexion, and narrow-skulled, like their
+forefathers a few thousand years ago.
+
+[Illustration: NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE IMPLEMENTS]
+
+Another wave of invaders swept over our land, and overcame the
+long-headed Neolithic race. These were the Celtic people, taller and
+stronger than their predecessors, and distinguished by their fair hair
+and rounded skulls. From the shape of their heads they are called
+Brachycephalic, and are believed to have belonged to the original Aryan
+race, whose birthplace was Southern Asia. At some remote period this
+wave of invaders poured over Europe and Asia, and has left traces behind
+it in the languages of all Indo-European nations.
+
+Their weapons were made of bronze, although they still used polished
+stone implements also. We find chisels, daggers, rings, buttons, and
+spear-heads, all made of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, and
+fashioned by the skilled hands of these early Celtic folk. As they
+became more civilised, being of an inventive mind, they discovered the
+use of iron and found it a more convenient metal for fashioning axes to
+cut down trees.
+
+When Caesar came to Britain he found that the inhabitants knew the use
+of iron, even the less civilised early Celtic settlers driven northwards
+and westwards by the Belgae, had iron weapons, and the wild Caledonians
+in the time of Severus, although they were naked, woad-dyed savages,
+wore iron collars and girdles and were armed with metal weapons.
+
+Such are some of the relics of antiquity which the soil of our native
+land retains, as a memorial of the primitive people who first trod upon
+it. Concerning their lives and records history is silent, until the
+Conqueror tells us something of our Celtic forefathers. From the scanty
+remains of prehistoric races, their weapons and tools, we can gather
+something of the earliest inhabitants of our island, and try to realise
+their habits and mode of life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TUMULI OR BARROWS
+
+Barrows near churchyards--Their universality--Contents--Food in
+barrows--Curious burial customs--Belief in future life--Long and
+round barrows--Interior of barrow--Position of bodies--Cremation--
+Burial urns--Articles of dress and ornament--Artistic workmanship--
+Pottery--Remains of agriculture--Organised condition of society
+among prehistoric people.
+
+
+Throughout the country we find many artificial mounds which are called
+_tumuli_ or barrows, or in the neighbourhood of Wales, "tumps." These
+are the ancient burial-places of the early inhabitants of our island,
+the word "barrow" being derived from the Anglo-Saxon _beorh_, a hill or
+grave-mound. It is not unusual to see a barrow in the centre, or near,
+an old churchyard, as at Taplow, Bucks. The church was built, of course,
+much later than the erection of the mound; but doubtless the early
+preachers of the gospel took advantage of the reverence which was paid
+to these ancient tombs, proclaimed there the story of the cross, and on
+the spots so consecrated churches were ultimately built.
+
+These mounds have much to tell us of the early inhabitants. To cover the
+dead with a mound of earth was a custom common to all nations. All over
+Europe, in Northern Asia, India, and in the new world of America, we
+find burial-mounds. The pyramids of Egypt are only glorified mounds; and
+our islands can boast of an endless variety, sometimes consisting of
+cairns, or heaps of stones, sometimes of huge hills of earth, 130 feet
+in height, as at Silbury, Wilts, and covering five acres; while others
+are only small heaps of soil a few feet high.
+
+The contents of the tumuli differ also. Sometimes the bodies were burnt
+and the ashes preserved in rude urns; sometimes they were not cremated.
+Sometimes they were buried in stone cists, or in the hollowed trunk of
+trees; sometimes without any covering save that of the earth. In nearly
+all cases we find numerous articles buried with the dead, such as
+personal ornaments, weapons, pottery, and food.
+
+The presence of food in the tumuli testifies to the natural instinct
+implanted by the Creator in the human heart with regard to a future
+existence. The idea that the soul of the departed is about to take a
+long journey is constant and deeply rooted; the rainbow and the milky
+way have often been supposed to be the paths trod by the departed, who
+require sustenance for so long a journey. The Aztecs laid a water-bottle
+beside the bodies to be used on the way to Mictlan, the land of the
+dead. Bow and arrows, a pair of mocassins with a spare piece of deerskin
+to patch them if they wear out, and sinews of deer to sew on the patches
+with, together with a kettle and provisions, are still placed in the
+graves by the North American Indians. The Laplanders lay beside the
+corpse flint, steel, and tinder, to supply light for the dark journey. A
+coin was placed in the mouth of the dead by the Greeks to pay Charon,
+the ferryman of the Styx, and for a similar purpose in the hand of a
+deceased Irishman. The Greenlanders bury with a child a dog, for they
+say a dog will find his way anywhere. In the grave of the Viking warrior
+were buried his horn and armour in order that he might enter the halls
+of Valhalla fully equipped.
+
+These and many other examples might be quoted showing the universality
+of the belief in a future life, a belief that was evidently shared with
+other nations by the primeval races who inhabited our islands in
+prehistoric times.
+
+The presence of food and drinking vessels in the tumuli clearly shows
+this, and also the store of weapons and implements, adzes, hammers,
+scrapers, and other tools which the barrows have preserved through so
+many ages.
+
+These barrows are not confined to one period or one race, as their shape
+denotes. Some are long, measuring 200 to 400 feet in length by 60 or 80
+feet wide; others are circular. The former were made by the long-headed
+(dolichocephalic) race of whom we have already spoken; the latter by the
+round-headed (brachycephalic), conquerors of their feebler long-skulled
+forerunners. When we consider the poor tools used by these primitive
+peoples, we may wonder at the amount of labour they must have expended
+on the construction of these giant mounds. Picks made of deer's horns
+and pointed staves enabled them to loosen the earth which was then
+collected in baskets and thrown on the rising heap. Countless toilers
+and many years must have been needed to produce such wonderful memorials
+of their industry.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF A TUMULUS]
+
+With better tools we will proceed to dig into these mounds and discover
+what they contain. First we notice an encircling trench and mound
+surrounding the barrow, the purpose of which is supposed to have been to
+keep the dead person in the tomb, and prevent it from injuring the
+living. After much digging in the centre of the barrow we find a single
+stone chamber, entered by a passage underneath the higher and wider end
+of the mound. Sometimes the chamber is divided into three parts, the
+centre one being covered by a dome, formed by the overlapping of the
+stones in the upper parts of the walls. The passage leading to the
+centre chamber is also built with large stones erected with much care
+and skill. The contents of these long barrows are not so interesting, or
+numerous, as those contained in the round barrows. The skeletons are
+usually found in irregular positions, and few weapons or ornaments
+accompany the buried bones. Derbyshire possesses many barrows; wherever
+in a place-name the suffix _low_ occurs, derived from the Anglo-Saxon
+_hlow_, signifying a small hill or mound, a barrow is generally to be
+found. The long barrow is usually about 200 feet in length, 40 feet
+wide, and 8 to 12 feet high. They run east and west, frequently
+north-east by south-west, the principal interment being usually at the
+eastern and higher end. The bodies are often found in a cist or box made
+of large stones, and several were buried in one mound, generally on the
+south and east sides, so that they might lie in the sun. This practice
+may have been connected with sun-worship; and the same idea prevailed in
+modern times, when the south side of the churchyard was considered the
+favoured portion, and criminals and suicides were relegated to the
+colder north side.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF TUMULUS CALLED WAYLAND SMITH'S CAVE, BERKSHIRE]
+
+The position of the bodies varied, but usually they were buried in a
+crouching position, with knees bent and head drawn towards the knees.
+This was probably the natural position which a man would assume when he
+slept without a luxurious bed to lie upon, and with little to cover him,
+in order to keep himself as warm as possible. Hence when he sank into
+his last long sleep, his mourning relatives would place him in the same
+posture. In the Channel Islands bodies were often placed in a kneeling
+position.
+
+The custom of burning the body seems to have been adopted later by the
+same long-headed race who used the long barrows, and prevailed more in
+the north of England, in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Scotland, than in
+the south. The cremation was sometimes not very thoroughly performed.
+The bodies were placed together, wood being piled about them, and over
+the heap the mound was raised. Then the fire was lighted, which
+naturally only partly consumed the bodies. We find also, mingled with
+bones of men and women, the bones of animals, which were probably the
+remains of funeral feasts.
+
+As we have said the round-headed race introduced the circular barrow,
+and cremation was their usual, though not exclusive, practice. These
+people were much stronger and bigger men than their predecessors, their
+powerful jaws and projecting chins showing much more power of will than
+the softer narrow-faced dolichocephalic race. However, in the round
+barrows we also find the bodies of the latter, and we gather that they
+were not exterminated or driven out by their conquerors, but mingled
+with them, intermarried, until at length the type of the long-skulled
+race prevailed, and the Celt of later times possessed the features of
+the race he had formerly subdued. At least such seems to be the teaching
+of the barrows.
+
+The Celt became acquainted with the use of bronze, and his tomb was
+enriched with a store of the relics of the life and art of the
+workmanship of the time. As cremation was the usual practice, it was no
+longer necessary to have a chamber which the dead might inhabit; the
+size of the sleeping-place of the dead was reduced, and a cist was
+constructed for the receptacle of the urn in which the remains were
+placed. The mound also was reduced in size and looked much less imposing
+than the huge barrows of the Stone Age; but its contents were much more
+important.
+
+The ashes we find frequently contained in a rude urn of black pottery
+with some ornamentation. Then we discover pins made of bones, which were
+evidently used to fasten the dress. The people therefore were evidently
+not naked, woad-dyed savages; moreover we find bits of woollen fabric
+and charred cloth, and in Denmark people belonging to this same early
+race were buried in a cap, shirt, leggings, and boots, a fairly complete
+wardrobe. They also loved to adorn themselves, and had buttons of jet,
+and stone and bone ornaments. Besides flint implements we find adzes and
+hatchets and chisels, axe-hammers constructed with a hole in them for
+the insertion of a handle, grain rubbers, wheat stones, and hammer
+stones. The mounds also disclose a great variety of flint implements,
+hatchets, scrapers, both round and long, knife-daggers, knives, saws,
+drills, fabricators or flaking tools, sling stones, hammer stones,
+polishers, arrow-points, either leaf-shaped, triangular, or barbed, and
+heads of darts and javelins. A very curious object is sometimes found, a
+stone wrist guard, for the purpose of protecting the wrist from the bow
+string.
+
+These barrows and their contents bear evidences to the artistic
+workmanship of the prehistoric dwellers in our villages. Their tombs
+show that these people did not confine themselves to the fabrication of
+objects of utility, but that they loved to adorn themselves with
+personal ornaments, which required much art and skill in the
+manufacture. Necklaces of beads pleased their fancy, and these they made
+of jet, or shells, the teeth of deer, and the vertebrae of fish.
+Moreover they loved ear-rings, which were sometimes made of the teeth of
+pigs. Objects of gold, bronze, glass, ivory, amber, clay, and bone were
+also used as ornaments.
+
+[Illustration: CELTIC CINERARY URN]
+
+If we examine the pottery in the barrows we find that a vessel of
+earthenware was usually placed at the back of the head of the body when
+it was not cremated. There were also cinerary urns, cups, usually called
+incense cups, which were certainly not used for incense, whatever may
+have been their purpose, food and drinking vessels. This pottery was not
+sun-dried, but burnt in a fire, though not made in a kiln, and the form
+of the vessels shows that the makers were ignorant of the use of a
+potter's wheel. The ornamentation consisted of a series of straight
+lines made by a sharp-pointed instrument and by impressions of the
+finger nails or string, often revealing much skill and artistic
+workmanship.
+
+From a study of the barrows we may learn much about the early inhabitants
+of our island, who lived and worked and died on the same spots where we
+now are spending our days. We can see them hunting in the wild woodlands,
+rearing cows and sheep and goats, and cultivating their crops of corn.
+We can still trace on the hillsides some curious terraces fashioned by
+them for the growing of their grain, and discover querns, or hand
+millstones, and stones for bruising the corn. The bones of young
+oxen a few days old, discovered in the mounds, show that they knew the
+use of milk, and how to get a good supply. A rude spindle-whorl shows
+that they knew how to weave stuffs for their clothing, and the numerous
+buttons, fasteners, and belts prove that the clothes were fitted to the
+wearer, and not mere shapeless sacks.
+
+The barrows also bear evidence to the existence of some organised
+condition of society. In the early savage state of human existence
+the family is the only community; but as man progressed towards
+civilisation, he learnt how to combine with his fellows for mutual
+defence and support. We gather from our examination of the tombs of
+these early races that they had attained to this degree of progress.
+There were chiefs of tribes and families who were buried with more
+honour than that bestowed upon the humbler folk. Many families were
+buried in one mound, showing that the tribal state had been reached,
+while the many humbler graves denote the condition of servitude and
+dependence in which a large number of the race lived. All this, and
+much more, may be learnt from a careful study of the tombs of these
+prehistoric people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS
+
+Pit dwelling earliest form of house-building--Discoveries at
+Bright-hampton, Worlebury--British oppida--Hurstbourne--Contents of
+pit dwelling--Pot-boilers--Condition of civilisation--Pile dwellings--
+Switzerland--Glastonbury--Hedsor--Crannogs--Modern use of pile
+dwellings--Description of a lake dwelling--Contents--Bronze Age--
+Recent discoveries at Glastonbury.
+
+
+We have examined in our last chapter the abodes of the dead; we will
+now investigate the abodes of the living which the earth has preserved
+for us for so many centuries. The age of the cave dwellers had long
+passed; and the prehistoric folk, having attained to some degree of
+civilisation, began to devise for themselves some secure retreats from
+inclement rains and cold winds. Perhaps the burrowing rabbit gave them
+an idea for providing some dwelling-place. At any rate the earliest and
+simplest notion for constructing a habitation was that of digging holes
+in the ground and roofing them over with a light thatch. Hence we have
+the pit dwellings of our rude forefathers.
+
+Many examples of pit dwellings have been found by industrious explorers.
+Some labourers when digging gravel at Brighthampton, near Oxford, came
+across several such excavations. They were simply pits dug in the earth,
+large enough to hold one or two persons, and from the sides of these
+pits a certain quantity of earth had been removed so as to form a seat.
+At the bottom of these a few rude flint arrow-heads were found. In the
+remarkable British oppidum at Worlebury, near Weston-super-Mare, several
+circular, well-like pits may be seen, fairly preserved in shape owing to
+the rocky nature of the ground in which they have been excavated. One in
+particular is very perfect, and about two feet from the bottom is a seat
+formed of the rock extending all round the pit.
+
+These ancient pit dwellings are usually surrounded by an earthen
+rampart. Caesar says that "the Britons called that a town where they
+used to assemble for the sake of avoiding an incursion of enemies, when
+they had fortified the entangled woods with a rampart and ditch." The
+remains of many of these oppida may still be seen in almost all parts of
+the country; and in most of these hollows are plainly distinguishable,
+which doubtless were pit dwellings; but owing to the sides having fallen
+in, they have now the appearance of natural hollows in the earth.
+
+At Hurstbourne, Hants, nine of these early habitations were discovered
+by the late Dr. Stevens, some of which were rudely pitched with flint
+stones, and had passages leading into the pit. A few flints irregularly
+placed together with wood ashes showed the position of the hearths,
+where cooking operations had been carried on. The sloping
+entrance-passages are peculiar and almost unique in England, though
+several have been met with in France. A rude ladder was the usual mode
+of entrance into these underground dwellings. Fragments of hand-made
+British pottery and the commoner kinds of Romano-British ware were
+found, and portions of mealing stones and also a saddle-quern, or
+grain-crusher, which instruments for hand-mealing must have been in
+common use among the pit dwellers. The grain was probably prepared by
+parching it before crushing; the hollow understone prevented the grain
+from escaping; and the muller was so shaped as to render it easily
+grasped, while it was pushed backwards and forwards by the hands.
+Similar stones are used at the present time by the African natives, as
+travellers testify.
+
+[Illustration: ARTICLES FOUND IN PIT DWELLINGS
+(1) Knife of deer-antler
+(2) Bone needle
+(3) Marrow scoop
+(4, 5) Bone awls]
+
+One of the pits at Hurstbourne was evidently a cooking-hole, where the
+pit dwellers prepared their feasts, and bones of the Celtic ox (_bos
+longifrons_), pig, red deer, goat, dog, and hare or rabbit were found
+near it. One of the bones had evidently been bitten by teeth. The pit
+dwellers also practised some domestic industries, as Dr. Stevens found a
+needle, an awl or bodkin, and fragments of pointed bone, probably used
+for sewing skins together. A rude spindle-whorl shows that they knew
+something of weaving, and two bored stones were evidently buttons or
+dress-fasteners. A large supply of flint implements, scrapers, and
+arrow-heads, proves that the dwellings were inhabited by the Neolithic
+people before the Britons came to occupy them. I must not omit to notice
+the heating stones, or "pot-boilers." These were heated in the fire, and
+then placed among the meat intended to be cooked, in a hole in the
+ground which served the purpose of a cooking pot. I have found many such
+stones in Berkshire, notably from the neighbourhood of Wallingford and
+Long Wittenham. The writer of the _Early History of Mankind_ states that
+the Assineboins, or stone-boilers, dig a hole in the ground, take a
+piece of raw hide, and press it down to the sides of the hole, and fill
+it with water; this is called a "paunch-kettle"; then they make a number
+of stones red-hot in a fire close by, the meat is put into the water,
+and the hot stones dropped in until it is cooked. The South Sea
+Islanders have similar primitive methods of cooking. The Highlanders
+used to prepare the feasts of their clans in much the same way; and the
+modern gipsies adopt a not very dissimilar mode of cooking their stolen
+fowls and hedgehogs.
+
+We can now people these cheerless primitive pit dwellings with their
+ancient inhabitants, and understand something of their manners of life
+and customs. Their rude abodes had probably cone-shaped roofs made of
+rafters lashed together at the centre, protected by an outside coat of
+peat, sods of turf, or rushes. The spindle-whorl is evidence that they
+could spin thread; the mealing stones show that they knew how to
+cultivate corn; and the bones of the animals found in their dwellings
+testify to the fact that they were not in the wild state of primitive
+hunters, but possessed herds of cows and goats and other domestic
+animals.
+
+Who were these people? Mr. Boyd Dawkins is of opinion that the early pit
+dwellers belonged to the Neolithic folk of whom I have already told you,
+as the flint implements testify. But these dwellings were evidently
+occupied by a later people. The querns and spindle-whorl probably
+belonged to the Celts, or Britons, before the advent of the Roman
+legions; and that these people were the inhabitants of the Hampshire pit
+dwellings is proved by the presence of a British gold coin which is
+recognised by numismatists as an imitation of the Greek stater of Philip
+II. of Macedon. According to Sir John Evans, the native British coinage
+was in existence as early as 150 years before Christ. Hence to this
+period we may assign the date of the existence of these Celtic primitive
+habitations.
+
+Pit dwellings were not the only kind of habitations which the early
+inhabitants of our country used, and some of our villages possess
+constructions of remarkable interest, which recent industrious digging
+has disclosed. These are none other than lake dwellings, similar to
+those first discovered in Switzerland about fifty years ago. Few of our
+villages can boast of such relics of antiquity. Near Glastonbury, in
+1892, in a dried-up ancient mere a lake village was discovered, which I
+will describe presently; and recently at Hedsor in Buckinghamshire a
+pile dwelling has been found which some learned antiquaries are now
+examining. In Ireland and Scotland there are found the remains of
+fortified dwellings called Crannogs in some of the lakes, as in Dowalton
+Loch, Wigtownshire, and Cloonfinlough in Connaught, but these belong to
+later times and were used in the Middle Ages.
+
+[Illustration: IRON SPEAR-HEAD FOUND AT HEDSOR]
+
+In primitive times, when tribe warred with tribe, and every man's hand
+was against his fellow-man, and when wild and savage beasts roamed o'er
+moor and woodland, security was the one thing most desired by the early
+inhabitants of Europe. Hence they conceived the brilliant notion of
+constructing dwellings built on piles in the midst of lakes or rivers,
+where they might live in peace and safety, and secure themselves from
+the sudden attack of their enemies, or the ravages of beasts of prey.
+Switzerland is famous for its numerous clusters, or villages, of ancient
+lake dwellings, which were of considerable size. At Morges, on the Lake
+of Geneva, the settlement of huts extends 1,200 feet long by 150 in
+breadth; and that at Sutz on the Lake of Bienne covers six acres, and is
+connected with the shore by a gangway 100 feet long and 40 feet wide.
+Nor is the use of these habitations entirely abandoned at the present
+time. Venezuela, which means "little Venice," derives its name from the
+Indian village composed of pile dwellings on the shores of the Gulf of
+Maracaibo, as its original explorer Alonzo de Ojeda in 1499 chose to
+compare the sea-protected huts with the queen city of the Adriatic; and
+in many parts of South America, in the estuaries of the Orinoco and
+Amazon, such dwellings are still found, also among the Dyaks of Borneo,
+in the Caroline Islands, and on the Gold Coast of Africa. Herodotus
+describes similar dwellings on the Lake Prasias, existing in the fifth
+century B.C., and Lord Avebury states that now the Roumelian fishermen
+on the same lake "inhabit wooden cottages built over the water as in the
+time of Herodotus."
+
+These habitations of primitive man were built on piles driven into the
+bed of the lake or river. These piles were stems, or trunks of trees,
+sharpened with stone or bronze tools. A rude platform was erected on
+these piles, and on this a wooden hut constructed with walls of wattle
+and daub, and thatched with reeds or rushes. A bridge built on piles
+connected the lake village with the shore whither the dwellers used to
+go to cultivate their wheat, barley, and flax, and feed their kine and
+sheep and goats. They made canoes out of hollow trunks of trees. One of
+these canoes which have been discovered is 43 feet in length and over 4
+feet wide. The beams supporting the platform, on which the huts were
+erected, were fastened by wooden pins. Much ingenuity was exercised in
+the making of these dwellings. Sometimes they found that the mud of the
+lake was too soft to hold the piles; so they fashioned a framework of
+trunks of trees, which they let down to the bottom of the lake, and
+fastened the upright piles to it. Sometimes the rocky bed of the lake
+prevented the piles from being driven into it; so they heaped stones
+around the piles, and thus made them secure. The lake dwellers were very
+sociable, and had only one common platform for all the huts, which were
+clustered together. As all the actual dwellings have been destroyed by
+time's rude action, it is impossible to describe them accurately; but
+their usual size was about 20 feet by 12 feet. The floor was of clay,
+and in the centre of the building there was a hearth made of slabs of
+stone.
+
+The people who inhabited these structures belonged either to the later
+Stone Age, or the Bronze Age, as we learn from the relics which their
+huts disclose. In the earlier ones are found celts, flint flakes,
+arrow-heads, harpoons of stag's horn with barbs, awls, needles, chisels,
+and fish-hooks made of bone, and sometimes wooden combs, and skates made
+out of the leg-bone of a horse. Besides the remains of the usual
+domestic animals we find bones of the beaver, bear, elk, and bison.
+
+When the use of bronze was discovered the people still lived on in their
+lake dwellings. Fire often played havoc with the wooden wattle walls;
+hence we frequently find a succession of platforms. The first dwelling
+having been destroyed by flames, a second one was subsequently
+constructed; and this having shared the same fate, another platform with
+improved huts was raised upon the ruins of its predecessors. The relics
+of each habitation show that, as time went on, the pit dwellers advanced
+in civilisation, and increased the comforts and conveniences of life.
+
+Some of the dwellings of these early peoples belong to the Bronze Age,
+as do those of the Auvernier settlement in the Lake of Neuchatel; and
+these huts are rich in the relics of their former inhabitants. At Marin
+on the same lake the lake dwellers were evidently workers in iron; and
+the relics, which contain large spear-heads, shields, horse furniture,
+fibulas, and other ornaments, together with Roman coins, prove that they
+belonged to the period of which history tells us.
+
+I have described at length these Swiss lake dwellings, although they do
+not belong to the antiquities of our villages in England, because much
+the same kind of habitations existed in our country, though few have
+as yet been unearthed. Possibly under the peaty soil of some ancient
+river-bed, or old mere, long ago drained, you may be fortunate enough
+to meet with the remains of similar structures here in England. At
+Glastonbury a few years ago a lake village was discovered, which has
+created no small stir in the antiquarian world, and merits a brief
+description. Nothing was known of its existence previously; and this is
+an instance of the delightful surprises which explorers have in store
+for them, when they ransack the buried treasure-house of the earth,
+and reveal the relics which have been so long stored there.
+
+All that met the eyes of the diggers was a series of circular low
+mounds, about sixty in number, extending over an area of three acres.
+Imagine the delight of the gentlemen when they discovered that each of
+these mounds contained the remains of a lake dwelling which was
+constructed more than two thousand years ago.
+
+First they found above the soft peat, the remains of a lake long dried
+up, a platform formed of timber and brushwood, somewhat similar to the
+structures which we have seen in the Swiss lakes. Rows of small piles
+support this platform, and on it a floor of clay, or rather several
+floors. The clay is composed of several horizontal layers with
+intervening thin layers of decayed wood and charcoal, each layer
+representing a distinct floor of a dwelling. In the centre of each mound
+are the remains of rude hearths. The dwellings, of which no walls
+remain, were evidently built of timber, the crevices between the wood
+being filled with wattle and daub. In one of the mounds were found
+several small crucibles which show that the inhabitants knew how to work
+in metals. Querns, whetstones, spindle whorls, fibulae, and finger-rings
+of bronze, a horse's bit, a small saw, numerous implements of horn and
+bone, combs, needles, a jet ring and amber bead, all tell the tale of
+the degree of civilisation attained by these early folk. They worked in
+metals, made pottery and cloth, tilled and farmed the adjoining lands,
+and probably belonged to the late Celtic race before the advent of the
+Romans. These lake dwellers used a canoe in order to reach the mainland,
+and this primitive boat has been discovered. It is evidently cut out of
+the stem of an oak, is flat-bottomed, and its dimensions are 17 feet
+long, 2 feet wide, and 1 foot deep. The prow is pointed, and has a hole,
+through which doubtless a rope was passed, in order to fasten it to the
+little harbour of the lake village.
+
+It will be gathered that these people, whether dwelling in their pit or
+lake villages, showed so much capacity, industry, and social
+organisation, that even in the Neolithic Age they were far removed from
+a savage state, and a low condition of culture and civilisation. They
+showed great ingenuity in the making of their tools, their vessels of
+pottery, their ornaments, and clothing. They were not naked, woad-dyed
+savages. They could spin and weave, grow corn, and make bread, and had
+brought into subjection for their use domestic animals, horses and
+cattle, sheep and goats, and swine. They lived in security and comfort,
+and were industrious and intelligent; and it is interesting to record,
+from the relics which the earth has preserved of their civilisation, the
+kind of life which they must have lived in the ages which existed before
+the dawn of history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS
+
+Stone monuments--Traditions relating to them--Menhirs or hoar-stones--
+_Alignements_--Cromlechs--Stonehenge--Avebury--Rollright stones--Origin
+of stone circles--Dolmens--Earthworks--Chun Castle--Whittenham clumps--
+Uffington--Tribal boundaries--Roman rig--Grims-dike--Legends--Celtic
+words.
+
+
+Among the antiquities which some of our English villages possess, none
+are more curious and remarkable than the grand megalithic monuments of
+the ancient races which peopled our island. Marvellous memorials are
+these of their skill and labour. How did they contrive to erect such
+mighty monuments? How did they move such huge masses of stone? How did
+they raise with the very slender appliances at their disposal such
+gigantic stones? For what purpose did they erect them? The solution of
+these and many such-like problems we can only guess, and no one has as
+yet been bold enough to answer all the interesting questions which these
+rude stone monuments raise.
+
+Superstition has attempted to account for their existence. Just as the
+flint arrow-heads are supposed by the vulgar to be darts shot by fairies
+or witches which cause sickness and death in cattle and men, and are
+worn as amulets to ward off disease; just as the stone axes of early
+man are regarded as thunder bolts, and when boiled are esteemed as a
+sure cure for rheumatism, or a useful cattle medicine--so these stones
+are said to be the work of the devil. A friend tells me that in his
+childhood his nurse used to frighten him by saying that the devil lurked
+in a dolmen which stands near his father's house in Oxfordshire; and
+many weird traditions cluster round these old monuments.
+
+[Illustration: MENHIR]
+
+In addition to the subterranean sepulchral chambers and cairns which we
+have already examined, there are four classes of megalithic structures.
+The first consists of single stones, called in Wales, Cornwall, and
+Brittany, _menhirs_, a name derived from the Celtic word _maen_ or
+_men_ signifying a stone, and _hir_ meaning tall. In England they are
+known as "hoar-stones," _hoar_ meaning a boundary, inasmuch as they
+are frequently used in later times to mark the boundary of an estate,
+parish, or manor. There is one at Enstone, Oxfordshire, and at
+Wardington, Warwickshire. Possibly they were intended to mark the graves
+of deceased chieftains.
+
+The second class consists of lines of stones, which the French call
+_alignements_. Frequently they occur in groups of lines from two to
+fourteen in number, Carnac, in Brittany, possesses the best specimen
+in Europe of this curious arrangement of giant stones.
+
+The third class of megalithic monuments is the circular arrangement,
+such as we find at Avebury and Stonehenge. These are now usually called
+cromlechs, in accordance with the term used by French antiquaries,
+though formerly this name was applied in England to the dolmens, or
+chambered structures, of which we shall speak presently. According to
+the notions of the old curator of Stonehenge the mighty stones stood
+before the Deluge, and he used to point out (to his own satisfaction)
+signs of the action of water upon the stones, even showing the direction
+in which the Flood "came rushing in." The Welsh bards say that they were
+erected by King Merlin, the successor of Vortigern; and Nennius states
+that they were erected in memory of four hundred nobles, who were
+treacherously slain by Hengist, when the savage Saxons came. There is
+no need to describe these grand circles of huge stones which all
+antiquaries have visited.
+
+The cromlech at Avebury covers a larger area than that of Stonehenge,
+the circle being about 1,300 feet in diameter. There is a fine circle
+at Rollright, in Oxfordshire, which is the third largest in England.
+The diameter of the circle is about 107 feet, and the stones numbered
+originally about sixty. Near the circle stand the Five Whispering
+Knights, five large stones leaning together, probably the remains of
+a dolmen, and a large solitary stone, or menhir. Popular tradition has
+woven a strange legend about these curious relics of bygone ages. A
+mighty chieftain once ruled over the surrounding country; but he was
+ambitious, and wished to extend his sway, and become King of England.
+So he mustered his army, and the oracle proclaimed that if he could
+once see Long Compton, he would obtain his desire. Having proceeded
+as far as Rollright, he was repeating the words of the oracle--
+
+  "If Long Compton I can see,
+  King of England I shall be"--
+
+when Mother Shipton, who had doubtless ridden on her broomstick from
+her Norfolk home, appeared and pronounced the fatal spell--
+
+  "Move no more; stand fast, stone;
+  King of England thou shall none."
+
+[Illustration: ROLLRIGHT STONES From Camden's _Britannia_]
+
+Immediately the king and his army were changed into stone, as if the
+head of Medusa had gazed upon them. The solitary stone, still called the
+King Stone, is the ambitious monarch; the circle is his army; and the
+Five Whispering Knights are five of his chieftains, who were hatching a
+plot against him when the magic spell was uttered. The farmers around
+Rollright say that if the stones are removed from the spot, they will
+never rest, but make mischief till they are restored. Stanton Drew, in
+Somersetshire, has a cromlech, and there are several in Scotland, the
+Channel Islands, and Brittany. Some sacrilegious persons transported a
+cromlech bodily from the Channel Islands, and set it up at Park Place,
+Henley-on-Thames. Such an act of antiquarian barbarism happily has few
+imitators.
+
+For what purpose were these massive stones erected at the cost of such
+infinite labour? Tradition and popular belief associate them with the
+Druids. Some years ago all mysterious antiquarian problems were solved
+by reference to the Druids. But these priests of ancient days are now
+out of fashion, and it is certainly not very safe to attribute the
+founding of the great stone circles to their agency. The Druidical
+worship paid its homage to the powers of Nature, to the nymphs and genii
+of the woods and streams, whereas the great stone circles were evidently
+constructed by sun-worshippers. There is no doubt among antiquaries that
+they are connected with the burial of the dead. Small barrows have been
+found in the centre of them. Dr. Anderson is of opinion that the stone
+circles were developed out of the hedge, or setting of stone, which
+frequently surrounds the base of a barrow, and was intended to keep the
+ghost in, and prevent it from injuring the living. By degrees the wall
+was increased in size while the barrow or cairn decreased; until at last
+a small mound of earth, or heap of stones, only marked the place of
+burial, and the huge circle of stones surrounded it. Stonehenge, with
+its well-wrought stones and gigantic trilitha, is much later than the
+circles of Avebury and Rollright, and was doubtless constructed by the
+people who used iron, about two hundred years before our era. The
+earlier circles have been assigned to a period eight or ten centuries
+before Christ.
+
+[Illustration: DOLMEN]
+
+Many conjectures have been made as to how the huge capstones of the
+circle at Stonehenge were placed on the erect stones. Sir Henry Dryden
+thought that when the upright stones were set on end, earth or small
+stones were piled around them until a large inclined plane was formed,
+on which "skids" or sliding-pieces were placed. Then the caps were
+placed on rollers, and hauled up by gangs of men. Probably in some such
+way these wonderful monuments were formed.
+
+The last class of rude stone monuments is composed of dolmens, or
+chambered tombs, so named from the Welsh word _dol_, a table, and _maen_
+or _men_, a stone. They are in fact stone tables. Antiquaries of former
+days, and the unlearned folk of to-day, call them "Druids' altars," and
+say that sacrifices were offered upon them. The typical form is a
+structure of four or more large upright stones, supporting a large flat
+stone, as a roof. Sometimes they are covered with earth or stones,
+sometimes entirely uncovered. Some antiquaries maintain that they were
+always uncovered, as we see them now; others assert that they have been
+stripped by the action of wind and rain, and snow, frost, and thaw,
+until all the earth placed around them has been removed. Possibly
+fashions changed then as now; and it may console some of us that there
+was no uniformity of ritual even in prehistoric Britain. Dolmens contain
+no bronze or iron implements, or carvings of the same, and evidently
+belong to the time of the Neolithic folk.
+
+Among prehistoric remains none are more striking than the great camps
+and earthworks, which hold commanding positions on our hills and downs,
+and have survived during the countless years which have elapsed since
+their construction. Caesar's camps abound throughout England; it is
+needless to say that they had nothing to do with Caesar, but were made
+long years before the Conqueror ever set foot on British land. These
+early camps are usually circular in shape, or follow the natural curve
+of the hill on which they stand. Roman camps are nearly always square
+or rectangular. They consist of a high vallum, or rampart of earth,
+surrounded by a deep ditch, and on the _counterscarp_, or outside edge
+of the ditch, there is often another bank or rampart. The entrance to
+these strongholds was often ingeniously contrived, in order that an
+enemy endeavouring to attack the fortress might be effectually resisted.
+
+Chun Castle, in Cornwall, is an interesting specimen of ancient Celtic
+fortress. It consists of two circular walls separated by a terrace. The
+walls are built of rough masses of granite, some 5 or 6 feet long. The
+outer wall is protected by a ditch. Part of the wall is still about 10
+feet high. Great skill and military knowledge are displayed in the plan
+of the entrance, which is 6 feet wide in the narrowest part, and 16 in
+the widest, where the walls diverge and are rounded off on either side.
+The space within the fortress is about 175 feet in diameter. The
+Herefordshire Beacon on the Malvern Hills is a fine example of a
+triple-ramparted Celtic camp.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN AND SECTION OF CHUN CASTLE]
+
+In Berkshire we have the well-known Whittenham Clumps, the Sinodun
+of the Celts, on the summit of which there is a famous camp, with a
+triple line of entrenchment, the mound and ditch being complete. The
+circumference of the fortress is over a mile. Berkshire and Oxfordshire
+are very rich in these camps and earthworks, which guard the course of
+the old British road called the Iknield Way. Hill-forts crown the tops
+of the hills; and the camps of Blewberry, Scutchamore Knob (a corruption
+of Cwichelm's law), Letcombe, Uffington, and Liddington, command the
+ancient trackway and bid defiance to approaching foes.
+
+The object of these camps was to provide places of refuge, whither the
+tribe could retire when threatened by the advent of its enemy. The Celts
+were a pastoral people; and their flocks grazed on the downs and
+hillsides. When their scouts brought news of the approach of a hostile
+force, some signal would be given by the blowing of a horn, and the
+people would at once flee to their fortress driving their cattle before
+them, and awaiting there the advent of their foes.
+
+At Uffington there is a remarkable relic of British times called the
+Blowing Stone, or King Alfred's Bugle-horn, which was doubtless used by
+the Celtic tribes for signalling purposes; and when its deep low note
+was heard on the hillside the tribe would rush to the protecting shelter
+of Uffington Castle. There, armed with missiles, they were ready to hurl
+them at the invading hosts, and protect their lives and cattle until all
+danger was past. Those who are skilled at the art can still make the
+Blowing Stone sound. The name, King Alfred's Bugle-horn, is a misnomer,
+and arose from the association of the White Horse Hill with the battle
+which Alfred fought against the Danes at Aescendune, which may, or may
+not, have taken place near the old British camp at Uffington. There are
+several White Horses cut out in the turf on the hillsides in Wiltshire,
+besides the famous Berkshire one at Uffington, celebrated by Mr. Thomas
+Hughes in his _Scouring of the White Horse_. We have also some turf-cut
+crosses at White-leaf and Bledlow, in Buckinghamshire. The origin of
+these turf monuments is still a matter of controversy. It is possible
+that they may be Saxon, and may be the records of Alfred's victories;
+but antiquaries are inclined to assign them to an earlier date, and
+connect them with the builders of cromlechs and dolmens. It is certainly
+improbable that, when he was busily engaged fighting the Danes, Alfred
+and his men would have found time to construct this huge White Horse.
+
+[Illustration: THE WHITE HORSE AT UFFINGTON]
+
+In addition to the earthen mounds and deep ditch, which usually formed
+the fortifications of these ancient strongholds, there were wicker-work
+stockades, or palisading, arranged on the top of the vallum. Such
+defences have been found at Uffington; and during the present year on
+the ancient fortifications of the old Calleva Atrebatum, afterwards the
+Roman Silchester, a friend of the writer has found the remains of
+similar wattle-work stockades. Evidently tribal wars and jealousies were
+not unknown in Celtic times, and the people knew how to protect
+themselves from their foes.
+
+Another important class of earthen ramparts are the long lines of
+fortifications, which extend for miles across the country, and must have
+entailed vast labour in their construction. These ramparts were
+doubtless tribal boundaries, or fortifications used by one tribe against
+another. There is the Roman rig, which, as Mrs. Armitage tells us in her
+_Key to English Antiquities_, coasts the face of the hills all the way
+from Sheffield to Mexborough, a distance of eleven miles. A Grims-dike
+(or Grims-bank, as it is popularly called) runs across the southern
+extremity of Oxfordshire from Henley to Mongewell, ten miles in length;
+and near it, and parallel to it, there is a Medlers-bank, another
+earthen rampart, exceeding it in length by nearly a third. Near
+Salisbury there is also a Grims-dike, and in Cambridgeshire and
+Cheshire. Danes' Dike, near Flamborough Head, Wans-dike, and Brokerley
+Dike are other famous lines of fortifications.
+
+There are twenty-two Grims-dikes in England. The name was probably
+derived from Grim, the Saxon devil, or evil spirit; and was bestowed
+upon these mysterious monuments of an ancient race which the Saxons
+found in various parts of their conquered country. Unable to account for
+the existence of these vast mounds and fortresses, they attributed them
+to satanic agency.
+
+There is much work still to be done in exploring these relics of the
+prehistoric races; and if there should be any such in your own
+neighbourhood, some careful digging might produce valuable results.
+Perhaps something which you may find may throw light upon some disputed
+or unexplained question, which has perplexed the minds of antiquaries
+for some time. I do not imagine that the following legend will deter you
+from your search. It is gravely stated that years ago an avaricious
+person dug into a tumulus for some treasure which it was supposed to
+contain. At length after much labour he came to an immense chest, but
+the lid was no sooner uncovered than it lifted itself up a little and
+out sprang an enormous black cat, which seated itself upon the chest,
+and glowed with eyes of passion upon the intruder. Nothing daunted, the
+man proceeded to try to move the chest, but without avail; so he fixed a
+strong chain to it and attached a powerful team of horses. But when the
+horses began to pull, the chain broke in a hundred places, and the chest
+of treasure disappeared for ever.
+
+Some rustics assert that if you run nine times round a tumulus, and then
+put your ear against it, you will hear the fairies dancing and singing
+in the interior. Indeed it is a common superstition that good fairies
+lived in these old mounds, and a story is told of a ploughman who
+unfortunately broke his ploughshare. However he left it at the foot of a
+tumulus, and the next day, to his surprise, he found it perfectly whole.
+Evidently the good fairies had mended it during the night. But these
+bright little beings, who used to be much respected by our ancestors,
+have quite deserted our shores. They found that English people did not
+believe in them; so they left us in disgust, and have never been heard
+of since.
+
+If you have no other Celtic remains in your neighbourhood, at least you
+have the enduring possession of the words which they have bequeathed to
+us, such as _coat, basket, crook, cart, kiln, pitcher, comb, ridge_, and
+many others, which have all been handed down to us from our British
+ancestors. Their language also lives in Wales and Brittany, in parts of
+Ireland and Scotland, and in the Isle of Man, where dwell the modern
+representatives of that ancient race, which was once so powerful, and
+has left its trace in most of the countries of Europe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+ROMAN RELICS
+
+Roman remains numerous--Chedworth villa--Roads--Names derived from
+roads--_Itinerary_ of Antoninus--British roads--Watling Street--Iknield
+Street--Ryknield Street--Ermyn Street--Akeman Street--Saltways--
+Milestones--Silchester--Its walls--Calleva--Its gardens and villas--
+Hypocausts--Pavements--Description of old city--Forum--Temple--Baths--
+Amphitheatre--Church--Roman villa.
+
+
+"The world's a scene of change," sings Poet Cowley; but in spite of all
+the changes that have transformed our England, the coming and going of
+conquerors and invaders, the lapse of centuries, the ceaseless working
+of the ploughshare on our fields and downs, traces of the old Roman life
+in Britain have remained indelible. Our English villages are rich in the
+relics of the old Romans; and each year adds to our knowledge of the
+life they lived in the land of their adoption, and reveals the treasures
+which the earth has tenderly preserved for so many years.
+
+If your village lies near the track of some Roman road, many pleasing
+surprises may be in store for you. Oftentimes labourers unexpectedly
+meet with the buried walls and beautiful tesselated pavements of an
+ancient Roman dwelling-place. A few years ago at Chedworth, near
+Cirencester, a ferret was lost, and had to be dug out of the rabbit
+burrow. In doing this some Roman _tesserae_ were dug up; and when
+further excavations were made a noble Roman villa with numerous rooms,
+artistic pavements, hypocausts, baths, carvings, and many beautiful
+relics of Roman art were brought to light. Possibly you may be equally
+successful in your own village and neighbourhood.
+
+If you have the good fortune to live near a Roman station, you will
+have the pleasing excitement of discovering Roman coins and other
+treasures, when you watch your labourers draining the land or digging
+wells. Everyone knows that the names of many of the Roman stations
+are  distinguished by the termination _Chester, caster_, or _caer_,
+derived from the Latin _castra_, a camp; and whenever we are in the
+neighbourhood of such places, imagination pictures to us the
+well-drilled Roman legionaries who used to astonish the natives with
+their strange language and customs; and we know that there are coins
+and pottery, _tesserae_ and Roman ornaments galore, stored up beneath
+our feet, awaiting the search of the persevering digger. Few are the
+records relating to Roman Britain contained in the pages of the
+historians, as compared with the evidences of roads and houses, gates
+and walls and towns, which the earth has preserved for us.
+
+Near your village perhaps a Roman road runs. The Romans were famous for
+their wonderful roads, which extended from camp to camp, from city to
+city, all over the country. These roads remain, and are evidences of
+the  great engineering skill which their makers possessed. They liked
+their roads well drained, and raised high above the marshes; they liked
+them to go straight ahead, like their victorious legions, and never swerve
+to right or left for any obstacle. They cut through the hills, and
+filled up the valleys; and there were plenty of idle Britons about,
+who could be forced to do the work. They called their roads _strata_ or
+streets; and all names of places containing the word _street_, such as
+_Streatley_, or _Stretford_, denote that they were situated on one of
+these Roman roads.
+
+You may see these roads wending their way straight as a die, over hill
+and dale, staying not for marsh or swamp. Along the ridge of hills they
+go, as does the High Street on the Westmoreland hills, where a few
+inches below the grass you can find the stony way; or on the moors
+between Redmire and Stanedge, in Yorkshire, the large paving stones, of
+which the road was made, in many parts still remain. In central places,
+as at Blackrod, in Lancashire, the roads extend like spokes from the
+centre of a wheel, although nearly eighteen hundred years have elapsed
+since their construction. The name of Devizes, Wilts, is a corruption of
+the Latin word _divisae_, which marks the spot where the old Roman road
+from London to Bath was _divided_ by the boundary line between the Roman
+and the Celtic districts.
+
+In order to acquire a knowledge of the great roads of the Romans we must
+study the _Itinerary_ of Antoninus, written by an officer of the
+imperial Court about 150 A.D. This valuable road-book tells us the names
+of the towns and stations, the distances, halting-places, and other
+particulars. Ptolemy's _Geographia_ also affords help in understanding
+the details of the _Itinerary_, and many of the roads have been very
+satisfactorily traced. The Romans made use of the ancient British ways,
+whenever they found them suitable for their purpose. The British roads
+resembled the trackways on Salisbury Plain, wide grass rides, neither
+raised nor paved, and not always straight, but winding along the sides
+of the hills which lie in their course. There were seven chief British
+ways: Watling Street, which was the great north road, starting from
+Richborough on the coast of Kent, passing through Canterbury and
+Rochester it crossed the Thames near London, and went on through
+Verulam, Dunstable, and Towcester, Wellington, and Wroxeter, and thence
+into Wales to Tommen-y-Mawr, where it divided into two branches. One
+ran by Beth Gellert to Caernarvon and Holy Head, and the other through
+the mountains to the Manai banks and thence to Chester, Northwich,
+Manchester, Ilkley, until it finally ended in Scotland.
+
+The second great British road was the way of the Iceni, or Iknield
+Street, proceeding from Great Yarmouth, running through Cambridgeshire,
+Bedfordshire, Bucks, and Oxon, to Old Sarum, and finishing its course at
+Land's End. We have in Berkshire a branch of this road called the
+Ridgeway.
+
+The Ryknield Street beginning at the mouth of the Tyne ran through
+Chester-le-Street, followed the course of the Watling Street to
+Catterick, thence through Birmingham, Tewkesbury, and Gloucester, to
+Caermarthen and St. David's.
+
+The Ermyn Street led from the coast of Sussex to the south-east part of
+Scotland.
+
+The Akeman Street ran between the Iknield and Ryknield Streets, and
+led from what the Saxons called East Anglia, through Bedford, Newport
+Pagnel, and Buckingham to Alcester and Cirencester, across the Severn,
+and ending at St. David's.
+
+The Upper Saltway was the communication between the sea-coast of
+Lincolnshire and the salt mines at Droitwich; and the Lower Saltway led
+from Droitwich, then, as now, a great centre of the salt trade, to the
+sea-coast of Hampshire. Traces of another great road to the north are
+found, which seems to have run through the western parts of England
+extending from Devon to Scotland.
+
+Such were the old British roads which existed when the Romans came. The
+conquerors made use of these ways, wherever they found them useful,
+trenching them, paving them, and making them fit for military purposes.
+They constructed many new ones which would require a volume for their
+full elucidation. Many of them are still in use, wonderful records of
+the engineering skill of their makers, and oftentimes beneath the
+surface of some grassy ride a few inches below the turf you may find
+the hard concreted road laid down by the Romans nearly eighteen hundred
+years ago. Roman milestones we sometimes find. There is one near
+Silchester, commonly called the Imp Stone, probably from the first three
+letters of the Latin word _Imperator_, carved upon it. Curious legends
+often cluster round these relics of ancient times. Just as the
+superstitious Saxons, when they saw the great Roman roads, made by a
+people who had long vanished from the land, often attributed these great
+works to evil spirits, and called parts of these well-made streets the
+Devil's Highway, so they invented a strange legend to account for the
+Imp Stone, and said that some giant had thrown it from the city, and
+left on it the marks of his finger and thumb.
+
+Our English villages contain many examples of Roman buildings. Where
+now rustics pursue their calling, and sow their crops and reap their
+harvests, formerly stood the beautiful houses of the Roman nobles, or
+the flourishing towns of Roman citizens. Upon the sites of most of these
+old-world places new towns have been constructed; hence it is difficult
+often to trace the foundations of Roman cities in the midst of the
+masses of modern bricks and mortar. Hence we fly to the villages; and
+sometimes, as at Silchester, near a little English village, we find the
+remains of a large, important, and flourishing town, where the earth has
+kept safely for us during many centuries the treasures and memories of a
+bygone age.
+
+Every student of Roman Britain must visit Silchester, and examine the
+collections preserved in the Reading Museum, which have been amassed by
+the antiquaries who have for several years been excavating the ruins.
+The city contained a forum, or marketplace, having on one side a
+basilica, or municipal hall, in which prisoners were tried, business
+transactions executed, and the general affairs of the city carried on.
+On the other side of the square were the shops, where the butchers,
+bakers, or fishmongers plied their trade. You can find plenty of oyster
+shells, the contents of which furnished many a feast to the Romans who
+lived there seventeen hundred years ago. The objects which have been
+found tell us how the dwellers in the old city employed themselves,
+and how skilful they were in craftsmanship. Amongst other things we
+find axes, chisels, files for setting saws, hammers, a large plane, and
+other carpenters' tools; an anvil, a pair of tongs, and blacksmiths'
+implements; shoemakers' anvils, very similar to those used in our day,
+a large gridiron, a standing lamp, safety-pins, such as ladies use now,
+and many other useful and necessary objects.
+
+In order to protect the city it was surrounded by high walls, which seem
+to defy all the attacks of time. They are nine feet in thickness, and
+are still in many places twenty feet high. Outside the wall a wide ditch
+added to the strength of the fortifications. Watch-towers were placed at
+intervals along the walls; and on the north, south, east, and west sides
+were strongly fortified gates, with guard chambers on each side, and
+arched entrances through which the Roman chariots were driven.
+
+These walls inclose a space of irregular shape, and were built on the
+site of old British fortifications. Silchester was originally a British
+stronghold, and was called by them Calleva. The Celtic tribe which
+inhabited the northern parts of Hampshire was the Atrebates, who after a
+great many fights were subdued by the Romans about 78 A.D. Then within
+the rude fortifications of Calleva arose the city of Silchester, with
+its fine houses, temples, and baths, its strong walls, and gates, and
+streets, the great centre of civilisation, and the chief city of that
+part of the country.
+
+It is often possible to detect the course of Roman streets where now the
+golden corn is growing. On the surface of the roads where the ground is
+thin, the corn is scanty. Observation of this kind a few years ago led
+to the discovery of a Romano-British village at Long Whittenham, in
+Berks. In Silchester it is quite easy to trace the course of the streets
+by the thinness of the corn, as Leland observed as long ago as 1536. One
+is inclined to wonder where all the earth comes from, which buries old
+buildings and hides them so carefully; but any student of natural
+history, who has read Darwin's book on _Worms_, will cease to be
+astonished. It is chiefly through the action of these useful creatures
+that soil accumulates so greatly on the sites of ancient buildings.
+
+[Illustration: SILCHESTER. PLAN OF CITY]
+
+Within the walls of Silchester were gardens and villas replete with all
+the contrivances of Roman luxury. The houses were built on three sides
+of a square court. A cloister ran round the court, supported by pillars.
+The open space was used as a garden. At the back of the house were the
+kitchens and apartments for the slaves and domestics. The Romans adapted
+their dwellings to the climate in which they lived. In the sunny south,
+at Pompeii, the houses were more open, and would be little suited to our
+more rigorous climate. They knew how to make themselves comfortable,
+built rooms well protected from the weather, and heated with hypocausts.
+These were furnaces made beneath the house, which generated hot air; and
+this was admitted into the rooms by earthenware flue-tiles. The dwellers
+had both summer and winter apartments; and when the cold weather arrived
+the hypocaust furnaces were lighted, and the family adjourned to their
+winter quarters.
+
+The floors were made of _tesserae_, or small cubes of different
+materials and various colours, which were arranged in beautiful
+patterns. Some of these pavements were of most elegant and elaborate
+designs, having figures in them representing the seasons, or some
+mythological characters.
+
+The walls were painted with decorations of very beautiful designs,
+representing the cornfields, just as the Roman artists in Italy loved to
+depict the vine in their mural paintings. The mortar used by the Romans
+is very hard and tenacious, and their bricks were small and thin,
+varying from 8 inches square to 18 inches by 12, and were about 2 inches
+in thickness. Frequently we find the impression of an animal's foot on
+these bricks and tiles, formed when they were in a soft state before
+they were baked, and one tile recently found had the impression of a
+Roman baby's foot. Roman bricks have often been used by subsequent
+builders, and are found built up in the masonry of much later periods.
+
+[Illustration: CAPITAL OF COLUMN]
+
+It is quite possible to build up in imagination the old Roman city, and
+to depict before our mind's eye the scenes that once took place where
+now the rustics toil and till the ground. We enter the forum, the great
+centre of the city, the common resort and lounging-place of the
+citizens, who met together to discuss the latest news from Rome, to
+transact their business, and exchange gossip. On the west side stood the
+noble basilica, or hall of justice--a splendid building, its entrance
+being adorned with fine Corinthian columns; and slabs of polished
+Purbeck marble, and even of green and white marble from the Pyrenees,
+covered the walls. It was a long rectangular hall, 233 feet in length by
+58 feet in width, and at each side was a semicircular apse, which was
+called the Tribune. Here the magistrate sat to administer justice, or an
+orator stood to address the citizens. In the centre of the western wall
+was another apse, where the _curia_ met for the government of the city.
+Two rows of columns ran down the hall, dividing it into a nave with two
+aisles, like many of our churches. Indeed the form of the construction
+of our churches was taken from these Roman basilica. Several chambers
+stood on the west of the hall, one of which was another fine hall,
+probably used as a corn exchange. The height of this noble edifice, the
+roof of which was probably hidden by a coffered ceiling, must have been
+about fifty-seven feet.
+
+Passing along the main street towards the south gate we come to the
+foundations of a nearly circular temple. Two square-shaped buildings
+stood on the east of the city, which were probably temples for some
+Gaulish form of religion, as similar sacred buildings have been
+discovered in France. A quadrangle of buildings near the south gate,
+having various chambers, contained the public baths, whither the Romans
+daily resorted for gossip and discussion as well as for bathing. There
+is an ingenious arrangement for using the waste water for the purpose of
+flushing the drains and sewers. Nor were they ignorant of the invention
+of a force-pump, as the accompanying illustration on the next page
+shows.
+
+[Illustration: ROMAN FORCE-PUMP]
+
+The amphitheatre stands outside the gate, whither the citizens flocked
+to see gladiatorial displays or contests between wild beasts. With the
+exception of one at Dorchester, it is the largest in Britain. It is made
+of lofty banks of earth, which surround the arena, and must have been an
+imposing structure in the days of its glory, with its tiers of seats
+rising above the level arena. It is difficult to imagine this
+grass-covered slope occupied by a gay crowd of Romans and wondering
+Britons, all eagerly witnessing some fierce fight of man with man, or
+beast with beast, and enthusiastically revelling in the sanguinary
+sport. The modern rustics, who have no knowledge of what was the
+original purpose of "the Mount," as they name the amphitheatre, still
+call the arena "the lions' den."
+
+Silchester was a very busy place. There were dye works there, as the
+excavations show; hence there must have been some weaving, and therefore
+a large resident population. Throngs of travellers used to pass through
+it, and carts and baggage animals bore through its streets the
+merchandise from London, which passed to the cities and villas so
+plentifully scattered in western Britain.
+
+By far the most important of the discoveries made in Roman Britain is
+the little church which stood just outside the forum. It is very similar
+in form to the early churches in Italy and other parts of the Roman
+Empire, and is of the basilican type. The orientation is different from
+that used after the reign of Constantine, the altar being at the west
+end. The churches of S. Peter and S. Paul at Rome had the same
+arrangement; and the priest evidently stood behind the altar facing the
+congregation and looking towards the east at the time of the celebration
+of the Holy Communion. There is an apse at the west end, and the
+building is divided by two rows of columns into a nave and two aisles.
+The nave had probably an ambon, or reading-desk, and was mainly used by
+the clergy, the aisles being for the use of the men and women
+separately. A vestry stood at the western end of the north aisle. Across
+the eastern end was the narthex, or porch, where the catechumens stood
+and watched the service through the three open doors. Outside the
+narthex was the atrium, an open court, having in the centre the remains
+of the labrum, or laver, where the people washed their hands and faces
+before entering the church. We are reminded of a sermon by S.
+Chrysostom, who upbraided his congregation, asking them what was the use
+of their washing their hands if they did not at the same time cleanse
+their hearts by repentance. This interesting memorial of early
+Christianity was probably erected soon after the Emperor Constantine's
+Edict of Toleration issued in 313 A.D.
+
+But not only at Silchester and at other places, once the great centres
+of the Roman population, do we find Roman remains. In addition to the
+stations, camps, and towns, there were the villas of the rich Roman
+citizens or Gaulish merchants on the sunny slopes of many a hillside.
+Although hundreds of the remains of these noble houses have been
+discovered, there are still many to be explored.
+
+The villa consisted of the house of the proprietor, which occupied the
+centre of the little colony, together with the smaller houses of the
+servants and slaves, stables, cowsheds, mills, and granaries, and all
+the other usual outbuildings connected with a large estate. The main
+house was built around a central court, like an Oxford college; and
+resembled in architectural style the buildings which the excavations at
+Pompeii have disclosed. A corridor ran round the court supported by
+pillars, from which the rooms opened. In a well-defended town like
+Silchester the houses were usually built on three sides of the court;
+but the country villas, which had occasionally to be fortified against
+the attacks of wandering bands of outlaws and wild Britons, and the
+inroads of savage beasts, were usually built on all the four sides of
+the square court. They were usually of one story, although the existence
+of a force-pump in Silchester shows that water was laid on upstairs in
+one house at least. As the wells were less than thirty feet deep, a
+force-pump would not be needed to lift the water to the earth-level.
+Hence in some houses there must have been some upper chambers, a
+conclusion that is supported by the thickness of the foundations, which
+are far more substantial than would be required for houses of one story.
+The rooms were very numerous, often as many as sixty or seventy, and
+very bright they must have looked decorated with beautiful marbles and
+stuccoes of gorgeous hues, and magnificent pavements, statues and
+shrines, baths and fountains, and the many other objects of Roman luxury
+and comfort. The floors were made of _opus signinum_, such as the
+Italians use at the present day, a material composed of cement in which
+are embedded fragments of stone or brick, the whole being rubbed down to
+a smooth surface, or paved with mosaic composed of _tesserae_. In
+whatever land the Roman dwelt, there he made his beautiful tesselated
+pavement, rich with graceful designs and ever-enduring colours,
+representing the stories of the gods, the poetry of nature, and the
+legends of the heroes of his beloved native land. Here we see Perseus
+freeing Andromeda, Medusa's locks, Bacchus and his band of revellers,
+Orpheus with his lyre, by which he is attracting a monkey, a fox, a
+peacock, and other animals, Apollo singing to his lyre, Venus being
+loved by Mars, Neptune with his trident, attended by hosts of seamen.
+The seasons form an accustomed group, "Winter" being represented, as at
+Brading, by a female figure, closely wrapped, holding a lifeless bough
+and a dead bird. Satyrs and fauns, flowers, Graces and wood-nymphs,
+horns of plenty, gladiators fighting, one with a trident, the other with
+a net--all these and countless other fanciful representations look at us
+from these old Roman pavements. The Roman villa at Brading is an
+excellent type of such a dwelling, with its magnificent suites of rooms,
+colonnades, halls, and splendid mosaic pavements. As at Silchester, we
+see there fine examples of hypocausts. The floor of the room, called a
+_suspensura_, is supported by fifty-four small pillars made of tiles.
+Another good example of a similar floor exists at Cirencester, and many
+more at Silchester.
+
+[Illustration: TESSELATED PAVEMENT]
+
+Here is a description of a Roman gentleman's house, as drawn by the
+writer of _The History of Oxfordshire_:--
+
+"His villa lay sheltered from wild winds partly by the rising brow of
+the hill, and partly by belts of trees; it was turned towards the south,
+and caught the full sun. In the spring the breath of his violet beds
+would be as soft and sweet as in Oxfordshire woods to-day; in the summer
+his quadrangle would be gay with calthae, and his colonnade festooned
+with roses and helichryse. If we are to believe in the _triclinium
+aestivum_ of Hakewill, it says much for the warmth of those far-away
+summers that he was driven to build a summer dining-room with a north
+aspect, and without heating flues. And when the long nights fell, and
+winter cold set in, the slaves heaped higher the charcoal fires in the
+_praefurnium_; the master sat in rooms far better warmed than Oxford
+country houses now, or sunned himself at midday in the sheltered
+quadrangle, taking his exercise in the warm side of the colonnade among
+his gay stuccoes and fluted columns. Could we for a moment raise the
+veil, we should probably find that the country life of 400 A.D. in
+Oxfordshire was not so very dissimilar to that of to-day, ... and that
+the well-to-do Roman of rustic Middle England was ... a useful,
+peaceful, and a happy person."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
+
+Departure of Romans--Coming of Saxons--Bede--Saxon names of places--
+Saxon village--Common-field system--_Eorl_ and _ceorl_--Thanes,
+_geburs_, and _cottiers_--Description of village life--Thane's
+house--_Socmen_--Ploughman's lament--Village tradesmen--Parish
+council--Hundreds--Shires.
+
+
+The scene changes. The Roman legions have left our shores, and are
+trying to prop the tottering state of the falling empire. The groans
+of the Britons have fallen on listless or distracted ears, and no one
+has come to their succour. The rule of the all-swaying Roman power has
+passed away, and the Saxon hordes have poured over the hills and vales
+of rural Britain, and made it the Angles' land--our England.
+
+The coming of the Saxons was a very gradual movement. They did not
+attack our shores in large armies on one or two occasions; they came
+in clans or families. The head of the clan built a ship, and taking
+with him his family and relations, founded a settlement in wild Britain,
+or wherever the winds happened to carry them. They were very fierce
+and relentless in war, and committed terrible ravages on the helpless
+Britons, sparing neither men, women, nor children, burning buildings,
+destroying and conquering wherever they went.
+
+Bede tells the story of doings of the ruthless Saxons:--
+
+"The barbarous conquerors ... plundered all the neighbouring cities and
+country, spread the conflagration from the eastern to the western sea
+without any opposition, and covered almost every part of the devoted
+island. Public as well as private structures were overturned; the
+priests were everywhere slain before the altars; the prelates and
+the people, without any respect of persons, were destroyed with fire
+and sword; nor was there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly
+slaughtered. Some of the miserable remainder, being taken in the
+mountains, were butchered in heaps. Others, spent with hunger, came
+forth and submitted themselves to the enemy for food, being destined
+to undergo perpetual servitude, if they were not killed even upon the
+spot. Some, with sorrowful hearts, fled beyond the seas; others,
+continuing in their own country, led a miserable life among the woods,
+rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food to support life, and
+expecting every moment to be their last."
+
+Many antiquaries believe that the extirpation of the Britons was not so
+complete as Bede asserts, and that a large number of them remained in
+England in a condition of servitude. At any rate, the almost entire
+extinction of the language, except as regards the names of a few rivers
+and mountains, and of a few household words, seems to point to a fairly
+complete expulsion of the Britons rather than to a mingling of them with
+the conquering race.
+
+What remains have we in our English villages of our Saxon forefathers,
+the makers of England? In the first place we notice that many of the
+names of our villages retain the memory of their founders. When the
+family, or group of families, formed their settlements, they avoided the
+buildings and walled towns, relics of Roman civilisation, made clearings
+for themselves in the primeval forests, and established themselves in
+village communities. In the names of places the suffix _ing_, meaning
+_sons of_, denotes that the village was first occupied by the clan of
+some chief, whose name is compounded with this syllable _ing_. Thus the
+Uffingas, the children of Offa, formed a settlement at Uffinggaston, or
+Uffington; the Redingas, or sons of Rede, settled at Reading; the
+Billings at Billinge and Billingham; the Wokings or Hocings, sons of
+Hoc, at Woking and Wokingham. The Billings and Wokings first settled at
+Billinge and Woking; and then like bees they swarmed, and started
+another hive of industry at Billingham and Wokingham.
+
+These family settlements, revealed to us by the patronymic _ing_, are
+very numerous. At Ardington, in Berkshire, the Ardings, the royal race
+of the Vandals, settled; the Frankish Walsings at Wolsingham; the
+Halsings at Helsington; the Brentings at Brentingley; the Danish
+Scyldings at Skelding; the Thurings at Thorington; and many other
+examples might be quoted.
+
+Many Saxon names of places end in _field_, which denotes a forest
+clearing, or _feld_, made by the axes of the settlers in the primeval
+woods, where the trees were _felled_. These villages were rudely
+fortified, or inclosed by a hedge, wall, or palisade, denoted by the
+suffix _ton_, derived from the Anglo-Saxon _tynan_, to hedge; and all
+names ending with this syllable point to the existence of a Saxon
+settlement hedged in and protected from all intruders. Thus we have
+Barton, Preston, Bolton, and many others. The terminations _yard_,
+_stoke_, or stockaded place, as in Basingstoke, _worth_ (Anglo-Saxon
+_weorthig_), as in Kenilworth, Tamworth, Walworth, have much the same
+meaning.
+
+Perhaps the most common of all the terminations of names denoting the
+presence of Anglo-Saxon settlers is the suffix _ham_. When the _a_ is
+pronounced short the syllable denotes an inclosure, like _stoke_ or
+_ton_; but when the _a_ is long, it means home, and expresses the
+reverence with which the Anglo-Saxon regarded his own dwelling. England
+is the land of homes, and the natural affection with which we Englishmen
+regard our homes is to a great extent peculiar to our race. The
+Frenchman, the Spaniard, the Italian, do not have the same respect for
+home. Our Saxon forefathers were a very home-loving people, and it is
+from them doubtless that we inherit our love for our homes.
+
+We find, then, the Saxon holding the lands. The clan formed settlements;
+sections of each clan formed branch settlements; and several members of
+each section cut their way through the thick forests, felled the trees,
+built homesteads, where they tilled the land and reared their cattle.
+
+In early Saxon times the settlement consisted of a number of families
+holding a district, and the land was regularly divided into three
+portions. There was the village itself, in which the people lived in
+houses built of wood or rude stonework. Around the village were a few
+small inclosures, or grass yards, for rearing calves and baiting farm
+stock; this was the common farmstead. Around this was the arable land,
+where the villagers grew their corn and other vegetables; and around
+this lay the common meadows, or pasture land, held by the whole
+community, so that each family could turn their cattle into it, subject
+to the regulations of an officer elected by the people, whose duty it
+was to see that no one trespassed on the rights of his neighbour, or
+turned too many cattle into the common pasture.
+
+[Illustration: BEATING ACORNS FOR SWINE
+Cotton MS., _Nero_, c. 4]
+
+Around the whole colony lay the woods and uncultivated land, which
+was left in its natural wild state, where the people cut their timber
+and fuel, and pastured their pigs in the glades of the forest. The
+cultivated land was divided into three large fields, in which the
+rotation of crops was strictly enforced, each field lying fallow once
+in three years. To each freeman was assigned his own family lot, which
+was cultivated by the members of his household. But he was obliged to
+sow the same crop as his neighbour, and compelled by law to allow his
+lot to lie fallow with the rest every third year. The remains of this
+common-field system are still evident in many parts of the country, the
+fields being termed "lot meadows," or "Lammas lands." Our commons, too,
+many of which remain in spite of numerous inclosures, are evidences of
+the communal life of our village forefathers.
+
+How long the Saxon villages remained free democratic institutions, we do
+not know. Gradually a change came over them, and we find the manorial
+system in vogue. Manors existed in England long before the Normans came,
+although "manor" is a Norman word; and in the time of Canute the system
+was in full force. The existence of a manor implies a lord of the manor,
+who exercised authority over all the villagers, owned the home farm, and
+had certain rights over the rest of the land. How all this came about,
+we scarcely know. Owing to the Danish invasions, when the rude barbarous
+warriors carried fire and sword into many a peaceful town and village,
+the villagers found themselves at the mercy of these savage hordes.
+Probably they sought the protection of some thane, or _eorl_, with his
+band of warriors, who could save their lands from pillage. In return for
+their services they acknowledged him as the lord of their village, and
+gave him rent, which was paid either in the produce of these fields or
+by the work of their hands. Thus the lords of the manor became the
+masters of the villagers, although they too were governed by law, and
+were obliged to respect the rights of their tenants and servants.
+
+Saxon society was divided into two main divisions, the _eorl_ and the
+_ceorl_, the men of noble birth, and those of ignoble origin. The chief
+man in the village was the manorial lord, a _thane_, who had his demesne
+land, and his _gafol_ land, or _geneat_ land, which was land held in
+villeinage, and cultivated by _geneats_, or persons holding by service.
+These villein tenants were in two classes, the _geburs_, or villeins
+proper, who held the yardlands, and the _cottiers_, who had smaller
+holdings. Beneath these two classes there were the _theows_, or slaves,
+made up partly of the conquered Britons, partly of captives taken in
+war, and partly of freemen who had been condemned to this penalty for
+their crimes, or had incurred it by poverty.
+
+There were degrees of rank among Saxon gentlemen, as among those of
+to-day. The thanes were divided into three classes: (i.) those of royal
+rank (_thani regis_), who served the king in Court or in the management
+of State affairs; (ii.) _thani mediocres_, who held the title by
+inheritance, and corresponded to the lords of the manor in the later
+times; (iii.) _thani minores_, or inferior thanes, to which rank
+_ceorls_ or merchants could attain by the acquisition of sufficient
+landed property.
+
+We can picture to ourselves the ordinary village life which existed in
+Saxon times. The thane's house stood in the centre of the village, not a
+very lordly structure, and very unlike the stately Norman castles which
+were erected in later times. It was commonly built of wood, which the
+neighbouring forests supplied in plenty, and had stone or mud
+foundations. The house consisted of an irregular group of low buildings,
+almost all of one story. In the centre of the group was the hall, with
+doors opening into the court. On one side stood the kitchen; on the
+other the chapel when the thane became a Christian and required the
+services of the Church for himself and his household. Numerous other
+rooms with lean-to roofs were joined on to the hall, and a tower for
+purposes of defence in case of an attack. Stables and barns were
+scattered about outside the house, and with the cattle and horses lived
+the grooms and herdsmen, while villeins and _cottiers_ dwelt in the
+humble, low, shedlike buildings, which clustered round the Saxon thane's
+dwelling-place. An illustration of such a house appears in an ancient
+illumination preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 603. The lord and lady
+of the house are represented as engaged in almsgiving; the lady is thus
+earning her true title, that of "loaf-giver," from which her name "lady"
+is derived.
+
+[Illustration: HOUSE OF SAXON THANE]
+
+The interior of the hall was the common living-room for both men and
+women, who slept on the reed-strewn floor, the ladies' sleeping-place
+being separated from the men's by the arras. The walls were hung with
+tapestry, woven by the skilled fingers of the ladies of the household. A
+peat or log fire burned in the centre of the hall, and the smoke hid the
+ceiling and finally found its way out through a hole in the roof. Arms
+and armour hung on the walls, and the seats consisted of benches called
+"mead-settles," arranged along the sides of the hall, where the Saxon
+chiefs sat drinking their favourite beverage, mead, or sweetened beer,
+out of the horns presented to them by the waiting damsels. When the hour
+for dinner approached, rude tables were laid on trestles, and forthwith
+groaned beneath the weight of joints of meat and fat capons which the
+Saxon loved dearly. The door of the hall was usually open, and thither
+came the bards and gleemen, who used to delight the company with their
+songs and stories of the gallant deeds of their ancestors, the weird
+legends of their gods Woden and Thor, their Viking lays and Norse sagas,
+and the acrobats and dancers astonished them with their strange
+postures.
+
+Next to the thane ranked the _geburs_, who held land granted to them by
+the thane for their own use, sometimes as much as one hundred and twenty
+acres, and were required to work for the lord on the home farm two or
+three days a week, or pay rent for their holdings. This payment
+consisted of the produce of the land. They were also obliged to provide
+one or more oxen for the manorial plough team, which consisted of eight
+oxen.
+
+There was also a strong independent body of men called _socmen_, who
+were none other than our English yeomen. They were free tenants, who
+have by their independence stamped with peculiar features both our
+constitution and our national character. Their good name remains;
+English yeomen have done good service to their country, and let us hope
+that they will long continue to exist amongst us, in spite of the
+changed condition of English agriculture and the prolonged depression in
+farming affairs, which has tried them severely.
+
+[Illustration: WHEEL PLOUGH
+From Bayeux Tapestry]
+
+Besides the _geburs_ and _socmen_ there were the _cottiers_, who had
+small allotments of about five acres, kept no oxen, and were required to
+work for the thane some days in each week. Below them were the _theows_,
+serfs, or slaves, who could be bought and sold in the market, and were
+compelled to work on the lord's farm.
+
+Listen to the sad lament of one of this class, recorded in a dialogue of
+AElfric of the tenth century:--
+
+"What sayest thou, ploughman? How dost thou do thy work?"
+
+"Oh, my lord, hard do I work. I go out at daybreak, driving the oxen to
+field, and I yoke them to the plough. Nor is it ever so hard winter that
+I dare loiter at home, for fear of my lord, but the oxen yoked, and the
+ploughshare and the coulter fastened to the plough, every day must I
+plough a full acre, or more."
+
+"Hast thou any comrade?"
+
+"I have a boy driving the oxen with an iron goad, who also is hoarse
+with cold and shouting."
+
+"What more dost thou in the day?"
+
+"Verily then I do more. I must fill the bin of the oxen with hay, and
+water them, and carry out the dung. Ha! Ha! hard work it is, hard work
+it is! because _I am not free._"
+
+Evidently the ploughman's want of freedom was his great hardship; his
+work in ploughing, feeding, and watering his cattle, and in cleansing
+their stable, was not harder than that of an ordinary carter in the
+present day; but servitude galled his spirit, and made the work
+intolerable. Let us hope that his lord was a kind-hearted man, and gave
+him some cattle for his own, as well as some land to cultivate, and then
+he would not feel the work so hard, or the winter so cold.
+
+Frequently men were thus released from slavery; sometimes also freemen
+sold themselves into slavery under the pressure of extreme want. A man
+so reduced was required to lay aside his sword and lance, the symbols
+of the free, and to take up the bill and the goad, the implements of
+slavery, to fall on his knees and place his head, in token of submission,
+under the hands of his master.
+
+[Illustration: SMITHY
+From the Cotton MS., B 4]
+
+Each trade was represented in the village community. There were the
+_faber_, or smith, and the carpenter, who repaired the ironwork and
+woodwork of the ploughs and other agricultural implements, and in return
+for their work had small holdings among the tenants free from ordinary
+services. There was the _punder_, or pound-man, who looked after the
+repair of the fences and impounded stray cattle; the _cementarius_, or
+stonemason; the _custos apium_, or bee-keeper, an important person, as
+much honey was needed to make the sweetened ale, or mead, which the
+villagers and their chiefs loved to imbibe; and the steward, or
+_prepositus_, who acted on behalf of the lord, looked after the
+interests of the tenants, and took care that they rendered their legal
+services. The surnames Smith, Baker, Butcher, Carter, and many others,
+preserve the remembrance of the various trades which were carried on in
+every village, and of the complete self-dependence of the community.
+
+We have inherited many customs and institutions from our Saxon
+forefathers, which connect our own age with theirs. In recent years we
+have established parish councils in our villages. Formerly the pet
+theory of politicians was centralisation; everything had to be done at
+one centre, at one central office, and London became the head and centre
+of all government. But recently politicians thought that they had
+discovered a new plan for carrying on the internal affairs of the
+country, and the idea was to leave each district to manage its own
+affairs. This is only a return to the original Saxon plan. In every
+village there was a moot-hill, or sacred tree, where the freemen met to
+make their own laws and arrange their agricultural affairs. Here
+disputes were settled, plough lands and meadow lands shared in due lot
+among the villagers, and everything arranged according to the custom of
+the village.
+
+Our county maps show that the shires are divided into hundreds. This we
+have inherited from our Saxon forefathers. In order to protect
+themselves from their neighbours, the Saxon colonists arranged
+themselves in hundreds of warriors. This little army was composed of
+picked champions, the representatives of a hundred families; men who
+were ready in case of war to uphold the honour of their house, and to
+fight for their hearths and homes. These hundred families recognised a
+bond of union with each other and a common inheritance, and ranged
+themselves under one name for general purposes, whether for defence,
+administration of justice, or other objects.
+
+On a fixed day, three times a year, in some place where they were
+accustomed to assemble--under a particular tree,[1] or near some
+river-bank--these hundred champions used to meet their chieftain, and
+gather around him when he dismounted from his horse. He then placed his
+spear in the ground, and each warrior touched it with his own spear in
+token of their compact, and pledged himself to mutual support. At this
+assembly criminals were tried, disputes settled, bargains of sale
+concluded; and in later times many of these transactions were inserted
+in the chartularies of abbeys or the registers of bishops, which thus
+became a kind of register too sacred to be falsified. A large number of
+the hundreds bear the name of some chieftain who once used to call
+together his band of bearded, light-haired warriors and administer rude
+justice beneath a broad oak's shade.[2] Others are named after some
+particular spot, some tree, or ford, or stone, or tumulus, where the
+hundred court met.
+
+Our counties or shires were not formed, as is popularly supposed, by
+King Alfred or other royal person by the dividing up of the country into
+portions, but were the areas occupied by the original Saxon tribes or
+kingdoms. Most of our counties retain to this day the boundaries which
+were originally formed by the early Saxon settlers. Some of our counties
+were old Saxon kingdoms--such as Sussex, Essex, Middlesex--the kingdoms
+of the South, East, and Middle Saxons. Surrey is the Sothe-reye, or
+south realm; Kent is the land of the Cantii, a Belgic tribe; Devon is
+the land of the Damnonii, a Celtic tribe; Cornwall, or Corn-wales, is
+the land of the Welsh of the Horn; Worcestershire is the shire of the
+Huiccii; Cumberland is the land of the Cymry; Northumberland is the land
+north of the Humber, and therefore, as its name implies, used to extend
+over all the North of England. Evidently the southern tribes and
+kingdoms by conquest reduced the size of this large county and confined
+it to its present smaller dimensions. In several cases the name of the
+county is derived from that of its chief town, _e.g._ Oxfordshire,
+Warwickshire; these were districts which were conquered by some powerful
+earl or chieftain, who held his court in the town, and called his newly
+acquired property after its name.
+
+We have seen the picture of an ordinary English village in early Saxon
+times, the villeins and slaves working in the fields and driving their
+oxen, and the thane dressed in his linen tunic and short cloak, his hose
+bandaged to the knee with strips of cloth, superintending the farming
+operations. We have seen the freemen and thanes taking an active part in
+public life, attending the courts of the hundred and shire, as well as
+the folk moot or parish council of those times, and the slave mourning
+over his lack of freedom. But many other relics of Saxon times remain,
+and these will require another chapter for their examination.
+
+
+[1] Until the eighteenth century there stood a pollard oak in the parish
+of Shelford, Berks, where the hundred court used to be held.
+
+[2] Other theories with regard to the origin of the hundred have been
+suggested. Some writers maintain that the hundred was a district whence
+the hundred warriors were derived, or a group of townships. But the
+Bishop of Oxford in his _Constitutional History_ states: "It is very
+probable that the colonists of Britain arranged themselves in hundreds
+of warriors; it is not probable that the country was carved into equal
+districts. The only conclusion that seems reasonable is that under the
+name of geographical hundreds we have the variously sized _pagi_, or
+districts, in which the hundred warriors settled, the boundaries of
+these being determined by other causes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SAXON RELICS
+
+Peculiarities of Saxon barrows--Their contents--Weapons--Articles
+of personal adornment--Cremation--Saxon Cemeteries--Jutes--Saxons--
+Angles--Religion of Saxons--British Church in Wales--Conversion
+of Saxons--Saxon crosses--Whalley--St. Wilfrid--Ruthwell cross--
+Bewcastle cross--Eyam cross--Ilkley cross--Hexham cross--Cross at
+St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland--Cheeping crosses--Pilgrim crosses.
+
+
+The earth has preserved a vast store of relics of the Saxons, and for
+these we must search in the barrows which contain their dead. There are
+certain peculiarities which characterise these memorials of the race.
+The larger tumuli, whether belonging to Celt or Roman, usually stand
+alone, or in groups of not more than two or three, and were the
+monuments of distinguished people; whereas the Saxon barrows form a
+regular cemetery, each group being the common burying-place of the
+people in the district. Another characteristic is the large number of
+articles which they contain. Moreover it was the practice of the other
+races to lay the body on the ground, and build up the chamber and mound
+above it. The Saxons on the other hand laid the body in a deep grave
+before they began to construct the barrow.
+
+The body was usually stretched out on its back, but is sometimes found
+in a sitting position, as in graves recently discovered on Lord
+Wantage's estate, Berks. Coffins of hollowed trunks of trees were
+occasionally used, but these were not common. If the dead man was a
+warrior, his weapons were buried with him, and we find the head and
+spike of his spear, heads of javelins, a long iron broad-sword, a long
+knife, occasionally an axe, and over his breast the iron boss of his
+shield, the wooden part of which has of course decayed away.
+
+[Illustration: SAXON RELICS
+(1) Sword
+(2) Top of Sword Handle
+(3) Buckle
+(4) Spear-head
+(5) Plain Fibula]
+
+The articles of personal adornment are very numerous. Fibulae, or
+brooches, and buckles, made of bronze, are very beautifully ornamented.
+Gold fibulae of circular form are found in the Kentish barrows,
+frequently ornamented with real or fictitious gems. Rings, bracelets,
+necklaces of beads, pendants for the neck and ears, are very common. The
+beads are of glass, or amber, or variegated clay. Hairpins with which
+the Saxon ladies bound up their tresses, chatelaines with tweezers for
+removing superfluous hairs, toothpicks, scissors, and small knives, are
+very frequent, and combs made of bone.
+
+When cremation was used the ashes were deposited in an urn made of rude
+earthenware without the help of a lathe. Drinking-vessels of glass of
+fine and delicate workmanship, pointed or rounded at the bottom, are
+common. From the construction of these cups it is evident that the Saxon
+allowed no "heel-taps." Bronze bowls, dishes, and basins are found in
+Saxon barrows, and occasionally buckets.
+
+A pair of dice was found in a grave at Kingston Down, which indicates a
+favourite pastime of the Saxons. The presence of a large number of Roman
+coins shows that they used Roman money long after the legions had left
+our shores. Sceattas, or Saxon silver coins, are also frequently
+discovered.
+
+Many Saxon cemeteries have been discovered in various parts of England,
+but a vast number have never been examined; and the careful inspection
+of the contents of barrows must throw much light upon Saxon settlements
+in England. Bede tells us that there were three different branches of
+this race. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons
+settled in Essex, the country of the East Saxons, Sussex, that of the
+South Saxons, and Wessex, of the West Saxons. The Angles settled in East
+Anglia. Now an examination of barrows shows that the Angles practised
+cremation and urn burial, which was not so common amongst the Jutes and
+Saxons, and the fibulae found in the tombs of these tribes differ
+considerably in shape and size. The contents of these graves throw much
+light on the history of the people, their customs and habits. The action
+of the plough has often obliterated the traces of ancient barrows. It is
+advisable that the position of all such mounds should be carefully noted
+and recorded, and where possible excavations made which may help in
+settling many vexed questions, and enable us to understand more fully
+the condition of the pagan Saxon, ere the light of Christianity had
+dawned upon him.
+
+Our names for the days of the week tell us of the gods of our Saxon
+forefathers, whom they worshipped in their pagan and unregenerate state.
+Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuisco's-day, Woden's-day, Thor's-day, Frya's-day,
+Saeter's-day, link us on to the times when these "whelps from the
+kennels of barbarism," as the Britons loved to call their conquerors,
+swept away the old British Church, and established their heathen rites
+and customs. Their religion resembled that of their Scandinavian
+neighbours. Each village had its sacred spot, some clearing in the
+forest, a tree, or well, whither the people resorted to pray to their
+gods, and practise superstitious rites and customs which lingered long
+after the introduction of Christianity, and even still survive. They had
+also a few temples whither the freemen came three times a year.
+
+Driven out of England the ancient British Church found a refuge in the
+wilds of Wales and Cornwall, where it lived on and flourished
+vigorously, allied to the Churches of Ireland and Scotland, sending out
+missionaries to the Continent of Europe, having schools and colleges,
+monasteries, and numerous churches. Llancarvan, in Glamorganshire, was a
+celebrated seat of learning; and all places named Bangor, such as
+Bangor-Iscaed, St. Asaph, and many others, possessed schools and
+colleges. The village names of numerous places in Wales and Cornwall
+record the labours of many earnest, saintly men, who brought
+Christianity to the savage folk in these wild regions. There are nearly
+five hundred names of these holy men in Wales alone, whose memory is
+retained by this simple record; and Cornwall is dotted over with
+churches dedicated to men and women whose names are strange, and of whom
+we know nothing. History tells us of some of these early saints and
+martyrs, of St. Alban, the first British martyr, who was slain 303 A.D.
+during the Diocletian persecution in the city which bears his name; of
+St. David, a Welsh prince, who followed the active life of John the
+Baptist, and preached like him. The memory of early saints is enshrined
+in the names, St. Ives, St. Neots, St. Bees, and in St. Edmund's Bury,
+named after St. Edmund, who was taken prisoner by Ingvar the Viking, and
+having been bound to a tree, was scourged, and served as a target for
+the arrows of the Danes, being afterwards beheaded. All these record the
+bravery and zeal of the holy men of old who loved their God, and for His
+sake feared not to die.
+
+Nothing need be said of the conversion of the English. That is a story
+which has been often told. The scene is again changed. The temples of
+Woden and Thor at Canterbury and Godmundingham and elsewhere, with their
+heathen altars and shrines and idols, have been changed into Christian
+churches, and other houses of God have been raised in the various
+kingdoms; while Paulinus, Berinus, Aidan, Winfrid, and other preachers,
+travelled through the country, exhorting the people to accept the
+Christian faith.
+
+Memorials of these early Christian missionaries remain in many a village
+churchyard. Often there stands near the village church an old stone
+cross, its steps worn away by the rains and frosts of thirteen
+centuries; its head has doubtless gone, broken off by the force of the
+gales, or by the wild rage of human passion and Puritanical iconoclastic
+zeal; but it preserves the memory of the first conversion of the Saxon
+villagers to Christianity, and was erected to mark the spot where the
+people assembled to hear the new preacher, and to consecrate it for this
+purpose.
+
+In the life of St. Willibald we read that it was the custom of the Saxon
+nation, on the estates of some of their nobles or great men, to erect,
+not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God,
+beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common
+use of daily prayer. It is recorded also that St. Kentigern used to
+erect a cross in any place where he had converted the people, and where
+he had been staying for some time. Very probably the Saxon preacher
+would make use of the old open-air meeting-place, where the pagan
+villagers used to worship Woden; and thus the spots still used for
+public worship are in many cases the same which used to echo with the
+songs of Thor and the prayers of pagan Saxons.
+
+These crosses were the rallying-points for Christian congregations
+before churches arose, and the bells in their turrets summoned the
+people to the service of God. In Somersetshire alone there are two
+hundred relics of the piety of our forefathers; and the North of England
+and Scotland are especially rich in crosses. No two are ever quite
+similar. Some are of simple design or character; but many have such
+beautiful carving and scrollwork that we are astonished at the skill of
+the workmen who, with very simple and rude tools, could produce such
+wonderful specimens of art.
+
+The pagan Saxons worshipped stone pillars; so in order to wean them from
+their ignorant superstition, the Christian missionaries, such as St.
+Wilfrid, erected these stone crosses, and carved upon them the figures
+of the Saviour and His Apostles, displaying before the eyes of their
+hearers the story of the cross written in stone.
+
+The North of England has very many examples of the zeal of these early
+preachers of the faith, and probably most of them were fashioned by the
+monks and followers of St. Wilfrid, who was Archbishop of York at the
+beginning of the eighth century.
+
+When he travelled about his diocese a large body of monks and workmen
+attended him; and amongst these were the cutters in stone who made the
+crosses and erected them on the spots which Wilfrid consecrated to the
+worship of God.
+
+The Whalley cross is earlier than the time of Wilfrid. It is one of the
+crosses of Paulinus, who was one of the priests sent by Pope Gregory to
+help Augustine in the work of converting the Saxons, and who became
+Archbishop of York. Under the shadow of this very cross Paulinus, who
+came to England in 601 A.D., preached nearly thirteen hundred years ago.
+Indeed an old monkish writer wished to represent that Augustine himself
+came to Whalley and erected the cross, which he calls "St. Augustine's
+Cross"; but there is little doubt that Paulinus was the founder. In
+Puritan times this and other relics of early faith suffered badly, and
+was removed with two others from the churchyard, and used as a gatepost;
+but the spoiler repented, and restored it once more to its old
+resting-place.
+
+But how did the founders learn to make such beautiful patterns and
+designs? St. Wilfrid had travelled much; he had been to Rome and seen
+the wonderful examples of Roman skill in the great city. The Romans had
+left behind them in England their beautiful pavements, rich in designs,
+with splendid borders of fine workmanship. These, doubtless, the monks
+copied on parchment in the writing-rooms of their monasteries, and gave
+their drawings to the monks in the stone-shed, who reproduced them in
+stone. The only tool they had to produce all this fine and delicate work
+was the pick, and this increases our wonder at the marvels they were
+able to accomplish.
+
+There is a famous cross at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire, which for a short
+time formed part of the kingdom of Northumbria. Scenes from early
+Christian history are portrayed, and these are surrounded by bands with
+sentences in Latin describing them. The lowest panel is too defaced for
+us to determine the subjects; on the second we see the flight into
+Egypt; on the third figures of Paul, the first hermit, and Anthony, the
+first monk, are carved; on the fourth is a representation of our Lord
+treading under foot the heads of swine; and on the highest there is the
+figure of John the Baptist with the Lamb. On the opposite side are the
+Annunciation, the Salutation, and other scenes of gospel history. On the
+side of the cross is some beautiful scrollwork, which shows a wonderful
+development of skill and art.
+
+In addition to the Latin sentences there are five stanzas of an
+Anglo-Saxon poem of singular beauty. It is the story of the crucifixion
+told in touching words by the cross itself, which narrates its own sad
+tale from the time when it was a growing tree by the woodside, until at
+length, after the body of the Lord had been taken down--
+
+  "The warriors left me there,
+  Standing defiled with blood."
+
+On the head of the cross are inscribed the words, "Caedmon made me."
+This Caedmon was the holy monk, on whom the gift of writing verses was
+bestowed by Heaven, who in the year 680 A.D. began to pour forth his
+songs in praise of Almighty God, and told in Anglo-Saxon poetry the
+story of the creation and the life of our Lord. The Bewcastle cross is
+somewhat similar to that at Ruthwell. We see again the figure of our
+Lord standing on the heads of swine, but the lower figure is represented
+with a hawk, the sign of nobility, and is probably that of a person to
+whom the cross is a memorial. The ornamentation on this cross is very
+perfect and beautifully executed. The very beautiful cross at Eyam, in
+Derbyshire, differs both in style and workmanship from almost any other.
+The shaft has evidently been broken. In the panels of the head of the
+cross are figures of angels.
+
+Sometimes we find some very strange beasts carved on the old crosses. On
+the cross at Ilkley we observe some of these curious animals with their
+long tails interlacing. Sometimes the tail is wound round the creature's
+body, and the idea of the artist was to represent the animal reduced to
+a state of powerlessness. One forepaw is held up in sign of submission.
+Above is a figure of our Lord triumphing over the powers of evil, and
+these animals represent probably man's lower nature owning the supremacy
+of the King of Heaven. On the other side of the cross are figures of the
+four evangelists. The upper half of the figures alone appears dressed in
+flowing garments; each is carrying a book; circles of glory surround
+their heads, which are the symbols of the evangelists. St. Matthew has a
+man's head; St. Mark a leopard's; St. Luke's a calf's; and St. John an
+eagle's head.
+
+The crosses at Hexham, where Archbishop Wilfrid founded a monastery, are
+very ancient. We are able to tell the date of these stones, for they
+were placed at the head and feet of the grave of Bishop Acca, who was a
+follower of St. Wilfrid, and accompanied him on his missionary journeys.
+Acca succeeded Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham, and according to the old
+chronicler Bede, "being a most active man and great in the sight of God
+and man, he much adorned and added to his church." Acca died in 738
+A.D., and as the monastery of Hexham was soon destroyed, these crosses
+must have been erected eleven hundred and sixty-three years ago.
+
+The cross at St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland, is of much later date, and
+the workmanship is not nearly so fine and delicate as in the earlier
+crosses. The Saxons had deteriorated as a race just before the Normans
+came, and although the cross still appears on the flat stone, the design
+on the shaft of the cross merely represents a hunting scene; and a Saxon
+bowman is shown shooting at some animals. The religious conceptions of
+an earlier and purer time have disappeared. The moustache of the
+sportsman also shows that the stone belonged to a period very near the
+Norman Conquest, when that fashion of wearing the hair was in vogue.
+
+England is remarkable for these specimens of ancient art. On the
+Continent there are very few of these elaborately carved crosses; but
+it is noteworthy that wherever the English or Irish missionaries went,
+they erected these memorials of their faith. In Switzerland, where
+they founded some monasteries, there are some very similar to those
+in England.
+
+There are several other kinds of crosses besides those in churchyards.
+There are market crosses, called "cheeping" crosses after the
+Anglo-Saxon _cheap_, to buy, from which Cheapside, in London, Chippenham
+and Chipping Norton derive their names. Some crosses are "pilgrim"
+crosses, and were erected along the roads leading to shrines where
+pilgrimages were wont to be made, such as the shrine of St. Thomas
+a Becket at Canterbury, Glastonbury, Our Lady of Walsingham. Sometimes
+they were erected at the places where the corpse rested on its way to
+burial, as the Eleanor crosses at Waltham and Charing, in order that
+people might pray for the soul of the deceased. Monks also erected
+crosses to mark the boundaries of the property of their monastery.
+
+[Illustration: AN OLD MARKET CROSS]
+
+Time has dealt hardly with the old crosses of England. Many of them
+were destroyed by the Puritans, who by the Parliamentary decree of
+1643, ordered that all altars and tables of stones, all crucifixes,
+images and pictures of God and the saints, with all superstitious
+inscriptions, should be obliterated and destroyed. In London, St.
+Paul's Cross, Charing Cross, and that in Cheapside, were levelled
+with the ground, and throughout the country many a beautiful work
+of art which had existed hundreds of years shared the same fate.
+Place-names sometimes preserve their memory, such as Gerard's Cross,
+in Buckinghamshire, Crosby, Crossens, Cross Inn, Croston; these and
+many others record the existence in ancient times of a cross, and
+probably beneath its shade the first preachers of the gospel stood,
+when they turned the hearts of our heathen ancestors, and taught them
+the holy lessons of the Cross.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
+
+Saxon monasteries--Parish churches--Benedict Biscop--Aldhelm--St.
+Andrew's, Hexham--Brixworth Church--Saxon architecture--Norman
+architecture--Characteristics of the style--Transition Norman--
+Early English style--Decorated style--Perpendicular style.
+
+
+The early Saxon clergy lived in monasteries, where they had a church
+and a school for the education of the sons of thanes. Monastic houses,
+centres of piety and evangelistic zeal, sprang up, the abodes of
+religion, civilisation, peace, and learning. They were the schools of
+culture, sacred and profane, of industry and agriculture; the monks were
+the architects, the painters, the sculptors, the goldsmiths of their
+time. They formed the first libraries; they taught the young; they
+educated women in convents, and by degrees dispersed the shades of
+ignorance, idolatry, and barbarism, and reformed England.
+
+To record the number of these monastic houses which were erected in the
+seventh and eighth centuries would require much space; and as our chief
+concern is with the vestiges that remain in our English villages, and
+as most of these Saxon monasteries were plundered and destroyed by the
+Danes, or rebuilt on a grander scale by the Normans, we will not now
+enumerate them.
+
+After the country had been evangelised by the itinerant monks and
+preachers, the next process was to establish a church in every village,
+and to provide a pastor to minister therein. Archbishop Theodore
+encouraged the thanes to build and endow churches on their estates, and
+introduced to this country the parochial system, by means of which all
+villages could have the services of a resident pastor.
+
+Then the thane's house was not considered complete without its chapel;
+and in the scattered hamlets and village communities churches arose,
+rudely built of wood and roofed with thatch, wherein the Saxon _ceorls_
+and _cottiers_ loved to worship.
+
+The great Churchmen of the day were not content with such humble
+structures. They had travelled to Rome, and seen there some of the fine
+buildings dedicated for divine service; so they determined to have the
+like in their own country. One of these noble builders was Benedict
+Biscop, founder of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. When he
+built the former, he imported foreign artists from Gaul, who constructed
+the monastery after the Roman style, and amongst other things introduced
+glazed windows, which had never been seen in England before. Nor was his
+new house bare and unadorned. He brought from Rome vast stores of church
+furniture, many books, and the "arch-chanter" John, to teach his monks
+the music and ritual of Rome.
+
+Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, and first Bishop of Sherborne, was one of
+the foremost church-builders of the time, and the beautiful churches at
+Malmesbury, Sherborne, Bradford-on-Avon, Frome, and Wareham, owe their
+erection to his instrumentality. Wilfrid also was one of the saintly
+architects of the period. Here is a description of the church of St.
+Andrew, at Hexham, taken from the writings of Richard, prior of the
+monastery there:--
+
+"The foundations of this church St. Wilfrid laid deep in the earth for
+the crypts and oratories, and the passages leading to them, which were
+then with great exactness contrived and built under ground. The walls,
+which were of great length, and raised to an immense height, and divided
+into three several stones or tiers, he supported by square and other
+kinds of well-polished columns. Also, the walls, the capitals of the
+columns which supported them, and the arch of the sanctuary, he
+decorated with historical representations, imagery, and various figures
+of relief, carved in stone, and painted with a most agreeable variety of
+colour. The body of the church he compassed about with pentices and
+porticoes, which, both above and below, he divided with great and
+inexpressible art, by partition walls and winding stairs. Within the
+staircases, and above them, he caused flights of steps and galleries of
+stone, and several passages leading from them both ascending and
+descending, to be so artfully disposed, that multitudes of people might
+be there, and go quite round the church, without being seen by anyone
+below in the nave. Moreover in the several divisions of the porticoes or
+aisles, he erected many most beautiful and private oratories of
+exquisite workmanship; and in them he caused to be placed altars in
+honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Michael, St. John the Baptist,
+and the holy Apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, with all decent
+and proper furniture to each of them, some of which, remaining at this
+day, appear like so many turrets and fortified places."
+
+[Illustration: CONSECRATION OF A SAXON CHURCH]
+
+The Danish wars had a disastrous effect on such noble structures raised
+by these monastic architects, as well as on many a rustic village
+church, which fell a prey to the ruthless invading bands of pagan
+warriors. But frequently, as we study the history written in the
+stonework of our churches, we find amid the massive Norman walls traces
+of the work of Saxon builders, an arch here, a column there, which link
+our own times with the distant past when England was divided into eight
+kingdoms, or when Danegeld was levied to buy off the marauding
+strangers.
+
+Roman buildings served as a model for our Saxon architects, and Roman
+bricks were much used by them. Brixworth Church is perhaps the finest
+specimen of our early Saxon churches. It has semicircular arches, made
+of Roman bricks, springing from square massive piers with single abaci.
+
+[Illustration: TOWER OF BARNACK CHURCH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE]
+
+We will try to point out the distinguishing features of Saxon work, in
+order that you may be able to detect the evidence of its existence in
+your own village and neighbourhood. The walls are chiefly formed of
+rubble or rag stone, having "long and short work," _i.e._ long block of
+cut stone laid alternately horizontally and vertically, at the corners
+of the building and in the jambs of the doors. Often narrow ribs of
+masonry run vertically up the walls, and a string-course runs
+horizontally. The churches of Barnack and Wittering in Northamptonshire,
+St. Michael's, Oxford, and the towers of Earl's Barton are good examples
+of this.
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY, EARL'S BARTON CHURCH]
+
+Saxon doorways have semicircular arches, and sometimes the head is
+shaped in the form of a triangle. The jambs are square-edged, the stone
+of the arch is plain, and a hood or arch of ribwork projecting from the
+surface of the wall surrounds the doorway. Belfry windows have two
+semicircular-headed lights divided by a _baluster_ shaft, _i.e._ a
+column resembling a turned-wood pillar. This feature is quite peculiar
+to Saxon architecture.
+
+Anglo-Saxon single-light windows have two splays, increasing in width
+from the centre of the wall in which the window is placed. Norman
+windows have only one splay on the internal side of the building. Saxon
+arches separating the nave from the aisles and chancel are plain. There
+is no sub-arch as in Norman buildings. They are often very small,
+sometimes only five or six feet wide, and stand on square piers.
+
+[Illustration: TOWER WINDOW, MONKWEARMOUTH CHURCH
+Built by Benedict Biscop, _circa_ A.D. 674]
+
+Some Saxon churches have crypts, but few of them remain. The crypt made
+by St. Wilfrid at Hexham, mentioned above, still exists, and also one at
+Ripon Cathedral, in which there is a small window called "Wilfrid's
+needle." There is a legend about this which states that if a maid goes
+through the "needle," she will be married within the year. Repton Church
+has a very perfect specimen of Saxon crypt.
+
+The ground plan of Saxon churches differed. Many were cruciform, and
+consisted of nave, transepts, and chancel. The east wall of the chancel
+was often semicircular or polygonal, sometimes rectangular. The church
+of St. Lawrence, at Bradford-on-Avon, mentioned by William of
+Malmesbury, is a fine specimen of a Saxon church, and also the little
+church at Escombe, Durham, and that of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire,
+recently rescued from being used as a farmstead.
+
+After the close of the thousandth year after the birth of Christ a new
+impulse was given to church-building. People imagined that with that
+year the millennium would arrive and the Second Advent take place. It
+would be vain to build beautiful churches, if they were so soon to
+perish in the general destruction of the world, as vain as to heap up
+treasure by means of trade. Hence people's minds were unsettled, and the
+churches left in ruins. But when the millenary had safely passed away,
+they began to restore the fallen shrines, and build new churches, and
+the late Saxon or early Norman style came into vogue. Canute was a great
+church-builder, and Edward the Confessor rebuilt Westminster Abbey after
+the new fashion. Then came William the Conqueror with his Norman
+builders, and soon nearly every village had its church, which was
+constructed, according to William of Malmesbury, _novo aedificandi
+genere_.
+
+We will now notice the characteristics of early Norman work, traces of
+which you may be able to recognise in your own church. The doorways are
+very remarkable, profusely adorned with richly carved ornamental
+mouldings and sculpture. The archways are round, and are composed of a
+succession of receding arches, all elaborately carved. The doorway of
+Malmesbury Church has eight arches, recessed one within the other. These
+arches are supported by one or more shafts, which are sometimes carved.
+Above the door and below the arch is the tympanum, covered with
+sculpture, representing scriptural subjects, such as the figure of the
+Saviour in allusion to His saying, "I am the door," or the _Agnus Dei_,
+or Adam and Eve, or such legendary or symbolical subjects as St. George
+and the Dragon, or the Tree of Life.
+
+[Illustration: SCULPTURED HEAD OF DOORWAY, FORDINGTON CHURCH, DORSETSHIRE]
+
+Porches are not very common in early Norman structures, but several
+still exist, notably at Malmesbury, Balderton, and Brixworth. The
+windows are usually small and narrow, the jambs being splayed only on
+the inside of the church. Three such windows placed together usually
+give light over the altar. The walls of Norman buildings are thick and
+massive, and are often faced with cut stone. String-courses or mouldings
+projecting from the walls, run horizontally along them, and are often
+adorned with the zigzag or other Norman patterns of ornament. The tower
+often stands between the nave and the chancel, and is usually low and
+massive. In the eastern counties are found many round towers made of
+flint masonry. Flat buttresses are a sure sign of Norman work, as they
+were not used in any of the subsequent styles of architecture.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN CAPITALS
+(1) Crypt, Worcester Cathedral
+(2) Winchester Cathedral]
+
+The arches of the Norman builders are easily recognised. The piers in
+country churches are nearly always cylindrical; but there are several
+examples of massive square or octagonal piers, and also a number
+of round columns attached, so as to form one pier. The _cushion_
+capital is the most common form used in the Norman style. It is easily
+recognisable, but difficult to be described; and perhaps the
+accompanying sketch will enable the reader to discover a cushion
+capital when he sees it. The early Norman builders loved to bestow
+much labour on their capitals; and while preserving the usual cushion
+form, enriched them with much elaboration. The _scallop_ frequently
+occurs, and also the _volute_, which was copied from the work of Roman
+builders, who themselves imitated the Greek sculptures. Sometimes the
+capitals are elaborately carved with figures of men, or animals, or
+foliage.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN ORNAMENTAL MOULDINGS.
+(1)  Indented. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(2)  Zig-zag. Iffley, Oxfordshire
+(3)  Alternate Billet. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(4)  Double Cone. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(5)  Pellet. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(6)  Lozenge. Essendine, Rutland
+(7)  Cable. Fritwell, Oxfordshire
+(8)  Star. Stringham, Norfolk
+(9)  Medallion. Iffley, Oxfordshire
+(10) Beak-Head. Steetley, Derbyshire
+(11) Nail-Head. St. Ethelred's, Norwich
+(12) Embattled. Lincoln Cathedral]
+
+Norman arches resemble the doorways in having sub-arches recessed within
+an outer arch, the intrados often being decorated with mouldings such as
+the zigzag or the lozenge. The chancel arch is usually very elaborately
+ornamented with various mouldings, which are very numerous and peculiar.
+Those illustrated on the previous page are the most common.
+
+[Illustration: CROYLAND ABBEY CHURCH, LINCOLNSHIRE]
+
+The Normans were also much skilled in vaulting with stone, as the crypts
+in our churches testify. Over the vaulted roof of the aisles was the
+_triforium_, a kind of gallery between this roof and the external roof
+of the church. Very few of the wooden roofs of Norman churches remain.
+The fonts are large, square or cylindrical in shape, and are decorated
+with mouldings or sculpture, often very elaborate but rudely executed.
+At Winchester Cathedral the font is carved with a representation of the
+baptism of King Cynigils at Dorchester. Other favourite subjects were
+the creation of man, the formation of Eve, the expulsion from Paradise,
+Christ upon the cross, the Four Evangelists, the baptism of our Lord,
+and legendary or symbolical representations.
+
+[Illustration: SEMI-NORMAN ARCH, CHURCH OF ST. CROSS]
+
+This style of architecture prevailed until about the middle of the
+twelfth century, when the _Transition Norman_ became in vogue. It is
+characterised by the introduction of the pointed arch. Many conjectures
+as regards its origin have been made. Some suppose that the idea of
+making the arch pointed was suggested by the intersection of
+semicircular arches in ornamental arcades. Others say that the Crusaders
+introduced it on their return from the East, or that it was suggested by
+the Norman vaulting, or from the form of the _vesica piscis_, the most
+ancient of Christian symbols. The Cistercian monks were the first to
+introduce it to this country, and the Cistercian abbeys of Fountains,
+Kirkstall, Furness, and Tintern are noble specimens of Transition Norman
+work. Religious zeal and enthusiasm are often reflected in the improved
+condition of our churches, and the grand buildings of this period are
+outward and visible signs of a great religious revival. Semicircular
+arches, however, continued to be used for windows and for the triforium;
+the capitals of the piers were decorated with foliage somewhat similar
+to that used in a subsequent period.
+
+[Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH PIERS AND CAPITALS
+(1) Salisbury Cathedral
+(2) Lincoln Cathedral]
+
+Then arose the Early English style of architecture which flourished
+from about the year 1175 to 1275, and is characterised by a gradual
+abandonment of the heavy and massive features of the Norman style, and
+the adoption of lighter and more elegant forms of construction and
+decoration. Salisbury Cathedral, erected 1220-1260 A.D., is the most
+perfect example of this period. The arches are pointed, and the piers
+supporting them are often composed of an insulated cylindrical column
+surrounded by slender detached shafts, all uniting together under one
+capital, and divided into parts by horizontal bands. In small churches
+plain octagonal or circular piers are frequently used, as in the
+succeeding style, from which they can only be distinguished by the
+mouldings. Mouldings are often the surest guides in helping us to
+ascertain the date of a building. We have already studied the Norman
+mouldings. In this style they are composed of bold rounds and deep
+hollows, usually plain, or ornamented with the dog-tooth.
+
+[Illustration: TOOTH OR DOG-TOOTH ORNAMENT]
+
+The lancet window is now introduced, at first of only one light, very
+narrow and long, and differing from the Norman window in having a
+pointed arch. At the east end of the chancel there are often three
+lancet windows, the centre one higher than the rest, with one dripstone
+over them. The first idea of window-tracery was the introduction of a
+plain lozenge-shaped opening over a double lancet window, the whole
+being covered by a single dripstone. From this simple arrangement it
+was not difficult to develop the beautiful bar-tracery which came into
+vogue in the subsequent period of English architecture. The capitals
+of the Early English style are bell-shaped, at first quite plain, but
+subsequently these are often covered with beautifully sculptured foliage
+of a very graceful character. Circular windows at this period came
+into vogue in the gables of churches. They were either plain or
+quatre-foiled. Norman towers were sometimes capped with spires in the
+thirteenth century. The walls are not so thick or massive as in the
+Norman period, and the buttresses are stouter and more numerous, and
+project further from the wall. Flying buttresses were also introduced at
+this period. We can generally distinguish Early English work from that
+of the Norman style by its lightness and elegance, as compared with the
+roughness and massiveness of the latter; and its plainness and
+simplicity sufficiently distinguish it from that of the Decorated
+period.
+
+[Illustration: BROWNSOVER CHAPEL, WARWICKSHIRE]
+
+The Decorated style (1275-1375) which prevailed during the reigns of
+the three Edwards was ushered in by a period of Transition, during which
+there was gradually developed the most perfect style which English
+architectural skill has ever attained. In the thirteenth century our
+builders were striving to attain the highest forms of graceful design
+and artistic workmanship. In the fourteenth their work reached
+perfection, while in the fifteenth there was a marked decline in their
+art, which in spite of its elaborate details lacked the beauty of the
+Decorated style.
+
+[Illustration: MOULDINGS, TEWKESBURY ABBEY]
+
+[Illustration: OGEE ARCH]
+
+The arches of this period are usually wider, and are distinguished from
+those of the Early English by the character of the mouldings. The
+ball-flower, consisting of a ball inclosed by three or four leaves,
+somewhat resembling a rosebud, is the favourite ornament, and a
+four-leaved flower is often used. Roll mouldings, quarter, half, or
+three-quarters round, frequently occur, and produce a very pleasing
+effect. The form of the arch is in many instances changed, and the
+graceful _ogee_ arch is introduced. The piers are round or octagonal in
+village churches, and in large churches are formed by a cluster of
+cylindrical shafts, not detached as in the preceding period, but closely
+united. The capitals are bell-shaped, and in large churches richly
+sculptured. Few of the wooden roofs remain, as they have been superseded
+in later times; but the marks of the old roofs may often be seen on the
+eastern wall of the tower. The windows are larger than those of the
+earlier style, and are filled with geometrical and flowing tracery of
+great variety and beauty. Small windows have heads shaped in the ogee or
+trefoil forms. Square-headed windows are not uncommon, especially in the
+clerestory, and in monastic churches circular windows are frequently met
+with. It is characteristic of this style that the carving is not so deep
+as in the previous work. We find groups of shallow mouldings separated
+by one cut deeper than the others.
+
+[Illustration: CAPITALS
+(1) Hanwell
+(2) Chacombe Church]
+
+[Illustration: DECORATED WINDOWS
+(1) Merton College Chapel
+(2) Sandiacre, Derbyshire]
+
+[Illustration: MOULDINGS
+(1) Elton, Huntingdonshire
+(2) Austrey, Warwickshire]
+
+At length the glories of the Decorated period pass away and are merged
+and lost in the _Perpendicular_ which held sway from 1375 to 1540. The
+work is now more elaborate and richer, but lacks the majestic beauty of
+the Decorated style. It is easy to distinguish Perpendicular windows.
+They are larger than any which we have seen before; the mullions are
+carried straight up through the head of the window; smaller mullions
+spring from the heads of the principal lights, and thus the windows
+are broken up into panel-like compartments, very different from the
+beautiful curves of the Decorated style. Simple pointed arches are still
+in use, but gradually they become flattened; and the arch, commonly
+known as the Tudor arch, is a peculiar feature of this style. In village
+churches the mouldings of the arch are often continued down the piers
+without any capital or shaft.
+
+[Illustration: MERTON COLLEGE CHAPEL, OXFORD]
+
+Piers are commonly formed from a square or parallelogram with the angles
+fluted, having on the flat face of each side a semicyclindrical shaft.
+The base mouldings are polygonal. The most common doorway is the Tudor
+arch having a square head over it. The doors are often richly
+ornamented. There are a large number of square-headed windows, and so
+proud were these builders of their new style of window that they
+frequently inserted Perpendicular windows in walls of a much earlier
+date. Hence it is not always safe to determine the age of a church by an
+examination of the windows alone. Panel-work tracery on the upper part
+of the interior walls is a distinctive feature of this style.
+
+[Illustration: VESTRY DOOR, ADDERBURY CHURCH, OXON]
+
+[Illustration: ST. ERASMUS' CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY]
+
+The slope of the roof is much lower than before, and often the former
+high-pitched roofs were at this period replaced by the almost flat roofs
+prevalent in the fifteenth century. The parapets are often embattled.
+
+The rose, the badge of the houses of York and Lancaster, is often used
+as an ornamental detail, and also rows of the Tudor flower, composed of
+four petals, frequently occur. One of the most distinctive mouldings is
+the _cavetto_, a wide shallow hollow in the centre of a group of
+mouldings. Also we find a peculiar wave, and a kind of double ogee
+moulding which are characteristic of the style.
+
+[Illustration: WINDOW, CHRISTCHURCH, OXFORD]
+
+Spires of this period are not very common, and usually spring from
+within the parapet. The interiors of our churches were enriched at this
+time with much elaborate decoration. Richly carved woodwork in screens,
+rood-lofts, pulpits, and pews, sculptured sedilia and a noble reredos,
+and much exuberance of decorative imagery and panel-work, adorned our
+churches at this time, much of which was obliterated or destroyed by
+spoliators of the Reformation period, the iconoclastic Puritans of the
+seventeenth century, or the "restorers" of the nineteenth. However, we
+may be thankful that so much remains to the present day of the work of
+our great English church-builders, while we endeavour to trace the
+history of each church written in stone, and to appreciate these relics
+of antiquity which most of our villages possess.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE _DOMESDAY BOOK_
+
+The coming of the Normans--_Domesday Book_--Its objects--Its contents--
+Barkham in _Domesday_--Saxon families--Saxons who retained their
+estates--Despoiled landowners--Village officers and artisans--
+Villeins--_Bordarii_--_Cottarii_--_Servi_--Socmen--Presbyter--Names
+of Normans--The teaching of _Domesday_.
+
+
+There was a great stir in our English villages when the news was brought
+to them that William of Normandy had landed in England, and intended to
+fight for the English Crown. News travelled very slowly in those days.
+First the villeins and the cottiers who were not fighting with their
+lord heard that a great battle had been fought at Stamford Bridge, in
+Yorkshire, in which their gallant King Harold had defeated his own
+brother Tostig, aided by the King of Norway, Hardrada, and a large army.
+Then the news reached them that William of Normandy had arrived, and
+that Harold was marching night and day to meet him. Then they heard of
+the fatal battle of Hastings; and when it was told them that their brave
+King Harold was slain, and that William, the Norman, was the conqueror
+of England and the acknowledged king of the country, all England groaned
+to hear the fatal news. And then, after a few years, they found that
+their old lord had been deprived of his estates, and a new, haughty,
+proud Norman, who talked like a Frenchman, and laughed at their dear old
+Saxon language, came and ruled over them. He brought Norman servants
+with him, who took the best of the land, and made the Saxons do all the
+hard work on the farm, treating them like slaves.
+
+And now we must examine a most valuable document which throws a
+wonderfully clear light on the condition of England just before and
+after the Conquest. I refer to the _Domesday Book_, or survey of the
+country which William caused to be made. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler
+tells us that after a great Council at Gloucester the king "sent his men
+over all England, into every shire, and caused to be ascertained how
+many hundred hides were in the shire, or what land the king himself had,
+and cattle within the land, or what dues he ought to have in twelve
+months from the shire. Also he caused to be written how much land his
+archbishops had, and his suffragan bishops, and abbots, and earls; and
+though I may narrate somewhat prolixly, what or how much each man had
+who was a holder of land in England, in land, or in cattle, and how much
+money it might be worth. So very narrowly he caused it to be traced out,
+that there was not one single hide, nor one yard of land, nor even, it
+is shame to tell, though it seemed to him no shame to do, an ox, nor a
+cow, nor a swine was left that was not set down in his writ. And all the
+writings were brought to him afterwards."
+
+The commissioners appointed by the king, among whom were Remigius,
+Bishop of Lincoln, and Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, were to
+inquire the following details concerning each parish:--
+
+Its name. Who held it in the time of King Edward the Confessor. The
+present possessor. Number of hides in the manor, number of ploughs, of
+homagers, villeins, cottars, free tenants, tenants in socage; how much
+wood, meadow, and pasture; number of mills and fishponds; the value in
+the time of the last king; and its present value.
+
+Such a survey was of immense value. Its object, according to the king,
+was that every man might know and be satisfied with his rightful
+possessions, and not with impunity usurp the property of others. But it
+was also of great service to the king, so that he might know who were
+his vassals, the amount of taxation which he could draw from them, and
+the actual strength of his new kingdom.
+
+The commissioners performed their work with much care and exactness. The
+survey is wonderfully complete, and was compiled in a very short time.
+It is of great value to the historians of subsequent ages. The writing
+of the book is very clear and beautiful, the abbreviations alone
+presenting some difficulty to an unaccustomed reader. No illuminations
+adorn the text. At the head of each page the name of the county is
+written in red ink. The book is preserved in an ancient chest in the
+Public Record Office, where it was removed from the Chapter House at
+Westminster.
+
+As an example we may take the _Domesday_ description of the parish of
+Barkham, which runs as follows:--
+
+"IN CERLEDONE HD.
+
+"Rex ten in dnio Bercheha. AElmer Tenuit de rege. E. Te 7 m  iii hid.
+Tra e iii car. In dnio e una, 7 vi uilli 7 iiii bord cu iii car. Ibi
+v. ac pti. Silua de XL pore. Valuit iiii lib. T.R.E. 7 m: iii. lib."
+
+TRANSLATION.
+
+"In the hundred of Charlton.
+
+"The king holds Barkham in demesne. AElmer held it of King Edward. Then,
+as now, it was rated for three hides. The land is three ploughlands. In
+demesne there is one ploughland. There are six villeins, four borderers
+with three ploughs. There are five acres of pasture. Wood for the
+pasturage of forty hogs. It was worth 4l. in the time of King Edward,
+afterwards, and now, 3l."
+
+King Edward here mentioned was Edward the Confessor. A hide, when it is
+used as a measure of land, may be taken at about one hundred and twenty
+acres. A ploughland was as much land as one plough with oxen could
+plough in a year. The villeins were men who tilled their lord's land,
+and in return for certain services had holdings under him. The borderers
+were cottagers who also worked for their lord and held smaller holdings,
+from one to ten acres. In other entries we find the number of serfs
+recorded, and also mention of the hall of the lord of the manor, where
+the manorial courts were held, the church, the priest's house, the names
+of landowners and tenants, the mill, and of the various officers and
+artisans who made up the village community.
+
+_Domesday_ tells us of the old Saxon families, many of whom lost their
+estates when the Conqueror came, and were supplanted by the favourites
+of the new king. Some of them contrived to weather the storm and retain
+their lands. Almer, or Almar, the lord of Barkham, who succeeded his
+brother Stigand as Bishop of Elmham in 1047, when the latter became
+archbishop, was among the number of the dispossessed, and probably found
+shelter with many of his compatriots in the cloister. Several of
+William's Norman adventurers married the heiresses of the old Saxon
+gentry, and thus became possessed of great estates. Thus Robert D'Oili
+married the daughter of Wigod, lord of Wallingford, and soon gained
+possession of his father-in-law's property.
+
+However, the names of the fortunate Saxons who retained their estates
+are few in comparison with those who were dispossessed. We find Edgar
+Atheling, real heir to the throne, retaining a small estate; but he was
+a feeble prince, and therefore not to be feared by William. His sister
+Cristina had also land in Oxfordshire. Bishop Osbern, of Exeter, a
+kinsman of the late king, also held his estates; and amongst the list we
+find Seward the huntsman, of Oxfordshire; Theodric the goldsmith; Wlwi
+the huntsman, of Surrey; Uluric the huntsman, of Hampshire, who were not
+deprived of their lands, their occupations being useful to the king.
+
+The list of despoiled landowners is a long one, and need not here be
+recorded. One Brictric was very unfortunate. When ambassador to Baldwin
+of Flanders he refused to marry the count's daughter Maud. The slighted
+lady became the Conqueror's consort, and in revenge for her despised
+love caused Brictric to be imprisoned and his estates confiscated, some
+of which were given to the queen. The luckless relations and connections
+of the late royal house were consistently despoiled, amongst them
+Editha, the beautiful queen of King Edward, and daughter of Earl Godwin,
+of whom it was written: "_Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwynus Editham_";
+and Gida, the mother of Harold; Godric, his son; and Gwith, his brother.
+Harold himself--the earl, as he is called, and not the king, who fought
+and died at Senlac, if he did not, as the romance states, end his life
+as a holy hermit at Chester--had vast estates all over England, which
+went to enrich William's hungry followers. Hereward the Wake, the
+English hero, also held in pre-Norman days many fat manors. Few of the
+Saxon landowners were spared, and it is unnecessary here to record the
+names of the Uchtreds, Turgots, Turchils, Siwards, Leurics, who held
+lands "in the time of King Edward," but whose place after Domesday knows
+them no more.
+
+_Domesday_ tells us also the names of the officers and artisans who
+played important parts in the old village communities. The _villani_, or
+villeins, corresponding to the Saxon _ceorls_, were the most important
+class of tenants in villeinage, and each held about thirty acres in
+scattered acre or half-acre strips, each a furlong in length and a perch
+or two in breadth, separated by turf balks. The villein thus supported
+himself and his family, and in return was bound to render certain
+services to the lord of the manor, to work on the home farm, and provide
+two or more oxen for the manorial plough-team. He was not a free tenant,
+could acquire no property, and his lord's consent was needed for the
+marriage of his daughters. But the law protected him from unjust usage;
+his holdings were usually regranted to his son. He could obtain freedom
+in several ways, and by degrees acquired the rights and privileges of a
+free tenant.
+
+Next to the villeins were the _bordarii_, who lived in _bords_ or
+cottages, _i.e._ boarded or wooden huts, and ranked as a lower grade of
+villeins. They held about five acres, but provided no oxen for the
+manorial plough-team. Below them were the _cottarii_, or cottiers, who
+were bound to do domestic work and supply the lord's table. They
+corresponded to the modern labourer, but lacked his freedom. The lowest
+class of all were the _servi_, or serfs, who corresponded to the Saxon
+_theows_. In Norman times their condition was greatly improved; they
+mingled with the cottiers and household servants, and gradually were
+merged with them.
+
+The _sochemanni_, or socmen, our yeomen, who abounded chiefly in the
+Danish district of England, were inferior landowners who had special
+privileges, and could not be turned out of their holdings, though they
+rendered certain services to the lord of the manor, and in this respect
+differed little from the villeins. _Domesday Book_ also mentions a class
+of men called _burs_ or _geburs_, who were the same as _coliberti_; also
+the _commendati_, who received privileges in return for services
+rendered to the lord of the manor.
+
+Each village community was self-contained, and had its own officers.
+Although _Domesday Book_ was not compiled in order to ascertain the
+condition of the Church and its ministers, and frequently the mention of
+a parish church is omitted where we know one existed, the _presbyter_,
+or priest, is often recorded. Archbishop Egbert's _Excerptiones_
+ordained that "to every church shall be allotted one complete holding
+(mansa), and that this shall be free from all but ecclesiastical
+services." According to the Saxon laws every tenth strip of land was
+set aside for the Church, and _Domesday_ shows that in many villages
+there was a priest with his portion of land set apart for his support.
+
+Then there was a _prepositus_, bailiff or reeve, who collected the lord's
+rents, assisted by a _bedellus_, beadle or under-bailiff. _Bovarii_, or
+oxherds, looked after the plough-teams. The _carpentarius_, or carpenter;
+the _cementarius_, or bricklayer; the _custos apium_, or beekeeper; the
+_faber_, or smith; the _molinarius_, or miller--were all important
+officers in the Norman village; and we have mention also of the
+_piscatores_ (fishermen), _pistores_ (bakers), _porcarii_ (swineherds),
+_viccarii_ (cowmen), who were all employed in the work of the village
+community.
+
+_Domesday Book_ enables us to form a fairly complete picture of our
+villages in Norman and late Saxon times. It tells us of the various
+classes who peopled the village and farmed its fields. It gives us a
+complete list of the old Saxon gentry and of the Norman nobles and
+adventurers who seized the fair acres of the despoiled Englishmen. Many
+of them gave their names to their new possessions. The Mandevilles
+settled at Stoke, and called it Stoke-Mandeville; the Vernons at
+Minshall, and called it Minshall-Vernon. Hurst-Pierpont, Neville-Holt,
+Kingston-Lysle, Hampstead-Norris, and many other names of places
+compounded of Saxon and Norman words, record the names of William's
+followers, who received the reward of their services at the expense of
+the former Saxon owners. _Domesday Book_ tells us how land was measured
+in those days, the various tenures and services rendered by the tenants,
+the condition of the towns, the numerous foreign monasteries which
+thrived on our English lands, and throws much light on the manners and
+customs of the people of this country at the time of its compilation.
+_Domesday Book_ is a perfect storehouse of knowledge for the historian,
+and requires a lifetime to be spent for its full investigation.
+
+[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A MANOR]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+NORMAN CASTLES
+
+Castle-building--Description of Norman castle--A Norman household--
+Edwardian castles--Border castles--Chepstow--Grosmont--Raglan--Central
+feature of feudalism--Fourteenth-century castle--Homes of chivalry--
+Schools of arms--The making of a knight--Tournaments--Jousts--Tilting
+at a ring--Pageants--"Apollo and Daphne"--Pageants at Sudeley Castle
+and Kenilworth--Destruction of castles--Castles during Civil War period.
+
+
+Many an English village can boast of the possession of the ruins of an
+ancient castle, a gaunt rectangular or circular keep or donjon, looking
+very stern and threatening even in decay, and mightily convincing of the
+power of its first occupants. The new masters did not feel very safe in
+the midst of a discontented and enraged people; so they built these huge
+fortresses with strong walls and gates and moats. Indeed before the
+Conquest the Norman knights, to whom the weak King Edward the Confessor
+granted many an English estate, brought with them the fashion of
+building castles, and many a strong square tower began to crown the
+fortified mounds. Thence they could oppress the people in many ways, and
+the writers of the time always speak of the building of castles with a
+kind of shudder. After the Conquest, especially during the regency of
+William's two lieutenants, Bishop Odo and Earl William Fitz-osbern, the
+Norman adventurers who were rewarded for their services by the gift of
+many an English manor, built castles everywhere. The wretched men of
+the land were cruelly oppressed by forced labour in erecting these
+strongholds, which were filled "with devils and evil men." Over a
+thousand castles were built in nineteen years, and in his own castle
+each earl or lord reigned as a small king, coining his own money, making
+his own laws, having power of life and death over his dependants, and
+often using his power most violently and oppressively.
+
+[Illustration: OLD SARUM]
+
+The original Norman castle consisted of a keep, "four-square to every
+wind that blew," standing in a bailey court. It was a mighty place with
+walls of great thickness about one hundred and fifty feet high. It
+contained several rooms, one above the other. A deep well supplied the
+inhabitants with water. Spiral stone steps laid in the thickness of the
+wall led to the first floor where the soldiers of the garrison resided.
+Above this was the hall, with a chimney and fireplace, where the lord
+of the castle and his guests had their meals, and in the thickness of
+the wall there were numerous chambers used as sleeping-apartments and
+garderobes, and the existence of a piscina in one of these shows that it
+was a small chapel or oratory. The upper story was divided by wooden
+partitions into small sleeping-rooms; and unlike our modern houses, the
+kitchen was at the top of the keep, and opened on the roof.
+
+Descending some stone steps which led from the ground floor in ancient
+time we should visit the dungeons, dark, gloomy, and dreadful places,
+where deep silence reigns, only broken by the groans of despairing
+captives in the miserable cells. In one of these toads and adders were
+the companions of the captive. Another poor wretch reposed on a bed of
+sharp flints, while the torture-chamber echoed with the cries of the
+victims of mediaeval cruelty, who were hanged by their feet and smoked
+with foul smoke, or hung up by their thumbs, while burning rings were
+placed on their feet. In Peak Castle, Derbyshire, a poor, simple squire,
+one Godfrey Rowland, was confined for six days without either food or
+drink, and then released from the dungeon with his right hand cut off.
+In order to extract a heavy ransom, to obtain lands and estates, to
+learn the secrets of hidden treasure, the most ingenious and devilish
+tortures were inflicted in these terrible abodes.
+
+[Illustration: A NORMAN CASTLE
+(1) The dungeon.
+(2) Chapel.
+(3) Stable.
+(4) Inner bailey.
+(5) Outer bailey.
+(6) Barbican.
+(7) Mount.
+(8) Soldiers' lodgings.]
+
+The same style of castle-building continued for a century and a half
+after the Norman Conquest. It is possible to distinguish the later keeps
+by the improved and fine-jointed ashlar stonework, by the more frequent
+use of the stone of the district, instead of that brought from Caen, by
+the ribs upon the groins of the vaulting of the galleries and chambers
+in the walls, and by the more extensive use of ornaments in the bosses,
+windows, doors, and fireplaces. The style of the decoration approaches
+the Early English character.
+
+The walls of the keep were not the only protection of the fortress. A
+moat surrounds the whole castle, crossed by a drawbridge, protected
+on the side remote from the castle by a barbican. High walls with an
+embattled parapet surround the lower court, or ballium, which we enter
+by a gate defended by strong towers. A portcullis has to be raised, and
+a heavy door thrown back, before we can enter; while above in the stone
+roof of the archway there are holes through which melted lead and pitch
+can be poured upon our heads, if we attempt to enter the castle as
+assailants. In the lower court are the stables, and the mound where the
+lord dispenses justice, and where criminals and traitors are executed.
+Another strong gateway flanked by towers protects the inner court, on
+the edge of which stands the keep which frowns down upon us as we enter.
+
+An immense household was supported in every castle. Not only were there
+men-at-arms, but also cooks and bakers, brewers and tailors, carpenters,
+smiths, masons, and all kinds of craftsmen; and all the crowd of workers
+had to be provided with accommodation by the lord of the castle. Hence
+a building, in the form of a large hall, was erected sometimes of stone,
+usually of wood, in the lower or upper court for these soldiers and
+artisans, where they slept and had their meals.
+
+A new type of castle was introduced during the reigns of the three
+Edwards. The stern, massive, and high-towering keep was abandoned, and
+the fortifications arranged in a concentric fashion. A fine hall with
+kitchens occupied the centre of the fortress; a large number of chambers
+was added, and the inner and outer courts both defended by walls, as we
+have already described, were introduced. The Edwardian castles of
+Caernarvon and Beaumaris belong to this type of fortress.
+
+[Illustration: BROUGHTON CASTLE]
+
+The border counties of Wales are remarkable for the number and beauty
+of their ancient castles. On the site of British earthworks the Romans
+established their camps. The Saxons were obliged to erect their rude
+earthen strongholds in order to keep back the rebellious Welsh, and
+these were succeeded by Norman keeps. Monmouthshire is famous for its
+castles; out of the eleven hundred erected in Norman times twenty-five
+were built in that county. There is Chepstow Castle, with its early
+Norman gateway spanned by a circular arch flanked by round towers. In
+the inner court there are the gardens and ruins of a grand hall, and in
+the outer the ruins of a chapel with evidences of beautifully groined
+vaulting, and also a winding staircase leading to the battlements. In
+the dungeon of the old keep at the south-east corner of the inner court
+Roger de Britolio, Earl of Hereford, was imprisoned for rebellion
+against the Conqueror, and in later times Henry Martin, the regicide,
+lingered as a prisoner for thirty years, employing his enforced leisure
+in writing a book in order to prove that it is not right for a man to be
+governed by one wife. Then there is Grosmont Castle, the fortified
+residence of the Earl of Lancaster; Skenfrith Castle; White Castle, the
+_Album Castrum_ of the Latin records, the Landreilo of the Welsh, with
+its six towers, portcullis, and drawbridge flanked by massive tower,
+barbican, and other outworks; and Raglan Castle, with its splendid
+gateway, its Elizabethan banqueting-hall ornamented with rich stone
+tracery, its bowling-green, garden terraces, and spacious courts, an
+ideal place for knightly tournaments in ancient days. Raglan is
+associated with the gallant defence of the castle by the Marquis of
+Worcester in the Civil War.
+
+The ancient castles of England were the central feature of feudal
+society. They were the outward and visible sign of that system. M.
+Guizot in his _History of Civilisation_ says, "It was feudalism which
+constructed them; their elevation was, so to speak, the declaration of
+its triumph." On the Continent they were very numerous long before
+castle-building became the fashion in England, and every suzerain saw
+with displeasure his vassal constructing his castle; for the vassal thus
+insured for himself a powerful means of independence. The Norman barons
+in the troublous times of Stephen lived a life of hunting and pillage;
+they were forced to have a fortified retreat where they might shut
+themselves up after an expedition, repel the vengeance of their foes,
+and resist the authorities who attempted to maintain order in the
+country.
+
+Others followed the example of the barons. The townsfolk fortified their
+towns, monks their monasteries; and even within the town-walls many
+houses had their towers and gates and barriers in order to keep back
+troublesome visitors.
+
+Here is a description of a French castle in the fourteenth century:--
+
+"First imagine to yourself a superb position, a steep mountain,
+bristling with rocks, furrowed with ravines and precipices; upon the
+declivity is the castle. The small houses which surround it set off its
+grandeur; the river seems to turn aside with respect; it forms a large
+semicircle at its feet. This castle must be seen when, at sunrise, the
+outward galleries glimmer with the armour of the sentinels, and the
+towers are shown all brilliant with their large new gratings. Those high
+buildings must be seen, which fill those who defend them with courage,
+and with fear those who should be tempted to attack them.
+
+"The door presents itself covered with heads of boars or wolves, flanked
+with turrets and crowned with a high guard-house. Enter, there are three
+inclosures, three moats, three drawbridges to pass. You find yourself in
+a large square court, where are cisterns, and on the right and left the
+stables, hen-houses, pigeon-houses, coach-houses; the cellars, vaults,
+and prisons are below; above are the dwelling-apartments; above these
+are the magazines, larders, or salting-rooms, and arsenals. All the
+roofs are bordered with machicolations, parapets, guard-walks, and
+sentry-boxes. In the middle of the court is the donjon, which contains
+the archives and the treasure. It is deeply moated all round, and can
+only be entered by a bridge, almost always raised. Although the walls,
+like those of the castle, are six feet thick, it is surrounded up to
+half its height with a chemise, or second wall, of large cut stones.
+This castle has just been rebuilt. There is something light, fresh,
+laughing about it, not possessed by the heavy massive castles of the
+last century."
+
+One would scarcely expect to hear a castle described as "light, fresh,
+laughing"; yet so a fourteenth-century castle seemed to eyes accustomed
+to the gloomy, stern, and massive structures of the eleventh and twelfth
+centuries. In these no beauty or display of art was attempted. Defence
+and safety were the only objects sought after in the construction of our
+ancient strongholds.
+
+Strange as it may seem, these castles were the birthplaces and homes of
+chivalry. Women were raised to an exalted position, and honoured and
+reverenced by knights and warriors. A prize won in a tournament was
+esteemed of vastly greater value, if it were bestowed upon the
+successful combatant by some lady's hand. "Queens of Beauty" presided at
+these contests of knightly skill and daring. The statutes and ordinances
+for jousts and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, at
+the command of Edward IV., conclude thus: "Reserving always to the
+queenes highness and the ladyes there present, the attributing and gift
+of the prize after the manner and forme accustomed." If a knight was
+guilty of any impropriety of conduct, he was soundly beaten by the other
+knights, in order to teach him to respect the honour of the ladies and
+the rights of chivalry.
+
+In the days of chivalry a knight vowed in somewhat extravagant language
+eternal love to his particular lady fair, wore her glove or her guerdon
+on his helmet, and swore to protect it with his life. Family ties and
+domestic joys were cultivated. The wife of a knight was often herself a
+warrior. Fair ladies have donned armour and followed their lords to the
+Crusades; and often during her lord's absence at the wars in France, or
+Scotland, or the Holy Land, the wife would defend his fief and castle,
+and sometimes was called upon to withstand a siege, when some
+neighbouring lord coveted the fair estates of the absent warrior, and
+sought to obtain them by force of arms.
+
+The castles also were schools, not of learning, but of arms and
+chivalry, where the sons of vassals were trained in all the qualites
+that become a knight. The sons of vassals were sent to the castle of the
+suzerain to be brought up with his sons. Numerous reasons have been
+assigned for the origin of this custom, which we need not now enumerate.
+The practice, however, became general, and concerning it an ancient work
+entitled _L'ordre de la Chevalerie_ records:--
+
+"It is fitting that the son of the knight, while he is a squire, should
+know how to take care of a horse; and it is fitting that he should serve
+before and be subject to his lord; for otherwise he will not know the
+nobleness of his lordship when he shall be a knight; and to this end
+every knight shall put his son in the service of another knight, to the
+end that he may learn to carve at table and to serve, and to arm and
+apparel a knight in his youth. According as to the man who desires to
+learn to be a tailor or a carpenter, it is desirable that he should have
+for a master one who is a tailor or a carpenter; it is suitable that
+every nobleman who loves the order of chivalry, and wishes to become and
+be a good knight, should first have a knight for a master."
+
+When the young squire attained the age of manhood he was admitted to the
+honour of knighthood, which was bestowed upon him with much ceremony and
+dignity. First he was divested of his garments and put in a bath, a
+symbol of purification; then they clothed him in a white tunic, a symbol
+of purity, in a red robe, a symbol of the blood which he was bound to
+shed in the service of the faith; and then in a close black coat, a
+reminder of the death which awaited him. Then he was obliged to observe
+a fast for twenty-four hours, and in the evening entered the church and
+there passed the night in prayer. On the morrow after confession and the
+receiving of Holy Communion, he heard a sermon upon the duties of
+knighthood, and then advancing to the altar presented his sword to the
+priest, who blessed it. Kneeling before his lord he was asked, "With
+what design do you desire to enter into the order? If it is in order to
+become rich, to repose yourself, and to be honoured without doing honour
+to chivalry, you are unworthy of it, and would be to the order of
+chivalry what the simoniacal priest is to the prelacy."
+
+His answers being satisfactory, knights, or ladies, advance and clothe
+him with the equipments of his order, spurs, the hauberk or coat of
+mail, the cuirass, the vambraces and gauntlets, and lastly his sword.
+Then his lord gives him three blows of a sword on his shoulder, saying,
+"In the name of God, of Saint Michael, and Saint George I dub thee
+knight," adding, "Be brave, adventurous, and loyal." He then mounts his
+horse, caracoles about, brandishing his lance, and afterwards in the
+courtyard he repeats the performances before the people ever eager to
+take part in the spectacle.
+
+[Illustration: TOURNAMENT]
+
+The young knight was now able to take part in the jousts, and all kinds
+of chivalric displays, which were common and frequent. Many castles
+have, like that at Carisbrooke, a tilting-ground within the walls; but
+great and important tournaments were held outside the castle. Richard I.
+appointed five special places for the holding of tournaments, namely
+between Sarum and Wilton, between Stamford and Wallingford, between
+Warwick and Kenilworth, between Brakely and Mixeberg, and between Blie
+and Tykehill. There was much pomp and ceremony attached to these
+knightly exercises. The lists, as the barriers were called which
+inclosed the scene of combat, were superbly decorated, and surrounded by
+pavilions belonging to the champions, ornamented with their arms and
+banners. The seats reserved for the noble ladies and gentlemen who came
+to see the fight were hung with tapestry embroidered with gold and
+silver. Everyone was dressed in the most sumptuous manner; the minstrels
+and heralds were clothed in the costliest garments; the knights who were
+engaged in the sports and their horses were most gorgeously arrayed. The
+whole scene was one of great splendour and magnificence, and, when the
+fight began, the shouts of the heralds who directed the tournament, the
+clashing of arms, the clang of trumpets, the charging of the combatants,
+and the shouts of the spectators, must have produced a wonderfully
+impressive and exciting effect upon all who witnessed the strange
+spectacle.
+
+The regulations and laws of the tournament were very minute. When many
+preliminary arrangements had been made with regard to the examination of
+arms and helmets and the exhibition of banners, etc., at ten o'clock on
+the morning of the appointed day, the champions and their adherents were
+required to be in their places. Two cords divided the combatants, who
+were armed with a pointless sword and a truncheon hanging from their
+saddles. When the word was given by the lord of the tournament, the
+cords were removed, and the champions charged and fought until the
+heralds sounded the signal to retire. It was considered the greatest
+disgrace to be unhorsed. A French earl once tried to unhorse our King
+Edward I., when he was returning from Palestine, wearied by the journey.
+The earl threw away his sword, cast his arms around the king's neck, and
+tried to pull him from his horse. But Edward put spurs to his horse and
+drew the earl from the saddle, and then shaking him violently, threw him
+to the ground.
+
+The joust (or just) differed from the tournament, because in the former
+only lances were used, and only two knights could fight at once. It was
+not considered quite so important as the grand feat of arms which I have
+just described, but was often practised when the more serious encounter
+had finished. Lances, or spears without heads of iron, were commonly
+used, and the object of the sport was to ride hard against one's
+adversary and strike him with the spear upon the front of the helmet, so
+as to beat him backwards from his horse, or break the spear. This kind
+of sport was of course rather dangerous, and men sometimes lost their
+lives at these encounters. In order to lessen the risk and danger of the
+two horses running into each other when the knights charged, a boarded
+railing was erected in the midst of the lists, about four or five feet
+high. The combatants rode on separate sides of this barrier, and
+therefore they could not encounter each other except with their lances.
+Sometimes two knights would fight in mortal combat. If one knight
+accused the other of crime or dishonour, the latter might challenge him
+to fight with swords or lances; and, according to the superstition of
+the times, the victor was considered to be the one who spoke the truth.
+But this ordeal combat was far removed from the domain of sport.
+
+When jousts and tournaments were abandoned, tilting on horseback at a
+ring became a favourite courtly amusement. A ring was suspended on a
+level with the eye of the rider; and the sport consisted in riding
+towards the ring, and sending the point of a lance through it, and so
+bearing it away. Great skill was required to accomplish this surely and
+gracefully. Ascham, a writer in the sixteenth century, tells us what
+accomplishments were required from the complete English gentleman of the
+period:--
+
+"To ride comely, to run fair at the tilt or ring, to play at all
+weapons, to shoot fair in bow, or surely in gun; to vault lustily, to
+run, to leap, to wrestle, to swim, to dance comely, to sing, and play of
+instruments cunningly; to hawk, to hunt, to play at tennis, and all
+pastimes generally which be joined to labour, containing either some fit
+exercises for war, or some pleasant pastime for peace--these be not only
+comely and decent, but also very necessary for a courtly gentleman to
+use."
+
+In the days of pageants and royal progresses these old castles were the
+scenes of very lively exhibitions of rustic histrionic talent. The
+stories of Greek and Roman mythology were ransacked to provide scenes
+and subjects for the rural pageant. Shepherds and shepherdesses, gods
+and goddesses, clowns and mummers, all took part in the rural drama
+which kings and queens delighted to honour. When Queen Elizabeth visited
+the ancient and historic castle of Sudeley, great preparations were made
+for the event, and a fine classical pageant was performed in her
+presence, a sketch of which may not be without interest.
+
+The play is founded on the old classical story of Apollo and Daphne. The
+sun-god Apollo was charmed by the beauty of the fair Daphne, the
+daughter of a river-god, and pursued her with base intent. Just as she
+was about to be overtaken, she prayed for aid, and was immediately
+changed into a laurel tree, which became the favourite tree of the
+disappointed lover. The pageant founded on this old classical legend
+commenced with a man who acted the part of Apollo, chasing a woman who
+represented Daphne, followed by a young shepherd bewailing his hard
+fate. He, too, loved the fair and beautiful Daphne, but Apollo wooed her
+with fair words, and threatened him with diverse penalties, saying he
+would change him into a wolf, or a cockatrice, or blind his eyes. The
+shepherd in a long speech tells how Daphne was changed into a tree, and
+then Apollo is seen at the foot of a laurel tree weeping, accompanied by
+two minstrels. The repentant god repeats the verse:--
+
+  "Sing you, play you; but sing and play my truth;
+  This tree my lute, these sighs my note of ruth:
+  The laurel leaf for ever shall be green,
+  And chastity shall be Apollo's queen.
+  If gods may die, here shall my tomb be placed,
+  And this engraven, 'Fond Phoebus, Daphne chaste.'"
+
+A song follows, and then, wonderful to relate, the tree opens, and
+Daphne comes forth. Apollo resigns her to the humble shepherd, and then
+she runs to Her Majesty the Queen, and with a great deal of flattery
+wishes her a long and prosperous reign.
+
+Such was the simple play which delighted the minds of our forefathers,
+and helped to raise them from sordid cares and the dull monotony of
+continual toil. In our popular amusements the village folk do not take
+part, except as spectators, and therefore lose half the pleasure;
+whereas in the time of the Virgin Queen the rehearsals, the learning the
+speeches by heart, the dresses, the excitement, all contributed to give
+them fresh ideas and new thoughts. The acting may not have been very
+good; indeed Queen Elizabeth did not always think very highly of the
+performances of her subjects at Coventry, and was heard to exclaim,
+"What fools ye Coventry folk are!" But I think Her Majesty must have
+been pleased at the concluding address of the players at Sudeley. After
+the shepherds had acted a piece in which the election of the King and
+Queen of the Bean formed a part, they knelt before the real queen, and
+said--
+
+"Pardon, dread Sovereign, poor shepherds' pastimes, and bold shepherds'
+presumptions. We call ourselves kings and queens to make mirth; but when
+we see a king or queen we stand amazed. At chess there are kings and
+queens, and they of wood. Shepherds are no more, nor no less, wooden.
+In theatres workmen have played emperors; yet the next day forgotten
+neither their duties nor occupation. For our boldness in borrowing their
+names, and in not seeing Your Majesty for our blindness, we offer these
+shepherds' weeds; which, if Your Majesty vouchsafe at any time to wear,
+it shall bring to our hearts comfort, and happiness to our labours."
+
+When the queen visited Kenilworth Castle, splendid pageants were
+performed in her honour. As she entered the castle the gigantic porter
+recited verses to greet Her Majesty, gods and goddesses offered gifts
+and compliments on bended knee, and the Lady of the Lake, surrounded
+by Tritons and Nereids, came on a floating island to do homage to the
+peerless Elizabeth and to welcome her to all the sport the castle could
+afford. For an account of the strange conduct of Orion and his dolphin
+upon this occasion, we refer our readers to Sir Walter Scott's
+_Kenilworth_; and the lover of pageants will find much to interest him
+in Gascoigne's _Princely Progress_.
+
+The glories of our ancient castles have passed away; some indeed are
+preserved, and serve as museums, or barracks, or the country house of
+some noble lord; but most of them are in ruins. All traces of many a
+Norman castle have completely vanished. There was once a castle at
+Reading, but the only relics of it are the names Castle Hill and Castle
+Street. The turbulent barons made such terrible use of their fortresses
+during the troublous times of the civil war in Stephen's reign that in
+the more settled reign of Henry II. they were deprived of this means of
+oppression and their castles destroyed wholesale. The civil war in the
+reign of Charles I. was also another great cause of the destruction of
+these old fortresses. They were of great service during the progress of
+the war to those who were fortunate enough to possess them, and many of
+them in spite of Cromwell's cannon were most gallantly held and stoutly
+defended. Donnington Castle, Berkshire, was bravely held in spite of a
+prolonged siege during all the time that the war lasted by gallant
+Colonel Boys, who beat off the flower of the Parliamentary army; and
+when in obedience to the King's command he yielded up the castle, he and
+his brave garrison marched out with all the honours of war, having
+earned the respect of both friend and foe. Many other castles could tell
+the story of similar sieges in the days when "the gallants of England
+were up for the King."
+
+But these brave sieges were the cause of their destruction. Cromwell
+when in power recognised their strength; they were too dangerous, these
+castles, and must be destroyed. His cannon-balls had rattled against
+their stone walls without much effect during the war; but their fate was
+sealed with that of their King, and the gunpowder of Cromwell's soldiers
+was soon employed in blowing up the walls that resisted him so long, and
+left them battered and smoking ruins.
+
+Since then the ivy has grown over them to hide their nakedness. Forlorn
+and lonely the ruined castle stands. Where once loud clarion rang, the
+night owls hoot; vulgar crowds picnic where once knights fought in all
+the pride and pomp of chivalry. Kine feed in the grass-grown bailey
+court; its glory is departed. We need no castles now to protect us from
+the foes of our own nation. Civil wars have passed away, we trust, for
+ever; and we hope no foreign foeman's foot may ever tread our shores.
+But if an enemy threatened to attack England her sons would fight as
+valiantly as in the brave days of old, though earthen ramparts have
+replaced the ancient castles and iron ships the old wooden walls of
+England.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MONASTERIES
+
+Beautiful surroundings--Benefits conferred by monasteries--Charity--
+Learning--Libraries--Monks not unhappy--Netley--Cluny--Alcuin--
+Monastic friendships--St. Bernard--Anselm--Monks shed happiness
+around them--Desecration--Corruption of monasteries--Chaucer's
+prior--Orders of monks--Plan of a monastery--_Piers Ploughman's_
+description of a monastery--A day in a monastery--Regulations as
+regards blood-letting--The infirmary--Food--Hospitium--Chapter-house.
+
+
+In the neighbourhood of many of our villages stand the ruins of an old
+monastery. Who were the builders of these grand and stately edifices?
+What kind of men lived within those walls? What life did they lead? We
+will try to picture to ourselves the condition of these noble abbeys, as
+they were in the days of their glory, before the ruthless hands of
+spoilers and destroyers robbed them of their magnificence.
+
+It has often been remarked that the monks knew well how to choose the
+most beautiful spots for their monastic houses, establishing them by the
+banks of some charming river, surrounded by beautiful scenery and
+fertile fields.
+
+They loved the beauties of nature, and had a keen sense for discovering
+them. They had a delicate and profound appreciation of the delights of
+the country, and loved to describe the beauties that surrounded their
+habitations. Nature in its loveliness and wild picturesqueness was a
+reflection of God's beauty, a temple of His light and goodness. Moreover
+they built their monasteries amidst forests and wild scenery, far from
+the haunts of men, seeking solitude, wherein they could renew their
+souls by the sweetness of a life of contemplation, and consecrate their
+energies to the service of God. In the days of war and bloodshed, of
+oppression and lawlessness, holy men found it very difficult to be "in
+the world and yet not of it." Within the monastic walls they found
+peace, seclusion, solitude; they prayed, they worked, they wrote and
+studied. They were never idle. To worship, to labour, to fight as the
+_milites Christi_ with weapons that were not carnal, these were some of
+the duties of the monks.
+
+The world owes much to these dwellers in monasteries. They rescued the
+people from barbarism, and uplifted the standard of the cross. They
+emerged from their cells to direct councils, to preach and teach at the
+universities, to build churches and cathedrals, and astonish the world
+by their skill and learning. Who can tell what services they rendered to
+their nation and to all mankind by pouring forth that ceaseless stream
+of intercession day and night for the averting of the judgments of
+divine wrath which the crimes and follies of men so richly deserved?
+"What the sword is to the huntsman, prayer is to the monk," says St.
+Chrysostom; and well did they use this weapon for the spiritual and
+material benefit of all.
+
+Another great benefit they conferred upon the world was that of charity.
+They were the true nurses of the poor. There were no poor laws, and
+union workhouses, and hospitals. The monks managed to supply all the
+wants of all who suffered from poverty, privation, and sickness. "The
+friendship of the poor constitutes us the friends of kings," says St.
+Bernard; "but the love of poverty makes kings of us." They welcomed in
+their ranks poor men, who were esteemed as highly as those of noble
+birth on entering the cloister. All men were equal who wore the monk's
+robe.
+
+Amongst other services the monks rendered was the cultivation of
+learning and knowledge. With wonderful assiduity they poured forth
+works of erudition, of history, of criticism, recorded the annals of
+their own times, and stored these priceless records in their libraries,
+which have done such good service to the historians of modern times. The
+monasteries absorbed nearly all the social and intellectual movement of
+the thirteenth century. Men fired with poetical imagination frequently
+betook themselves to the cloister, and consecrated their lives to the
+ornamentation of a single sacred book destined for the monastery which
+gave them in exchange all the necessaries of life. Thus the libraries of
+the monastic houses were rich in treasures of beautifully illuminated
+manuscripts, which were bound by members of the community. The Abbot of
+Spanheim in the fifteenth century gives the following directions to his
+monks:--
+
+"Let that one fasten the leaves together, and bind the book with boards.
+You, prepare those boards; you, dress the leather; you, the metal
+plates, which are to adorn the binding."
+
+[Illustration: NETLEY ABBEY, SOUTH TRANSEPT]
+
+Terrible is it to think of the dreadful destruction of these libraries
+at the time of the spoliation of monasteries and of the priceless
+treasures which they contained.
+
+We are apt to suppose that the lives of the monks were gloomy, hard,
+severe, and that few rays of the sunshine of happiness could have
+penetrated the stern walls of the cloister. But this does not appear to
+have been the case. The very names of monasteries show that they
+rejoiced in their solitude and labour. Netley Abbey was called the
+Joyous Place, _loeto loco_; and on the Continent there are many names
+which bear witness to the happiness that reigned in the cloister.
+Moreover the writings of the monks proclaim the same truth. Cluny is
+called by Peter Damien his _hortus deliciarum_ (garden of delights), and
+it is recorded that when Peter de Blois left the Abbey of Croyland to
+return to France he stopped seven times to look back and contemplate
+again the place where he had been so happy. Hear how Alcuin laments on
+leaving the cloister for the Court of Charlemagne:--
+
+"O my cell! sweet and well-beloved home, adieu for ever! I shall see no
+more the woods which surround thee with their interlacing branches and
+aromatic herbs, nor thy streams of fish, nor thy orchards, nor thy
+gardens where the lily mingles with the rose. I shall hear no more those
+birds who, like ourselves, sing matins and celebrate their Creator, in
+their fashion--nor those instructions of sweet and holy wisdom which
+sound in the same breath as the praises of the Most High, from lips and
+hearts always peaceful. Dear cell! I shall weep thee and regret thee
+always."
+
+The life was very peaceful, entirely free from care, and moreover
+lighted by the whole-hearted friendships which existed between the
+brethren. A chapter might be written on the love of the cloister, which
+like that of David for Jonathan, was "wonderful, passing the love of
+women." Thus St. Bernard burst out in bitter grief at the loss of a
+brother monk:--
+
+"Flow, flow, my tears, so eager to flow! he who prevented your flowing
+is here no more! It is not he who is dead, it is I who now live only to
+die. Why, oh, why have we loved, and why have we lost each other?"
+
+The letters of Anselm to Lanfranc and Gondulph, his dearest friends,
+abound in expressions of the most affectionate regard and deep true
+friendship. He writes:--
+
+"How can I forget thee? Can a man forget one who is placed like a seal
+upon his heart? In thy silence I know that thou lovest me; and thou
+also, when I say nothing, thou knowest that I love thee. What can my
+letter tell thee that thou knowest not already, thou who art my second
+soul?"
+
+The monks' lot was not sad and melancholy. They loved God and His
+service, and rejoicing in their mutual regard and affection were happy
+in their love and work. Orderic Vitalis writes, "I have borne for
+forty-two years with happiness the sweet yoke of the Lord." Moreover
+they shed happiness on those who dwelt around them, on the crowds of
+masons and carpenters, traders and workmen, who dwelt under the shadow
+of the monastery or farmed the fields of the monastic estates. No
+institution was ever more popular; no masters more beloved. They took a
+hearty interest in the welfare of all their tenants, and showed an
+active sympathy for all. The extent of their charity was enormous. In a
+French abbey, when food was scarce, they fed 1,500 to 2,000 poor in the
+course of the year, gave monthly pensions to all the families who were
+unable to work, entertained 4,000 guests, and maintained eighty monks--a
+wonderful record truly.
+
+The influence of the monastery was felt in all the surrounding
+neighbourhood--the daily services, the solemn and majestic chants, the
+processions, must have created a deep impression on the minds of people.
+Many of the great writers and thinkers of subsequent ages have
+appreciated the wonderful labours of the monks. Dr. Johnson wrote:--
+
+"I never read of a hermit, but in imagination I kiss his feet; never of
+a monastery, but I fall on my knees and kiss the pavement."
+
+And now these noble buildings, hallowed by a thousand memories, exist
+only as dishonoured ruins. Some have been pulled down entirely, and the
+site used for gaols or barracks. Convicts labour where once monks
+prayed. The renowned abbey of Cluny is a racing stable, and Le Bec, the
+home of Anselm, has suffered a like profanation. Factories have invaded
+some of these consecrated sites. Many have been used as quarries for
+generations. All the carved and wrought stone has been cut off, and used
+for making bridges and roads and private houses. Nature has covered the
+remains with clinging ivy, and creeping plants, and wild flowers, and
+legends cluster round the old stones and tell the story of their
+greatness and their ruin. The country folk of western Ireland show the
+marks on the stones furrowed by the burning tears of the monks when they
+were driven out of their holy home. I am describing the condition of the
+monasteries in the days of their glory, when the spirit of the religious
+orders was bright and pure and enthusiastic. It cannot be denied that
+often the immense wealth which kings and nobles poured into the treasury
+of the monks begat luxury and idleness. Boccaccio in Italy, and even
+Dante, and our own Chaucer, write vigorously against the corruption of
+the monks, their luxury, love of sport, and neglect of their duty. Thus
+Chaucer wrote of a fourteenth-century prior:--
+
+  "Therefore he was a prickasoure a right:
+  Greihounds he hadde as swift as foul of flight:
+  Of pricking and of hunting for the hare
+  Was all his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.
+  I saw his sleves purfiled at the hond
+  With gris, and that the finest in the loud.
+  And for to fasten his hood under his chinne,
+  He hadde of gold ywrought a curious pinne:
+  A love-knotte in the greter end ther was.
+  His head was balled, and shone as any glas,
+  And eke his face, as it had been anoint.
+  He was a lord full fat and in good point
+  His eye stepe, and rolling in his bed,
+  That stemed as a forneis of led.
+  His botes souple, his hors in gret estat,
+  Now certainly he was a fayre prelat.
+  He was not pale as a forpined gost.
+  A fat swan loved he best of any rost.
+  His palfrey was as broune as is a bery."
+
+Many were the efforts to reform the abuses which crept into the monastic
+houses. Holy men grieved over the scandals of the times in which they
+lived. Many monasteries remained until the end homes of zeal and
+religion, and the unscrupulous tools of Henry VIII. could find naught
+to report against them. The only charge they could fabricate against
+one monastery was "that the monks would do evil, if they could."
+
+The foundation of the various orders of monks shows the efforts which
+were from time to time made by earnest men to revive the zeal and
+religious enthusiasm characteristic of the early dwellers in
+monasteries. The followers of St. Benedict and St. Columba were the
+first monks of the western Church who converted the peoples of England,
+Germany, Belgium, and Scandinavia. The Benedictines had many houses in
+England in Saxon times. In the tenth and eleventh centuries flourished
+a branch of the Benedictines, the order of Cluny, who worked a great
+religious revival, which was continued in the twelfth by the order of
+the Cistercians, founded at Citeaux in Burgundy. Some of our most
+beautiful English abbeys--Fountains, Kirkstall, Rievaulx, Tintern,
+Furness, and Byland--all belonged to this order. In the thirteenth and
+fourteenth centuries the new orders of preaching friars founded by St.
+Francis and St. Dominic arose, and exercised an immense influence in
+the world. They did not shut themselves up in the cloister, but went
+everywhere, preaching in the market-places, and tending the sick, the
+lepers, and the outcasts. At first they were immensely popular, but
+the orders degenerated like their predecessors, and long before the
+Reformation laid themselves open to the derision and the scoffs of the
+more enlightened men of the age. Since the days of the Friars there
+has been no building of monasteries in England. Wealth, luxury, and
+corruption had destroyed the early piety of the monks, and rich men
+preferred to give their wealth for the purpose of founding colleges
+and hospitals, rather than in increasing the number of religious houses.
+
+[Illustration: A MONK TRANSCRIBING]
+
+We will now visit these monasteries, and try to picture them as they
+stood in the days of their glory, and see the daily life which the monks
+led. The rules of the orders differed somewhat, some being stricter than
+others; and likewise the arrangements of the buildings were not all
+based upon one plan. The Carthusian monasteries differ widely from those
+of the other orders, owing to the rule that each monk should have his
+separate cell, wherein he lived and had his food, and only met his
+brethren in church and in the chapter-house. We will examine the usual
+plan of a monastery, the main buildings of which clustered round the
+cloister-court. This was called the paradise, around which was a covered
+ambulatory. Here the monks read and wrote, and sometimes had little
+spaces partitioned off for studies, with bookstands and cupboards. It
+was the great centre of the monastic life. The earlier ambulatories were
+open, but in the fourteenth century they had windows looking on to the
+cloister-court, filled with stained glass. The monks must have found the
+open cloister a somewhat chilly place for writing, and although their
+fingers were endured to hardness, had sometimes to abandon their tasks.
+Orderic Vitalis tells us that his fingers were so numbed by the cold in
+a hard winter that he was obliged to leave his writing until a more
+congenial season.
+
+On the north of the cloister-court stood the monastic church, the
+grandest and noblest of the monastic buildings, adorned with shrines,
+and tombs, and altars. Several of our cathedrals were monastic churches,
+and afford us some idea of the splendour and magnificence of these
+stately buildings. Many other churches built by the monks, quite as
+large and noble as any of our cathedrals, are now in ruins, with only a
+wall or a buttress remaining to mark the site of the once noble minster.
+The church was usually cruciform, with nave and aisles. East of the
+high altar in the choir stood the lady-chapel, and round the choir a
+retro-choir, or presbytery. There was a door on the south side of the
+church, opposite the eastern ambulatory, for the entrance of the monks.
+The south transept formed part of the eastern side of the cloister. On
+the same side stood the chapter-house, a large chamber richly ornamented
+with much architectural detail, and adorned with mural paintings.
+Between the chapter-house and the church there is a narrow room, which
+was the sacristy, and on the south of the chapter-house a building in
+two stories, the ground floor being the frater-house, where the monks
+retired after meals to converse, the upper room being the dortor, or
+dormitory, where they slept. A passage often separated the chapter-house
+from this building.
+
+On the south side of the cloister-court stood the refectory, a long
+room in which the monks took their meals; and on the west was a range
+of buildings the use of which differed in various monasteries, in some
+for cellars and larders, in others for dormitories. Sometimes this
+western building was the _domus conversorum_, or house of the lay
+brethren. The abbot's lodging was a fine house, consisting of hall,
+chambers, kitchen, buttery, and cellars, capable of entertaining a
+large number of guests, and frequently stood on the east side of the
+chapter-house quite separate from the other buildings. In small monastic
+houses governed by a prior his residence often formed the western side
+of the cloister-court. The farmery, or infirmary, where sick monks were
+nursed during illness, was a separate building, having its own kitchen,
+refectory, and chapel. The hospitium was also a separate building near
+the outer gate of the abbey, and consisted of a hall, dormitories, and a
+chapel, in which each night a goodly company of guests were entertained
+and courteously welcomed by the hospitaller. A high wall surrounded the
+abbey precincts, in which was the outer gate, consisting of a porter's
+lodge, a prison, and a large room in which the manorial court was held,
+or the abbot met the representatives of the townsfolk in order to direct
+their affairs and choose their chief magistrate or settle their
+differences.
+
+The author of _Piers Ploughman_ gives a description of the appearance of
+a monastery in the fourteenth century. As he approached the monastic
+buildings he was so bewildered by their greatness and beauty that for a
+long time he could distinguish nothing certainly but stately buildings
+of stone, pillars carved and painted, and great windows well wrought. In
+the centre quadrangle he notices the stone cross in the middle of grass
+sward. He enters the minster, and describes the arches as carved and
+gilded, the wide windows full of shields of arms and merchants' marks on
+stained glass, the high tombs under canopies, with armed effigies in
+alabaster, and lovely ladies lying by their sides in many gay garments.
+He passes into the cloister, and sees it pillared and painted, and
+covered with lead, and conduits of white metal pouring water into bronze
+lavatories beautifully wrought. The chapter-house was like a great
+church, carved and painted like a parliament-house. Then he went into
+the refectory, and found it a hall fit for a knight and his household,
+with broad tables and clean benches, and windows wrought as in a church.
+And then he wandered and wondered at "the halls full high and houses
+full noble, chambers with chimneys and chapels gay," and kitchens fit
+for a king in his castle, and their dorter or dormitory with doors full
+strong, their fermerye (infirmary) and frater, and many more houses, and
+strong stone walls, enough to harbour the queen. The author was
+evidently amazed at all the sights which he witnessed in the monastery.
+
+We will now see the monks at work, and spend a day with them in their
+monastic home. It is not easy definitely to map out a monk's day. The
+difficulty arises in a measure from the want of distinct marks of time.
+A monastic day was divided into twelve hours of uncertain length,
+varying according to the season; but the religious observances began at
+midnight, when the brethren rose at the sound of a bell in the dortor
+for the continuous service of Mattins and Lauds. They then retired to
+sleep, until the bell again summoned them at sunrise, when Prime was
+said, followed by the morning Mass, private masses and confessions, and
+the meeting of the Chapter; after this, work; then Tierce; then High
+Mass, followed by Sext. A short time was then devoted to reading, during
+which the _ministri_ and the reader at table dined; and then the monks
+sat down to dinner. This was the first food of the day, though the
+weaker brethren were allowed to sustain themselves with wine and water,
+or bread steeped in wine. Dinner was followed by a brief rest in the
+dormitory. If the monks did not wish to sleep they could read in the
+dorter; but they were to be careful not to disturb their resting
+brethren by any noise, such as that caused by turning over the leaves of
+their books. At one o'clock the bell rang for None, a short service
+consisting of a hymn, two psalms, some collects, the Lord's Prayer, and
+versicles. Then the brethren washed themselves, had a stoup of wine in
+the frater, and worked until Evensong, which was followed by supper.
+After supper they read in the cloister until the bell rang for
+Collation, which consisted of a reading in the chapter-house, whence
+they retired to the fratery for a draught of wine or beer. Then followed
+Compline, and then the monks were ready for bed, and retired to the
+dortor. Even there rules followed them, and directed them how they were
+to take off their shoes, and "to behave with more quiet, self-restraint,
+and devotion than elsewhere."
+
+I have not exhausted all the services which the monks attended. In
+addition to the principal ones there were several minor functions, at
+which devotion to the Blessed Virgin was the chief feature. The life was
+hard and the discipline severe; and lest the animal spirits of the monks
+should rise too high, the course of discipline was supplemented by
+periodical blood-letting. The doctors of the day were firm believers in
+the utility of this practice, and perhaps it had special advantages for
+dwellers in monasteries. According to the mediaeval metrical treatise on
+medicine, _Flos Medicinae_, or _Regimen Sanitatis Salerni_--
+
+  "Spiritus uberior exit per phlebotomaniam."
+
+  "It maketh cleane your braine, releeves your eie,
+  It mends your appetite, restoreth sleep,
+  Correcting humours that do waking keep;
+  And inward parts and sences also clearing
+  It mends the voyce, touch, smell, taste, hearing."
+
+According to the _Observances_ of the Augustinian Priory at Barnwell,
+Cambridge, each brother was compelled to be bled seven times a year. It
+was probably a welcome duty, as the monks enjoyed a regular holiday, and
+were solaced with unwonted good fare.
+
+Those who wished to be bled asked leave in Chapter, and having received
+a formal licence, attended High Mass. After the gospel they left the
+quire, and were bled in the farmery, where they remained three days.
+During this period they were excused attendance at the daily services,
+except on very special occasions; and minute directions are given for
+their personal comfort. They were allowed fire and lights, with suitable
+food, eggs and vegetables being specially mentioned; and they might take
+exercise within the precincts, and even beyond them, should the prelate
+give them leave. The infirmary seems to have been the most cheerful
+place in the monastery. Its inmates were "to lead a life of joy and
+freedom from care, in comfort and happiness." Conversation was freely
+permitted, though sarcastic and abusive language was strictly forbidden.
+"Games of dice and chess, and other games unsuitable to those who lead a
+religious life, were forbidden"; "because beyond all doubt they are
+offensive to God, and frequently give occasion to strife and contention
+among those who play them." We notice that invalids were allowed to walk
+in the "vineyards"; evidently the monks grew their own grapes, and made
+their own wine. The infirmary must have been well frequented. The
+complaints which are often specially mentioned as likely to compel the
+monks to resort to it are "irksomeness of life in the cloister," "long
+continuance of silence," "fatigue in the quire or extension of fasting,"
+and "sleeplessness and overwork."
+
+With regard to blood-letting the various orders had different customs.
+The Benedictines and Cluniacs had no stated times or seasons for the
+operation. The Cistercians prescribe bleeding four times in the year.
+The Carthusians were bled five times, and the Dominicans four times in
+the year.
+
+The food of the monastery was varied and plentiful. Fish and flesh were
+brought to the table, the former being obtained from the monastic
+stew-ponds. Fruit was supplied, both raw and cooked, and a good supply
+of beer and wine. Wine seems to have been very commonly used, and some
+relaxation was evidently permitted in the matter of drink.
+
+The hospitium, or guest-house, is worthy of a visit. Thither flocked a
+mixed crowd of knights and dames, monks and clerks, palmers, friars,
+traders with their wares, minstrels with their songs, and beggars,
+enjoying to the full the hospitality of the monks, who recognised it as
+one of their duties "to entertain strangers." The religious houses were,
+to a great extent, the inns of the Middle Ages; and when they were
+situated on the high roads, the guests were numerous and their
+entertainment costly. We are reminded, however, by the _Observances_ of
+Barnwell Priory that "by showing hospitality to guests the reputation of
+the monastery is increased, friendships are multiplied, animosities are
+blunted, God is honoured, charity is increased, and a plenteous reward
+in heaven is promised." It was enjoined that the hosteller, or brother
+in charge of the hospitium, should have "facility of expression, elegant
+manners, and a respectable bringing up; and if he have no substance to
+bestow he may at any rate exhibit a cheerful countenance and agreeable
+conversation, for friends are multiplied by agreeable words." He had to
+provide clean cloths and towels, cups without flaws, spoons of silver,
+mattresses, blankets and untorn sheets, pillows, quilts, etc. His duties
+are laid down with much minuteness; every morning he was required to go
+through the inventory, lest anything should be missing.
+
+The meeting in the chapter-house we must not omit to describe. When all
+the brethren had taken their seats, one monk went to the pulpit and read
+aloud the martyrology for the day. Then some psalms and collects were
+read, and a portion of the monastic rule, and briefs announcing the
+deaths of persons in whom the brethren were interested. The _tabula_, or
+notice-board, recording the names of those who were responsible for
+certain duties, was read; and a sermon followed. After the precentor had
+given minute instructions with regard to the reading and singing of the
+services for the day, the abbot said: "Speak of your own order." This
+was the call to confession; and any brother who was conscious that he
+had transgressed any rule, or neglected his duty, came forward and asked
+pardon for his fault. This was followed by the report of the _circator_,
+whose duty was to play the spy, and discover the faults of the monks.
+And after this the brethren accused each other. One brother started up
+saying: "I accuse ---- a brother." The accused came forward and stood
+before the abbot, waiting patiently for the charge. The accuser then
+stated the charge, which was admitted, or denied, by the accused. If the
+abbot judged him to be flogged, the culprit might not be flogged by his
+accuser. He rose from his knees and modestly divested himself of his
+garments, remaining covered from his girdle downwards; and he who
+flogged him might not cease till the abbot bade him. Then he helped the
+brother to put on his clothes, who bowed to the abbot and went back to
+his place. The Chapter, after this exciting interlude, proceeded to
+transact the temporal business of the house, and then adjourned.
+
+The chapter-house was often the scene of great events in the history of
+England. At Reading Abbey in this noble chamber parliaments were held.
+Here Heraclius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, presented to Henry II. the
+keys of the Holy Sepulchre, and invoked his aid in the crusade against
+the Saracens. Here the bishops assembled and excommunicated Longchamp,
+Chancellor and Regent of the country. Here the marriage contract between
+John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster was signed, when there were great
+rejoicings in the ancient town, and tilts and tournaments took place
+daily. These gay scenes must have greatly disturbed the tranquil life of
+the monks, and contrasted strangely with their normal condition.
+
+The picture of monastic life, which a study of the records of a
+monastery brings before us, is strange and alien to our present ideas;
+but it is brightened by a spirit of sincere religion and true charity,
+and helps us to understand the attraction of the convent walls in
+turbulent and troublous times.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE MANOR-HOUSE
+
+Evolution of a country house--Saxon house--Addition of separate
+sleeping-chambers--Castles--Tudor houses--Old manor-houses--Secret
+chambers--Rectories and vicarages--Duty of hospitality--Kelvedon
+Rectory--Allington--Tithe-barns--Alfriston clergy-house--Almshouses--
+Hermitages--Little Budworth--Knaresborough--Reclusorium or anchor-hold--
+Laindon--Rattenden--Female recluses--Whalley.
+
+
+The two principal houses in an English village are the manor-house and
+the rectory, wherein according to the theories of the modern political
+Socialist and agitator "the two arch-tyrants" of the labourers dwell,
+the squire and the parson. There is much of interest in the growth and
+evolution of the country house, which resulted in the construction of
+these old, pleasant, half-timbered granges and manor-houses, which form
+such beautiful features of our English villages.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTHCOTE MANOR SHOWING MOAT AND PIGEON-HOUSE]
+
+[Illustration: OCKWELLS MANOR-HOUSE]
+
+In our description of the village in Anglo-Saxon times we gave a picture
+of a house of a Saxon gentleman, which consisted mainly of one large
+hall, wherein the members of the household lived and slept and had their
+meals. There was a chapel, and a kitchen, and a ladies' bower, usually
+separated from the great hall, and generally built of wood. In Norman
+times the same plan and arrangements of a country house continued. The
+fire still burnt in the centre of the hall, the smoke finding its way
+out through a louvre in the roof. Meals were still served on tables laid
+on trestles, which were removed when the meal was finished. The lord and
+lady, their family and guests, dined at the high table placed on the
+dais, as in a college hall, the floor of which was boarded. The
+household and retainers dined in the space below, which was strewn with
+rushes and called "the marsh," which, according to Turner's _History of
+Domestic Architecture_, "was doubtless dirty and damp enough to deserve
+that name." The timbers of the roof in the better houses were moulded,
+the walls hung with tapestry, and at the lower end of the hall was a
+screen, above which in later times was the minstrels' gallery. The
+screen formed a passage which led into a separate building at right
+angles to the hall, containing the cellar, buttery, and kitchen.
+Parallel with this at the upper end of the hall was a building of two
+stories, one used as a parlour, and the other was called the "great
+chamber," where the lady and her guests retired after dining in the
+hall.
+
+[Illustration: RICHMOND PALACE]
+
+Later on a greater refinement of domestic customs was introduced. In the
+twelfth century a separate sleeping-chamber for the lord was added. The
+next century saw him and his lady dining in a room apart from his
+servants, a custom which was much satirised by the author of _Piers
+Ploughman_, who wrote--
+
+  "Now hath each rich a rule
+  To eaten by themselve,
+  In a privy parlour
+  For poor man sake,
+  Or in a chamber with a chimney;
+  And leave the chief hall,
+  That was made for meals
+  Men to eaten in."
+
+Evidently the author did not approve of the new fashion. But the
+advantages of the custom were much appreciated by the squires and ladies
+of the day, and this process of development led to a multiplication of
+rooms, and the diminution of the size of the great hall. The walls were
+raised, and an upper room was formed under the roof for sleeping
+accommodation. There are many old farmhouses throughout the country,
+once manor-houses, which retain in spite of subsequent alterations the
+distinguishing features of this mediaeval style of architecture.
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY AND STAIRCASE, UFTON COURT]
+
+The nobles built their castles as late as the fourteenth century; but
+under the Tudor monarchs, when the government of the country was strong
+and more settled, fortified dwellings were deemed no longer necessary,
+and the great landowners built splendid country houses. English domestic
+architecture then reached the period of its highest perfection. Instead
+of castles men built palaces, the noblest specimens of our English
+style, before it became corrupted. Hatfield House and Hampton Court are
+its best examples.
+
+During the fifteenth century the common hall had decreased in
+importance; and now in smaller houses it disappeared altogether, and a
+grand entrance hall usually took its place. The number of rooms was
+increased enormously, and corridors were introduced. The principal
+features of an Elizabethan house are the gallery and noble staircase.
+
+[Illustration: THE PORCH, UFTON COURT]
+
+Early in the seventeenth century Inigo Jones introduced the revived
+classic style of architecture into England, and entirely altered the
+appearance and arrangement of our manor-houses. Palladio was the
+originator of this style. The old English model was declared obsolete,
+and fashion dictated that Italian villas must supersede the old houses.
+These new buildings were very grand with their porticos and colonnades;
+but the architects cared little for comfort and convenience. Indeed a
+witty nobleman suggested to the owner of one of these new houses that
+he had better hire a lodging over the way and look at it.
+
+[Illustration: OLD MANOR HOUSE, UPTON COURT]
+
+The old manor-houses are often surrounded by a moat, and not unfrequently
+contain secret rooms and underground passages, which were often used as
+places of refuge in troublous times. Those held by recusants usually had
+two or three hiding-places ingeniously contrived, which must have baffled
+all pursuers, and were needed for the concealment of the Roman Catholic
+priest, in the days when his services were proscribed. There are two
+cleverly designed hiding-places at Ufton Court, Berkshire, which was held
+by the Roman Catholic family of Perkins. In a subterranean vault under an
+old house at Hurley, in which the bones of monks were discovered, the
+supporters of William of Orange used to meet to plan his succession to
+the English Crown. The walls of many of the manor-houses and halls in
+Lancashire and Yorkshire could tell of many a plot for the restoration
+of the Stuarts to the throne, and of many a deep health drunk to "Bonnie
+Charlie," while the chorus rang--
+
+  "He's over the seas and far awa',
+  He's over the seas and far awa',
+  But of no man we'll stand in awe,
+  But drink his health that's far awa'."
+
+The rectories and vicarages scattered over the country have passed
+through the same transformation as the manor-houses, which they much
+resembled. The rectory was often surrounded by a moat, with an entrance
+protected by a gatehouse. The duty of entertaining strangers and
+travellers was always duly recognised by the clergy, and entailed a
+heavy charge upon their income. Those who lived off the main roads used
+to provide accommodation for an occasional guest, but the rectors in the
+more frequented districts had frequently to entertain many travellers.
+There _is_ a description of the rectory-house of Kelvedon, Essex, in a
+deed dated 1356, which runs as follows:--
+
+"One hall situate in the manor of the said abbot and convent
+[Westminster] near the said church, with a soler and chamber at one end
+of the hall, and with a buttery and cellar at the other. Also one other
+house in three parts, namely a kitchen with a convenient chamber in the
+end of the said house _for guests_, and a bakehouse. Also one other
+house in two parts next the gate at the entrance of the manor for a
+stable and cow-house. He [the vicar] shall also have a convenient
+grange, to be built within a year at the expense of the prior and
+convent. He shall also have the curtilage with the garden adjoining the
+hall on the north side enclosed as it is with hedges and ditches."
+
+[Illustration: WINDOW OF SOUTH WING, UFTON COURT]
+
+Here the house for guests is an important feature of the clergyman's
+house; and about the same date, in 1352, we find the Bishop of
+Winchester ordering the prior and convent of Merton to provide "a
+competent manse for the vicar, viz. a hall with two rooms, one at one
+end of the hall, and the other at the other end, with a drain to each,
+and a suitable kitchen with fireplace and oven, and a _stable for six
+horses_, all covered with tiles, and completed within one year, such
+place to remain to the use of the said vicar and his successors." Unless
+the vicar was a very sporting parson he would not require a stable for
+six horses, and this was doubtless intended for the accommodation of the
+steeds of his guests.
+
+The descriptions of these old rectory-houses are interesting. The Rector
+of Allington, Kent, possessed a house consisting of "a hall, parlour,
+and chamber over the parlour, stairs-head, beside the parson's
+bedchamber, parson's lodging-chamber, study, chamber behind the chimney,
+chamber next adjoining westward, buttery, priest's chamber, servants'
+chamber, kitchen, mill-house, boulting-house, larder, entries, women's
+chamber; gatehouse, still beside the gate, barn next the gate; cartlage,
+barn next the church, garden-house, court." The barn next the church was
+probably the tithe-barn. Tithe was then paid in kind; hence a barn was
+required to contain the dues of the parishioners. Sometimes these
+tithe-barns are very large and long, especially when the tithe-owner was
+the abbot of some monastery. Near Reading there is still standing the
+barn of the abbey, and at Cholsey, in Berkshire, there is one of the
+finest specimens of the kind in England.
+
+[Illustration: STONE TITHE BARN, BRADFORD-ON-AVON]
+
+There still remain several of these old pre-Reformation parsonages and
+rectories. The most noted is the clergy-house at Alfriston, Sussex,
+which has been carefully preserved. It follows the usual type of
+fourteenth-century house, and consists of a fine hall, the lower part
+divided off by a screen, a soler of two stories at one end, and a
+kitchen at the other. It is built of oak framework, filled in with
+"wattle and daub." There is a large chimney and grate in the hall, and
+huge beams support the thatched roof. Parsonages of mediaeval times
+remain at West Dean, Sussex; at King's Stanley and Notgrove,
+Gloucestershire; Wonstone, Hants; Helmsley, Yorkshire; and at several
+other places. The Rectory of Shellingford, Berks, though much disguised
+by modern additions, is an original fourteenth-century house.
+
+In many villages there are old almshouses founded by pious benefactors
+for "poor brethren and sisters." As we enter the quiet courtyard paved
+with cobble stones, the spirit of olden days comes over us. The chapel
+where daily prayer is said morning and evening; the panelled
+dining-hall, with its dark oaken table; the comfortable rooms of the
+brethren; the time-worn pump in the courtyard--all recall the memory of
+old times, when life was more tranquil, and there was less hurry and
+busy bustling.
+
+Sometimes we meet with a curious little house built of stone or timber,
+erected along the great highways, near some bridge or ford, wherein a
+"holy hermit" once dwelt, and served his generation by directing
+travellers to the nearest monastery or rectory, and spent his days in
+seclusion and prayer. Such indeed is the traditional idea of the
+hermit's life; but the real hermit of the Middle Ages did not always
+live a very lonely or ascetic life. He was supported by the alms of the
+charitable and did no work, but lived an idle life, endured no
+hardships, and escaped not the scoffs of the satirical. _Piers
+Ploughman_ tells us of workmen--"webbers and tailors, and carters'
+knaves, and clerks without grace, who liked not long labour and light
+wages; and seeing that lazy fellows in friars' clothing had fat cheeks,
+forsook their toil and turned hermits. They lived in boroughs among
+brewers and begged in churches." They had a good house, with sometimes a
+chaplain to say daily Mass for them, a servant or two to wait on them,
+and plenty of food and drink provided by a regular endowment or the
+donations of the charitable. They did not shut themselves up in their
+cells and hold no intercourse with their fellow-men; and herein they
+differed from the recluses who were not supposed to go outside the doors
+of their anchorages. Both males and females were enrolled as recluses,
+but only the latter seem to have taken upon themselves the vows of
+complete seclusion.
+
+Several of these hermitages remain. There is one at Little Budworth, in
+Cheshire, in the park of Sir Philip Egerton. Warkworth has a famous one,
+consisting of a chapel hewn out of the rock, with an entrance porch, and
+a long, narrow room with a small altar at the east end, wherein the
+hermit lived. At Knaresborough, Yorkshire, there is a good example of a
+hermitage, hewn out of the rock, consisting of a chapel, called St.
+Robert's Chapel, with groined roof, which was used as the living-room of
+the hermit. This chapel was the scene of Eugene Aram's murder. At
+Wetheral, near Carlisle; Lenton, near Nottingham; on the banks of the
+Severn, near Bewdley, Worcestershire, there are anchorages, and also at
+Brandon, Downham, and Stow Bardolph, in Norfolk. Spenser in the _Faery
+Queen_ gives the following description of a hermit's cell:--
+
+  "A little lowly hermitage it was,
+  Down by a dale, hard by a forest's side,
+  Far from resort of people that did pass
+  In traveill to and froe; a little wyde
+  There was an holy Chappell edifyde,
+  Wherein the hermite dewly wont to say
+  His holy things, each morne and eventyde;
+  Hereby a chrystall streame did gently play,
+  Which from a sacred fountaine welled forth alway."
+
+Within the churchyard of many a town or village church, and usually
+attached to the church, stood a reclusorium, or anchor-hold, wherein a
+recluse, male or female, once resided. At Laindon Church, Essex, there
+is a fine specimen of a house of this kind attached to the west end.
+Generally the anchor-hold was a small room, built of wood, connected
+with the church. Frequently there is a room over the porch of a church
+which may have been used for this purpose, the recluse living usually in
+the church. At Rettenden, Essex, there is a room over the vestry which
+has evidently been an anchor-hold. There was a window, now blocked up,
+through which the recluse could see the high altar, and the celebration
+of the holy mysteries, and another for him to look out, hold converse
+with his friends, and receive their alms. The church of St. Patricio,
+near Crickhowel, South Wales, has an anchor-hold; also Clifton Campville
+Church, Staffordshire; Chipping Norton Church, Oxfordshire; Warmington
+Church, Warwickshire; and many churches have rooms over the porch which
+were formerly used by recluses. The church itself was frequently the
+habitation of the anchorite. There is a notice of a hermit who lived in
+St. Cuthbert's Church, Thetford, and performed divine service therein.
+
+Of female recluses we gather many details in the _Ancren Riewle_ of
+Bishop Poore of Salisbury, who left very minute directions for the
+regulation of their austere and solitary lives. The little cell had an
+altar where the anchoress frequently prayed, and through a window saw
+the elevation of the Host in the daily Mass. The walls were covered
+with mural paintings. There was a table, a fire, and a cat lying before
+it. An unglazed window with a shutter was covered by a black curtain,
+through which she could converse with anyone outside without being seen.
+She was not allowed to put her head out of the open window. "A peering
+anchoress, who is always thrusting her head outward, is like an untamed
+bird in a cage," says the good bishop. The long hours of solitude were
+spent in devotion, working embroidery, reading her few books, talking to
+her servant or to those who desired to speak with her through the
+curtained window.
+
+The poor caged birds must often have wished to break the bars of their
+cage, and occasionally they escaped from their solitary confinement. In
+the churchyard of Whalley, Lancashire, there are two cottages which
+stand upon the site of a reclusorium, founded by Henry, Duke of
+Lancaster, in 1349. Here in the reign of Henry VI. lived one Isole de
+Heton, who wearied of her lot, and left the anchor-hold, an example
+which was followed by several of her successors. A scandal having
+arisen, the hermitage was dissolved.
+
+Many a sad story of ruined hopes and broken hearts could these walls
+tell, which were the living tombs of many a devout or erring sister,
+who, wounded in the world's war, sought the calm seclusion of a cell,
+and found there the peace which elsewhere they had failed to find.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+PARISH CHURCHES
+
+The Porch--Font--Stone benches--Pews--Pulpits--Rood-lofts--Destruction
+of--Screens--Royal arms--Chancel--Stalls--_Misereres_--Lectern--High
+altar and its furniture--Piscina--Credence--Aumbry--Sedilia--Easter
+sepulchre--Reredos--Shrines--Numerous altars--Chantry chapels--
+Hagioscopes--Images--Low side windows--Vestries--Vestments--Churches
+in olden times--Reading pews--Galleries--Destruction and profanation--
+Evils of "restoration."
+
+
+In the centre of our village stands the church, always the most
+important and interesting building in the place. We will suppose that
+it has not suffered overmuch at the hands of the "restorers" of the
+nineteenth, or the Puritans of the seventeenth, or the spoliators of
+an earlier century, so that we may observe all those details which
+characterise an ancient church. In spite of all the vandalism which has
+taken place, in spite of the changes in ceremonial and forms of worship,
+our beautiful old churches still retain relics of the past which time
+has spared.
+
+We will enter the church and notice first the porch, often a large
+structure with a chamber above. Why was it made so large? According to
+the Sarum use several services took place in the porch. Parts of the
+baptismal service and of the marriage service and the churching of women
+were there performed; hence the porch was an important building, and
+it was necessary to make it rather large. Above the door there is
+frequently a niche for the image of the patron saint of the church,
+which has not usually escaped the destructive hand of the Puritan. The
+room over the porch was frequently inhabited by a recluse, as I have
+already recorded in the previous chapter. Near the door always stands
+the font, signifying that baptism is the entrance to the Church of
+Christ. Ancient fonts are large enough to allow the infant to be totally
+immersed, and are made of stone or lead. Childrey Church, in our county
+of Berks, has a fine cylindrical, leaden font, of Norman date, carved
+with figures of bishops. Norman fonts are frequently carved, the
+favourite subjects being the Baptism of our Lord, the Twelve Apostles,
+and the evangelistic symbols. Early English and Decorated fonts are not
+usually carved, but in the Perpendicular style they are rich with
+ornamentation, the Seven Sacraments being a not uncommon design. We have
+sometimes noticed the symbols of Freemasonry carved on fonts, as at
+Bray, in Berkshire. To the same period belong the splendid spire-shaped
+font-covers, of immense weight, of which I am sometimes a little
+fearful, lest the mechanism by which they are raised should become
+damaged, and terrible disaster follow during the progress of a baptismal
+service. At Sonning, Berks, there is a small stone desk attached to a
+pillar for the service-book to rest on.
+
+The nave of the church is now filled with seats for the use of the
+congregation. In early times they do not seem to have been considered
+necessary, and until the fourteenth century the stone benches ranged
+against the walls were the only seats provided. Even as late as the
+fourteenth century it does not appear that many churches had pews, but
+in the fifteenth they became general. The hideous monstrosities of
+post-Reformation times did not then disfigure our churches. The pews
+were low open seats made of oak, sometimes carved at the back, and
+panelled, with the ends higher than the rest, and often richly carved.
+Many rich men left money in their wills for the _puying_ of churches.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT PEW-WORK, TYSOE CHURCH, WARWICKSHIRE]
+
+It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that the
+fashion of erecting high pews set in, which so disfigured our churches,
+and were frequently censured by the authorities. Some of these (as at
+Whalley) resemble four-posted beds; others are like cattle-pens, large
+square boxes with seats all round, wherein the occupants sit and sleep,
+screened from the rest of the congregation. The carving of the woodwork
+of these erections is often very elaborate. Modern pews are happily
+based upon the more primitive fashion.
+
+Preaching not being considered such an important part of the service in
+pre-Reformation times, pulpits in churches of that period were not so
+usual as in modern churches. Monastic refectories had pulpits, which the
+reader occupied when he read to his brethren during meals. Beaulieu
+Abbey has the most ancient pulpit in this country, which evidently
+belongs to the thirteenth century.
+
+The churches of Devonshire and Norfolk have wooden pulpits of the
+fifteenth century, which were painted and gilded, the figures of the
+four doctors of the church--SS. Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, and
+Jerome--being the favourite subjects. In 1603 the churchwardens were
+ordered to provide in every church "a comely and decent pulpit." Hence
+most of our pulpits date from this period. The sides were panelled and
+carved with scrollwork; and at the same time a sounding-board was
+introduced. Occasionally the hour-glass which regulated the length of
+the preacher's discourse remains, with its beautiful scroll-worked
+stand.
+
+The most striking feature of the pre-Reformation Church was the
+rood-loft, a narrow long gallery above the beautifully decorated screen,
+which separated the chancel from the nave. In this loft was erected the
+rood, or figure of our blessed Lord on the cross, together with figures
+of the Virgin and St. John on each side. Both the screen and the loft
+were richly panelled and ornamented with tracery and carvings, and
+before them hung one or more lamps. Sometimes tall candlesticks stood on
+pillars on each side of the figures. A staircase of stone, constructed
+in the wall near the chancel-arch, led to the rood-loft, and the
+blocked-up archway of this rood-stair frequently remains. The priest
+stood in the rood-loft to read the gospel and epistle, and sometimes
+preached there; official notices were read, and from it the bishop used
+to give the Benediction. The rood-cloth, or veil, hid the rood during
+Lent, and in some churches we have seen the roller which was used to
+raise this veil. A special altar, called the rood-altar, used to stand
+under the screen.
+
+[Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH SCREEN, THURCASTON, LEICESTERSHIRE]
+
+The Reformers played havoc with these old rood-lofts and screens, which
+were regarded as monuments of idolatry and superstition. The
+churchwardens' account-books of many churches bear witness to this
+destruction. Those of St. Giles', Reading, tell of certain _items_ "for
+pulling down the rood and carting away the rubbish." Instead of the
+figure of our Lord they put up the royal arms; and one John Serjente, of
+Hytchen, is licensed in 1614--
+
+"to paynte in all the Churches and Chappells, within this Realme of
+England, the Kinges Majesties armes in due forme with helme creste
+mantell and supporters as they oughte to be--and to wright in fayre text
+letters the tenn commandments, the beliefe, and the Lord's prayer, with
+some other fruitefull and profitable sentences of holye scripture."
+
+In spite of this destruction of the ancient roods, several lofts still
+remain, _e.g._ at Bradninch, Cullompton, Dartmouth, Hartland, Kenton,
+Ugborough, and Plymtree, in Devonshire; in several places in
+Somersetshire, and at Charlton-on-Otmoor (erected in 1485) and
+Handborough, Oxfordshire. A very large number of the old screens remain,
+ornamented with the arms of Elizabeth or James I.
+
+Proceeding eastward we enter the chancel, so called because it is
+inclosed with _cancelli_, or the lattice-work of the screen. If the
+church was formerly connected with some monastery we shall see some
+beautifully carved wooden stalls with rich canopies over them. The seats
+are curiously constructed. They can be turned up, and beneath the seats
+is a projecting bracket of wood, commonly adorned with carved
+work--animals, birds, leaves, and flowers, and often with grotesque,
+satirical, and irreverent devices. They are called miserere-stalls, and
+were used by the monks or canons to lean against during the portions of
+the long mediaeval services, when they were not allowed to be seated. As
+this practice was a concession to human weakness or infirmity, the seats
+were called in France _misericordes_, and in England _misereres_. The
+subjects of the sculptures are often extremely curious. Domestic scenes,
+fables, such as the "Fox and the Grapes," demons carrying off monks,
+"The Seven Deadly Sins," are some of these subjects. Miss Phipson has
+published a learned work on _Choir Stalls and their Carvings_, which
+contains reproductions of three hundred of her sketches of curiously
+wrought _misereres_.
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE CHURCH IN THE VALE]
+
+The lectern formerly stood in the chancel; and then, as now, was often
+in the form of a large eagle, emblematic of St. John. Most of these
+reading-desks belong to the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and are
+made of wood, latten, iron, or stone, as well as of brass. There is a
+very curious wooden one at East Hendred, Berks, representing a foot
+resting on the head of a dragon, emblematic of the word of God
+conquering the powers of evil. Ancient wooden double reading-desks are
+not uncommon. The ornamentation usually denotes the period when they
+were constructed.
+
+And now we approach the high altar of the church, made of stone, covered
+with a beautifully worked frontal and cloth, and inclosed at the sides
+with curtains suspended on iron rods projecting from the wall. A
+crucifix hangs above the altar, and two candlesticks stand, one on each
+side. The furniture and accessories of the altar in pre-Reformation
+times were numerous. There was the pyx, a box or vessel of precious
+metal, in which the Host was reverently preserved for the purpose of
+giving communion to the sick and infirm. There were two small cruets or
+vessels for containing the wine and water used in Holy Communion, one
+engraved with the letter "V" (_vinum_), and the other "A" (_aqua_). An
+_osculatorium_, or pax tablet, of ivory or wood, overlaid with gold, was
+used for giving the kiss of peace during the High Mass just before the
+reception of the Host. Of church plate generally we shall write in a
+subsequent chapter.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN PISCINA, ROMSEY CHURCH, HANTS]
+
+On the south we see the piscina, which is contained in a beautifully
+carved niche--a hollow basin with a stone drain, wherein the priest
+washed his hands before consecrating the elements, and poured the water
+from the rinsed chalice. Above it in the niche was the credence, a shelf
+of stone, on which were placed the chalice and paten and all things
+necessary for the celebration. In some churches there is a separate
+credence table. On the north side was the aumbry, or locker, where the
+sacred vessels, altar linen, and service books were kept, guarded by a
+strong wooden door. The doors have usually disappeared, but a very large
+number of churches have the hole in the wall which was formerly the
+aumbry.
+
+On the south side are the sedilia, or stone seats, for the assistant
+clergy, frequently with canopies richly carved, and usually three in
+number. Opposite to the sedilia in the north wall is a large arch,
+within which the holy sepulchre was set up at Easter. This was a wooden
+structure made for the deposition of the consecrated elements of the
+Eucharist from the evening of Good Friday until the morning of Easter
+Day; during which time it was watched by a quasi-guard, after the manner
+of our Lord's sepulchre. The books of St. Lawrence, Reading, record:--
+
+"Anno 1498. In primis payed for Wakyng of the Sepulchre viii'd."
+
+"Anno 1510. It. payed to Walter Barton to the new Sepulchur iiii'li
+xiii's x'd."
+
+As this sum of money was a considerable one at that period, the
+sepulchre must have been an object of unusual magnificence. Sometimes
+it was a permanent structure of stone, carved with figures of soldiers
+watching the tomb of our Lord. Behind the altar was the reredos. In
+village churches these screens were made up of recessed stone panels,
+surrounded by sculptured wallflowers and other devices; but in large
+churches they were very ornate, enriched with niches, statues,
+tabernacle-work, and other adornments. Many of them were destroyed at
+the Reformation, together with the stone altars. Some were covered up
+and concealed by plaster, in order to preserve them from iconoclastic
+violence. They were buried and forgotten, until by some happy accident
+their existence was revealed in modern times. Nearly all large churches,
+and some village churches, especially those connected with a monastery,
+had shrines, or receptacles for the body or relics of a saint. Some
+of them were fixed, and made of stone or wood, adorned with rich
+tabernacle-work, such as the shrine of St. Cuthbert at Durham, or of St.
+Frideswide at Oxford; and others were portable, shaped like coped boxes,
+covered with precious metal, enamels, and engraving. Sculptured stones
+in the walls of our churches often mark the spot in the building where
+relics were stored.
+
+It is evident from the existence of niches and piscinas in other parts
+of the church, besides in the south wall near the high altar, that there
+formerly existed many altars in the sacred building. At the east end of
+each aisle we usually find these indications of the existence of an
+altar, which belonged to a chantry chapel, separated from the rest of
+the church by a screen. Here a priest said Mass daily for the soul of
+the founder of the chantry, his ancestors, and posterity. Ancient stone
+altars still remain in some of our churches. Sometimes they have been
+removed from their place, and used as tombstones, or in paving the floor
+of the church. They can be recognised by the five crosses engraved on
+them, one at each corner, and one in the centre of the stone.
+
+Hagioscopes, or squints, are openings in the thickness of the wall,
+enabling worshippers in the chantry chapels to witness the elevation of
+the Host at the high altar. They are usually plain; but in some churches
+we find these curious apertures moulded and decorated with architectural
+designs.
+
+Pre-Reformation churches had several wooden images of saints, most of
+which were destroyed by the iconoclastic zeal of the Reformers or
+Puritans. The brackets on which these figures stood often remain, though
+the images have disappeared.
+
+[Illustration: LOW SIDE WINDOW, DALLINGTON CHURCH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE]
+
+Low side windows, commonly called "Lepers' windows," are very frequently
+found in our churches, and usually on the south wall of the chancel.
+Their object has been, and is, much disputed among antiquaries. The
+vulgar idea is that poor lepers used to come to this window to see the
+celebration of the Mass; but unfortunately it is quite impossible in
+many cases to see the high altar through this window, and moreover
+lepers were not allowed to enter a churchyard. Another idea is that
+they were used as confessionals, the priest in the church hearing the
+confession of the penitent who knelt on the grass in the churchyard.
+A more inconvenient arrangement could not have been devised; and this
+idea might be at once dismissed, were it not that one of Henry's
+commissioners for suppressing monasteries and chantries wrote: "We think
+it best that the place where these friars have been wont to hear outward
+confession of all-comers at certain times of the year, be walled up, and
+that use to be done for ever." It appears that sometimes at any rate the
+low side windows were used for this purpose. However, I am inclined to
+think that they were intended for the use of the anchorites or recluses,
+who dwelt in churches. The windows were not glazed, but had iron bars on
+the outside, and a wooden shutter on the inside of the church. These
+windows were probably their means of communication with the outside
+world.
+
+Many village churches then, as now, had no vestry. Where a _vestiarium_
+existed it was usually on the north side of the chancel, and its
+contents were more elaborate than the plain surplice stole and hood of
+recent times. In the vestry press we should find an alb of fine white
+linen, somewhat similar to a surplice, ornamented with "apparels,"
+_i.e._ embroidery, on the cuffs and skirts; a girdle made of white silk
+embroidered with colours; an amice, or oblong piece of fine linen, worn
+on the head or as a collar; a stole with embroidered ends; a maniple, or
+strip of ornamented linen worn by the priest in his left hand during
+celebrations; dalmatic, chasuble and other vestments which the ornate
+ritual of the mediaeval church required.
+
+Before the Reformation the appearance of our churches was certainly
+splendid, and differed much from the Puritan simplicity of later times.
+The walls were covered with mural paintings. The windows, soon to be
+
+"Shorn of their glass of a thousand colourings,
+Through which the deepened glories once could enter,"
+
+were then resplendent with stained glass. Above, the rood looked down on
+all the worshippers. Everywhere there was beautifully carved woodwork,
+gilded and painted, tombs of knights and dames all painted and adorned,
+altars with rich embroidered hangings. The floor was composed of
+encaustic tiles, and had many memorial brasses. Armour, crests, and
+banners hung upon the walls. Lights burned before numerous images, and
+the whole appearance of our churches was gorgeous and magnificent.
+
+Many changes have taken place since. Coatings of whitewash hide the
+mural paintings. Sacrilegious hands "have broken down all the carved
+work with axes and hammers." The stone altars have disappeared, and
+instead we have "an honest table decently covered." Reading-pews for the
+clergy were set up, and in the last century the hideous "three decker,"
+which hid the altar and utterly disfigured the sacred building. Instead
+of the low open seats great square high pews filled the nave. Hideous
+galleries were erected which obstructed the windows and hid the
+architectural beauties of former days. The old timber roofs were
+covered, and low flat ceilings substituted. Brasses were torn up and
+sold by dishonest churchwardens, and old monuments broken and defaced.
+The old stained-glass windows were destroyed. The Communion table was
+taken from the east end of the chancel, and seats erected round it.
+Crosses were defaced everywhere, and crucifixes destroyed. Puritan
+profanation and wanton destruction devastated our churches to a degree
+which has never been equalled since the hordes of heathens and barbaric
+Danish invaders carried fire and sword into the sanctuaries of God.
+
+[Illustration: READING-PEW, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, LANGLEY CHAPEL, SALOP]
+
+Much harm was done by the Goths and Vandals of the nineteenth century.
+Many old churches, replete with a thousand memories of the past, were
+pulled down entirely, and modern structures of "Victorian Gothic" style
+erected in their place, which can have none of the precious associations
+which the old churches had. Much harm was done to the old features of
+many churches by so-called "restoration," carried out by men ignorant of
+architecture and antiquities. But we are learning better now. The
+Society of Antiquaries has done much to prevent injudicious restoration
+and the destruction of our old churches, and if any incumbent and his
+parishioners are thinking of restoring their church, they cannot do
+better than to consult the secretaries of that learned body, who will
+show how best to preserve the interesting memorials of the past which
+time has spared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+CHURCH PLATE
+
+Spoliation--Few remains of pre-Reformation plate--Testimony of
+inventories--Plate found in graves of bishops--Characteristics of
+chalices in different periods--Inscriptions--Devices on patens--
+Censers--Pyx--Monstrance--Chrismatory--Pax--Sacring bell--Elizabethan
+chalice--Bridal cup--Post-Reformation plate--Hall marks.
+
+
+We have already mourned over the wanton destruction of much that was of
+intense interest and value in our churches; but the most systematic
+robbery and spoliation of our church goods at the time of the
+Reformation were carried out in the matter of church plate. Henry VIII.
+stripped our cathedrals and conventual churches of almost all that was
+valuable, and the unscrupulous commissioners of Edward VI. performed a
+like office for our parish churches and chantries. A large number of
+the old chalices were also melted down and converted into Communion
+cupsduring the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth. Hence of all the
+vast store of church plate which our churches possessed before the
+Reformation, at the present time throughout all England only thirty-four
+chalices and seventy-three patens remain. It is true that not all the
+ancient vessels fell into the hands of the commissioners of the king. In
+the churchwardens' account books of the period we read of sundry sales
+of church plate. Evidently the parishioners had some presentiment of the
+coming spoliation; so they sold their valuables, and kept the proceeds
+of the sale for "the paving of the streets," or other parochial
+necessities.
+
+The ancient inventories of church goods show the deplorable loss of the
+valuables of the church which has taken place. Thus at the church of St.
+Lawrence, Reading, in the year 1517, the inventory tells us of the
+following: a cross of silver and gilt; a censer of silver gilt; another
+censer; a ship of silver for holding incense; another ship of silver;
+two candlesticks of silver; two books bound in silver; two basins of
+silver; a pyx of silver gilt, with a silver pin; a monstrance of silver
+gilt; a silver gilt chrismatory for the holy oil; a pax; two cruets; a
+bell; a chalice, with a crucifix enamelled on the foot and the Trinity
+on the paten; another chalice, with a crucifix engraved on the foot
+and a hand on the paten; another chalice similarly described; another
+similar to first chalice; and two others, with a crucifix on the foot
+and a vernicle, or _vera icon_ (a representation of our Lord's face
+miraculously delineated on the napkin of St. Veronica). All these
+vessels were made of silver or silver gilt. Nor were these all the
+treasures. There were several reliquaries of silver gilt containing
+parts of the holy cross; a gridiron, with a bone of St. Lawrence, and
+other articles contained in silver boxes; and many books bound with
+silver clasps. The total weight of silver in this church amounted to
+seven hundred ounces.
+
+Village churches were, of course, less sumptuously furnished than this
+important town church, which being situated under the shadow of one of
+the largest and most important abbeys in the kingdom, would receive many
+costly gifts and benefactors. But the inventories of village churches
+show that there was no lack of plate, rich altar hangings, copes, and
+vestments, which helped to swell the goodly heap of spoil. In country
+churches in Oxfordshire there were silver chalices and patens, pyxes,
+censers, candlesticks, chrismatories, crosses, sanctus bells, and other
+articles of plate.
+
+It was the practice in mediaeval times to place in the coffin of a
+bishop a chalice and paten; hence some of the earliest specimens of
+church plate which we possess have been recovered from episcopal
+graves.[3] The Rites of Durham enjoin that on the death of a bishop
+he was to be buried "with a little chalice of silver, other metal, or
+wax" aid upon his breast within the coffin.[4] Most of these were made
+of pewter or lead, but some have been found of silver gilt, latten,
+and tin. It is perhaps scarcely necessary for our present purposes to
+describe these early specimens of sacred vessels, as the number of them
+is so limited; and few of my readers will be able to discover any
+mediaeval examples amongst the plate of their own church. However, I
+will point out a few peculiarities of the plate of each period.
+
+The earliest chalice, used in the church of Berwick St. James, Wilts,
+until a few years ago, and now in the British Museum, dates from the
+beginning of the thirteenth century. Its bowl is broad and shallow, the
+stem and knot (by which the vessel was held) and foot being plain and
+circular. Then the makers (from 1250 to 1275) fashioned the stem and
+knot separately from the bowl and foot, and shaped them polygonally.
+During the remaining years of the century the foot was worked into
+ornate lobes. Then the bowl is deepened and made more conical. About
+1350 the custom arose of laying the chalice on its side on the paten to
+drain at the ablutions at Mass; and as the round-footed chalices would
+have a tendency to roll, the foot was made hexagonal for stability.
+Henceforth all the mediaeval chalices were fashioned with a six-sided
+foot. By degrees the bowl became broader and shallower, and instead of
+the base having six points, its form is a sexfoil without any points.
+Several old chalices are engraved with the inscription--
+
+Calicem salutaris accipiam et nomen Domini inbocabo.
+
+[Illustration: CHALICE AND PATEN, SANDFORD, OXFORDSHIRE
+_Circa_ A.D. 1301]
+
+In one of the compartments of the base there was a representation of a
+crucifix, or the Virgin, or ihc, or xpc.
+
+The usual devices on ancient patens were the _Manus Dei_, or hand of
+God, in the act of blessing; on later ones the vernicle, or face of our
+Lord; the Holy Trinity; the Holy Lamb; the sacred monogram. The oldest
+paten in existence is that found at Chichester Cathedral in a coffin,
+and its date is about the year 1180. In the centre is a rude engraving
+of the _Agnus Dei_, and it bears the inscription--
+
+Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi miserere nobis.
+
+[Illustration: PRE-REFORMATION PLATE
+(1) 13th Century
+(2) Early 16th Century
+(3) Elizabethan
+(4) Manus Dei
+(5) Vernicle]
+
+The grave of Bishop Grostete at Lincoln yielded up an ancient paten
+(1230-53), which has the figure of a bishop vested, the right hand
+raised in the act of blessing, the left holding a crozier. The oldest
+piece of church plate still in use is a remarkable paten at Wyke Church,
+near Winchester, the date of which is about 1280. It bears an engraving
+of the _Agnus Dei_ holding a banner, and around the rim is the legend--
+
+CUNTA: CREO: VIRTUTE: REGO: PIETATE REFORMO.
+
+Another favourite inscription was _Benedicamus patrem et filium cum
+spiritu sancto_; but on the paten in the church of Great Waltham, Essex,
+the important word _spiritu_ is omitted for want of room.
+
+[Illustration: CENSER OR THURIBLE]
+
+We have already mentioned several of the important pieces of church
+plate which were in use in mediaeval times. Censers, or thuribles, were
+common in all our ancient parish churches, sometimes of gold or silver,
+more usually of brass or latten, and were in the shape of a covered vase
+or cup, perforated so as to allow the fumes of burning incense to
+escape. Most of our English censers are now in museums, but several
+ancient ones are still in use in the private chapels of Roman Catholic
+families.
+
+Old inventories always mention a pyx, a box or vessel of gold or silver,
+in which the Host was reserved for the sick and infirm. It often
+resembles a chalice, except that instead of the bowl there is a covered
+receptacle for the Host. A beautiful specimen was dug up a few years ago
+in the churchyard of Yateley, Hants. Another vessel was the monstrance,
+in which the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession, and exposed
+on the altar. The form varied. Sometimes monstrances were made in
+the shape of a tower, or a covered chalice; sometimes in the form of
+images carrying silver pyxes, elaborately ornamented with many jewels.
+Processions were always a great feature of mediaeval worship; hence the
+monstrance was frequently in use, especially on such occasions as the
+celebrations of Corpus Christi Day.
+
+Holy oil was much used in the services, as in the Roman Catholic Church
+at the present time. It was blessed by a bishop on Maundy Thursday, and
+used in Baptism, Confirmation, and Extreme Unction, as well as at the
+Consecration of Churches, Ordination, and the Coronation of Kings. The
+vessel for holding the oil was an important piece of church plate, and
+was called a chrismatory. Usually there were three distinct vessels, one
+for holding the oil for the sick, a second for use at confirmations, and
+a third for the baptismal oil. Sometimes these vessels are labelled with
+the words EXT. UNC., CAT., and CHR., according to the recommendation of
+St. Charles Borromeo, in order that each oil might be kept for its
+proper use, and that no confusion might arise.
+
+The pax was a small tablet of silver or other precious metal, used for
+giving the kiss of peace during High Mass. The celebrant kissed the
+tablet, and held it aloft before all the people. It was usually adorned
+with a representation of the _Agnus Dei_. Of the cruets containing wine
+and water for the celebration we have already written. Then there was a
+sacring bell, often made of silver, which was rung during the service at
+the time of the elevation of the Host, and at the sound the congregation
+knelt.
+
+We have now examined the aumbry, and noted its contents, upon which the
+commissioners in the reign of Edward VI. made such shameful inroads.
+Henceforth the plate was confined to a chalice and paten, alms-dish, and
+usually a large silver flagon. The form of the chalice was entirely
+changed. As we have noticed, the bowl of the pre-Reformation chalices
+became smaller and shallower, on account of the gradually introduced
+practice of refusing the wine to the laity. Now in the year 1562 the
+size of the bowl was greatly enlarged, and the "Communion cup" took
+the place of the "Massing chalice." Some poor parishes were obliged to
+content themselves with pewter vessels. St. Lawrence's Church, Reading,
+had a curious bridal cup, which was carried before all brides who
+were married in that church. The custom of drinking wine in the church
+at marriages is enjoined in the Hereford Missal, and the Sarum
+Missal ordered that the bread immersed in the wine, and consumed by
+the company, should first be blessed by the priest. Some of these
+post-Reformation vessels are extremely interesting. They record the
+thankofferings of pious donors on the occasion of some great event in
+the national annals, such as the Restoration, or of some private mercy
+vouchsafed to the individual. They record the connection of some family
+with the parish, the arms they bore; and the Hall marks tell us of their
+date, which is often anterior to the date of the inscription.
+
+Hall marks were first introduced in 1300 by Edward I. in order to keep
+up the purity of silver, and consisted of the lion's or leopard's head
+crowned. This was called the king's mark. The maker's mark was
+introduced in 1363, and was some initial or badge chosen by the
+silversmith. To these were added in 1438 the year letter or assayer's
+mark, a different letter being chosen for each year. When the alphabet
+was exhausted, another with differently shaped letters was begun. In
+1545 the lion passant was introduced, and since 1784 the portrait of the
+reigning sovereign has appeared. With the assistance of Mr. Cripps' _Old
+English Plate_, which contains a list of the alphabets used in marking
+plate, it is not very difficult to discover the date of any piece of
+silver. Inventories of church plate are being made in many counties and
+dioceses, and no more useful work can be undertaken by our local
+antiquarian societies.
+
+
+[3] _Mediaeval Chalices and Patens_, by W.H. St. John Hope and
+T.M. Fallow.
+
+[4] Surtees Society, vol. xv. pp. 45, 49.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES
+
+Reverence for the dead--Cists--Stone coffins--Devices--Introduction
+of effigies--Cross-legged effigies--Wooden effigies--Incised
+effigies--Brasses--Essentially English--Vast number of brasses--
+Palimpsests--Destruction--Costumes and fashions--Ecclesiastics--
+Lawyers--Soldiers--Canopies and inscriptions--Punning inscriptions--
+Contractions--Emblems--Heraldry.
+
+
+The pious care which we all love to bestow on the mortal remains of our
+nearest and dearest, and the respect and honour with which all men
+regard the bodies of departed heroes, kings, saints, and warriors, have
+produced a remarkable series of sepulchral monuments, examples of which
+may be found everywhere. The cairns and tumuli of the primitive races
+which inhabited our island were the results of the same feelings of
+reverent regard which inspired the beautifully carved mediaeval
+monuments, the memorial brass, or the cross-shaped tombstone of to-day.
+
+I have already mentioned the cromlechs and barrows and other memorials
+of the early inhabitants of Britain. We have seen the cists of Saxon
+times, the coffins formed of several stones placed together in the form
+of a table. The Normans introduced stone coffins for the sepulchre of
+their great men, many of which may be seen in our cathedrals and old
+conventual churches. On the lids of their coffins they frequently cut a
+single cross. When the style of architecture changed to that of the
+Early English and Decorated periods, monumental slabs were ornamented
+with much greater richness and elaboration, and inscriptions were added,
+and also some device which showed the trade, rank, or profession of the
+departed. Thus the chalice and paten denoted a priest; a sword showed
+the knight; an axe, a forester; an ink-horn, a notary; shears, a wool
+merchant.
+
+At the beginning of the thirteenth century it occurred to someone to
+preserve the likeness of his departed friend as well as the symbols of
+his rank and station. So effigies were introduced upon the surface of
+the slabs, and were carved flat; but ere fifty years had passed away the
+art of the sculptor produced magnificent monumental effigies. Knights
+and nobles lie clad in armour with their ladies by their sides. Bishops
+and abbots bless the spectators with their uplifted right hands. Judges
+lie in their official garb, and merchants with the emblems of their
+trade. At their feet lie animals, usually having some heraldic
+connection with the deceased, or symbolical of his work--_e.g._ a dragon
+is trodden down beneath the feet of a bishop, signifying the defeat of
+sin as the result of his ministry. The heads of effigies usually rest on
+cushions, which are sometimes supported by two angels.
+
+A peculiar characteristic of the military effigies in England is that
+the knights are often represented with the legs crossed. Many
+speculations have been made with regard to the meaning of this fashion
+of cross-legged effigy. It is a popular superstition, in which for some
+years the writer shared, that such effigies represented Crusaders. We
+were told in our young days that when the knight had his legs crossed at
+the feet he had gone to the Crusades once; when at the knees, that he
+had been to two Crusades; and when crossed at the thighs, he had been
+thrice to rescue the Holy City from the hands of the infidels. All this
+seemed very plausible and interesting, but it is undoubtedly a myth.
+Many known Crusaders have their effigies with uncrossed legs, and many
+who never went to the Crusades have cross-legged effigies. Moreover,
+there are no such monuments in any foreign country which swelled the
+army of Crusaders. Hence we must abandon the pleasing superstition, and
+reconcile ourselves to the fact that no particular signification can be
+assigned to these cross-legged effigies, and that only fashion prompted
+the mediaeval sculptors to adopt this attitude for their figures. This
+mode prevailed until about the year 1320.
+
+At the close of the fifteenth century the art of making monumental
+effigies degenerated together with the skill of the architects of that
+period. We see the husband and wife kneeling facing each other, with a
+faldstool before each figure. A company of small figures below the
+effigies represent the children, the boys on one side, the girls on the
+other.
+
+Early wooden effigies were also in use. There is one much battered by
+the careless hands of former generations of villagers in the rural
+church of my parish of Barkham. The artists often used much colour,
+gilding, and enamel in making these effigies; and often rich canopies
+were erected over them, containing fine tabernacle-work and figures of
+saints in niches.
+
+Another form of effigy was commonly in use, in addition to the figures
+just described. These are called incised effigies, which were cut
+in outline upon flat slabs of stone, the lines being filled in with
+enamelled metals. Thorton Abbey, Lincolnshire, and Brading, in the Isle
+of Wight, have examples of this work. But the great expense of these
+enamels, and also their frailty when exposed in the pavements of
+churches, led to the use of brass; and hence arose the introduction of
+memorial brasses for which our country is famous.
+
+We owe the application of brass to memorial tablets to the artists of
+Flanders, and the date of their introduction is about the middle of the
+thirteenth century. The execution of almost all of our English brasses
+is due to native artists. Foreign brasses are usually of great size,
+and consist of a quadrangular sheet of metal, on which is engraved
+the figure, usually under a canopy, the background being ornamented
+with rich diaper, foliage, or scrollwork, and the incisions filled
+with colouring. Several brasses in England conform to this style of
+workmanship, and are evidently the production of foreign artists. The
+English brasses, on the contrary, consist of separate pieces, with an
+irregular outline, corresponding with that of the figure. They have no
+brass background; and for delicacy of engraving and general appearance
+the English brasses are by far the best.
+
+The names of the makers of brasses have been almost entirely lost. Two
+only bear marks which are supposed to be those of the engraver. No other
+country can boast of so large a number of these memorials as England, in
+spite of the hard usage they have received and their wanton destruction.
+About four thousand remain; and constantly we find the matrices cut in
+stone slabs, from which brasses have been torn; so that we may assume
+that quite as many have been destroyed as those which survive. The
+southern and eastern counties are most richly furnished with these
+monuments, whereas the western and northern counties have but few
+brasses. Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent are the most rich in this
+respect. The earliest brass of which we have any record is that of
+Simon de Beauchamp, who died before 1208. This is mentioned by Leland.
+The earliest brass now in existence is that of Sir John D'Aubernown at
+Stoke Dabernon, Surrey, which was fashioned in 1277. In the fourteenth
+century a very large number of brasses, remarkable for their beauty of
+form and execution, were made. The artistic workmanship began to decline
+in the fifteenth century, and in the following became utterly degenerate.
+
+It was not an uncommon practice for subsequent generations to appropriate
+the memorials of their predecessors. Such brasses are called palimpsests.
+By the carelessness of churchwardens, by fraud, or spoliation, brasses
+were taken from the churches, and acquired by some maker in the town.
+When a new one was required, the tradesman would take from his stock,
+and on the reverse engrave the figure of the individual whose memory he
+was called upon to perpetuate. Hence when brasses are taken up from the
+pavements, frequently the remains of a much earlier memorial are found on
+the reverse side. There is an example of this curious method of procedure
+at St. Lawrence's Church, Reading, where on the reverse of a brass to the
+memory of Walter Barton was found the remains of the brass of Sir John
+Popham, who was buried at the Charterhouse, London. This monastery was
+dissolved in 1536, the monuments sold, Sir John Popham's brass among them,
+which was evidently soon converted into a memorial of Walter Barton.
+
+Sometimes the original brass was appropriated as it lay, the figure
+being slightly altered to suit the style of costume prevalent at the
+later date. In other cases the engraver did not even trouble himself to
+alter the figure, and simply added a new inscription and shield of arms.
+
+The wanton destruction and gross neglect of churchwardens, both before
+and after the Reformation, were very great. At St. Mary's Church,
+Reading, the accounts tell a sad tale of the disgraceful damage in the
+year 1547:--
+
+"Receyvid of John Saunders for iii cwt lacking ix'li of metall that was
+taken upp of the graves, and of olde candlestycks at vi's the hundred
+xlvj's ii'd."
+
+Evidently a clean sweep was made of most of the memorial brasses in the
+church, and few escaped destruction. The tale is too familiar. Most
+churches have suffered in the same way.
+
+The study of brasses throws much light upon the costumes and fashions of
+the day when they were engraved. We see priests, who may be recognised
+by the tonsure and vestments, amongst which we find the alb, amice,
+stole, maniple, and chasuble. The pastoral staff, ring, mitre, sandals,
+tunic, dalmatic, and gloves mark the graves of bishops and mitred
+abbots.
+
+A close skull-cap, a long robe with narrow sleeves, a hood, tippet, and
+mantle buttoned on the right shoulder, compose the dress of judges and
+officers of the law, as depicted on brasses. The changes in the fashion
+and style of armour, which took place between the fourteenth and the
+seventeenth centuries, are all accurately represented in these
+memorials; and also the picturesque costumes of ladies with their
+curious headgear; and the no less various fashions of the male
+civilian's dress. A study of brasses is an admirable guide to the
+prevailing style of dress during the periods of their construction.
+
+The beautiful canopies over the heads of the figures are well worthy of
+attention, and also the inscriptions. These usually take the form of
+Latin verses; and although many were written by learned abbots and
+scholars, the classical knowledge displayed is somewhat faulty. Here
+are a few examples:--
+
+Respice quid prodest precentis temporis aebum
+Omne quod est, nichil est, preter amare deum.
+
+Sometimes the author of the inscription recorded his name, as did the
+learned Dame Elizabeth Hobby on a brass at Shottesbrooke, which runs--
+
+O multum dilecte senex, pater atqz bocate,
+  Del quia grandaebis, bel quia probus eras.
+Annos bixisti nobies decem, atqz satelles
+  Fidus eras regum, fidus erasqz tuis.
+Iam satis functus baleas, sed tu, deus alme,
+  Sic mihi concedas bibere siqz mori.
+
+Variety was added sometimes by jumbling together various languages,
+Norman-French, Latin, and English being often oddly combined.
+
+People in the Middle Ages loved punning and playing upon the sound of
+words. Thus a brass to the memory of Thomas Hylle (or Hill) has some
+verses beginning "_Mons_ in valle jacet." John Day, the printer, had a
+very extravagant and jocular epitaph beginning--
+
+"Here lies the Daye that darkness could not blynd."
+
+"He set a Fox to wright how Martyrs runne
+By death to lyfe"--
+
+alluding to his publication of Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_. His widow
+probably married a man named Stone. Hence we read--
+
+"Als was the last encreaser of his store,
+Who mourning long for being left alone,
+Sett upp this tombe, her self turned to a Stone."
+
+"Orate pro anima," or "of your charite pray for the soul of ----" were
+usual inscriptions.
+
+It is somewhat difficult for the unpractised eye to read inscriptions on
+brasses, owing to the contractions and omissions of letters. Thus _m_
+and _n_ are often omitted, and a line is placed over the adjoining
+letter to indicate the omission. Thus a=ia stands for _anima_, leg=u for
+_legum_. The letter _r_ is also left out. Z stands for _que_, and there
+are many other contractions, such as D=ns for _Dominus_, D=s for _Deus_,
+E=ps for _Episcopus_, g=ia for _gratia_, m=ia for _misericordia_, and
+many others.
+
+The study of the emblems and devices is full of interest. Of
+ecclesiastical emblems we have the symbols of the Holy Trinity--God the
+Father represented as an aged person, holding a crucifix on which the
+dove, an emblem of the Holy Spirit, is alighting--representations of our
+Lord, angels, saints,[5] evangelists, the fylfot cross, roses, and
+figures of Death. Sometimes the figure on the brass holds a heart in his
+hand, which indicates a response on the part of the deceased to the old
+invitatory "Sursum corda."
+
+The armorial bearings of the deceased are usually represented on
+brasses, and also personal or professional devices. The founders of
+churches hold representations in miniature of the churches which they
+founded. Bishops and abbots have a pastoral staff; priests, a chalice,
+or a book; wool merchants have woolpacks beneath their feet, and other
+tradesmen have similar devices denoting their special calling.
+Merchants' marks also frequently appear; and the mediaeval taste for
+punning is shown by frequent rebuses formed on the names of the
+deceased, _e.g._ a peacock, for one named Pecok; a fox, for a Foxley;
+four tuns and a cross, for Master Croston.
+
+England may well be proud of the brass memorials of her worthy sons and
+daughters. It is, however, terribly sad to see the destruction which
+fanatical and greedy folk have wrought on these beautiful monuments.
+As we have already noticed, the spoliators of the Reformation period
+accomplished much wanton destruction, and removed tombs "for greedinesse
+of the brasse." Cromwell's soldiers and commissioners did a vast deal
+more damage, violating sepulchres and monuments, and destroying brasses
+everywhere. A third cause of the defacement and loss of these valuable
+memorials has been the gross carelessness of churchwardens and
+incumbents, who during any alterations or restoration of their churches
+have allowed them to be sold, destroyed, or appropriated by the
+builders. Truly we have entered upon a diminished inheritance. It
+behoves us to preserve with the utmost vigilance and care the memorials
+which fanaticism, greed, and carelessness have spared.
+
+
+[5] The following are the principal emblems of the Apostles:--
+St. Andrew, a cross saltier; St. Bartholomew, a knife; St. James the
+Great, a pilgrim's staff, wallet, escallop shell; St. James the Less, a
+fuller's bat, or saw; St. John, a chalice and serpent; St. Jude, a boat
+in his hand, or a club; St. Matthew, a club, carpenter's square, or
+money-box; St. Matthias, a hatchet, battle-axe, or sword; St. Paul, a
+sword; St. Peter, keys; St. Philip, a tau cross, or a spear; St. Simon,
+fishes; St. Thomas, an arrow or spear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE PARISH CHEST
+
+Contents of the parish chest--Parish registers--Effect of Civil War--
+Burials in woollen--"Not worth L600"--Care bestowed upon registers--
+Curious entries--Astrology--Gipsies--Jester--Heart-burial--Plagues--Royal
+visits--Licences for eating flesh, for to be touched for king's evil--
+Carelessness of custody of registers--Churchwardens' account books--Their
+value--Curious entries--Sports and pastimes--Paschall money--Brief
+books--Strange entries in registers and account books--Dog-whippers--
+King's evil--Treating bishops and poor scholars of Oxford.
+
+
+The parish chest in the vestry usually contains many documents, which
+are of profound interest to the student of village antiquities. It
+contains the old churchwardens' account books, the parish registers,
+lists of briefs, and often many other papers and records which bear on
+the history of the parish. The old register books record the names of
+past generations of villagers, and many curious facts about the parish
+and its people, which are not found in the dull dry columns of our
+modern books.
+
+Parish registers were first ordered by Thomas Cromwell in the year 1538,
+and from that date many of our registers begin.[6] But all vicars did
+not obey the injunctions of Viceregent Cromwell; they were renewed by
+Edward VI. in 1547 and by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and most of our old
+register books begin with this date. James I. ordered that the registers
+should be written over again in a parchment book, the entries previously
+having been recorded on paper. Hence many of our books, although they
+begin with the year 1538, are really copies of the paper records made
+previous to 1603.
+
+The disturbances of the Civil War period caused much neglect in the
+keeping of the registers. The incumbent was often driven away from his
+flock, and parish registrars were chosen by the parishioners and
+approved and sworn before a justice of the peace. Here is a record of
+this business taken from the books of this parish:--
+
+"Whereas Robtr Williams of the prish of Barkham in the County of Berks
+was elected and chosen by the inhabitants of the same prish to be there
+prish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms was approved and sworne this
+sixteenth day of November 1653. Ri: Bigg, J.P."
+
+Henceforth the children are registered as having been _born_, not
+_baptised_, until the Restoration brought back the clergyman to his
+flock again, and the entries are written in a scholarly hand, and the
+disorder of the previous years ceases.
+
+In 1679 an Act was passed requiring that the dead should be buried in
+woollen, the purpose being to lessen "the importation of linen from
+beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper
+manufacturers of this kingdom." A penalty of L5 was inflicted for a
+violation of this Act; and as frequently people preferred to be buried
+in linen, a record of the fine appears--_e.g._ at Gayton,
+Northamptonshire, where we find in the register--
+
+"1708. Mrs. Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5, in _Linnen_, and the
+forfeiture of the Act payd fifty shillings to ye informer and fifty
+shillings to ye poor of the parishe."
+
+Pope wrote the following lines on the burial of Mrs. Oldfield, the
+actress, with reference to this custom:--
+
+  "Odious! in woollen! 'twould _a_ saint provoke
+  (Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke);
+  No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace
+  Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face."
+
+Sometimes after the name in the register is added the words, "Not worth
+L600." This refers to the Act of William III. in 1694, which required
+that all persons baptised, married, or buried, having an estate of that
+value, should pay a tax of twenty shillings. The money was required for
+carrying on the war with France, and the Act was in force for five
+years. This description of the personal estate was not intended to be
+invidious, but was of practical utility in enforcing the Act.
+
+The parish registers reflect with wonderful accuracy the life of the
+people, and are most valuable to the student of history. Clergymen took
+great pride in recording "the short and simple annals of the poor." A
+Gloucestershire rector (1630 A.D.) wrote in his book the following good
+advice which might with advantage be taken in many other villages:--
+
+"If you will have this Book last, bee sure to aire it att the fier, or
+in the Sunne, three or four times a yeare--els it will grow dankish and
+rott, therefore look to it. It will not be amisse when you find it
+dankish to wipe over the leaves with a dry wollen cloth. This Place
+is very much subject to dankishness; therefore I say looke to it."
+
+A study of the curious entries which we occasionally find conveys much
+remarkable information. Sometimes, in the days of astrology, in order
+to assist in casting the nativity, it is recorded that at the time of
+the child's birth "the sun was in Libra," or "in Taurus." Gipsies were
+evidently numerous in the sixteenth century, as we constantly find
+references to "the roguish AEgyptians." The domestic jester finds
+his record in the entry: "1580. March 21, William, fool to my Lady
+Jerningham." The suicide is "infamously buried." Heart-burial is often
+recorded, as at Wooburn, Bucks: "1700. Cadaver Edi Thomas, equitis
+aurati, hic inhumatum fuit vicessimo tertio die Junii."
+
+Records of the visitations of the plague are very numerous in all parts
+of England, as at Egglescliffe, Durham: "1644. In this year there died
+of the plague in this towne one and twenty people; they are not all
+buried in the churchyard, and are not in the Register." Sometimes masses
+of human bones are found buried in fields outside towns and villages,
+memorials of this devastating plague.
+
+Parish clerks have not always had very musical voices when they shout
+out the "Amens." The Rector of Buxted, Sussex (1666 A.D.), records with
+a sigh of relief the death of his old clerk, "whose melody warbled forth
+as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone."
+
+Sometimes royal visits to the neighbourhood are recorded, even a royal
+hunt, as when James I. hunted the hare at Fordham, Cambridgeshire. The
+register of Wolverton gives "a license for eating flesh on prohibited
+days granted to Sir Tho. Temple, on paying 13s. 4d." Storms,
+earthquakes, and floods are described; and records of certificates
+granted to persons to go before the king to be touched for the disease
+called the king's evil.
+
+The Civil War is frequently mentioned, and also caused the omission of
+many entries. At Tarporley, Cheshire, there is a break from 1643 to
+1648, for which the rector thus accounts:--
+
+"This intermission hapned by reason of the great wars obliterating
+memorials, wasting fortunes, and slaughtering persons of all sorts."
+
+Parish registers have fared ill and suffered much from the gross
+carelessness of their custodians. We read of the early books of Christ
+Church, Hants, being converted into kettle-holders by the curate's wife.
+Many have been sold as waste paper, pages ruthlessly cut out, and
+village schoolbooks covered with the leaves of old registers. The
+historian of Leicestershire writes of the register of Scraptoft:--
+
+"It has not been a plaything for young pointers--it has not occupied a
+bacon scratch, or a bread and cheese cupboard--it has not been scribbled
+on within and without; but it has been treasured ever since 1538, to the
+honour of a succession of worthy clergymen."--_O si sic omnes_!
+
+The churchwardens' account books are even of greater value to the
+student of history than the registers, priceless as the latter are
+for genealogical purposes. The Bishop of Oxford states that "in the
+old account books and minute books of the churchwardens in town and
+country we possess a very large but very perishable and rapidly
+perishing treasury of information on matters the very remembrance
+of which is passing away, although their practical bearing on the
+development of the system of local government is indisputable, and
+is occasionally brought conspicuously before the eye of the people
+by quaint survivals.... It is well that such materials for the
+illustration of this economic history as have real value should be
+preserved in print; and that the customs which they illustrate should
+be reclaimed by History from the misty region of folklore, whilst they
+can." Many of these account books date from pre-Reformation times,
+and disclose the changes which took place in the fabric of our churches,
+the removal of roods and other ecclesiastical furniture, during the
+Reformation. They are usually kept with great exactness, and contain
+an accurate record of the receipts and expenditure for each year. Some
+of the entries are very curious, and relate to the sports and pastimes
+of our ancestors, the mystery plays, and church ales, which were all
+under the patronage of the churchwardens. The proceeds of these
+entertainments were devoted to the maintenance of the church, and
+were included in the accounts, as well as the necessary cost of the
+merry diversions. Thus in the books of St. Lawrence's Church, Reading,
+we find such items as the following:--
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"1499. Paid for a coat for Robin Hood             5  4
+         "  for a supper to Robin Hood and
+               his company                        1  6
+         "  for making the church clean
+               against the day of drinking
+               in the said church                    4"
+
+"1531. Paid for five ells of canvass for a coat
+            for Maid Marian                       1  6-1/4"
+
+"Bells for the Morris dancers," "liveries and coats," "bread and ale,"
+"horse-meat of the horses for the kings of Colen on May Day," are some
+of the items which appear in these books.
+
+Another book tells us about the "Gatherings" at Hock-tide, when on one
+day the men stopped the women, and on the next the women the men, and
+refused to let them go until they gave money. The women always succeeded
+in collecting the most money.
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"It'm.  receyved of the men's gatherynge          7  3
+   "       "       "    women's gatherynge       37  5"
+
+Traces of this custom are still found in many country places. The
+practice of "hocking" at Hungerford and "lifting" in Lancashire subsist
+still, but the money collected is no longer devoted to any pious uses.
+
+The item "Paschall money at Easter" frequently occurs. This was
+originally a collection for the Paschal taper, which burned before the
+high altar at Eastertide. When, in the reign of Elizabeth, the taper was
+no longer used, the money was devoted to buying the bread and the wine
+for the Easter Communion. Another item which often appears is a payment
+of "Smoke farthings" to the bishop of the diocese at his Visitation
+Court. This is another name for Peter's pence, formerly given to the
+Pope. In the accounts of Minchinhampton we find the entry under the year
+1576: "For Pentecost money, otherwyse peter pence, sometyme payed to
+Antecryst of Rome xvi'd." After the Reformation the tax was collected,
+but given to the bishop.
+
+There are very many other points of interest which a study of the
+churchwardens' books presents. In more recent times we find constant
+payments for the slaughter of sparrows, and many other items which
+scarcely come under the head of ecclesiastical charges.[7] But of course
+the vestry was then the council chamber of the parish, which managed all
+the temporal affairs of the village community. Possibly, in these days
+of Poor Law Unions, District and County Councils, our affairs may be
+managed better; but there is much to be said in favour of the older
+system, and Parish Councils are not much of an improvement on the old
+vestries.
+
+Another book which our parish chest contains is the Brief Book. Briefs
+were royal letters which were sent to the clergy directing that
+collections be made for certain objects. These were very numerous and
+varied. The building of St. Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire, a
+fire at Drury Lane Theatre, rebuilding of churches, the redemption of
+English slaves taken by pirates, the construction of harbours in
+Scotland, losses by hail, floods, French refugees, Reformed Episcopal
+churches in Great Poland and Polish Prussia, Protestants in Copenhagen,
+loss by fire, colleges in Philadelphia--these and many other objects
+were commended to the liberality of Churchmen. The sums collected were
+usually very small, and Pepys wrote in his _Diary_, June 30th, 1661:--
+
+"To church, when we observe the trade of briefs is come now up to so
+constant a course every Sunday that we resolve to give no more to them."
+
+The granting of briefs gave rise to much abuse, and they were finally
+abolished by the advice of Lord Palmerston.
+
+The contents of the parish chest afford an unlimited mass of material
+for those who love to study the curious customs of our forefathers and
+their strange usages. Here is a record of a much-married person:--
+
+"Mary Blewitt, ye wife of nine husbands successively, buried eight of
+ym, but last of all ye woman dy'd and was buried, May 7th 1681."
+
+In the margin of the register is written, "This was her funeral text."
+
+The register of Sparsholt, Berks, records an instance of the body of a
+dead man being arrested for debt. The entry is:--
+
+"The corpse of John Matthews, of Fawler, was stopt on the churchway for
+debt, August 27, 1689. And having laine there fower days, was by
+Justices warrant buryied in the place to prevent annoyances--but about
+sixe weekes after it was by an order of Sessions taken up and buried in
+the churchyard by the wife of the deceased."
+
+A dog-whipper was an ancient parish official, whose duty was to drive
+out all dogs from the church. The Wakefield accounts contain the
+items:--
+
+"1616. Paid to Gorby Stork for whippinge          s. d.
+    doggs                                         2  6"
+
+"1703. For hatts shoes and hoses for sexton
+    and dog-whipper                              18  6"
+
+Another official was the person appointed to arouse members of the
+congregation from their slumbers during divine service. The parish
+accounts of Castleton record:--
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"1702. Paid to sluggard waker                    10  0"
+
+Sometimes the cost of a journey to London was
+defrayed by the parish in order to enable a sufferer
+to be touched for the king's evil. The Ecclesfield
+accounts contain the following entry relating to this
+custom:--
+
+"1641. Given to John Parkin wife towards her
+    travell to London to get cure of his Majestie
+    for the disease called the Evill, which her   s. d.
+    Sonen Thorn is visited withall                6  8"
+
+The clergymen were required to keep a register of all who were so
+touched, in order that they might not again go to the king and receive
+the bounty which accompanied the touch. Hence we read in the register of
+Hambleden, Bucks:--
+
+"1685. May 17, Mary Wallington had a certificate to goe before the King
+for a disease called the King's Evil."
+
+The treating of bishops and clergy is often noticed in the accounts.
+Sometimes a sugar-loaf was presented, as at St. James', Bristol:--
+
+"1629. Paid for a sugar loaf for the Lord Bishop 15's 10'd"
+
+Sometimes items relate to their refreshment:--
+
+"1593. Pd for a galland of beer given to the
+    Beishopp of Hereford                            iiii'd"
+
+"1617. Pd for a quart of wine and sugar bestowed
+    upon two preachers                                 x'd"
+
+The status of students at the Universities was not so high in former
+days as at present, and poor scholars used to beg their way to Oxford
+and Cambridge, and receive the assistance of the charitable. Hence we
+read in the Leverton accounts:--
+
+"1562. Gave to a pore scholar at Oxford.            2s. 0d."
+
+With this record of "a pore scholar" we must leave our study of the
+contents of the parish chest, which afford such valuable and accurate
+information about village and town life of ancient times.
+
+
+[6] 812 registers begin in 1538, 40 of which contain entries prior to
+that date. 1,822 registers date from 1538 to 1558, and 2,448 from
+1558 to 1603.
+
+[7] In the Whitchurch books we find: "1671. Paide for a coate and
+wastcoate for good wife Clarke 13s., also for linen and shoes; to the
+Chiurgeons for looking at Ezechiell Huller's legg L3." And such-like
+entries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS
+
+Destruction of old windows--Wilfrid's glass-window makers--Glass,
+stained and painted--Changes in style--Work of foreign artists--Inlaid
+tiles--Ironwork on doors and screens--Norman hinges--Mediaeval
+plumbing work--Mural decoration, frescoes, and wall-painting--Cause
+of their destruction--St. Christopher--Consecration crosses--Norman
+art--Favourite subjects--Yew trees in churchyards--Lich-gates--The
+churchyard--Curious epitaphs.
+
+
+No branch of archaeology is more interesting than the study of our
+stained-glass windows, which illustrate so clearly the faith, history,
+and customs of our ancestors. We have again to thank the fanatics of
+the Reformation and Cromwellian periods for the shameful destruction
+of so many beautiful windows. How great has been the loss to art and
+history caused by their reckless demolition! And in addition to this
+miserable violence our windows have suffered greatly from the ignorant
+indifference of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which allowed
+priceless examples of old glass to be removed and replaced by the
+hideous specimens of the modern glass-painters.
+
+In Saxon times this art found a home in England, the _artifices
+lapidearum et vitrearum fenestrarum_ having been invited to this country
+by Wilfrid, Bishop of York, in 709. The earliest specimen of ancient
+glass now in existence is in the choir-aisles of Canterbury Cathedral,
+where it was probably fixed when the cathedral was rebuilt after the
+fire in 1174.
+
+Coloured glass is of two kinds: (1) _Stained glass_, made by mixing
+metallic oxides with the glass when in a state of fusion, the colours
+thus going through the whole mass; (2) _Painted glass_, in which
+colouring is laid upon the white or tinted glass, and fixed by the
+action of fire. As the style of architecture changed, so the art of the
+glass-painter changed with it. In the Early English period the colours
+were very rich, and the designs consisted of medallions containing
+subjects taken from Holy Scripture, or the lives of the saints, upon
+grounds of ruby and blue. Mosaic patterns form the groundwork of the
+medallions, and a border of scrolls and foliage incloses the whole
+design. The outlines of the figures are formed by the lead. In the
+Decorated period the medallions disappear, and in their place we find
+single figures of large size under canopies. Instead of the mosaic
+backgrounds diaper-work in whole colours is used. Lights and shades are
+introduced in the dresses and canopies, and foliage is painted on the
+panes. The artists of this period first introduced heraldic devices into
+the windows. A border of white glass intervenes between the window and
+the medallion.
+
+When the Perpendicular style was in vogue the art of the glass-painter
+degenerated, as did that of the architect. Stained glass was little
+used, and the artists painted with enamel colours their designs upon the
+glass. The figures were larger than before, and the canopies of great
+size and with much architectural detail, landscapes and buildings
+appearing in the background. During this period inscriptions began to be
+used. In the sixteenth century the progress of the art was in the same
+direction. Large figures, and groups of figures, fill the whole window,
+and the existence of mullions is disregarded in the execution of the
+design. Glass-painting flourished until the Civil War period, and then
+died out.
+
+English churches benefited much by the work of foreign artists. The
+great Florentine Francesco di Lievi da Gambassi visited this country.
+There is a letter dated 1434, written "to the master glass-painter
+Gambassi, then in Scotland, and who made works in glass of various
+kinds, and was held to be the best glass-painter in the world." How much
+must we regret the destruction of the windows made by this excellent
+artist in Holyrood chapel and elsewhere by fanatical mobs! The Fairford
+windows are perhaps the finest and most interesting in England. The
+story runs that they were made in Germany for a church in Rome, and that
+the vessel conveying them was captured by an English ship; and as the
+noble church at Fairford was then being built, the glass was sent there
+and given to it. Shiplake Church, Oxfordshire, has some of the beautiful
+glass which once adorned the ruined church of St. Bertin at St. Omer,
+plundered during the French Revolution.
+
+Some good work was accomplished in the seventeenth century by English
+artists, who practised enamel painting, notably by Jervais, who in 1717
+executed from designs by Sir Joshua Reynolds the beautiful west window
+of New College Chapel, Oxford.
+
+The floors of our churches were enriched with inlaid tiles. Various
+patterns and designs were impressed upon them when the clay was moist, a
+metallic glaze covered the surface, and then the tiles were placed in
+the furnace. Many designs are found on ancient tiles, such as heraldic
+devices, monograms, sacred symbols with texts, architectural designs,
+figures, and patterns. The age of the tiles may be determined by
+comparing the designs imprinted upon them with the architectural
+decorations belonging to particular periods. In the sixteenth century
+many Flemish tiles were brought to England, and superseded those of
+English manufacture.
+
+In the Middle Ages no branch of art was neglected. Even the smith, who
+made the ironwork for the doors, locks, and screens, was an artist, and
+took pains to adapt his art to the style of architecture prevailing in
+his time. Norman doors are remarkable for their beautifully ornamented
+hinges. They have curling scrollwork, and a large branch in the form of
+the letter C issuing from the straight bar near the head. Early English
+doors have much elaborate scrollwork, with foliage and animals' heads.
+During the Decorated period the hinges are simpler, on account of the
+carved panelling on the doors, and they continue to become plainer in
+the subsequent period. The knockers on the doors often assume very
+grotesque forms, as at Durham Cathedral. The mediaeval plumber was also
+an artist, and introduced shields of arms, fleur-de-lis, and other
+devices, for the enrichment of spires, and pipes for carrying off water
+from the roof.
+
+[Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION, ENBORNE CHURCH]
+
+No part of the ancient decoration of our churches has suffered more than
+the paintings and frescoes which formerly adorned their walls. In the
+whole of the country there are very few of the ancient edifices which
+retain any traces of the numerous quaint designs and figures painted on
+the inner surfaces of their walls during the Middle Ages. Our ancestors
+used to make free use of colour for the purpose of architectural
+decoration, and employed several means in order to produce the effect.
+They sometimes used fresco, by means of which they produced pictures
+upon the walls covered with plaster while the plaster was wet. Sometimes
+they employed wall-painting, _i.e._ they covered the walls when the
+plaster was dry with some pictorial representation. The distinction
+between fresco and wall-painting is frequently forgotten. Most of the
+early specimens of this art are monochromes, but subsequently the
+painters used polychrome, which signifies surface colouring in which
+various colours are employed. The vaulted ceilings, the timber roof, the
+screens and canopies, the monuments with their effigies, as well as the
+surface of the walls, were often coloured with diaper-work. Colour and
+gilding were marked features in all mediaeval buildings, and even richly
+carved fonts and sculptural monuments were embellished with this method
+of decoration. The appearance of our churches in those times must have
+been very different from what it is now. Then a blaze of colour met the
+eye on entering the sacred building, the events of sacred history were
+brought to mind by the representations upon the walls, and many an
+unlearned rustic acquired some knowledge of biblical history from the
+contemplation of the rude figures with which his village church was
+adorned.
+
+"Even the very walls of this dread place,
+And the tall windows, with their breathing lights,
+Speak to the adoring heart."
+
+The practice of painting the walls of our churches dates as far back as
+Saxon times; but very few fragments of pre-Norman art remain. Of Norman
+work we have numerous examples, and sometimes it is found that the early
+specimens of the art have been painted over in later Gothic times, and
+ruder and larger figures have eclipsed the more careful work of previous
+ages. An example of this was discovered in the church of St. Lawrence,
+Reading, where no less than five distinct series of paintings were
+discovered, painted one over another.
+
+[Illustration: THE CRUCIFIXION, HATFORD, BERKS]
+
+Several circumstances have combined to obliterate these specimens of the
+art of former days. It was not the intention of the Reformers themselves
+to destroy them. They distinguished carefully between "an embossed and
+gilt image, and a process of a story painted with the gestures and
+action of many persons; and commonly the sum of the story written withal
+hath another use in it than one dumb idol or image standing by itself."
+It was left to the Puritans, impelled by fanaticism and ignorance, to
+make "a slanderous desolation of the places of prayer," and it is to
+them we owe much of the destruction of the old mural paintings. At the
+end of the eighteenth century there was a prejudice against these works
+of art; for in 1773 we find the Bishop of London refusing to allow
+Reynolds, West, and Barry to clothe the naked walls of St. Paul's
+Cathedral with pictures painted by themselves. Coated over by layers of
+plaster, or whitewashed until all traces were obliterated, these relics
+of ancient art have remained for generations, and it is only when an old
+church is being restored, and the coats of plaster and whitewash
+removed, that their presence is revealed; and then too often the colours
+fade away on exposure to the air.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PAUL, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+One of the favourite subjects of mural decoration was a figure of St.
+Christopher with the Infant Saviour on his shoulder.[8] He usually has a
+staff, and strange-looking fish swim about his feet as he crosses the
+river; on one side there is a hermitage, with the figure of a hermit
+holding a lantern to guide the saint, and on the other a windmill. This
+figure usually was painted on the wall opposite the principal entrance,
+as it was deemed lucky to see St. Christopher on first entering a
+church. Moreover the sight of the saint was a preservative against
+violent death during the day, and also a preventive against drowsiness
+during the service, as the following verses show:--
+
+  "Christophori sancti speciem quicunque tuetur
+  Illo namque die nullo languore tenetur."
+
+Churchwardens' accounts record the painting of these figures--
+
+"1503-4.  It. payd to mylys paynter for payntyng
+              of Seynt X'fer viii's iiii'd"
+
+"1521.    It. payd to John Payne for payntyng
+              of Sent Leonard left by the wyffs
+              onpaynted xx'd"
+
+A curious order was issued by Edward III. for arresting painters to work
+in St. Stephen's Chapel at Westminster, to which artists of every
+description were liable to surrender as often as the king required their
+services.
+
+[Illustration: ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+In Saxon times Consecration crosses were painted on the interior walls,
+twelve in number, on the spots where the bishop marked the cross with holy
+oil; and sometimes twelve crosses were carved or painted on the exterior
+walls. During Norman times the art made progress, and there are many
+specimens of mural decoration of this period, which correspond with the
+mouldings generally used then; but not many scenes and figures were
+depicted. Representations of bishops, _Agnus Dei_, scenes from the life of
+our Lord, the apostles, the Last Judgment, St. George, scenes from the
+life of St. Nicholas, St. John writing the Apocalypse, were favourite
+subjects. At Copford the painter evidently tried to make the chancel
+figuratively to represent the glories of heaven.
+
+During the reign of Henry III. great progress was made, and travelling
+monks roamed the country leaving behind them in many a village church
+traces of their skill in artistic decoration. The murder of St. Thomas of
+Canterbury now became a favourite subject, also the lives of St. Catherine
+of Alexandria, St. Nicholas, St. Margaret, St. Edmund, the Seven Acts of
+Mercy, and the wheel of fortune. In the fourteenth century the Doom was
+the usual decoration of the space over the chancel arch, and scenes from
+the New Testament, legends of saints, "moralities," etc., were depicted on
+the walls. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the artists paid
+little respect to the work of their predecessors, and frequently painted
+new designs over the earlier mural decorations. They also adorned very
+beautifully the roofs and screens. The arrival of the Flemings in the
+eastern counties is shown by the portraying of subjects and saints not
+usually worshipped in England. The figures of St. George become more
+numerous and also of St. Christopher, who were regarded with much
+superstitious reverence by all classes.
+
+The vanity of human greatness is taught by the morality, "Les Trois Rois
+Morts et les Trois Rois Vifs," representing three kings going gaily
+hunting meeting three skeletons, the remains of kings once as powerful
+as they. "The Dance of Death," so popular abroad, also appears in some
+English churches. The wholesale destruction of so many specimens of
+mediaeval art cannot be too strongly condemned and deplored. If any of my
+readers should be fortunate enough to discover any traces of colouring
+hidden away beneath the coats of whitewash on the walls of their church,
+I would venture to advise them to very carefully remove the covering, and
+then to consult Mr. Keyser's book on _Mural Decorations_, where they will
+find an account of the best methods for preserving these valuable
+specimens of early art.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PETER, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+In the churchyard stands the old weather-beaten yew tree, looking like a
+sentinel keeping watch over the graves of our forefathers. Some of these
+trees are remarkable for their age; the yews at Fountains Abbey, in
+Yorkshire, were probably in a flourishing condition so long ago as the
+year 1132, and some are older still. Why they were planted in churchyards
+it is difficult to ascertain. It has been conjectured that they were
+planted in so secure a spot in order that the men might provide themselves
+with bows, as all the bows used by the English, with which they did such
+execution against their enemies, were made of yew. Others contend that its
+green boughs were used instead of palms on Palm Sunday, or for funerals.
+But I think that they were regarded with veneration by our forefathers
+when they were still heathen, and that some religious symbolism--such as
+of immortality--attached to them; and that when the Christian teachers
+came they made use of this religious sentiment of the people, planted the
+Christian cross by the side of the yew, and under its shade preached
+lessons of true immortality, of which the heathen ideals were only corrupt
+legends and vain dreams.
+
+At the entrance of the churchyard there is often a lich-gate, _i.e._ a
+corpse-gate, where the body may rest while the funeral procession is
+formed. _Lych_ is the Saxon word for a dead body, from which Lich-field,
+"the field of dead bodies," is derived. Bray, in Berkshire, famous for
+its time-serving vicar, is also famous for its lich-gate, which has two
+rooms over it.
+
+"God's acre" is full of holy associations, where sleep "the rude
+forefathers of the hamlet." There stands the village cross where the
+preachers stood in Saxon times and converted the people to Christianity,
+and there the old sundial on a graceful stone pedestal. Sometimes amid
+the memorials of the dead stood the parish stocks. Here in olden days
+fairs were held, and often markets every Sunday and holiday, and minstrels
+and jugglers thronged; and stringent laws were passed to prevent "improper
+and prohibited sports within the churchyard, as, for example, wrestling,
+football, handball under penalty of twopence forfeit." Here church ales
+were kept with much festivity, dancing, and merry-making; and here
+sometimes doles were distributed on the tombstones of parochial
+benefactors, and even bread and cheese scrambled for, according to the
+curious bequests of eccentric donors.
+
+And then there are the quaint epitaphs on the gravestones, of which many
+have made collections. Here is one to the memory of the driver of a
+coach that ran from Aylesbury to London:--
+
+  "Parker, farewell! thy journey now is ended,
+  Death has the whip-hand, and with dust is blended;
+  Thy way-bill is examined, and I trust
+  Thy last account may prove exact and just,
+  When He who drives the chariot of the day,
+  Where life is light, whose Word's the living way,
+  Where travellers, like yourself, of every age,
+  And every clime, have taken their last stage,
+  The God of mercy and the God of love,
+  Show you the road to Paradise above."
+
+Here is another to the memory of a once famous Yorkshire actor, buried
+at Beverley:--
+
+"In memory of Samuel Butler, a poor player that struts and frets his
+hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. Obt. June 15th, 1812,
+Aet. 62."
+
+Here is a strange one from Awliscombe, Devon:--
+
+"Here lie the remains of James Pady, brickmaker, late of this parish,
+in hopes that his clay will be remoulded in a workmanlike manner, far
+superior to his former perishable materials.
+
+  "Keep death and judgment always in your eye,
+  Or else the devil off with you will fly,
+  And in his kiln with brimstone ever fry;
+  If you neglect the narrow road to seek,
+  Christ will reject you like a half-burnt brick."
+
+Those interested in the brave mortals who go down to the sea in ships
+will like to read the following verses which appear on the tomb of
+William Harrison, mariner, buried in Hessle Road Cemetery, Hull:--
+
+  "Long time I ploughed the ocean wide,
+    A life of toil I spent;
+  But now in harbour safe arrived
+    From care and discontent.
+
+  "My anchor's cast, my sails are furled,
+    And now I am at rest;
+  Of all the ports throughout the world,
+    Sailors, this is the best."
+
+The following original epitaph in a neighbouring churchyard compares very
+favourably with the flattering and fulsome inscriptions prevalent at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century, written in what has been called
+"lapidary style ":--
+
+  "He was----
+    But words are wanting to say what;
+  Say what is just and kind,
+    And he was that."
+
+
+[8] At Sedgeford the Infant is portrayed with three heads, illustrating
+the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+CHURCH BELLS
+
+Bell customs and village life--Antiquity of bells--Christening of
+bells--"Ancients"--Inscriptions--Dedications--Inscriptions of
+praise--Leonine verses--Curious inscriptions--Historical events
+recorded--Uses of bells--Passing bell--Pancake bell--Curfew--Guiding
+bells--Names of benefactors--Great bells--Sanctus bell--Sacring
+bell--Frequent ringing of bell--Change-ringing--Care of bells.
+
+
+Bells play an important part in village life, and there are few more
+interesting branches of the study of village antiquities than bell-lore.
+Ringing customs throw much light upon the manners and doings of our
+ancestors. Bells rang to commemorate the great events in history, news
+of which was conveyed to the quiet village; they sounded forth the joys
+and sorrows of the parishioners in their generations, pealed merrily at
+their weddings, and mourned for them at their funerals. As the bell
+"Roland" of Ghent seemed endowed with a human voice, and was silenced
+for ever by Charles V. lest it should again rouse the citizens to arms,
+so these bells in our village steeples seem to speak with living tongues
+and tell the story of our village life.
+
+Bells have great antiquity. Odoceus, Bishop of Llandaff, in 550 A.D.,
+is said to have taken the bells away from his cathedral during a time
+of excommunication. Bede mentions them in the seventh century. In 680
+Benedict, Abbot of Wearmouth, imported some from Italy, and in the tenth
+century St. Dunstan hung many. Ireland probably had bells in the time
+of St. Patrick, who died in 493, and a bell that bears his name is
+preserved at Belfast. The earliest Saxon bells were not cast, but were
+made of plates of iron riveted together, and were probably used as
+hand-bells.
+
+Bells were usually christened. Those of Crowland Abbey were named Pega,
+Bega, Tatwin, Turketyl, Betelin, Bartholomew, and Guthlac. A fire in
+1091 destroyed this peal. Those of the priory of Little Dunmow, Essex,
+according to an old chartulary, were new cast and baptised in 1501.
+
+"Prima in honore Sancti Michaelis Archangeli."
+"Secunda in honore Sancti Johannis Evangelisti."
+"Tertia in honore S. Johannis Baptisti."
+"Quarta in honore Assumptionis beatae Mariae."
+"Quinta in honore Sanctae Trinitatis et omnium sanctorum."
+
+The tenor bell at Welford, Berks, has the inscription, "Missi de celis
+habeo nomen Gabrielis 1596."
+
+Bells dating from before the year 1600 are called "ancients," and it is
+a very pleasant discovery to find one of these in our church tower; and
+still more so if it be a pre-Reformation bell. Unfortunately a large
+number of "ancients" have been recast, owing chiefly to the craze for
+change-ringing which flourished in England between 1750 and 1830. The
+oldest bell in this country is said to be St. Chad's, Claughton, which
+bears the date 1296. Pre-Reformation bells are very seldom dated.
+
+Mediaeval bells have many curious inscriptions on them, which record the
+name of the donor, the bell-founder, together with heraldic and other
+devices. The inscriptions are often written in the first person, the
+bell being supposed to utter the sentiment, as it sends forth its sound.
+A study of the inscriptions on bells is full of interest. The earliest
+are simple dedications of the bell to our Lord, or to some saint. The
+principal inscriptions of this class are: "Jesus," "Jesus Nazarenus Rex
+Judeorum," "Sit nomen IHC benedictum," "Sum Rosa Pulsata Mundi Maria
+Vocata," "Sum Virgo Sancta Maria." The invocation, "Ora pro nobis," very
+frequently is inscribed on bells, followed by the name of some saint,
+and almost every saint in the Calendar is duly honoured in some bell
+inscription.
+
+Bells were always rung on joyful occasions; hence inscriptions
+expressing thankfulness and praise were appropriate. Consequently we
+find such words as "Laus et Gloria Deo," "Laus Deo Gratia
+Benefactoribus," "Alleluja," "Praise God," and other similar
+inscriptions of praise.
+
+Some old bells have Latin hexameter verses inscribed on them, composed
+by monks, which are called Leonine verses, from one Leoninus, a monk of
+Marseilles, who lived in the early part of the twelfth century. A few
+examples of these will suffice:--
+
+  "Est michi collatum ihc illud nomen amaetum."
+  "Protege Virgo pia quos convoco Sancta Maria."
+  "Voce mea viva depello cunta nocina."
+
+This refers to the belief that the ringing of bells drives away all
+demons and tempests, storms and thunders, and all other hurtful things.
+One bell proudly asserts:--
+
+  "Me melior vere non est campana sub ere."
+
+Inscriptions in English are often quaint and curious. Here is one from
+Somerset:--
+
+  "My treble voice
+  Makes hearts rejoice."
+
+Another self-complacent bell asserts--
+
+  "If you have a judicious ear,
+  You'll own my voice is sweet and clear."
+
+Loyal inscriptions are often found, such as--
+
+  "For Church and King
+  We always ring."
+
+  "I was made in hope to ring
+  At the crownacion of our King."
+
+  "Ye people all that hear me ring
+  Be faithful to your God and King."
+
+A bell that has been recast sometimes praises the merits of its new
+founder at the expense of its first maker, as at Badgworth,
+Gloucester:--
+
+  "Badgworth ringers they are mad,
+  Because Rigbe made me bad;
+  But Abel Rudhall you may see
+  Hath made me better than Rigbe."
+
+Sometimes all the bells which compose a peal tell their various uses.
+Thus at Bakewell we find some verses on each bell:--
+
+1. "When I begin our merry Din
+   This Band I lead from discord free;
+   And for the fame of human name,
+   May every Leader copy Me."
+
+2. "Mankind, like us, too oft are found
+   Possess'd of nought but empty sound."
+
+3. "When of departed Hours we toll the knell,
+   Instruction take and spend the future well."
+
+4. "When men in Hymen's Bands unite,
+   Our merry peals produce delight;
+   But when Death goes his dreary Rounds,
+   We send forth sad and solemn sounds."
+
+5. "Thro' grandsires and Tripples with pleasure men range,
+   Till Death calls the Bob and brings on the Last Change."
+
+6. "When Vict'ry crowns the Public Weal
+   With Glee we give the merry Peal."
+
+7. "Would men like us join and agree
+   They'd live in tuneful Harmony."
+
+8. "Possess'd of deep sonorous Tone
+   This Belfry King sits on his throne;
+   And when the merry Bells go round,
+   Adds to and mellows ev'ry Sound;
+   So in a just and well pois'd State,
+   Where all Degrees possess due Weight,
+   One greater Pow'r one greater Tone
+   Is ceded to improve their own."
+
+A Rutland bell has the following beautiful inscription:--
+
+  "Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei."
+  ("Not noise but love sings in the ear of God.")
+
+Historical events are sometimes recorded, as at Ashover, Derbyshire,
+where a recasted bell states:--
+
+  "This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April 1814."
+
+The uses of bells are often shown by their inscriptions. People were
+aroused by their sound each morning in many places, as at St. Ives,
+where a bell is inscribed--
+
+  "Arise and go about your business."
+
+The villagers were summoned to extinguish fires by ringing of bells.
+Thus Sherborne, Dorset, has a bell inscribed--
+
+  "Lord, quench this furious flame:
+  Arise, run, help put out the same."
+
+Bell-ringing customs are very numerous.[9] The passing bell has many
+variants. In some places three times three strokes are sounded for a
+man, three times two for a woman, and three times one for a child. Out
+of the first-named of these practices probably arose the phrase, "Nine
+tailors make a man," which is usually explained as more properly
+signifying "nine tellers make a man." Then we have a pancake bell,
+which formerly summoned people to confession, and not to eat pancakes;
+a gleaning bell, an eight hours' bell rung at 4 a.m., noon, and 8 p.m.
+The curfew bell survives in many places, which, as everyone knows, was
+in use long before William the Conqueror issued his edict. Peals are
+rung on "Oak Apple Day," and on Guy Fawkes' Day, "loud enough to call
+up poor Guy." Church bells played a useful part in guiding the people
+homewards on dark winter evenings in the days when lands were
+uninclosed and forests and wild moors abounded, and charitable folk,
+like Richard Palmer, of Wokingham, left bequests to pay the sexton for
+his labour in ringing at suitable times when the sound of the bells
+might be of service to belated travellers. Names of benefactors often
+find a permanent memorial on the bells which they gave; as at Binstead,
+Hants, where a bell has the inscription--
+
+  "Doctor Nicholas gave five pound
+  To help cast this peal tuneable and sound."
+
+And another bell in the same tower records the name of our famous
+Berkshire bell-founders, the Knight family. The inscription runs:--
+
+  "Samuel Knight made this ring
+  In Binstead steeple for to ding."
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT BELL FOUND AT WARWICK]
+
+The story of our great bells, of "Great Toms," "Big Bens," "Great
+Peters," need not be told here. They wake the echoes of our great
+cities, and are not heard among the hills and dales of rural England.
+Outside the church at the apex of the gable over the chancel arch there
+is sometimes a small bell-cote, wherein the sanctus or saunce bell once
+hung. This was rung during the service of High Mass when the _Ter
+Sanctus_ was sung, in order that those who were engaged at their work
+might know when the canon of the Mass was about to begin, in order that
+they might kneel at the sound and pray to God. At Bosham Harbour the
+fishermen used to so join in the service of the sanctuary, and it is
+said that when George Herbert's sanctus bell sounded for prayers, the
+ploughmen stopped from their work for a few moments and prayed. The
+sanctus bell differed from the sacring bell, which was a hand-bell rung
+inside the church at the elevation of the Host.
+
+Old churchwardens' accounts record the very frequent ringing of bells.
+In addition to the Great Festivals, Corpus Christi Day, Church feasts
+and ales, the occasions of royal visits, of episcopal visitations,
+victories, and many other great events, were always celebrated by the
+ringing of the church bells. In fact by the fondness of English folk
+for sounding their bells this country earned the title in the Middle
+Ages of "the ringing island." Peal-ringing was indeed peculiar to
+England. It was not until the seventeenth century that change-ringing
+became general, and our old bells suffered much at the hands of the
+followers of the new fashion.
+
+In recent years the study of our church bells has made great progress,
+and many volumes have been written upon the bells of various counties.
+Too long have our bells been left to the bats and birds, and the belfry
+is often the only portion of a church which is left uncared for. We are
+learning better now, and the bells which have sounded forth the joys
+and sorrows of our villagers for so many generations are receiving the
+attention they deserve.
+
+
+[9] A collection of these will be found in my book on _Old English
+Customs Extant at the Present Time_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE
+
+Local government--Changes in the condition of villeins and labourers--
+Famine and pestilence--Effects of the Great Plague--Spirit of
+independence--Picture of village life--Church house--Church ales--
+Pilgrimages--Markets--Old English fair--Wars--Hastings--Hereward
+the Wake--Great Civil War--Restoration--Beacons.
+
+
+Let us try to imagine the ordinary life and appearance of a mediaeval
+English village in the "piping times of peace." Of course, no two
+villages are quite alike; each has many distinguishing features; but
+a strong family likeness is observable. In the Middle Ages a village
+was much more independent than it is now. Then there were no Acts of
+Parliament to control its affairs, and it regulated its own conduct
+much to its own satisfaction, without any outside interference. Of
+course, sometimes things were managed badly; but the village knew
+it had only itself to blame, and therefore could not grumble at the
+Government, or the fickleness of members of Parliament, or the
+unreasonable conduct of Local Government Boards. Was not the lord
+of the manor quite capable of trying all criminals? and did not the
+rector and the vestry settle everything to the satisfaction of everyone,
+without any "foreigners" asking questions, or interfering?
+
+The position of the villeins and _cottiers_ has changed considerably
+since the days of William the Norman. The former were now free tenants,
+who paid rent for their land to the lord of the manor, and were not
+bound to work for him, while the latter worked for wages like our
+modern agricultural labourer. There was thus in the twelfth century a
+gradual approximation to modern conditions on many estates; the home
+farm was worked by hired labourers who received wages; while the
+villeins had bought themselves off from the obligation of doing
+customary work by paying a quit-rent.
+
+We should like to know something of the way in which our ancestors
+farmed their land, and fortunately several bailiffs have left us
+their account books very carefully kept, and one Walter de Henley
+in 1250 wrote a book on the _Art of Husbandry_, which gives us much
+information. The rent of land was about sixpence per acre. They
+ploughed three times a year, in autumn, April, and at midsummer, and
+used oxen for their plough-teams. Women helped their husbands in
+ploughing and harvest work. An old writer describes the farmer's wife
+"walking by him with a long goad, in a cutted cote cutted full high."
+Pigs and poultry were numerous on a mediaeval farm, but sheep were the
+source of the farmer's wealth. Large flocks of divers breeds roamed the
+hills and vales of rural England, and their rich fleeces were sent to
+Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent for the manufacture of cloth by the Flemish
+weavers. After the Black Death, a great plague which ravaged the
+country in 1348, the labourers were fewer in number, and their wages
+higher; hence the farmers paid increased attention to their sheep,
+which yielded rich profits, and required few labourers to look after
+them.
+
+Prior to the advent of this grim visitor, the Great Plague, the
+prosperity of our villages had greatly increased. The people were
+better fed and better clothed than any of their neighbours on the
+Continent. Moreover they were free men, and enjoyed their freedom.
+There was much happiness in our English villages in those days, and
+"Merry England" was not a misnomer. There were, however, two causes of
+suffering which for a time produced untold wretchedness--two unwelcome
+visitors who came very frequently and were much dreaded--famine and
+pestilence. There is necessarily a sameness in the records of these
+pestilences.
+
+The chief famine years were 1315 and 1316, but there is hardly any
+period of five years from the death of Edward I. to the coming of
+Henry of Richmond without these ghastly records of the sufferings of
+the people. Disease not only arrested the growth of the population,
+but reduced it considerably. It was mostly of a typhoid nature. The
+undrained soil, the shallow stagnant waters which lay upon the surface
+of the ground, the narrow and unhealthy homes, the filthy and neglected
+streets of the towns, the excessive use of salted provisions and
+absence of vegetables, predisposed the people to typhoid diseases, and
+left them little chance of recovery when stricken down with pestilence.
+
+The Great Plague arrived in England in 1348 from the shores of Italy,
+whither it had been wafted from the East. It was probably carried to
+the port of Bristol by travelling merchants, whence it spread with
+alarming rapidity over the whole land. Whole villages were depopulated,
+and about one-third of the people of England perished. It is difficult
+for us to imagine the sorrow and universal suffering which the plague
+caused. Its effects were, however, beneficial to the villagers who
+survived. Naturally labourers became very scarce and were much sought
+after. Wages rose enormously. The tenants and rustics discovered that
+they were people of importance. Manor lords found it too expensive to
+farm their lands, and were eager to hand them over to their tenants,
+many of whom became much richer and more independent than formerly. The
+spirit of independence pervaded all classes. There came to our village
+many wandering friars, followers of Wiklif, who preached discontent to
+the labouring rustics, told them that the gentry had no right to lord
+it over them, that they were as good as their masters, who ought not to
+live in fine houses in luxury supported by their toil and the sweat of
+their brows. And when oppressive taxes were levied, the rustics
+revolted, and gained much for which they strove. The golden age of the
+English labourer set in, when food was cheap, wages high, and labour
+abundant. A fat pig could be bought for fourpence, and three pounds of
+beef for a penny; and in spite of occasional visits of the plague, the
+villager's lot was by no means unhappy.
+
+Here is a picture of village life in those days. The village church
+stood in the centre of the hamlet, with a carefully made fence around
+it, in order that no swine or foul beast might desecrate the graves.
+Surrounded by the churchyard, with its yew tree and lich-gate, the
+church was very similar to the old building wherein the villagers still
+worship. All the houses had thatched roofs, and chief among the other
+dwellings stood the lord's hall. Near the church was a curious building
+called the church house, which has almost entirely passed away, except
+in the records of old churchwardens' accounts. It was a large building,
+in which could be stored wool, lime, timber, sand, etc., and was often
+let to pedlars, or wandering merchants, to deposit their goods during
+the fair.
+
+In this building there was a long low room with a large fireplace and
+hearth, around which a dozen or more could sit in comfort, except when
+the wind blew the smoke down the wide, open chimney; but our ancestors
+were accustomed to smoky chimneys, and did not mind them. In the centre
+of the room was a large oak table. This was the scene of some very
+festive gatherings. Aubrey thus describes the church house:--
+
+"In every parish was a church house, to which belonged spits, crocks,
+and other utensils for dressing provisions. Here the housekeepers met.
+The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at
+butts, etc., the ancients [_i.e._ old folks] sitting gravely by, and
+looking on."
+
+The churchwardens bought, and received presents of, a large quantity of
+malt, which they brewed into beer and sold to the company. Hence these
+feasts were called "church ales," and were held on the feast of the
+dedication of the church, the proceeds being devoted to the maintenance
+of the poor. Sometimes they were held at Whitsuntide also, sometimes
+four times a year, and sometimes as often as money was wanted or a
+feast desired. An arbour of boughs was erected in the churchyard on
+these occasions called Robin Hood's Bower, where the maidens collected
+money for the "ales," and "all went merry as a marriage bell"--rather
+too merry sometimes, for the ale was strong and the villagers liked it,
+and the ballad-singer was so merry, and the company so hearty--and was
+it not all for a good cause, the support of the poor? The character of
+these festivals deteriorated so much, until at last "church ales" were
+prohibited altogether, on account of the excess to which they gave
+rise.
+
+[Illustration: AN ANCIENT VILLAGE]
+
+There was a large amount of gaiety in the old villages in those days.
+Men were not in so great a hurry to grow rich as they are now. The
+Church authorised many holidays in the course of the year; and what
+with May Day festivities, Plough Mondays, Hocktide and Shrovetide
+sports, harvest suppers, fairs, and "ales," the villagers had plenty of
+amusement, and their lives certainly could not be described as dull.
+Sometimes the village would be enlivened by the presence of a company
+of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury, or
+to Holywell, blessed by St. Winifred, in order to be cured of some
+disease. Although these pilgrims were deemed to be engaged on a
+religious duty, they certainly were not generally very serious or sad.
+Chaucer describes a very joyous pilgrimage in his _Canterbury Tales_,
+how the company met at the Tabard Inn, in Southwark, including the
+knight and the abbot, the prioress and the shipman, the squire and the
+merchant, the ploughman and sompnour (or summoner, "of whose visage
+children were sore afeard"), and rode forth gaily in the spring
+sunshine--
+
+  "The holy blissful martyr for to seek,
+  That them hath holpen when that they were sick."
+
+Pilgrim crosses are numerous all over England, where the pilgrims
+halted for their devotions by the way, and sometimes we find churches
+planted on the roadside far from human habitations, with no
+parishioners near them; and some people wonder why they were so built.
+These were pilgrim churches, built for the convenience of the
+travellers as they wended their way to Canterbury. The villages through
+which they passed must have been much enlivened by the presence of
+these not very austere companies.
+
+The ordinary lives of the farmers were diversified by the visits
+to the weekly markets held in the neighbouring town, where they took
+their fat capons, eggs, butter, and cheese. Here is a curious relic
+of olden times, an ancient market proclamation, which breathes the
+spirit of former days, and which was read a few years ago at
+Broughton-in-Furness, by the steward of the lord of the manor, from
+the steps of the old market cross. These are the words:--
+
+"O yes, O yes, O yes![10] The lord of the manor of Broughton and of
+this fair and market strictly chargeth and commandeth on Her Majesty's
+behalf, that all manners of persons repairing to this fair and market
+do keep Her Majesty's peace, upon pain of five pounds to be forfeited
+to Her Majesty, and their bodies to be imprisoned during the lord's
+pleasure. Also that no manner of person within this fair and market do
+bear any bill, battle-axe, or other prohibited weapons, but such as be
+appointed by the lord's officers to keep this fair or market, upon pain
+of forfeiture of all such weapons and further imprisonment. Also, that
+no manner of person do pick any quarrel, matter, or cause for any old
+grudge or malice to make any perturbation or trouble, upon pain of five
+pounds, to be forfeited to the lord, and their bodies to be imprisoned.
+Also, that none buy or sell in corners, back sides, or hidden places,
+but in open fair or market, upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods
+and merchandise so bought and sold, and their bodies to imprisonment.
+Also, that no manner of persons shall sell any goods with unlawful mete
+or measures, yards or weights, but such as be lawful and keep the true
+assize, upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods and further
+imprisonment. Lastly, if any manner of persons do here find themselves
+grieved, or have any injuries or wrong committed or done against them,
+let them repair to the lord or his officers, and there they shall be
+heard according to right, equity, and justice. God save the Queen and
+the lord of the manor!"
+
+And besides the weekly markets there were the great annual fairs, which
+lasted many days, and were frequented by all classes of the population.
+These fairs were absolutely necessary for the trade of the country in
+the days when few people travelled far from their own homesteads, and
+even the towns with their small number of inhabitants did not afford a
+sufficient market for the farmer's and trader's stock.
+
+The greatest of all English fairs was held in the little village of
+Stourbridge, near Cambridge, now almost absorbed by the University
+town. Hither flocked merchants and traders from all parts of Europe.
+Flemish merchants brought their fine linen and cloths from the great
+commercial cities of Belgium. Genoese and Venetian traders came with
+their stores of Eastern goods. Spaniards and Frenchmen brought their
+wines, and the merchants of the Hanse towns of Germany sold furs and
+flax, ornaments and spices, while in return for all these treasures our
+English farmers brought the rich fleeces of their sheep, their corn,
+horses, and cattle. The booths were planted in a cornfield, and the
+circuit of the fair, which was like a well-governed city, was over
+three miles. The shops were built in streets or rows, some named after
+the various nations that congregated there, and others after the kind
+of goods offered for sale. There were Garlick Row, Bookseller's Row,
+Cook Row; there were a cheese fair, a hop fair, a wool fair, and every
+trade was represented, together with taverns, eating-houses, and in
+later years playhouses of various descriptions. In the eighteenth
+century one hundred thousand pounds' worth of woollen manufactures was
+sold in a week in one row alone. A thousand pack-horses were used to
+convey the goods of the Lancashire merchants to this famous fair. Now
+railways have supplanted the pack-horses; fairs have had their day; the
+trade of the country can now be carried on without them; and their
+relics with their shows and shooting-galleries and steam roundabouts
+have become a nuisance.
+
+The peaceful life of the villagers was sometimes disturbed by the
+sounds and sights of conflict. The exciting tales of war are connected
+with the history of many an English village, and many "little
+Wilhelmines" and labouring "grandsires" have discovered "something
+large and round," traces of these ancient conflicts and "famous
+victories."
+
+  "For often when they go to plough
+  The ploughshare turns them out,
+  'And many thousand men,' quoth he,
+  'Were slain in that great victory.'"
+
+Many a lance and sword, and gilt spur, beautifully enamelled, which
+once decked the heel of a noble knight, have been found in our fields,
+and remind us of those battles which were fought so long ago.
+
+        "The knights are dust,
+         Their good swords rust,
+  Their souls are with the saints, we trust."
+
+Sometimes the spectres of armed knights and warriors are supposed to
+haunt these scenes of ancient slaughter, and popular superstition has
+handed down the memory of the battles which were fought so long ago. It
+tells us of the mythical records of the fights of King Arthur and his
+Knights of the Round Table by the banks of the River Douglas, which ran
+with blood for three days, so terrible was the slaughter. It tells us
+how stubbornly the Britons resisted the Roman armies, so that on one
+occasion not one Briton was left to tell the tale of their defeat.
+
+When we visit the site of some battle with the history book in our hand,
+it is possible to imagine the lonely hillside peopled again with the
+dense ranks of English archers, or hear the clanging of the armour as
+the men-at-arms charged for "St. George and merry England"; and the air
+will be full again of the battle-cries, of the groans of the wounded and
+the shouts of the victors.
+
+Visit the scene of the battle of Hastings. Here on the high ground,
+flanked by a wood, stood the brave English, under the leadership of
+Harold, with his banner, woven with gold and jewels, shining
+conspicuously in the morning sunlight. Here they stood in the form of
+a wedge; there they turned the Normans, and put them to flight. Then
+the Normans rallied, pretended to fly, decoyed the brave English from
+their position, and by stratagem succeeded in defeating them at last.
+Or go to the Madingley Windmill, near Cambridge, and see the fifteen
+miles of rich drained cornfields which intervene between "Ely's stately
+fane" and the spot on which you are standing. Here read Kingsley's
+well-known story of _Hereward; or, The Last of the English_, and instead
+of the rich cornfields you will see that black abyss of mud and bottomless
+slime into which sank the flower of Norman chivalry as they tried to
+cross that treacherous bog to conquer the gallant Hereward and to
+plunder the monastery of Ely, the last stronghold of the English. On
+they came, thousands upon thousands, rushing along the floating bridge
+which they had formed, until at last it gave way beneath the weight, and
+the black slime swallowed up the miserable wretches.
+
+Or let us take our stand on the Round Tower, near the summit of the Edge
+Hill, and see the site of the first battle between the troops of Charles
+I. and the soldiers of the Parliament. The whole of that green lane was
+lined with troops. In a cottage which stood at our feet the king
+breakfasted before the battle; from that mound he surveyed the forces of
+the enemy. Just as the bells in yonder church had ceased to ring for
+service on Sunday afternoon the cannon began to roar, and the fight
+commenced. There Prince Rupert charged with headlong fury, carrying all
+before him. And so we can follow the fortunes of the fight until the
+brave Cavaliers retired to rest--
+
+  "And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered
+  The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die."
+
+The memory of many a fight is recorded in the names of the fields,
+places, and hills on which the battle raged. Lichfield (_i.e._ the
+field of the dead), Battlefield, Battle, Battleflats, Standard Hill,
+Slaughterford, and many others, all tell the tale of war and slaughter.
+
+In some parts of the country, especially in Oxfordshire, there are fine
+avenues of trees, which appear to lead to a large house; but when you
+have walked to the end of the trees there is nothing to be seen. These
+avenues tell the tale of war, of the destruction of the manor-house of
+some old Royalist who fought for his king when the "Roundheads" and
+Cromwell's "Ironsides" were more than a match for the gallant Cavaliers.
+His house was destroyed, he and his sons killed, unless they were
+fortunate enough to escape to France and wait the merry time "when the
+king should enjoy his own again." How many of our uplands and gentle
+vales have been stained with blood, and seen the terrible horrors of
+war, of which we in these favoured days know nothing from our own
+experience! We read about the sad battles and sieges which have taken
+place in other countries, but can hardly imagine the time when hostile
+soldiers were riding through our village lanes, and the noise of the
+cannon was booming in the distance, as on that famous Sunday morning in
+October, 1642, when Richard Baxter was disturbed in his preaching at
+Alcester by that strange sound, and knew that the terrible conflict had
+begun between the king and Parliament. Our English villages suffered
+very much. All farming was stopped, manor-houses destroyed, some of the
+best blood in England spilt, and many a home made desolate. Indeed, in
+some parts of the country the people had literally no bread to eat, and
+no clothing to cover their nakedness; and Cromwell ordered collections
+to be made in London for the relief of the distressed people in
+Lancashire. Then the old clergyman was driven from his flock, and some
+commissioner appointed who wrote in the register-books of the parish the
+names of the children who were born, but did not record their baptism as
+the clergyman did. And then some black-gowned Puritan, with his hair cut
+short, came and took possession of the living, and preached very long
+sermons about Cromwell "girding his sword upon his thigh," and about
+blinded Papists, and about Mahershalal-hash-baz, who made haste to
+divide the spoil.
+
+But in the glorious year 1660 everyone began to throw up his cap and
+welcome right royally the king from over the water; and the long-faced
+Puritan disappeared, and the writing in the register-books changed into
+that of a scholarly hand; and many of our churches were enriched by
+thankofferings of plate and other gifts, because the good people of
+England rejoiced exceedingly that their loved Church and her services
+were restored to them; and "the king at last enjoyed his own again." The
+memory of the adventures of King Charles II., when he was endeavouring
+to escape from England after the last crushing defeat of the royal
+troops at Worcester, called by Cromwell "the crowning mercy," still
+lingers in many of the country villages through which the unfortunate
+monarch passed. The king and a few faithful followers avoided the towns,
+passed the ford of the Salwarp at Hemford Mill, and proceeded by Chester
+Lane to Broadwaters and Kinfare Heath. Presently they reached Brewood
+Forest, where there stood two old hunting-lodges, built by the Giffards
+in troublous times as hiding-places for proscribed Papists. They were
+called White Ladies and Boscobel, and were inhabited by staunch
+Royalists named Penderel; so the king knew he would be safe there. He
+was disguised as a forester with leathern jerkin and trunk hose, his
+long hair cropped, and his hands blackened. All day he lay concealed in
+a coppice, and in the evening, under the name of Will Jackson, he supped
+with the Penderels, and then tried to cross the Severn, but all the
+fords and bridges were guarded. The next day he and Colonel Carlos
+remained concealed in a large oak near Boscobel, and the memory of Royal
+Oak day is still preserved. He had other narrow escapes, and was saved
+by Mistress Jane Lane, the beautiful daughter of Colonel Lane. A pass
+had been obtained for her and her groom to go to Abbot's Leigh, near
+Bristol. The plan was arranged that the king should act as groom; so
+Charles mounted his horse, and Mistress Lane sat behind him on a
+pillion, and together they rode through Warwickshire to Bristol. The
+king was nearly captured at Long Marston, for some troopers of Cromwell
+suspected the party, and came to examine the house where they rested.
+The cook, however, set Charles to wind up the jack, and because he was
+awkward struck him with the basting-ladle just as the soldiers entered
+the kitchen. Their suspicions were thus removed; and in this old house
+the remains of the jack are still preserved. The poor king was
+disappointed of his ship; the skipper unfortunately told his wife that
+he was going to take the king to France, and she was angry, and locked
+him up in his room, so that he could not fulfil his engagement. At last
+Lord Wilmot procured a ship for the fugitive king, who set sail joyfully
+from Shoreham, near Brighton, and reached Paris in safety. There must
+have been great excitement in the villages of England when the troopers
+were scouring the country in all directions, and the unfortunate king
+was known to be wandering about disguised as a servant.
+
+If there are any hills or high ground in your neighbourhood commanding
+an extensive view of the country, it is probable that in olden days a
+beacon was placed there, so that the country might be aroused in case of
+an invasion, and frequently we find that the tower of a church was used
+as a beacon, and occasionally the iron brazier remains, as at Little
+Budworth, Cheshire. When the Spaniards determined to invade England in
+the reign of "Good Queen Bess," and sent the Invincible Armada,
+consisting of an enormous number of ships and men and guns, bonfires
+were placed on every hill; and when a gallant merchant vessel brought
+the news that the Spaniards were coming, the bonfires were lighted, and
+everyone prepared to resist their attack. Macaulay has told us in very
+stirring verse of how the news spread, as each fire was lighted,
+
+  "From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay";
+
+how Beachy Head caught the signal from St. Michael's Mount, and sent it
+swiftly over the country from tower to hill-top,
+
+  "Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile,
+  And the red glare of Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle."
+
+Again, within the memory of the old inhabitants of your village, the
+hill beacons were brought into use when Napoleon I. threatened to invade
+England; and on January 31, 1803, by some mistake, the fire on Hume
+Castle, in Berwickshire, was lighted; other beacons responded, and ere
+morning dawned thousands were marching ankle-deep through the dense mud
+of the winter roads to their appointed stations. The mistake was not
+without its uses, as Napoleon saw that England was ready, and did not
+venture to attack our shores. A similar accident took place in the reign
+of Henry VIII. There was a conspiracy against the king by the Roman
+Catholics, who did not like their monasteries being destroyed, called
+"The Pilgrimage of Grace." Beacons were erected on the heights of
+Pendel, in Lancashire, and on the various hills of Yorkshire and
+Derbyshire; but the beacon on Pendel was fired before the conspirators
+were quite ready for action, and their plot came to nothing.
+
+Once again in the history of our country were these beacon fires
+lighted; but it was not to announce the approach of an enemy, but to
+reflect the gladness of the nation which for so many years had enjoyed
+the reign of so good a ruler as Queen Victoria, who has now passed away
+from us, and whom the whole nation mourns. And as we witnessed the
+sudden blaze of the beacons we thought, perhaps, of other occasions when
+they were used, and were thankful that rejoicings and thanksgivings were
+the cause, and not invasions or conspiracies.
+
+
+[10] This is a corruption of the old Norman-French word _oyez_,
+"hear ye."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES
+
+Decay of old sports--Twelfth Night--Shrovetide--Mothering Sunday--
+Hocktide--May Day--Miracle plays--St. John's Day--Rush-bearing--Beating
+the bounds--Archery--Quintain--Football--Christmas games--Stocks--
+Cucking-stool.
+
+
+It is the custom of some writers to represent the lot of an English
+villager in past ages as having been particularly hard and disagreeable;
+to enlarge upon the scanty wages which he received; and to compare his
+position unfavourably with that of the agricultural labourer of the
+present day. I have already pointed out that the small wages which he
+received are no test of his poverty, because he received so much more in
+lieu of wages; and certainly he had far more opportunities of enjoyment
+and recreation than the present generation has. Now we have scarcely any
+village games or sports, except when some energetic rector or curate
+starts a cricket club. Old social customs, which added such diversity to
+the lives of the rustics two centuries ago, have died out. The village
+green, the source of so much innocent happiness, is no more; and a
+recent writer has observed that the ordinary existence of agricultural
+labourers is so dull that in East Anglia they have almost forgotten how
+to laugh!
+
+We will now try to realise how our village forefathers used to enjoy
+themselves, how they used to spend their holidays, and to picture to
+ourselves the scenes of happy social intercourse which once took place
+in our own hamlet. Every season of the year had its holiday customs and
+quaint manner of observance, some of them confined to particular
+counties, but many of them universally observed.
+
+On the eve of Twelfth Night, January 5th, we see the good farmer and his
+labourers in Devonshire joining hands round his apple trees, and
+singing--
+
+      "Here's to thee, old apple tree!
+  Hence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow!
+  And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
+        Hats full! caps full!
+        Bushel, bushel, sacks full,
+      And my pockets full too! Huzza!"
+
+A hearty supper followed, and with laughter, songs, and good wishes to
+the farmer and his wife, the company passed a very joyous evening. In
+Herefordshire, Yorkshire, and other parts of England similar customs
+prevailed.
+
+[Illustration: ANN HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE]
+
+Then followed Twelfth Night, which was celebrated by great rejoicings
+and merry-makings, a game called the choosing of kings and queens being
+played, and Twelfth Night cakes consumed in plenty. The next Monday was
+called Plough Monday, when the labourers used to draw a plough round
+the parish and receive presents of money, favouring the spectators with
+sword-dancing and mumming, preparatory to beginning to plough after the
+Christmas holidays. The men were decked out with gay ribbons, and were
+accompanied by morris-dancers. The Christmas holidays lasted these
+twelve days, and during them it was customary for the gentlemen to
+feast the farmers, and for the farmers to feast their labourers. Then
+came the Shrovetide festivities, on Shrove Tuesday, when pancakes,
+football, and cock-fighting, and a still more barbarous custom of
+throwing sticks at hens, were generally in vogue. On Mid-Lent Sunday,
+commonly called "Mothering Sunday," it was the pleasing custom for
+servants and apprentices to carry cakes or furmity as presents to their
+mother, and to receive from her a cake with her blessing. This was
+called "going a-mothering." The old poet Herrick alludes to the custom
+in Gloucestershire in these words:--
+
+  "I'll to thee a simnell bring,
+  'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering;
+  So that when she blesseth thee,
+  Half that blessing thou'lt give me."
+
+Then came the diversions of Hocktide, on the second Monday and Tuesday
+after Easter, when the men and women intercepted the public on alternate
+days with ropes, and boldly exacted money for pious purposes. There was
+a Hocktide play, which was acted before Queen Elizabeth, and caused her
+much amusement. She gave the players two bucks and five marks of money,
+which delighted them exceedingly.
+
+Very shortly afterwards the great rural festival of our forefathers
+took place, the glad May Day, when, in the early dawn, the lads and
+lassies left their towns and villages, and going into the woods to the
+sound of music, gathered the may or blossomed branches of the tree,
+and bound them with wreaths of flowers. At sunrise they returned, and
+decorated the lattices and doors with the sweet-smelling spoil of
+their joyous journey, and spent the rest of the day in sports and
+pastimes, and dancing round the Maypole. The setting-up of the
+May-pole was a very joyous ceremony. A long string of oxen, gaily
+decked with flowers, drew to the village green the time-honoured pole,
+decked with streamers, flowers, and flags, where it was raised amidst
+laughter and shouts; and the Queen of the May was enthroned in an
+arbour and all danced round; and the morris-dancers, Robin Hood, Friar
+Tuck, and Maid Marian performed wonderful antics as they led the
+revels. Targets were set up at the other end of the green, and archery
+formed an important part of the day's pleasures. The preachers at the
+time of the Reformation thought the people made an idol of the
+Maypole, and condemned the innocent amusements, which were revived
+again when Charles II. came to the throne. After May Day our villagers
+had not long to wait until the Whitsuntide holiday came round--
+
+    "A day of jubilee,
+    An ancient holiday;
+  When, lo! the rural revels are begun,
+  And gaily echoing to the laughing sky,
+    On the smooth-shaven green,
+    Resounds the voice of mirth."
+
+I have already given a description of these Whitsuntide rejoicings in
+a preceding chapter.
+
+Then there were the miracle plays, or "mysteries," as they were called,
+in June, on Corpus Christi Day, which were performed before the
+Reformation, principally in the neighbourhood of large monasteries;
+Coventry, Chester, London, York being specially renowned for these
+performances. The subjects were taken from Holy Scripture, or from
+the lives of saints, and were intended to teach the people religious
+knowledge, but the scenes were disfigured by many absurdities and
+grotesque perversions. Their history is a curious one, too long to
+enter upon in this chapter; but often in the open fields, at the bottom
+of natural amphitheatres, were these plays performed, very similar in
+construction to the famous passion play performed by the peasants, at
+Ober Ammergau, in Bavaria, the last surviving specimen of the ancient
+religious drama.
+
+Then there were the bonfires to be lighted on St. John's Day upon the
+hillsides, and the dance of the young people around them, the more
+venturesome youths leaping through the flames, all carrying home the
+firebrands and forming a glad procession. Afterwards followed the busy
+harvest-time, when everyone was too hard at work, and too tired at the
+end of the day's labours, to think of holiday-making; but at length
+came the harvest home, when the last sheaf was gathered in, and the
+harvest supper was a very joyous occasion. With light hearts, smiling
+faces, and cheerful shouts, the harvest labourers and their wives and
+children, carrying green boughs, a sheaf of wheat, and rude flags,
+formed a glad procession to the farmer's house, where they found the
+fuelled chimney blazing wide, and "the strong table groaning beneath
+the smoking sirloin." The feast over, they retired to some near
+hillock, and made the welkin ring with their shouts, "Holla, holla,
+holla, largess!"--largess being the presents of money and good things
+which the farmer had bestowed. Such was the harvest home in the good
+old days, a joy and delight to both old and young. Shorn of much of its
+merriment and quaint customs, it still lingers on; but modern habits
+and notions have deprived it of much of its old spirit and
+light-heartedness.
+
+The floors of the old churches were formerly unpaved and unbearded,
+simply made of clay, and were covered over with rushes. Once a year
+there was a great ceremony, called "rush-bearing." Rushes were cut in
+the neighbouring marsh, and made up into long bundles, decked with
+ribands and flowers. Then a procession was formed, everyone bearing a
+bundle of rushes, or placing them in the rush-cart beautifully adorned;
+and with music, drums, and ringing of bells, they marched to the church
+and strewed the floor with their honoured burdens. Long after the
+rushes ceased to be used in church the ceremony was continued, and I
+have myself witnessed a rush-bearing procession such as I have
+described. A village feast, followed by dancing round the May-pole,
+generally formed the conclusion to the day's festivities.
+
+"Beating the bounds" of the parish was another annual ceremony, which
+often took place on Ascension Day and is still in use at Oxford.
+Boundaries of property were not so clearly defined in those days as
+they are now; and hedgerows, walls, and railings were scarce. The
+bounds of the parish were often marked by trees, called "gospel trees,"
+because the clergyman used to read the gospel for the day under their
+shade. The people carried a processional cross and willow wands, and
+boys were generally flogged at the boundaries, or ducked in the river,
+if that constituted a boundary, in order to impress upon their memories
+where the bounds were. The village feast afterwards made some amends to
+them for their harsh treatment.
+
+The village sports were a great source of enjoyment, and were frequently
+indulged in. The time-honoured archery developed the skill of our
+English bowmen, and won for them many a battle before the days of
+gunpowder and cannons. Then there was the very ancient game of the
+quintain, which consisted of an upright post with a cross-post turning
+upon a pin. At one end of the latter was a broad board, at the other a
+heavy sand-bag. The play, which required skill and dexterity, was to
+ride against the broad end with a lance, and pass by before the sandbag,
+swinging round, could strike the player to the ground. This was a common
+sport at wedding festivities. There were also the games of singlestick,
+cudgelling, and wrestling, which had many votaries, and the famous game
+of quarter-staff, so general in Berkshire, and so graphically described
+in _The Scouring of the White Horse_, by Mr. Hughes. An old parishioner
+of mine was the reputed champion of this game, which has now almost died
+out. Football is an ancient sport, and the manner formerly in vogue most
+nearly resembles the game authorised by the Rugby rules. The football
+was thrown down in the churchyard, and the object was to carry it
+perhaps two or three miles, every inch of ground being keenly contested.
+"Touch-downs" were then unknown, but it is evident from old records that
+"scrimmages" and "hacking" were much in vogue. Sack-racing, grinning
+through horse-collars, running after pigs with greased tails, were some
+of the lighter forms of amusement which pleased the villagers.
+
+Then in the winter evenings there were "carols" to be practised for
+Christmas, and each village boasted of its own musicians, who played
+violins, flutes, clarionets, and other instruments in church, before
+the days of harmoniums and organs. Their music might not be of a very
+first-rate order, but they delighted in it, took an interest in it; and
+how pleased they were to take part in the service, and to play over
+their favourite hymn tunes, with a great many twirls and variations, to
+their children during the winter evenings! Christmas brought its
+accustomed merry-makings. In the north every farmer gave two feasts,
+one called "t' ould foaks' neet," and the other "t' young foaks' neet."
+Here is Sir Walter Scott's description of an ancient Christmas:--
+
+  "And well our Christian sires of old
+  Loved when the year its course had roll'd
+  And brought blithe Christmas back again,
+  With all its hospitable train.
+  Domestic and religious rite
+  Gave honour to the holy night:
+  On Christmas Eve the bells were rung;
+  On Christmas Eve the Mass was sung;
+  That only night in all the year
+  Saw the staled priest the chalice rear.
+  The damsel donn'd her kirtle sheen;
+  The hall was dressed with holly green;
+  Forth to the wood did merry men go,
+  To gather in the mistletoe.
+  Then open wide the baron's hall,
+  To vassal, tenant, serf, and all;
+  Power laid his rod of rule aside,
+  And Ceremony doft'd his pride.
+  The heir with roses in his shoes,
+  That night might village partner choose;
+  The lord, underogating, share
+  The vulgar game of 'post and pair.'
+  All hailed with uncontrolled delight
+  The general voice, the happy night,
+  That to the cottage, as the crown,
+  Brought tidings of salvation down.
+
+  "The fire, with well-dried logs supplied,
+  Went roaring up the chimney wide;
+  The huge hall-table's oaken face
+  Scrubb'd till it shone, the day of grace,
+  Bore then upon its massive board
+  No mark to part the squire and lord.
+  Then was brought in the lusty brawn,
+  By old blue-coated serving man;
+  Then the grim boar's head frowned on high
+  Crested with bays and rosemary.
+  Well can the green-garb'd ranger tell
+  How, when, and where the monster fell;
+  What dogs before his death he tore,
+  And all the baiting of the boar;
+  While round the merry wassail bowl,
+  Garnished with ribbons, blithe did trowl.
+  Then the huge sirloin reek'd: hard by
+  Plum-porridge stood, and Christmas pie;
+  Nor fail'd old Scotland to produce
+  At such high time her savoury goose.
+  Then came the merry maskers in,
+  And carols roared with blithesome din;
+  If unmelodious was the song,
+  It was a hearty note, and strong.
+  Who lists may in this mumming see
+  Traces of ancient mystery;
+  White shirts supply the masquerade,
+  And smutted cheeks the visor made;
+  But, oh! what masquers, richly dight,
+  Can boast of bosoms half so light!
+  England was merry England when
+  Old Christmas brought his sports again.
+  'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale;
+  'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale.
+  A Christmas gambol oft would cheer
+  A poor man's heart through half the year."
+
+Such was the manner of keeping Christmas in olden times; and if "the
+mightiest ale" was sometimes too mighty, and although the intemperance
+of our forefathers was a vice much to be deplored, at any rate their
+hearty manner of keeping this annual feast was effectual in promoting
+"goodwill amongst men," and in cheering the hearts of the poor.
+
+In this chapter I have attempted to show the varied amusements and
+recreations in which our village ancestors took part. On the old village
+green, which in too many of our villages has been inclosed and become a
+thing of the past, many of these sports and pastimes once took place.
+There stood the village stocks, in which the refractory paid the penalty
+of their misdeeds; and sometimes, too, a pillory was added, which held
+fast the head, arms, and legs of the culprit, while the villagers, rude
+vindicators of the law, threw stones, rotten eggs, and other missiles at
+the unhappy victim. At the edge of the pond you might have seen a long
+plank which turned on a swivel, with a chair at the end overhanging the
+water. This was called a "cucking-stool," and was used to duck scolds or
+brawlers. The culprit was placed in the chair, and the other end of the
+plank was raised several times, so that the ardour of the culprit was
+effectually cooled by frequent immersions. These were rough methods of
+administering justice, but often very effectual in checking vice.
+
+The social customs which formerly existed in each village, the sports
+and pastimes associated with the village green, the May Day festivals,
+and the Christmas carollings were of great value, inasmuch as they
+tended to infuse some poetical feeling into the minds of the people,
+softened the rudeness of rustic manners, and gave the villagers simple
+pleasures which lightened their labours. They prevented them from
+growing hard, grasping, and discontented with their lot. They promoted
+good feeling between the farmers and their labourers. The customs of
+the town were a poor exchange for the ancient country manners and
+amusements; and it was a sad day for our country when the villagers
+lost their simplicity and the power of appreciating the primitive
+pleasures of rural England.
+
+[Illustration: OLD STOCKS AND WHIPPING POST]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE VILLAGE INN
+
+Monastic inns--Village inns--Highwaymen--Inn signs--Famous inns--
+Man-traps.
+
+
+In almost every village in England there is an inn. Before the
+Reformation there were very few of these hostelries, as travellers
+were always accommodated at the monasteries, each of which, as we have
+seen, had a hospitium, or guest-house, where their wants were attended
+to by special officers appointed for the purpose, and where they could
+remain for several days. But the destruction of the monasteries
+produced many changes in the condition of the country; it introduced
+the necessity of a poor law, for the poor were always relieved by the
+monasteries; it required the erection of schools and places for
+education, as all the education of the country had been carried on in
+these monastic buildings; and when the old guesthouses ceased to
+exist, travellers, merchants, and pedlars required some place in which
+to lodge when they moved about the country, and inns became plentiful
+as time went on. Hence in almost every village in England there is an
+inn, which is generally a landmark; and if you wish to direct a
+stranger to some place where he desires to go, you doubtless tell him
+to turn to the right by "The Bull," or to keep straight on until he
+comes to "The Magpie." Indeed, a friend of mine, who is a strong
+teetotaler, asserts that the only good use inns have is to help people
+to find their road. But old inns have a great history. In former days
+they used to be meeting-places of plotters and conspirators. All the
+distinguished people in the country used to pass through the villages
+and towns on the great roads through the country, and when the horses
+were being changed they used to partake of the good fare which the
+landlord provided. Those were busy times for the old inns, when there
+was stabling for fifty or sixty horses, and the coaches used to rattle
+through the village to the inn door long before the iron horses began
+to drag their freight of passengers along the iron roads, and the
+scream of the engines took the place of the cheerful notes of the
+posthorn.
+
+Sometimes a gentleman would ride to an inn door on a beautiful,
+fleet-looking steed, and receive a hearty welcome from the landlord;
+but the pistols in his belt looked ominous, and presently some
+soldiers would steal noiselessly into the inn where the gentleman was
+refreshing himself, and there would be heard the sounds of vigorous
+fighting; and often, in some wonderful way, Claude Duval or the noted
+Dick would fight his way out, whistle to his steed, jump into the
+saddle, and ride away before his less nimble pursuers had recovered
+from their astonishment. Very many exciting scenes have taken place in
+our old inns, but in these days railways have changed all things; and
+in many streets where the coaches used to rattle along, and the place
+was alive with merry sounds, the moss now grows, and all is silence
+and desolation. We should certainly think it inconvenient to take
+three days to travel from London to Bath, and it would not be pleasant
+to have a visit from Dick Turpin on the way, and to have all one's
+valuables appropriated by that notorious highwayman; but in these days
+of worry and busy bustling it would be refreshing to catch a glimpse
+of those quiet times when people were not so much in a hurry, and to
+hear the sound of the posthorn once more instead of the whistle of the
+steam-engine.
+
+The quaint-looking pictures and curious names which attract our notice
+as we pass an inn door have some queer stories to tell. We notice a very
+curious collection of animals sometimes, and a strange assortment of
+things; and the reason why our ancestors put some of these curious
+things together is somewhat difficult for us to find out. In olden days,
+other houses of tradesmen besides inns had signs. Grocers, tailors,
+candlestick-makers, all had signs; but most of these have disappeared,
+except one belonging to a certain sweep of my acquaintance, whose house
+is adorned with the figure of a man coming out of a globe, with the
+motto, "Help me through the world." Over their doors barbers still have
+their poles, which represented once the fact that the barber was
+prepared to bandage up wounded arms and legs, and to perform the office
+of blood-letting; the stripes on the pole were intended to represent the
+bandages, and the barber was the surgeon of the town. We do not seem to
+have so much blood to spare as our forefathers, as the barber always
+bled his customers once or twice a year, especially in the springtime,
+the operation being considered very beneficial.
+
+One reason for the curious mixture of animals and other things which we
+see on signboards is that an apprentice, when he had finished his time
+and begun to set up for himself, adopted some sign, and then joined with
+it the sign of his old master. This will account for such curiosities as
+"The Lamb and Dolphin," "The Goose and Gridiron," "The Fox and Seven
+Stars," combinations of things for which it would otherwise be difficult
+to account. Another reason is that signs were taken from the armorial
+bearings, or crests, of some popular character, or of some great family
+in the neighbourhood. For example, I may mention "The Bear with the
+Ragged Staff," which was the crest of Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick,
+commonly called "The Kingmaker," who was slain in the battle of Barnet,
+1471 A.D. "The Blue Boar" was one of the badges of the House of York.
+"The Bull" is a very common sign, because it was a very common crest,
+and we have them in all colours--black, red, white; lions also rage in
+blue, white, and red attire. Sometimes we meet with "The Cross Keys,"
+the keeper of which was probably an old servant or tenant of an abbey or
+monastery, and chose his sign from that of the monastery with which he
+was connected. Frequently, in olden times, a cross was erected at the
+meeting of two or three roads, or where the pilgrims to Canterbury used
+to pass; afterwards an inn was built near it, and was, in many cases,
+called the Cross Inn.
+
+One very common cause of curious signs is the way in which the original
+word has been corrupted by ignorant people frequently repeating words
+which they did not understand, and thus changing their whole meaning.
+You may have seen an inn described as "The Swan with Two Necks"--a very
+rare bird indeed. But it was never intended to disfigure the bird by
+giving it two necks; the original sign was "The Swan with Two _Nicks_"
+and nicks were the marks which were cut on a swan's bill to distinguish
+it from other swans, so that it might be known to whom the bird
+belonged. But _nicks_ became _necks_ in course of conversation, until at
+last a fabulous creature with two beautifully curved necks appeared on
+the signboard. This same cause will account for the two strange signs,
+"Bull and Gate" and "Bull and Mouth." The original signs were "Boulogne
+Gate" and "Boulogne Mouth," _i.e._ the gate and harbour of the town of
+Boulogne, in France, which was captured by the English under King Henry
+VIII. in the year 1544. The English were very pleased to hear of the
+defeat of the French, and of the taking of that important town, and
+several inns were named in honour of the event; but the French
+"Boulogne" was too much for our good English mouths to speak, so it
+became "Bull and."
+
+Another name which puzzled our forefathers was "_La Belle Sauvage_"
+("the Beautiful Savage"), which was named after a noted savage beauty
+who was the rage at Paris. Others assert that the name of the landlady
+was Isabella Savage, shortened into Bella Savage. However, in course of
+time the name was altered into "Bell and Savage," and a picture
+representing this odd combination stood over the door. In the same way
+the original sign, "Whip and Nag," between which there is often a very
+close connection, became "Whip and Egg"; and the reason why these two
+articles should be placed together is not so evident. So also there does
+not seem any reason for an inn to be called "Bag o' Nails"; but when we
+are told that the original word was "Bacchanals," _i.e._ followers of
+Bacchus, the old god of wine, we can understand how the corruption, "Bag
+o' Nails," arose. Before the days of licensing, when everyone could sell
+liquor who chose without obtaining any licence from the magistrates, it
+was the custom to put a bush over the doorway, in order to inform the
+passers-by that liquor could be purchased there. This is the origin of
+the saying, "Good wine needs no bush."
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE INN WITH OLD TITHE BARN OF READING ABBEY]
+
+"The Catherine Wheel" tells us the sad story of St. Catherine, who was
+born at Alexandria, and for converting fifty heathen philosophers to
+Christianity was sentenced by the Emperor Maxentius to death on a wheel,
+devised by most ingenious cruelty, armed with knives, saws, and nails.
+It is recorded that she was rescued from this fate, but was afterwards
+beheaded (305 A.D.). It is curious that this instrument of torture and
+the story of St. Catherine's heroism should be recorded on a signboard.
+But it may have been brought before the public by a certain miracle
+play, founded on the life of St. Catherine, which used to be performed
+on festival days. However, the Catherine wheel appears frequently on the
+coats-of-arms of several families, and it may be that the sign was taken
+from these.
+
+"The George," also, is a very popular sign; and the "St. George of
+merry England" is the patron saint of this country, and the battle-cry
+of her knights and yeomen of ancient days. Who does not remember that
+stirring scene on St. George's Mount during the Crusades, described in
+Sir Walter Scott's _Talisman_, when King Richard tore down the Austrian
+banner, which the Austrian monarch had dared to erect beside the Royal
+Standard of England? St George is generally represented as slaying
+a dragon. He was a soldier who served gallantly under the Emperor
+Diocletian, and commanded a legion of soldiers; he was a Christian,
+and by the dragon whom he slew is meant the devil, red with the blood
+of the Christians. So popular a personage as St. George, whose name
+inspired our ancestors with courage, and was often borne by them into
+the heart of the foe, would soon be recorded in paintings and become a
+general sign. "The Goat" is a common sign, and is taken from the crest
+of the Duke of Bedford; but "The Goat and Compasses" has puzzled many
+people as to its origin. It appears to be a corruption of a pious
+expression, "God encompasseth us"; and this shows how strangely words
+may be twisted and converted by ignorant and careless usage.
+
+There are some very noted inns where great events have taken place,
+amongst which I may mention the Bull Inn at Coventry. Here Henry VII.
+was entertained the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, when
+he won for himself the English crown. Here Mary Queen of Scots was
+detained by order of Elizabeth. Here the conspirators of the Gunpowder
+Plot met to devise their scheme for blowing up the Houses of
+Parliament. And when the citizens refused to open their gates to
+Charles I. and his soldiers, no doubt there were great disputings
+amongst the frequenters of "The Bull" as to what would be the result
+of their disloyal refusal.
+
+Some of the inns in remote country places did not enjoy a very enviable
+reputation, and were little better than man-traps, where the
+unfortunate traveller was robbed and murdered. At Blewbury, in
+Berkshire, there was an inn, the landlord of which was suspected of
+murdering his guests with great secrecy and mystery, and no one could
+tell what he did with the bodies of the victims he was supposed to have
+murdered. A few years ago an old tree in the neighbourhood of the inn
+was blown down, and on digging up the roots a skeleton was found among
+them. People wondered how it could have been placed there, but at last
+a very old inhabitant told the story of the mysterious disappearance of
+the bodies of the late landlord's guests, and the mystery was at length
+accounted for. Whenever he slew a man he planted a tree, placing the
+body of the murdered victim beneath it. The constables never thought of
+looking there; and probably under every tree which he planted (and
+there were several), when their roots are dug up, the bones of his
+numerous victims will be discovered.
+
+Another story is connected with the old "Hind's Head" at Bracknell,
+which was another of these mantraps, where many travellers slept to
+rise no more. One winter's night a stout-hearted farmer stayed there,
+and joined several jovial companions round the kitchen fire. They ate
+and drank merrily, and at last the serving-maid showed the traveller
+to his chamber. She told him that he was surrounded by robbers and
+murderers, showed him a trap-door at the side of the bed, on which if
+he stepped he would tumble headlong into a deep well. She directed him
+to tie the bed into a bundle, put it on the trap-door, and escape by
+the window. He did so; down went the bundle, instead of the farmer,
+into the well, and he managed to effect his escape. Rousing the
+neighbourhood he captured the villains, who were all executed, and the
+bones of many of their victims were found in the well. Happily such
+inns were rare.
+
+To describe the conditions of the old inns for which England was
+famous, of the good fare which awaited the travellers by the coach, of
+the spacious corridors, of the comfortable beds hung with silk and
+smelling of lavender; to tell of all the great folk who entered their
+doors--kings, queens, poets, generals, highwaymen, statesmen, grooms,
+conspirators, coachmen--all this would require much space to relate.
+When railways came in, their ancient glory departed; the old stables
+are destroyed; grass grows in the courtyard; and the object of their
+existence has almost ceased to be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
+
+Belief in witches--Survival of water ordeal--Witches turned into hares--
+Cruelties practised on witches--Bishop Jewel on the "evil eye"--
+Fairies--Berkshire popular superstitions--Field-names--Homes of famous
+men--Washington Irving's description of an English village--Rural
+exodus--Conclusion.
+
+
+There is yet another class of subjects connected with old village life,
+of absorbing interest and importance. I refer to the old superstitions
+and folklore which still linger on in the recollections of the "oldest
+inhabitant," and which ought to be at once treasured up, lest they
+should be altogether lost. The generation of those who believed firmly
+in the power of the "evil eye" of the witch, and who feared to disturb
+the revels of the fairies on their rings and mounds, is only just
+passing away. An old gipsy has told me some strange stories of the
+superstitions of former days. He has told me of the witch at Farnham
+who made the cows wild and prevented them from giving milk; of another
+witch who lived at Henley-on-Thames, and who when thrown into the river
+"floated like a cork." Here we have a survival of the old Saxon method
+of trying culprits by the water ordeal, often used in examining
+witches. This particular witch could turn herself into a hare, so my
+venerable gipsy friend, aged one hundred and six years, informed me,
+and the dogs hunted her. He told me of the Tadley witch, who "wished"
+several people, and greatly injured them. It seems to have been a
+common practice of the old witches to turn themselves into hares, in
+order to vex the squires, justices, and country parsons, who were fond
+of hunting, as the old dames could elude the speed of the swiftest
+dogs. An old writer states "that never hunters nor their dogs may be
+bewitched, they cleave an oaken branch, and both they and their dogs
+pass over it." Mary Dore, a witch of Beaulieu, Hampshire, used to turn
+herself into a hare in order to escape detection when caught in the act
+of wood-stealing, to which she was somewhat addicted.
+
+Old women were rather harshly used in the days when people believed in
+the power of witches. If any farmer's cattle died, it was immediately
+concluded that the animals were bewitched; and some wretched old woman
+was singled out, and summarily tried and burnt. If anyone fell ill,
+some "witch" had evidently a waxen image of the sufferer, and stuck
+needles into it; and such was the power of the witch that, wherever the
+person was, he felt the stab of the cruel needle. Hence the witch had
+to be found and burnt. If the corn crops failed, was not witchcraft the
+cause? for had not old Mother Maggs been heard to threaten Farmer
+Giles, and had not her black cat been seen running over his fields?
+Even good Bishop Jewel did not disbelieve in the power of the evil eye.
+In preaching before Queen Elizabeth he said: "It may please Your Grace
+to understand that witches and sorcerers are marvellously increased
+within Your Grace's realm. Your Grace's subjects pine away even unto
+the death, their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is
+benumbed, their senses are bereft. I pray God they never practise
+further than on the subject." To so great an extent did faith in the
+witches' fatal power prevail. Our forefathers used to believe in the
+existence of other, and more pleasant little companions than the old
+toothless witches--the bright little fairies who, on account of the
+neglect which they have received from the present generation of
+Englishmen, have, so it is reported, left our shores in disgust, never
+to return. The previous inhabitants of our villages did not so treat
+them; and did not the fairies always bring them luck? They nailed the
+horseshoe to the stable door to keep out the witches, lest the old
+beldams should ride their steeds by night to the witches' revels; but
+no one wished to exclude the fairies. Did not the dairymaids find the
+butter ready churned, and the cows milked by these kind assistants? Was
+there not an old lady in Yorkshire who knew all about the fairies, had
+often heard them making butter, and had seen the butter smeared all
+over the gate by a little green man with a queer cap who had been seen
+slipping under a culvert? Canon Atkinson told us of this lady who knew
+all these strange things, and of the Hart Hall "Hob" who worked so hard
+with his flail, and of many other curious folk who frequented the
+Yorkshire moors in olden days. The last witch had just died before he
+went to Danby, but he found the whole atmosphere of the folklore
+firmament so surcharged with the being and work of the witch, that he
+seemed able to trace her presence and her activity in almost every nook
+and corner of the neighbourhood.
+
+The wells all over England were haunted by fairies, and is it not
+confidently asserted that "the good people" (as the fairies are called)
+live in wilds and forests, and shun great cities because of the
+wickedness which exists therein? Have they never appeared to the lonely
+traveller, clothed in green, with long hair floating over their
+shoulders, and with faces more blooming than the blush of a summer
+morning? Then there were the fairy rings formed by the dancing of their
+merry feet.
+
+  "Some say the screech-owl, at each midnight hour,
+  Awakes the fairies in yon ancient tower.
+  Their nightly dancing ring I always dread,
+  Nor let my sheep within that circle tread;
+  When round and round all night, in moonlight fair,
+  They dance to some strange music in the air."
+
+Then there were brownies; and knockers, who worked in mines, and showed
+rich veins of silver; and elves--all of whom were included in old
+village superstitions, and many were the tales told of the good deeds
+they did, and the luck they brought. Nor must we forget the story of
+the invisible smith who inhabited Wayland Smith's Cave, in Berkshire.
+Whenever a farmer tied up his horse in the cave, and left the money on
+a particular stone, on his return he found his horse shod by the kind
+efforts of the invisible smith. There is also the old Berkshire story
+of the old witch who lived in a cave by the roadside, and who, by the
+power of her "evil eye," could stop the strongest team of horses, so
+that, however much the carters lashed and swore at them, the animals
+would not budge an inch until she permitted them to go. Here are a few
+of the common superstitions current in Berkshire. If a corpse be kept
+over a Sunday another death will occur before the week is out; should a
+big bumble-bee enter the window, a guest may be expected; and when the
+woodpecker, commonly called the yaffle, laughs, they say the rain is
+coming. When the thick mist lies in the valley, the people say it is
+the White Lady, a belief closely akin to the Dame Blanche, who is said
+in Normandy to haunt streams. If one row of freshly sown seeds or
+potatoes does not come up, it foretells a death in the family. If a
+girl mends her clothes on her back, she risks having a drunken husband.
+A screech-owl is unlucky, and so also is it if a bird fly against the
+window.
+
+A woman came to the rectory a few years ago for a drop of sacramental
+wine, which she wanted for an infant who had "the graspings." This
+complaint I discovered to be a craving for something, accompanied by
+restlessness; and it was supposed that a drop of sacramental wine would
+cure an infant so troubled. If the mother before the child was born
+craved for drink, this craving was communicated to the child, and could
+only be remedied by a drop of wine used in Holy Communion. This
+superstition, which I have met with elsewhere, probably is a relic of
+pre-Reformation days, and of sacramental Reservation.
+
+A tramp was passing through a Hampshire village a short time ago, and
+calling at a house, begged for a glass of water. The woman who lived
+there said that she was sorry she could not give him water to drink, as
+there was a child in the house unbaptised, and therefore it would be
+unlucky. The origin of this superstition it is difficult to trace.
+
+These are some of the legends and superstitions which linger amongst
+us. Every neighbourhood has its stories, its legends, and romantic
+histories. It is a sad pity that these should pass away without any
+record being made. Many curious customs and ceremonies relating to
+christenings, marriages, and burials linger in remote hamlets; and
+charms, curious remedies, and other relics of the quaint superstitions
+of our forefathers, are full of interest to the lover of our English
+villages.
+
+As we walk in the fields, or study the old map of the parish, the names
+of the fields invite our attention. These are full of interest, and
+often tell us about matters which would be entirely forgotten. Some
+names tell us of the great forests which used to exist all over the
+country, when kings and noblemen, outlaws and poachers, used to hunt
+the deer and the wild boars in many a successful run. These forests
+were large tracts of country in its natural state, partly wood, partly
+heather and grass, which were owned by the king, and were especially
+brought under the harsh forest laws of the Norman sovereigns.
+
+Some of our field-names remind us of the existence of these old forests
+where corn now grows, and also of swamps and islands where everything
+now is dry and far removed from water. Sometimes they tell us of the
+old common lands which used to be farmed by the villeins and borderers,
+and of the strange way in which they used to manage their farming. Each
+man used to keep one or more oxen for the village plough until they
+made up the team into eight; then they ploughed the land in strips of
+an acre or half-acre each, divided by a bit of unploughed turf called
+a balk. Each strip was a furlong, _i.e._ a "furrow long," _i.e._ the
+length of the drive of a plough before it is turned. This was forty
+rods, or poles, and four of these furrows made up the acre. These
+pieces of land were called "shots," and there were "headlands," or
+common field-ways, to each shot; and "gored acres," which were corners
+of the fields which could not be cut up into strips, and odds and ends
+of unused land, which were called "No Man's Land," or "Jack's Land." It
+is curious, too, that all the strips belonging to one man did not lie
+together, but were scattered all over the common land, which must have
+been a very inconvenient arrangement for farming purposes. There were
+also in each village community a blacksmith, whose duty it was to keep
+in repair the ironwork of the village ploughs, a carpenter for the
+woodwork, and a pound-keeper, or punder, who looked after the stray
+cattle. Many of the "balks" still remain on the hillsides where these
+old common lands existed, and the names of the fields bear witness to
+the prevalence of this old field system.
+
+They tell us, too, of the way in which attempts were made to force the
+growth of particular crops, and in many parishes you will find a "flax
+piece," which reminds us of a foolish Act of Henry VIII. ordering the
+cultivation of that plant. Metals, too, which have long ago been
+worked out, and trades which no longer exist, have left their traces
+behind in the names of our lanes and fields. Also they speak of the
+early days when the wolf or the bear might be seen in our woods or
+fields, or of the beaver which loved the quietude of our streams, of
+the eagle which carried off the lambs undisturbed by sound of the
+keeper's gun. Sometimes he was disturbed in his thefts by the flight
+of a good strong English arrow, which came from a sturdy English bow
+drawn by a good strong English arm. The English archers were famous
+everywhere, and many a battle has been won by their valour and their
+skill. A law was passed in the reign of Edward IV. that every
+Englishman should have a bow of his own height, and that butts for the
+practice of archery should be set up in every village; and every man
+was obliged to shoot up and down on every feast-day, or be fined one
+halfpenny. Consequently, in some villages we find a field called "The
+Butts," where this old practice took place.[11]
+
+Many villages are associated with the lives of distinguished
+men--authors, soldiers, and statesmen. Perhaps your village may have
+bred other poets besides "the mute inglorious Milton" of Gray's
+_Elegy_. Not far from where I am writing was Pope's early home, the
+village of Binfield, which he calls--
+
+          "My paternal home,
+  A little house, with trees arow,
+  And, like its master, very low."
+
+On the other side lies the village of Three Mile Cross, where Miss
+Mitford lived and wrote "Our Village"; and Arborfield, called in her
+book Arborleigh, about which she tells some pleasant stories, is the
+adjoining parish. Sometimes, as I ride down a grassy lane, a favourite
+haunt of the distinguished authoress, I seem to see her seated on a
+fallen tree weaving her pretty romances, while her favourite dog, which
+she often describes, plays and barks around her. A few miles in another
+direction lies Eversley, the loved abode of Charles Kingsley, about
+whom many stories linger in the countryside. To visit the uncomfortable
+brick-paved study where he wrote, the garden where he used to pace and
+think out his great thoughts, is delightfully refreshing and
+invigorating to a jaded writer.
+
+[Illustration: OLD COTTAGES]
+
+These are only instances of places which have become interesting on
+account of the famous men who once lived in them; and England has many
+heroes of the sword and pen whose lives each Englishman should study;
+and when you visit their dwelling-places you will recall their
+achievements, and perhaps endeavour to imitate their examples. Here is
+an instance of how little the villagers know of the distinguished men
+who once lived amongst them. The great Duke of Wellington did not live
+a very long time ago, and yet some friends of mine who were staying at
+Strathfieldsaye, near the Iron Duke's house, and made inquiries amongst
+the villagers about their recollections of the hero of Waterloo, could
+obtain no information. At last one venerable rustic vouchsafed the
+extraordinary intelligence, "I believe as 'ow 'e were very good at
+war"! What a thing it is to be famous!
+
+Much more remains to be said upon the various subjects which this
+history of our village suggests. But the day is closing, and our walk
+through its sequestered lanes and our thoughts about the various scenes
+which yonder venerable oaks have witnessed, must cease. But enough has
+been said to show what a wealth of interest lies beneath the calm
+exterior of ordinary village life. An American truly observes that
+everything in the rural life of England is associated with ideas of
+order, of quiet, sober, well-established principles, of hoary usage,
+and reverent custom--the growth of ages of regular and peaceful
+existence. The impression which the appearance of an English village
+left on his mind is beautifully described in the following passage:--
+
+"The old church of remote architecture with its low, massive portal,
+its gothic tower, its windows rich with tracery and painted glass,
+its scrupulous preservation, its stately monuments of warriors and
+worthies of olden times, ancestors of the present lords of the soil;
+its tombstones, recording successive generations of sturdy yeomanry,
+whose progeny still plough the same fields, and kneel at the same
+altar; the parsonage, a quaint, irregular pile, partly antiquated,
+but repaired and altered in the tastes of various eyes and occupants;
+the stile and footpath leading from the churchyard, across pleasant
+fields, and along shady hedgerows, according to an immemorial
+right-of-way; the neighbouring village, with its venerable cottages,
+its public green sheltered by trees, under which the forefathers of
+the present race have sported; the antique family mansion, standing
+apart in some little rural domain, but looking down with a protecting
+air on the surrounding scene. All these common features of English
+landscape evince a calm and settled security, and hereditary
+transmission of homebred virtues and local attachments, that speak
+deeply and touchingly for the moral character of the nation."
+
+One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+continual decrease of its population. All our young men flock to the
+towns, attracted by the greater excitement which town life offers, as
+compared with the more homely pleasures of the country. The rural
+exodus is an alarming and very real danger to the welfare of social
+England. Agricultural machinery has greatly diminished the number of
+labourers required on a farm. Agricultural depression and the decreased
+value of land have caused many old country families to close their old
+manor-houses, as they cannot afford to live on their estates.
+
+Let us hope that those whose happy lot it is to live in the quiet
+hamlets of our native land, afar from the noise and din of busy towns,
+will learn to love more deeply their village homes, and interest
+themselves in their surroundings. To those who read the history of
+their native place, each house and field, each stone and tree, will
+tell its story, and recount the wonders it has witnessed. And as the
+stories of wars and fights, of superstition and of crime, fall on our
+ears, we shall be thankful that our lot is cast in more peaceful days,
+when no persecutions, religious or political, disturb the tranquillity
+of our village life. And when we read of the piety and simplicity of
+our forefathers, their veneration of their church, their love of home,
+their innocent joys and social customs, we should strive to imitate
+their virtues which have materially helped to make England a great and
+powerful nation. It is hoped that these chapters upon the old life of
+our country, and the manners and customs of our forefathers, may induce
+many of my readers to read and study history more deeply, may serve to
+create an interest in the relics that remain to us of the past, and to
+preserve the fleeting traditions that Time doth consecrate.
+
+
+[11] In many cases the name "Butts" refers to the fact of the land,
+under the common-field system, _abutting_ on meadows or roads, _e.g._
+"Butt-close," in the parish of St. Mary Bourne.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+
+To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village,
+the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the
+name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and
+old county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor's _Words
+and Places_, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in
+_Domesday_ and old documents. Bede's _History_, the _Anglo-Saxon
+Chronicles_, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may
+contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also
+Kemble's _Saxons in England_. The _Domesday Book_ is, of course, a mine
+of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many documents which will
+be of great service--the _Testa de Neville_ (Edward II.), _Marshall
+Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls,
+Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem_, and the _Feet of Fines_. The
+_Manor Court Rolls_, if they still exist, in the custody of the lord of
+the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local antiquarian
+societies and county histories will of course be examined. The history
+of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The British
+Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of _Heralds'
+Visitations_, and Burke's _Landed Gentry_ and Dugdale's _Baronage_
+are the chief sources of information. Old _wills_ will yield much
+information, many of which are in course of publication by the Index
+Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House and many
+diocesan registries contain the original documents. The Historical
+Manuscripts Commission has published many volumes of borough records
+which are of great service, and the lives of any great men connected
+with the parish may be studied in the _Dictionary of National
+Biography_. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains
+valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and
+its contents should be carefully examined.
+
+The registers of the diocese contain many documents relating to the
+ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a
+list of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any
+monastery, Dugdale's _Monasticon_ will furnish some information. The
+Public Record Office contains the documents _Taxatio Ecclesiastica P.
+Nicholai IV._ and _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, which give an account of the
+value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the sale
+of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the saint
+to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in spite of
+years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some early will
+of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which usually
+gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ in
+stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the
+help of Rickman's _Gothic Architecture_ or Parker's _Glossary of Gothic
+Architecture_. If there has ever been a monastery in the parish,
+Dugdale's _Monasticon_ should be consulted; and if there are any remains
+of a castle, Clark's _Mediaeval Military Architecture in England_ will
+be useful. Prehistoric remains, such as barrows, earthworks, pit
+dwellings, and caves should be described; also any Roman roads and
+villas; the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood, geology, folklore,
+and dialect.
+
+The following books are recommended:--
+
+Evans' _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_.
+Evans' _ Ancient Bronze Implements_.
+Boyd Dawkins' _Cave Hunting_.
+Boyd Dawkins' _Early Man in Britain_.
+Greenwell's _British Barrows_.
+Fergusson's _Rude Stone Monuments_.
+Cox's _How to Write the History of a Parish_.
+Wright's _Essays on Archaeological Subjects_.
+Parker's _Mediaeval Domestic Architecture_.
+Sims' _Manual for the Topographer and Genealogist_.
+Burn's _History of Parish Registers_.
+Seebohm's _English Village Community_.
+Toulmin Smith's _English Gilds_.
+Haine's _Manual of Monumental Brasses_.
+Bloxam's _Principles of Gothic Architecture_.
+Tanner's _Notitia Monastica_.
+Cutts' _Middle Ages_.
+Lee's _Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms_.
+
+
+INDEX
+
+Akeman Street, 60
+Aldhelm, church-builder, 103
+Alfriston clergy-house, 180
+_Alignements_, 46
+Allington rectory, 180
+Almshouses, 181
+Altars, 191
+Amphitheatre, Roman, 67
+Anchoresses, 183
+Anchor-hold, 183
+Anglo-Saxon villages, 74-89
+Archery, 277, 298
+Architecture, English, 102-24
+Arresting a dead body, 227
+Arrow-heads, 20
+_Art of Husbandry_, 255
+Astrology, belief in, 222
+Aumbry, 192
+Avebury cromlech, 46
+
+B
+
+Ball-flower moulding, 118
+Barkham in _Domesday_, 128
+Barnack Church, 106
+Barrows or tumuli, 23-3
+  "    long and round, 25
+  "    near churchyards, 23
+  "    Saxon, 90-3
+  "    their contents, 24, 29
+Basilica, Roman, 66
+Beacons, 268
+Beating the bounds, 276
+Bede, 75
+Bell-ringing customs, 250
+Bells, 245-53
+  "    christening of, 246
+  "    inscription on, 247-50
+Benedict Biscop, 103
+Benedictine monks, 161
+Bewcastle cross, 98
+Bishops, treating of, 229
+Black Death, 255
+Blood-letting, 167-9
+Blowing Stone, 52
+_Bordarii_, 131
+Border castles, 140
+Brachycephalic race, 21
+Brasses, monumental, 212-18
+Bridal cup, 207
+Brief Book, 226
+Brighthampton, pit dwellings at,  33
+British Church, 93
+  "    oppida, 34
+  "    roads, 60, 61
+  "    saints and martyrs, 94
+Bronze Age, 21, 40
+Budworth hermitage, 182
+Burial urns, 29, 30
+  "    urns in woollen, 220
+
+C
+
+Caesar's camps, 50
+Camps, 50-52
+Carthusian monks, 162
+Castles, 135-53
+Cave men, 16
+Celts, 21, 34, 37, 56
+Cemeteries, Saxon, 92
+Censers, 205
+Chancels, 190
+Charles II., adventures of, 267
+Chaucer's satire on monks, 160
+Chepstow Castle, 140
+Chest, parish, 218-29
+Chivalry, 143, 148
+Chrismatory, 206
+Christmas in olden time, 278
+Chun Castle, 51
+Church ales, 258
+Church bells, 245-53
+  "    house, 258
+  "    plate, 200-8
+  "    yard, 243
+Churches, parish, 184 99
+Churchwardens' account books, 223-6
+Cistercian monks, 114, 161
+Civil War, effects of, 153, 220, 265
+Cloister of monastery, 163
+Cluny, monks of, 161
+Consecration crosses, 239
+Conversion of Saxons, 94, 95
+Crannogs, 38
+Cremation, 28, 29, 92
+Cromlechs, 46-9
+Crosses, Saxon, 95-101
+Cross-legged effigies, 211
+Cucking-stool, 280
+
+D
+
+Decay of old sports, 271
+Decorated architecture, 117
+Desecration of monasteries, 159
+Devil's Highway, 61
+Dog-tooth ornament, 116
+Dog-whipper, 228
+Dolichocephalic race, 19
+Dolmen, 49, 50
+_Domesday Book_, 125-34
+Donnington Castle, 152
+Druids, 48, 50
+
+E
+
+Early English architecture, 115-17
+Earthworks, 50-6
+Easter sepulchre, 193
+Edge Hill, battle of, 264
+Edwardian castles, 140
+Emblems on brasses, 217
+Enstone, menhir at, 45
+Eslithic man, 14
+Epitaphs, curious, 243
+Ermyn Street, 60
+"Evil eye," 291-3
+
+F
+
+Fairford windows, 232
+Fairies, 56, 293
+Fairs, 261
+Feudalism, 141
+Field-names, 296-8
+Flint implements, discovery of, 11
+Flint implements, 15, 20
+Fonts, 186
+Food in barrows, 24, 25
+Football, 277
+Force-pump, Roman, 68
+Frescoes, 234
+Friars, preaching, 161
+Future life, belief in, shown by barrows, 24
+
+G
+
+Gambassi, glass-painter, 232
+_Geburs_, 82
+Gentleman, accomplishments of a, 149
+Geological changes, 11-13
+Glaciers in Britain, 12
+Glass, stained, 230-3
+Glastonbury, pit dwellings at, 37, 41, 42
+Green, village, 8, 280
+Grims-dike, 54, 55
+Grosmont Castle, 141
+Guizot on castles, 141
+
+H
+
+Hagioscopes, 194
+Hall marks, 208
+Harvest homes, 275
+Hastings, battle of, 264
+Heart burial, 222
+Hedsor, pile dwellings at, 37, 38
+_Hereivard the Wake_, 264
+Hermits, 181
+Hexham church, 104
+  "    crosses, 99
+Highwaymen, 283
+Hocktide sports, 225, 273
+Homes of famous men, 298
+Hospitium of monastery, 169
+House, evolution of country, 172-7
+Hundreds, origin of, 87
+Hurstbourne, Hants, pit dwellings at, 34
+
+I
+
+Ice Age, 12, 13
+Iknield Street, 60
+Ilkley cross, 99
+Inigo Jones, 176
+Inns, 7, 282-90
+Inventories, 201
+Iron Age, 21
+  "    work in churches, 233
+_Itinerary_ of Antoninus, 59
+
+J
+
+Jervais, glass-painter, 232
+Johnson, Dr., on monasteries, 159
+
+K
+
+Keep of Norman castle, 137
+Kelvedon rectory, 179
+Kenilworth Castle, 151
+King's evil, 228
+Knaresborough hermitage, 182
+Knighthood, admission to, 145
+
+L
+
+Laindon reclusorium, 183
+Lammas lands, 79
+Lecterns, 191
+Legends, 44, 55, 263
+"Lepers' windows," 195
+Lich-gate, 242
+Local Government, 254
+Low side windows, 195
+
+M
+
+Manor-house, 172-7
+Manors, 79, 133
+Man-traps, 289
+Markets, 260
+May Day, 225, 273
+Mediaeval village, 254-70
+Menhir, 45
+"Merry England," 256
+Milestones, Roman, 61
+Miracle plays, 274
+_Misereres_, 191
+Monasteries, Saxon, 102
+  "    154-71
+  "    charity of, 159
+Monastic day, 166, 167
+  "    inns, 282
+Monks, benefits conferred by, 155
+  "    corruption of, 160
+Monstrances, 206
+Monumental effigies, 209-12
+Mothering Sunday, 273
+Mouldings, Decorated, 118, 120
+  "    Early English, 116
+  "    Norman, 112
+  "    Perpendicular, 123
+Mural paintings, 234-41
+
+N
+
+Neolithic man, 15, 18, 20, 37
+Norman architecture, 109-15
+  "    castles, 135-53
+  "    place-names, 132
+  "    villages, 125-34
+Normans, coming of, 125
+
+O
+
+Ockwells manor-house, 173
+Ogee arch, 118
+Organised condition of society among prehistoric races, 31
+Ornaments, Saxon, 91
+_Osculatorium_, 192
+Oxford, poor scholar of, 229
+
+P
+
+Pageants, 149-52
+Paleolithic man, 14
+Palimpsests, 213
+Parish chest, 218-29
+  "    registers, 218-23
+Paschall money, 225
+Pastimes, 271-81
+Pavements, Roman, 71, 72
+Pax, 192, 206
+Perpendicular architecture, 120
+Pews, 187
+_Piers Ploughman_, 165, 174, 181
+Pile dwellings, 37-43
+Pilgrimages, 259
+Piscina, 192
+Pit dwellings, 33-7
+Place-names, 76, 101
+Plague, 255-7
+Plate, church, 200-8
+  "    "    in bishop's coffin, 202
+Ploughman's lament, 84
+Plough Monday, 272
+Porch, 185
+"Pot-boilers," 36
+Pre-Reformation plate, 202-5
+Pulpits, 188
+Pytheas of Marseilles, 10
+Pyx, 191, 206
+
+Q
+
+Quintain, 277
+
+R
+
+Raglan Castle, 141
+Reading Abbey, 171
+Reading-pews, 197
+Reclusorium, 183
+  "    at Rettenden, 183
+Rectories, 177-81
+Registers, parish, 218-23
+Religion of Saxons, 93
+"Restoration," 199
+Rollright Stones, 46, 47
+Roman relics, 57-73
+  "    rig, 54
+  "    roads, 58-62
+  "    villas, 70-3
+Rood-loft, 188
+Royal arms in churches, 190
+Rural exodus, 300
+Rush-bearing, 276
+Ruthwell cross, 97
+Ryknield Street, 60
+
+S
+
+Sacring bell, 252
+St. Christopher, 238
+Salisbury Cathedral, 115
+Saltways, 61
+Sanctus bell, 252
+Saxon architecture, 106-9
+  "    house, 172
+  "    monasteries, 102
+  "    place-names, 76, 77
+  "    relics, 90-101
+Saxons, coming of, 74, 75
+Screens, 189
+Secret chambers, 177
+Settle, Victoria Cave at, 17
+Shires, origin of, 88
+Shrovetide sports, 273
+Signs of inns, 284-8
+Silchester, 54, 62-70
+Slavery under Saxons, 84
+Sluggard waker, 228
+Smoke farthings, 226
+_Socmen_, 83, 131
+Spenser's description of hermitage, 182
+Sports and pastimes, 271-81
+Stocks, 280
+Stonehenge, 46
+Stone monuments, 44-50
+Stourbridge Fair, 261
+Sudeley Castle, pageant at, 149-51
+Sun-worship, relics of, 27
+Superstitions, 44, 295
+Switzerland, pile dwellings in, 38-41
+
+T
+
+"Terraces," 19
+_Tesserae_, 65, 71
+Thanes, 80
+Thane's house, 81
+Thuribles, 205
+Tiles, 233
+Tournaments, 146-9
+Tudor arch, 121
+  "    houses, 175
+Tumuli, _see_ Barrows
+Turf monuments, 53, 54
+Twelfth Night, 272
+Tympana, Norman, 110
+
+U
+
+Uffington, 52-4
+Ufton Court, Berks, 176, 178
+
+V
+
+Vernicle, 201
+Vestry, contents of, 196
+Vicarages, 177-81
+Villas, Roman, 70-3
+Villeins, 130, 255
+
+W
+
+Wars, 262-70
+Watling Street, 60
+Wayland Smith's Cave, 27, 294
+Whalley cross, 96
+  "    reclusorium, 184
+White Castle, 141
+White Horse Hill, 53
+Whittenham Clumps, 52
+Wilfrid, St., 96, 104, 108, 230
+Witches, 291
+  "    turned into hares, 292
+Woollen, burials in, 220
+Worlebury, pit dwellings at, 34
+
+Y
+
+Yeomen, 83, 131
+Yew tree in churchyard, 241
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+This file should be named 7vilg10.txt or 7vilg10.zip
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7vilg11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7vilg10a.txt
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+
diff --git a/old/7vilg10.zip b/old/7vilg10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4f3c99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/7vilg10.zip
diff --git a/old/8vilg10.txt b/old/8vilg10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f0f9d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/8vilg10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8439 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+#2 in our series by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: English Villages
+
+Author: P. H. Ditchfield
+
+Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9197]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on September 15, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+ENGLISH VILLAGES
+
+BY
+
+P.H. DITCHFIELD
+M.A., F.S.A.
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+Eleven years ago my little book on the antiquities of English villages
+was published. Its object was to interest our rustic neighbours in
+their surroundings, to record the social life of the people at various
+times--their feasts and fairs, sports and pastimes, faiths and
+superstitions--and to describe the scenes which once took place in the
+fields and lanes they know so well. A friendly reviewer remarked that
+the wonder was that a book of that kind had never been written before,
+and that that was the first attempt to give a popular and readable
+sketch of the history and associations of our villages. In the present
+work I have attempted to fill in the sketch with greater detail, and to
+write not only for the villagers themselves, but for all those who by
+education are able to take a more intelligent interest in the study of
+the past.
+
+During the last decade many village histories have been written, and
+if this book should be of service to anyone who is compiling the
+chronicles of some rural world, or if it should induce some who have
+the necessary leisure and ability to undertake such works, it will not
+have been written in vain.
+
+One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+continual decrease of the population. The rural exodus is an alarming
+and very real danger to the welfare of social England. The country is
+considered dull and life therein dreary both by squire and peasant
+alike. Hence the attractions of towns or the delights of travel empty
+our villages. The manor-house is closed and labourers are scarce. To
+increase the attractions of our villages, to arouse an interest in
+their past history and social life, is worth attempting; and perhaps
+this Story may be of some use in fostering local patriotism, and in
+reconciling those who spend their lives far from the busy hives of men
+to their lot, when they find how much interest lies immediately around
+them.
+
+The study of archaeology has been pursued with much vigour during
+recent years, and increased knowledge has overthrown the many wild
+theories and conjectures which were gravely pronounced to be
+ascertained facts by the antiquaries of fifty years ago. Gildas,
+Geoffrey of Monmouth, or Richard of Cirencester are no longer accepted
+as safe and infallible guides. We know that there were such people as
+the Druids, but we no longer attribute to them the great stone circles
+nor imagine them sacrificing on "Druid's altars," as our forefathers
+called the dolmens. The history of Britain no longer begins with the
+advent of Julius Caesar, nor is his account of the Celtic tribes and
+their manners accepted as a full and complete statement of all that
+is known about them. The study of flint implements, of barrows and
+earthworks, has considerably thrown back our historical horizon and
+enabled us to understand the conditions of life in our island in the
+early days of a remote past before the dawn of history. The systematic
+excavation of Silchester, so ably conducted by the Society of
+Antiquaries, and of other Roman sites of towns and villas, enables us
+to realise more clearly the history of Britain under the rule of the
+Empire; and the study of the etymology of place-names has overthrown
+many of the absurd derivations which found a place in the old county
+histories, and are often repeated by the writers of modern guide books.
+Moreover patient labour amid old records, rolls, and charters, has
+vastly increased our knowledge of the history of manors; and the
+ancient parish registers and churchwardens' account books have been
+made to yield their store of information for the benefit of industrious
+students and scholars. There has been much destruction and much
+construction; and this good work will doubtless continue, until at
+length English archaeology may be dignified with the title of an exact
+science. Destruction of another kind is much to be deplored, which has
+left its mark on many an English village. The so-called "restoration"
+of ancient parish churches, frequently conducted by men ignorant of the
+best traditions of English architecture, the obliteration of the old
+architectural features, the entire destruction of many interesting
+buildings, have wrought deplorable ruin in our villages, and severed
+the links with the past which now can never be repaired. The progress
+of antiquarian knowledge will I trust arrest the destroyer's hand and
+prevent any further spoliation of our diminished inheritance. If this
+book should be found useful in stimulating an intelligent interest in
+architectural studies, and in protecting our ancient buildings from
+such acts of vandalism, its purpose will have been abundantly achieved.
+
+I am indebted to many friends and acquaintances for much information
+which has been useful to me in writing this book; to Sir John Evans
+whose works are invaluable to all students of ancient stone and bronze
+implements; to Dr. Cox whose little book on _How to Write the History
+of a Parish_ is a sure and certain guide to local historians; to Mr.
+St. John Hope and Mr. Fallow for much information contained in their
+valuable monograph on _Old Church Plate_; to the late Dr. Stevens, of
+Reading; to Mr. Shrubsole of the same town; to Mr. Gibbins, the author
+of _The Industrial History of England_, for the use of an illustration
+from his book; to Mr. Melville, Mr. P.J. Colson, and the Rev. W.
+Marshall for their photographic aid; and to many other authors who are
+only known to me by their valuable works. To all of these gentlemen I
+desire to express my thanks, and also to Mr. Mackintosh for his
+artistic sketch of a typical English village, which forms the
+frontispiece of my book.
+
+P.H.D.
+
+BARKHAM RECTORY
+_May_, 1901
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.     INTRODUCTION
+II.    PREHISTORIC REMAINS
+III.   TUMULI OR BARROWS
+IV.    PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS
+V.     CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS
+VI.    ROMAN RELICS
+VII.   ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
+VIII.  SAXON RELICS
+IX.    ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
+X.     NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE "DOMESDAY BOOK"
+XI.    NORMAN CASTLES
+XII.   MONASTERIES
+XIII.  THE MANOR-HOUSE
+XIV.   PARISH CHURCHES
+XV.    CHURCH PLATE
+XVI.   MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES
+XVII.  THE PARISH CHEST
+XVIII. STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS
+XIX.   CHURCH BELLS
+XX.    THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE
+XXI.   VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES
+XXII.  THE VILLAGE INN
+XXIII. VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
+
+       APPENDIX--BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO
+       PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+
+       INDEX
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+FULL-PAGE
+
+An English village
+Village street
+Palaeolithic implements
+Neolithic and bronze implements
+Old market cross
+Broughton Castle
+Netley Abbey, south transept
+Southcote Manor, showing moat and pigeon-house
+Old Manor-house--Upton Court
+Stone Tithe Barn, Bradford-on-Avon
+Village church in the Vale
+An ancient village
+Anne Hathaway's cottage
+Old stocks and whipping-post
+Village inn, with old Tithe Barn of Reading Abbey
+Old cottages
+
+IN THE TEXT
+
+Barbed and leaf-shaped arrow-heads
+Plan of a tumulus
+Plan of tumulus called Wayland Smith's Cave, Berkshire
+Celtic cinerary urn
+Articles found in pit dwellings
+Iron spear-head found at Hedsor
+Menhir
+Rollright stones (from Camden's _Britannia_, 1607)
+Dolmen
+Plan and section of Chun Castle
+The White Horse at Uffington
+Plan of Silchester
+Capital of column
+Roman force-pump
+Tesselated pavement
+Beating acorns for swine (from the Cotton MS., _Nero_, c. 4)
+House of Saxon thane
+Wheel plough (from the Bayeux tapestry)
+Smithy (from the Cotton MS., B 4)
+Saxon relics
+Consecration of a Saxon church
+Tower of Barnack Church, Northamptonshire
+Doorway, Earl's Barton Church
+Tower window, Monkwearmouth Church
+Sculptured head of doorway, Fordington Church, Dorset
+Norman capitals
+Norman ornamental mouldings
+Croyland Abbey Church, Lincolnshire
+Semi-Norman arch, Church of St. Cross
+Early English piers and capitals
+Dog-tooth ornament
+Brownsover Chapel, Warwickshire
+Ball-flower mouldings, Tewkesbury Abbey
+Ogee arch
+Decorated capitals, Hanwell and Chacombe
+Decorated windows, Merton College Chapel; Sandiacre, Derbyshire
+Decorated mouldings, Elton, Huntingdonshire; Austrey, Warwickshire
+Perpendicular window, Merton College Chapel, Oxford
+Tudor arch, vestry door, Adderbury Church, Oxon
+Perpendicular parapet, St. Erasmus' Chapel, Westminster Abbey
+Perpendicular moulding, window, Christchurch, Oxford
+Diagram of a manor
+Ancient plan of Old Sarum
+A Norman castle
+Tournament
+A monk transcribing
+Ockwells manor-house
+Richmond Palace
+Doorway and staircase, Ufton Court
+The porch, Ufton Court
+Window of south wing, Ufton Court
+Ancient pew-work, Tysoe Church, Warwickshire
+Early English screen, Thurcaston, Leicestershire
+Norman piscina, Romsey Church, Hants
+Lowside window, Dallington Church, Northamptonshire
+Reading-pew, seventeenth century, Langley Chapel, Salop.
+Chalice and paten, Sandford, Oxfordshire
+Pre-Reformation plate
+Censer or thurible
+Mural paintings
+Ancient sanctus bell found at Warwick
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+Local histories--Ignorance and destruction--Advantages of the study
+of village antiquities--Description of an English village--The church--
+The manor-house--Prehistoric people--Later inhabitants--Saxons--Village
+inn--Village green--Legends.
+
+
+To write a complete history of any village is one of the hardest literary
+labours which anyone can undertake. The soil is hard, and the crop after
+the expenditure of much toil is often very scanty. In many cases the
+records are few and difficult to discover, buried amidst the mass of
+papers at the Record Office, or entombed in some dusty corner of the
+Diocesan Registry. Days may be spent in searching for these treasures
+of knowledge with regard to the past history of a village without any
+adequate result; but sometimes fortune favours the industrious toiler,
+and he discovers a rich ore which rewards him for all his pains. Slowly
+his store of facts grows, and he is at last able to piece together the
+history of his little rural world, which time and the neglect of past
+generations had consigned to dusty oblivion.
+
+In recent years several village histories have been written with varied
+success by both competent and incompetent scribes; but such books are few
+in number, and we still have to deplore the fact that so little is known
+about the hamlets in which we live. All writers seem to join in the same
+lament, and mourn over the ignorance that prevails in rural England with
+regard to the treasures of antiquity, history, and folklore, which are to
+be found almost everywhere. We may still echo the words of the learned
+author of _Tom Brown's Schooldays_, the late Mr. Hughes, who said that
+the present generation know nothing of their own birthplaces, or of the
+lanes, woods, and fields through which they roam. Not one young man in
+twenty knows where to find the wood-sorrel, or the bee-orchis; still
+fewer can tell the country legends, the stories of the old gable-ended
+farmhouses, or the place where the last skirmish was fought in the Civil
+War, or where the parish butts stood. Nor is this ignorance confined to
+the unlearned rustics; it is shared by many educated people, who have
+travelled abroad and studied the history of Rome or Venice, Frankfort or
+Bruges, and yet pass by unheeded the rich stores of antiquarian lore,
+which they witness every day, and never think of examining closely and
+carefully. There are very few villages in England which have no objects
+of historical interest, no relics of the past which are worthy of
+preservation. "Restoration," falsely so called, conducted by ignorant
+or perverse architects, has destroyed and removed many features of our
+parish churches; the devastating plough has well-nigh levelled many an
+ancient barrow; railroads have changed the character of rustic life and
+killed many an old custom and rural festival. Old legends and quaint
+stories of the countryside have given place to talks about politics and
+newspaper gossip. But still much remains if we learn to examine things
+for ourselves, and endeavour to gather up the relics of the past and save
+them from the destructive hand of Time.
+
+A great service may thus be rendered not only to the cause of history,
+but also to the villagers of rural England, by those who have time,
+leisure, and learning, sufficient to gain some knowledge of bygone times.
+It adds greatly to the interest of their lives to know something of the
+place where they live; and it has been well said that every man's concern
+with his native place has something more in it than the amount of rates
+and taxes that he has to pay. He may not be able to write a history of
+his parish, but he can gather up the curious gossip of the neighbourhood,
+the traditions and stories which have been handed down from former
+generations. And if anyone is at the pains to acquire some knowledge of
+local history, and will impart what he knows to his poorer neighbours, he
+will add greatly to their interest in life. Life is a burden, labour mere
+drudgery, when a man has nothing in which he can interest himself. When
+we remember the long hours which an agricultural labourer spends alone,
+without a creature to speak to, except his horses or the birds, we can
+imagine how dull his life must be, if his mind be not occupied. But here,
+on his own ground, he may find an endless supply of food for thought,
+which will afford him much greater pleasure and satisfaction than
+thinking and talking about his neighbours' faults, reflecting upon his
+wrongs, or imitating the example of one of his class who, when asked
+by the squire what he was thinking so deeply about, replied, "Mostly
+naught." To remove the pall of ignorance that darkens the rustic mind,
+to quicken his understanding and awaken his interest, are certainly
+desirable objects; although his ignorance is very often shared by his
+betters, who frequently hazard very strange theories and manifest many
+curious ideas with regard to village antiquities.
+
+We will walk together through the main roads of the village, and observe
+some of its many points of interest. Indeed, it is no small thing to live
+in such a "city of memories" as every village is, when at every turn and
+corner we meet with something that reminds us of the past, and recalls
+the pleasing associations of old village life. To those who have lived
+amid the din and turmoil of a large town, where everybody is in a hurry,
+and there is nothing but noise, confusion, and bustle, the delicious
+calm and quietude of an old English village, undisturbed by the world's
+rude noise, is most grateful. But to live in memory of what has gone
+before, of the lives and customs of our forefathers, of the strange
+events that have happened on the very ground upon which we are standing,
+all this will make us love our village homes and delight in them
+exceedingly. In most of our large towns the old features are fast
+disappearing; historical houses have been pulled down to make room
+for buildings more adapted to present needs, and everything is being
+modernised; but in the country everything remains the same, and it is
+not so difficult to let one's thoughts wander into the past, and picture
+to one's self the old features of village life in bygone times.
+
+Most of our villages have the usual common features, and it is not
+difficult to describe a typical example, though the details vary very
+much, and the histories of no two villages are identical. We see arising
+above the trees the church, the centre of the old village life, both
+religious, secular, and social. It stands upon a site which has been
+consecrated to the service of God for many centuries. There is possibly
+in or near the churchyard a tumulus, or burial mound, which shows that
+the spot was set apart for some religious observances even before
+Christianity reached our shores. Here the early Saxon missionary planted
+his cross and preached in the open air to the gathered villagers. Here
+a Saxon thane built a rude timber church which was supplanted by an
+early Norman structure of stone with round arches and curiously carved
+ornamentation. This building has been added to at various times, and now
+shows, writ in stone, its strange and varied history. The old time-worn
+registers, kept in the parish chest in the vestry, breathe the
+atmosphere of bygone times, and tell the stories and romances of the
+"rude forefathers of the hamlet." The tombs and monuments of knights and
+ancient heroes tell many a tale of valour and old-world prowess, of
+families that have entirely died out, of others that still happily
+remain amongst us, and record the names and virtues of many an
+illustrious house. The windows, brasses, bells, and inscriptions, have
+all some interesting story to relate, which we hope presently to examine
+more minutely.
+
+Nestling amid the trees we see the manor-house, standing probably on the
+site of a much older edifice; and this building carries our thoughts back
+to the Saxon and early Norman times, when the lord of the manor had
+vassals and serfs under him, held his manorial court, and reigned as a
+king in his own small domain. The history of the old English manor is a
+very important one, concerning which much has been written, many
+questions disputed, and some points still remain to be decided.
+
+Then we notice an old farmhouse which has doubtless seen better days, for
+there are the remains of an ancient moat around it, as if some family of
+importance once lived there, and wished to guard themselves and their
+possessions from troublesome visitors. This moat tells of the times of
+war and lawlessness, of wild and fierce animals roaming the countryside;
+and if the walls of the old house could speak how many stories could they
+tell of the strange customs of our ancestors, of bread riots, of civil
+wars, and disturbances which once destroyed the tranquillity of our
+peaceful villages!
+
+We shall endeavour to discover the earliest inhabitants of our villages
+who left their traces behind in the curious stone and bronze weapons of
+war or domestic implements, and who lived in far remote periods before
+the dawn of history. The barrows, or tumuli, which contain their dead
+bodies tell us much about them; and also the caves and lake dwellings
+help us to form some very accurate notions of the conditions of life in
+those distant days. We shall see that the Britons or Celts were far from
+being the naked woad-dyed savages described by Caesar, whose account has
+so long been deemed sufficient by the historians of our childhood. We
+shall call to mind the many waves of invaders which rolled over our
+country--the Celts, the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans--all of whom
+have left some traces behind them, and added sundry chapters to the story
+of our villages.
+
+The fields too proclaim their story, and tell us of the Saxon folk who
+were our first farmers, and made clearings in the forests, and tilled the
+same soil we work to-day. They tell us too of the old monks who knew so
+much about agriculture; and occasionally the plough turns up a rusty
+sword or cannon ball, which reveals the story of battles and civil wars
+which we trust have passed away from our land for ever. The very names of
+the fields are not without signification, and tell us of animals which
+are now extinct, of the manners of our forefathers, of the old methods of
+farming, and the common lands which have passed away.
+
+The old village inn, with its curiously painted signboard, has its own
+story to tell, of the old coaching days, and of the great people who used
+to travel along the main roads, and were sometimes snowed up in a drift
+just below "The Magpie," which had always good accommodation for
+travellers, and stabling for fifty horses. All was activity in the stable
+yard when the coach came in; the villagers crowded round the inn doors to
+see the great folks from London who were regaling themselves with
+well-cooked English joints; and if they stayed all night, could find
+comfortable beds with lavender-scented sheets, and every attention. But
+the railroads and iron steeds have changed all that; until yesterday the
+roads were deserted, and the glory of the old inns departed. Bicyclists
+now speed along in the track of the old coaches; but they are not quite
+so picturesque, and the bicycle bell is less musical than the cheerful
+posthorn.
+
+On the summit of a neighbouring hill we see a curious formation which is
+probably an earthwork, constructed many centuries ago by the early
+dwellers in this district for the purpose of defence in dangerous times,
+when the approach of a neighbouring tribe, or the advance of a company of
+free-booting invaders, threatened them with death or the destruction of
+their flocks and herds. These earthworks we shall examine more closely.
+An ivy-covered ruin near the church shows the remains of a monastic cell
+or monastery; and in the distance perhaps we can see the outlines of an
+old Norman keep or castle; all of these relate to the story of our
+villages, and afford us subjects for investigation and research.
+
+Then there is the village green where so many generations of the
+villagers have disported themselves, danced the old country dances
+(now alas! forgotten), and reared the merry May-pole, and crowned
+their queen. Here they held their rural sports, and fought their bouts
+of quarter-staff and cudgel-play, grinned through horse-collars, and
+played pipe and tabor at many a rustic feast, when life was young and
+England merry. We shall try to picture to ourselves these happy scenes
+of innocent diversion which cheered the hearts of our forefathers in
+bygone times.
+
+[Illustration: A VILLAGE STREET]
+
+We will try to collect the curious legends and stories which were told to
+us by our grandsires, and are almost forgotten by the present generation.
+These we should treasure up, lest they should be for ever lost. Local
+tradition has often led the way to important discoveries.
+
+In this brief circuit of an ordinary English village we have found many
+objects which are calculated to excite our imagination and to stimulate
+inquiry. A closer examination will well repay our study, and reward the
+labour of the investigator. It is satisfactory to know that all possible
+discoveries as to the antiquities of our villages have not yet been made.
+We have still much to learn, and the earth has not yet disclosed all its
+treasures. Roman villas still remain buried; the sepulchres of many a
+Saxon chieftain or early nomad Celt are still unexplored; the pile
+dwellings and cave domiciles of the early inhabitants of our country have
+still to be discovered; and piles of records and historical documents
+have still to be sought out, arranged, and examined. So there is much
+work to be done by the antiquary for many a long year; and every little
+discovery, and the results of every patient research, assist in
+accumulating that store of knowledge which is gradually being compiled
+by the hard labour of our English historians and antiquaries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+PREHISTORIC REMAINS
+
+Pytheas of Marseilles--Discovery of flint implements--Geological
+changes--Palaeolithic man--Eslithic--Palaeolithic implements--
+Drift men--Cave men--Neolithic man and his weapons--Dolichocephalic--
+Celtic or Brachycephalic race--The Iron Age.
+
+
+It was customary some years ago to begin the history of any country with
+the statement, "Of the early inhabitants nothing is known with any
+certainty," and to commence the history of England with the landing of
+Julius Caesar B.C. 55. If this book had been written forty or fifty
+years ago it might have been stated that our first knowledge of Britain
+dates from 330 B.C. when Pytheas of Marseilles visited it, and described
+his impressions. He says that the climate was foggy, a characteristic
+which it has not altogether lost, that the people cultivated the ground
+and used beer and mead as beverages. Our villagers still follow the
+example of their ancestors in their use of one at least of these drinks.
+
+Of the history of all the ages prior to the advent of this Pytheas all
+written record is silent. Hence we have to play the part of scientific
+detectives, examine the footprints of the early man who inhabited our
+island, hunt for odds and ends which he has left behind, to rake over
+his kitchen middens, pick up his old tools, and even open his burial
+mound.
+
+About fifty years ago the attention of the scientific world was drawn to
+the flint implements which were scattered over the surface of our fields
+and in our gravel pits and mountain caves; and inquiring minds began
+to speculate as to their origin. The collections made at Amiens and
+Abbeville and other places began to convince men of the existence of an
+unknown and unimagined race, and it gradually dawned on us that on our
+moors and downs were the tombs of a race of men who fashioned their
+weapons of war and implements of peace out of flint. These discoveries
+have pushed back our knowledge of man to an antiquity formerly never
+dreamed of, and enlarged considerably our historical horizon. So we will
+endeavour to discover what kind of men they were, who roamed our fields
+and woods before any historical records were written, and mark the very
+considerable traces of their occupation which they have left behind.
+
+The condition of life and the character and climate of the country were
+very different in early times from what they are in the present day; and
+in endeavouring to discover the kind of people who dwelt here in
+prehistoric times, we must hear what the geologists have to tell us
+about the physical aspect of Britain in that period. There was a time
+when this country was connected with the Continent of Europe, and the
+English Channel and North Sea were mere valleys with rivers running
+through them fed by many streams. Where the North Sea now rolls there
+was the great valley of the Rhine; and as there were no ocean-waves to
+cross, animals and primitive man wandered northwards and westwards from
+the Continent, and made their abode here. It is curious to note that the
+migratory birds when returning to France and Italy, and thence to the
+sunny regions of Algiers and other parts of Northern Africa, always
+cross the seas where in remote ages there was dry land. They always
+traverse the same route; and it appears that the recollection of the
+places where their ancestors crossed has been preserved by them through
+all the centuries that have elapsed since "the silver streak" was formed
+that severs England from her neighbours.
+
+In the times of which we are speaking the land was much higher than it
+is now. Snowdon was 600 feet greater, and the climate was much colder
+and more rigorous. Glaciers like those in Switzerland were in all the
+higher valleys, and the marks of the action of the ice are still plainly
+seen on the rocky cliffs that border many a ravine. Moreover we find in
+the valleys many detached rocks, immense boulders, the nature of which
+is quite different from the character of the stone in the neighbourhood.
+These were carried down by the glaciers from higher elevations, and
+deposited, when the ice melted, in the lower valleys. Hence in this
+glacial period the condition of the country was very different from what
+it is now.
+
+Then a remarkable change took place. The land began to sink, and its
+elevation so much decreased that the central part of the country became
+a huge lake, and the peak of Snowdon was an island surrounded by the sea
+which washed with its waves the lofty shoulder of the mountain. This is
+the reason why shells and shingle are found in high elevations. The Ice
+Age passed away and the climate became warmer. The Gulf Stream found its
+way to our shores, and the country was covered by a warm ocean having
+islands raising their heads above the surface. Sharks swam around, whose
+teeth we find now buried in beds of clay. The land continued to rise,
+and attracted by the sunshine and the more genial clime animals from the
+Continent wandered northwards, and with them came man. Caves, now high
+amongst the hills, but then on a level with the rivers, were his first
+abode, and contain many relics of his occupancy, together with the bones
+of extinct animals. The land appears to have risen, and the climate
+became colder. The sea worked its relentless way through the chalk hills
+on the south and gradually met the waves of the North Sea which flowed
+over the old Rhine valley. It widened also the narrow strait that
+severed the country from Ireland, and the outline and contour of the
+island began more nearly to resemble that with which we are now
+familiar.
+
+A vast period of time was necessary to accomplish all these immense
+changes; and it is impossible to speculate with any degree of certainty
+how long that period was, which transformed the icebound surface of
+our island to a land of verdure and wild forests. We must leave such
+conjectures and the more detailed accounts of the glacial and
+post-glacial periods to the geologists, as our present concern is
+limited to the study of the habits and condition of the men who roamed
+our fields and forests in prehistoric times. Although no page of history
+gives us any information concerning them, we can find out from the
+relics of arms and implements which the earth has preserved for us, what
+manner of men lived in the old cave dwellings, or constructed their rude
+huts, and lie buried beneath the vast barrows.
+
+The earliest race of men who inhabited our island was called the
+Palaeolithic race, from the fact that they used the most ancient form
+of stone implements. Traces of a still earlier race are said to have
+been discovered a few years ago on the chalk plateau of the North Down,
+near Sevenoaks. The flints have some slight hollows in them, as if
+caused by scraping, and denote that the users must have been of a very
+low condition of intelligence--able to use a tool but scarcely able to
+make one. This race has been called the Eolithic; but some antiquaries
+have thrown doubts upon their existence, and the discovery of these
+flints is too recent to allow us to speak of them with any degree of
+certainty.
+
+[Illustration: PALAEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS]
+
+The traces of Palaeolithic man are very numerous, and he evidently
+exercised great skill in bringing his implements to a symmetrical shape
+by chipping. The use of metals for cutting purposes was entirely
+unknown; and stone, wood, and bone were the only materials of which
+these primitive beings availed themselves for the making of weapons or
+domestic implements. Palaeolithic man lived here during that distant
+period when this country was united with the Continent, and when the
+huge mammoth roamed in the wild forests, and powerful and fierce animals
+struggled for existence in the hills and vales of a cold and inclement
+country. His weapons and tools were of the rudest description, and made
+of chipped flint. Many of these have been found in the valley gravels,
+which had probably been dropped from canoes into the lakes or rivers, or
+washed down by floods from stations on the shore. Eighty or ninety feet
+above the present level of the Thames in the higher gravels are these
+relics found; and they are so abundant that the early inhabitants who
+used them must have been fairly numerous. Their shape is usually oval,
+and often pointed into a rude resemblance of the shape of a spear-head.
+Some flint-flakes are of the knifelike character; others resemble awls,
+or borers, with sharp points evidently for making holes in skins for the
+purpose of constructing a garment. Hammer-stones for crushing bones,
+tools with well-wrought flat edges, scrapers, and other implements, were
+the stock-in-trade of the earliest inhabitant of our country, and are
+distinguishable from those used by Neolithic man by their larger and
+rougher work. The maker of the old stone tools never polished his
+implements; nor did he fashion any of those finely wrought arrowheads
+and javelin points, upon which his successor prided himself. The latter
+discovered that the flints which were dug up were more easily fashioned
+into various shapes; whereas Palaeolithic man picked up the flints that
+lay about on the surface of the ground, and chipped them into the form
+of his rude tools. However, the elder man was acquainted with the use
+of fire, which he probably obtained by striking flints on blocks of
+iron pyrites. Wandering about the country in families and tribes, he
+contrived to exist by hunting the numerous animals that inhabited the
+primeval forests, and has left us his weapons and tools to tell us what
+kind of man he was. His implements are found in the drift gravels by
+the riversides; and from this cause his race are known as drift men,
+in order to distinguish them from the _cave men_, who seem to have
+belonged to a little later period.
+
+The first dwellings of man were the caves on the hillsides, before he
+found out the art of building pile huts. In Palaeolithic times these
+caves were inhabited by a rude race of feral nomads who lived by the
+chase, and fashioned the rude tools which we have already described.
+They were, however, superior to the drift men, and had some notion of
+art. The principal caves in the British islands containing the relics of
+the cave folk are the following: Perthichoaren, Denbighshire, wherein
+were found the remains of Platycnemic man--so named from his having
+sharp shin-bones; Cefn, St. Asaph; Uphill, Somerset; King's Scar and the
+Victoria Cave, Settle; Robin Hood's Cave and Pinhole Cave, Derbyshire;
+Black Rock, Caldy Island, Coygan Caves, Pembrokeshire; King Arthur's
+Cave, Monmouth; Durdham Downs, Bristol; and sundry others, near Oban, in
+the valleys of the Trent, Dove, and Nore, and of the Irish Blackwater,
+and in Caithness.
+
+In these abodes the bones of both men and animals have been found; but
+these do not all belong to the same period, as the Neolithic people,
+and those of the Bronze and Iron Ages, followed the occupation of the
+earlier race. The remains of the different races, however, lie at
+various depths, those of the earlier race naturally lying the lowest. An
+examination of the Victoria Cave, Settle, clearly shows this. Outside
+the entrance there was found a layer of charcoal and burnt bones, and
+the burnt stones of fireplaces, pottery, coins of the Emperors Trajan
+and Constantine, and ornaments in bone, ivory, bronze and enamel. The
+animal remains were those of the _bos longifrons_ (Celtic ox), pig,
+horse, roe, stag, fowl (wild), and grouse. This layer was evidently
+composed of the relics of a Romano-British people. Below this were found
+chipped flints, an adze of melaphyre, and a layer of boulders, sand, and
+clay, brought down by the ice from the higher valley.
+
+Inside the cave in the upper cave earth were found the bones of fox,
+badger, brown bear, grizzly bear, reindeer, red deer, horse, pig, and
+goat, and some bones evidently hacked by man. In the lower cave earth
+there were the remains of the hyena, fox, brown and grizzly bears,
+elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, urus, bison, and red deer, the
+hacked bones of a goat, and a small leg-bone of a man.
+
+Some idea of the time which has elapsed since primitive man inhabited
+this rude dwelling may be formed from these excavations. Two feet below
+the surface lay the Romano-British layer, and we know therefore that
+about 1,600 years was required for the earth to accumulate to that
+depth. The Neolithic layer was six feet below this; hence 4,800 years
+would be necessary to form this depth of earth. So we may conclude that
+at least 6,400 years ago Neolithic man used the cave. A long time
+previous to this lived the creatures of the lower cave earth, the bison,
+elephant, and the hyena with the solitary human bone, which belonged to
+the sharp-shinned race (Platycnemic) of beings, the earliest dwellers in
+our country.
+
+It is doubtful whether Palaeolithic man has left any descendants. The
+Esquimaux appear to somewhat resemble them. Professor Boyd Dawkins, in
+his remarkable book, _Cave Hunting_, traces this relationship in the
+character of implements, methods of obtaining food and cooking it, modes
+of preparing skins for clothing, and particularly in the remarkable
+skill of depicting figures on bone which both races display. In carving
+figures on bone and teeth early man in Britain was certainly more
+skilful than his successor; but he was a very inferior type of the human
+race, yet his intelligence and mode of life have been deemed not lower
+than those of the Australian aborigines.
+
+The animals which roamed through the country in this Pleistocene period
+were the elk and reindeer, which link us on to the older and colder
+period when Arctic conditions prevailed; the Irish deer, a creature of
+great size whose head weighed about eighty pounds; bison, elephant,
+rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lion, wolf, otter, bear, horse, red deer, roe,
+urus or gigantic ox, the short-horned ox (_bos longifrons_), boar,
+badger and many others which survive to the present day, and have
+therefore a very long line of ancestors.
+
+The successor of the old stone implement maker was Neolithic man, to
+whom we have already had occasion to refer. Some lengthy period of
+geological change separates him from his predecessor of the Old Stone
+Age. Specimens of his handiwork show that he was a much more civilised
+person than his predecessor, and presented a much higher type of
+humanity. He had a peculiarly shaped head, the back part of the skull
+being strangely prolonged; and from this feature he is called
+_dolichocephalic_. He was small in stature, about 5 feet 6 inches in
+height, having a dark complexion, and his descendants are the Iberian or
+Basque races in the Western Pyrenees and may still be traced in parts of
+Ireland and Wales. The long barrows or mounds, the length of which is
+greater than the breadth, contain his remains, and we find traces of his
+existence in all the western countries of Europe.
+
+He had made many discoveries which were unknown to his Old Stone
+predecessor. Instead of always hunting for his food, like an animal, he
+found out that the earth would give him corn with which he could make
+bread, if only he took the trouble to cultivate it. Instead of always
+slaying animals, he found that some were quite ready to be his servants,
+and give him milk and wool and food. He brought with him to our shores
+cows and sheep and goats, horses and dogs. Moreover he made pottery,
+moulding the clay with his hand, and baking it in a fire. He had not
+discovered the advantages of a kiln. He could spin thread, and weave
+stuffs, though he usually wore garments of skins.
+
+His dwellings were no longer the caves and forests, for he made for
+himself rude pit huts, and surrounded himself, his tribe, and cattle
+with a circular camp. Traces of his agricultural operations may still be
+found in the "terraces," or strips of ground on hillsides, which
+preserve the marks of our early Neolithic farmers.
+
+[Illustration: BARBED AND LEAF-SHAPED ARROW-HEADS]
+
+Their implements are far superior to those of the Old Stone men, and are
+found on the surface of our fields, or on hillsides, where they tended
+their flocks, or dug their rude pit shelters. Their weapons and tools
+are highly polished, and have evidently been ground on a grindstone.
+They are adapted for an endless variety of uses, and are most skilfully
+and beautifully fashioned. There are finely wrought arrowheads, of three
+shapes--barbed, tanged and barbed, and leaf-shaped; axes, scrapers for
+cleansing and preparing skins for clothing, hammer stones, wedges,
+drills, borers, knives, and many other tools. In the Reading Museum may
+be seen a heavy quartzite axe and chipped flint hatchet, which were
+found with some charred timber on an island in the Thames, and were
+evidently used for scooping out the interior of a boat from a tree with
+the aid of fire. So this New Stone man knew how to make boats as well as
+a vast number of other things of which we shall presently speak more
+particularly. His descendants linger on in South Wales and Ireland, and
+are short in stature, dark in complexion, and narrow-skulled, like their
+forefathers a few thousand years ago.
+
+[Illustration: NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE IMPLEMENTS]
+
+Another wave of invaders swept over our land, and overcame the
+long-headed Neolithic race. These were the Celtic people, taller and
+stronger than their predecessors, and distinguished by their fair hair
+and rounded skulls. From the shape of their heads they are called
+Brachycephalic, and are believed to have belonged to the original Aryan
+race, whose birthplace was Southern Asia. At some remote period this
+wave of invaders poured over Europe and Asia, and has left traces behind
+it in the languages of all Indo-European nations.
+
+Their weapons were made of bronze, although they still used polished
+stone implements also. We find chisels, daggers, rings, buttons, and
+spear-heads, all made of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, and
+fashioned by the skilled hands of these early Celtic folk. As they
+became more civilised, being of an inventive mind, they discovered the
+use of iron and found it a more convenient metal for fashioning axes to
+cut down trees.
+
+When Caesar came to Britain he found that the inhabitants knew the use
+of iron, even the less civilised early Celtic settlers driven northwards
+and westwards by the Belgae, had iron weapons, and the wild Caledonians
+in the time of Severus, although they were naked, woad-dyed savages,
+wore iron collars and girdles and were armed with metal weapons.
+
+Such are some of the relics of antiquity which the soil of our native
+land retains, as a memorial of the primitive people who first trod upon
+it. Concerning their lives and records history is silent, until the
+Conqueror tells us something of our Celtic forefathers. From the scanty
+remains of prehistoric races, their weapons and tools, we can gather
+something of the earliest inhabitants of our island, and try to realise
+their habits and mode of life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TUMULI OR BARROWS
+
+Barrows near churchyards--Their universality--Contents--Food in
+barrows--Curious burial customs--Belief in future life--Long and
+round barrows--Interior of barrow--Position of bodies--Cremation--
+Burial urns--Articles of dress and ornament--Artistic workmanship--
+Pottery--Remains of agriculture--Organised condition of society
+among prehistoric people.
+
+
+Throughout the country we find many artificial mounds which are called
+_tumuli_ or barrows, or in the neighbourhood of Wales, "tumps." These
+are the ancient burial-places of the early inhabitants of our island,
+the word "barrow" being derived from the Anglo-Saxon _beorh_, a hill or
+grave-mound. It is not unusual to see a barrow in the centre, or near,
+an old churchyard, as at Taplow, Bucks. The church was built, of course,
+much later than the erection of the mound; but doubtless the early
+preachers of the gospel took advantage of the reverence which was paid
+to these ancient tombs, proclaimed there the story of the cross, and on
+the spots so consecrated churches were ultimately built.
+
+These mounds have much to tell us of the early inhabitants. To cover the
+dead with a mound of earth was a custom common to all nations. All over
+Europe, in Northern Asia, India, and in the new world of America, we
+find burial-mounds. The pyramids of Egypt are only glorified mounds; and
+our islands can boast of an endless variety, sometimes consisting of
+cairns, or heaps of stones, sometimes of huge hills of earth, 130 feet
+in height, as at Silbury, Wilts, and covering five acres; while others
+are only small heaps of soil a few feet high.
+
+The contents of the tumuli differ also. Sometimes the bodies were burnt
+and the ashes preserved in rude urns; sometimes they were not cremated.
+Sometimes they were buried in stone cists, or in the hollowed trunk of
+trees; sometimes without any covering save that of the earth. In nearly
+all cases we find numerous articles buried with the dead, such as
+personal ornaments, weapons, pottery, and food.
+
+The presence of food in the tumuli testifies to the natural instinct
+implanted by the Creator in the human heart with regard to a future
+existence. The idea that the soul of the departed is about to take a
+long journey is constant and deeply rooted; the rainbow and the milky
+way have often been supposed to be the paths trod by the departed, who
+require sustenance for so long a journey. The Aztecs laid a water-bottle
+beside the bodies to be used on the way to Mictlan, the land of the
+dead. Bow and arrows, a pair of mocassins with a spare piece of deerskin
+to patch them if they wear out, and sinews of deer to sew on the patches
+with, together with a kettle and provisions, are still placed in the
+graves by the North American Indians. The Laplanders lay beside the
+corpse flint, steel, and tinder, to supply light for the dark journey. A
+coin was placed in the mouth of the dead by the Greeks to pay Charon,
+the ferryman of the Styx, and for a similar purpose in the hand of a
+deceased Irishman. The Greenlanders bury with a child a dog, for they
+say a dog will find his way anywhere. In the grave of the Viking warrior
+were buried his horn and armour in order that he might enter the halls
+of Valhalla fully equipped.
+
+These and many other examples might be quoted showing the universality
+of the belief in a future life, a belief that was evidently shared with
+other nations by the primeval races who inhabited our islands in
+prehistoric times.
+
+The presence of food and drinking vessels in the tumuli clearly shows
+this, and also the store of weapons and implements, adzes, hammers,
+scrapers, and other tools which the barrows have preserved through so
+many ages.
+
+These barrows are not confined to one period or one race, as their shape
+denotes. Some are long, measuring 200 to 400 feet in length by 60 or 80
+feet wide; others are circular. The former were made by the long-headed
+(dolichocephalic) race of whom we have already spoken; the latter by the
+round-headed (brachycephalic), conquerors of their feebler long-skulled
+forerunners. When we consider the poor tools used by these primitive
+peoples, we may wonder at the amount of labour they must have expended
+on the construction of these giant mounds. Picks made of deer's horns
+and pointed staves enabled them to loosen the earth which was then
+collected in baskets and thrown on the rising heap. Countless toilers
+and many years must have been needed to produce such wonderful memorials
+of their industry.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF A TUMULUS]
+
+With better tools we will proceed to dig into these mounds and discover
+what they contain. First we notice an encircling trench and mound
+surrounding the barrow, the purpose of which is supposed to have been to
+keep the dead person in the tomb, and prevent it from injuring the
+living. After much digging in the centre of the barrow we find a single
+stone chamber, entered by a passage underneath the higher and wider end
+of the mound. Sometimes the chamber is divided into three parts, the
+centre one being covered by a dome, formed by the overlapping of the
+stones in the upper parts of the walls. The passage leading to the
+centre chamber is also built with large stones erected with much care
+and skill. The contents of these long barrows are not so interesting, or
+numerous, as those contained in the round barrows. The skeletons are
+usually found in irregular positions, and few weapons or ornaments
+accompany the buried bones. Derbyshire possesses many barrows; wherever
+in a place-name the suffix _low_ occurs, derived from the Anglo-Saxon
+_hlow_, signifying a small hill or mound, a barrow is generally to be
+found. The long barrow is usually about 200 feet in length, 40 feet
+wide, and 8 to 12 feet high. They run east and west, frequently
+north-east by south-west, the principal interment being usually at the
+eastern and higher end. The bodies are often found in a cist or box made
+of large stones, and several were buried in one mound, generally on the
+south and east sides, so that they might lie in the sun. This practice
+may have been connected with sun-worship; and the same idea prevailed in
+modern times, when the south side of the churchyard was considered the
+favoured portion, and criminals and suicides were relegated to the
+colder north side.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF TUMULUS CALLED WAYLAND SMITH'S CAVE, BERKSHIRE]
+
+The position of the bodies varied, but usually they were buried in a
+crouching position, with knees bent and head drawn towards the knees.
+This was probably the natural position which a man would assume when he
+slept without a luxurious bed to lie upon, and with little to cover him,
+in order to keep himself as warm as possible. Hence when he sank into
+his last long sleep, his mourning relatives would place him in the same
+posture. In the Channel Islands bodies were often placed in a kneeling
+position.
+
+The custom of burning the body seems to have been adopted later by the
+same long-headed race who used the long barrows, and prevailed more in
+the north of England, in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Scotland, than in
+the south. The cremation was sometimes not very thoroughly performed.
+The bodies were placed together, wood being piled about them, and over
+the heap the mound was raised. Then the fire was lighted, which
+naturally only partly consumed the bodies. We find also, mingled with
+bones of men and women, the bones of animals, which were probably the
+remains of funeral feasts.
+
+As we have said the round-headed race introduced the circular barrow,
+and cremation was their usual, though not exclusive, practice. These
+people were much stronger and bigger men than their predecessors, their
+powerful jaws and projecting chins showing much more power of will than
+the softer narrow-faced dolichocephalic race. However, in the round
+barrows we also find the bodies of the latter, and we gather that they
+were not exterminated or driven out by their conquerors, but mingled
+with them, intermarried, until at length the type of the long-skulled
+race prevailed, and the Celt of later times possessed the features of
+the race he had formerly subdued. At least such seems to be the teaching
+of the barrows.
+
+The Celt became acquainted with the use of bronze, and his tomb was
+enriched with a store of the relics of the life and art of the
+workmanship of the time. As cremation was the usual practice, it was no
+longer necessary to have a chamber which the dead might inhabit; the
+size of the sleeping-place of the dead was reduced, and a cist was
+constructed for the receptacle of the urn in which the remains were
+placed. The mound also was reduced in size and looked much less imposing
+than the huge barrows of the Stone Age; but its contents were much more
+important.
+
+The ashes we find frequently contained in a rude urn of black pottery
+with some ornamentation. Then we discover pins made of bones, which were
+evidently used to fasten the dress. The people therefore were evidently
+not naked, woad-dyed savages; moreover we find bits of woollen fabric
+and charred cloth, and in Denmark people belonging to this same early
+race were buried in a cap, shirt, leggings, and boots, a fairly complete
+wardrobe. They also loved to adorn themselves, and had buttons of jet,
+and stone and bone ornaments. Besides flint implements we find adzes and
+hatchets and chisels, axe-hammers constructed with a hole in them for
+the insertion of a handle, grain rubbers, wheat stones, and hammer
+stones. The mounds also disclose a great variety of flint implements,
+hatchets, scrapers, both round and long, knife-daggers, knives, saws,
+drills, fabricators or flaking tools, sling stones, hammer stones,
+polishers, arrow-points, either leaf-shaped, triangular, or barbed, and
+heads of darts and javelins. A very curious object is sometimes found, a
+stone wrist guard, for the purpose of protecting the wrist from the bow
+string.
+
+These barrows and their contents bear evidences to the artistic
+workmanship of the prehistoric dwellers in our villages. Their tombs
+show that these people did not confine themselves to the fabrication of
+objects of utility, but that they loved to adorn themselves with
+personal ornaments, which required much art and skill in the
+manufacture. Necklaces of beads pleased their fancy, and these they made
+of jet, or shells, the teeth of deer, and the vertebrae of fish.
+Moreover they loved ear-rings, which were sometimes made of the teeth of
+pigs. Objects of gold, bronze, glass, ivory, amber, clay, and bone were
+also used as ornaments.
+
+[Illustration: CELTIC CINERARY URN]
+
+If we examine the pottery in the barrows we find that a vessel of
+earthenware was usually placed at the back of the head of the body when
+it was not cremated. There were also cinerary urns, cups, usually called
+incense cups, which were certainly not used for incense, whatever may
+have been their purpose, food and drinking vessels. This pottery was not
+sun-dried, but burnt in a fire, though not made in a kiln, and the form
+of the vessels shows that the makers were ignorant of the use of a
+potter's wheel. The ornamentation consisted of a series of straight
+lines made by a sharp-pointed instrument and by impressions of the
+finger nails or string, often revealing much skill and artistic
+workmanship.
+
+From a study of the barrows we may learn much about the early inhabitants
+of our island, who lived and worked and died on the same spots where we
+now are spending our days. We can see them hunting in the wild woodlands,
+rearing cows and sheep and goats, and cultivating their crops of corn.
+We can still trace on the hillsides some curious terraces fashioned by
+them for the growing of their grain, and discover querns, or hand
+millstones, and stones for bruising the corn. The bones of young
+oxen a few days old, discovered in the mounds, show that they knew the
+use of milk, and how to get a good supply. A rude spindle-whorl shows
+that they knew how to weave stuffs for their clothing, and the numerous
+buttons, fasteners, and belts prove that the clothes were fitted to the
+wearer, and not mere shapeless sacks.
+
+The barrows also bear evidence to the existence of some organised
+condition of society. In the early savage state of human existence
+the family is the only community; but as man progressed towards
+civilisation, he learnt how to combine with his fellows for mutual
+defence and support. We gather from our examination of the tombs of
+these early races that they had attained to this degree of progress.
+There were chiefs of tribes and families who were buried with more
+honour than that bestowed upon the humbler folk. Many families were
+buried in one mound, showing that the tribal state had been reached,
+while the many humbler graves denote the condition of servitude and
+dependence in which a large number of the race lived. All this, and
+much more, may be learnt from a careful study of the tombs of these
+prehistoric people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS
+
+Pit dwelling earliest form of house-building--Discoveries at
+Bright-hampton, Worlebury--British oppida--Hurstbourne--Contents of
+pit dwelling--Pot-boilers--Condition of civilisation--Pile dwellings--
+Switzerland--Glastonbury--Hedsor--Crannogs--Modern use of pile
+dwellings--Description of a lake dwelling--Contents--Bronze Age--
+Recent discoveries at Glastonbury.
+
+
+We have examined in our last chapter the abodes of the dead; we will
+now investigate the abodes of the living which the earth has preserved
+for us for so many centuries. The age of the cave dwellers had long
+passed; and the prehistoric folk, having attained to some degree of
+civilisation, began to devise for themselves some secure retreats from
+inclement rains and cold winds. Perhaps the burrowing rabbit gave them
+an idea for providing some dwelling-place. At any rate the earliest and
+simplest notion for constructing a habitation was that of digging holes
+in the ground and roofing them over with a light thatch. Hence we have
+the pit dwellings of our rude forefathers.
+
+Many examples of pit dwellings have been found by industrious explorers.
+Some labourers when digging gravel at Brighthampton, near Oxford, came
+across several such excavations. They were simply pits dug in the earth,
+large enough to hold one or two persons, and from the sides of these
+pits a certain quantity of earth had been removed so as to form a seat.
+At the bottom of these a few rude flint arrow-heads were found. In the
+remarkable British oppidum at Worlebury, near Weston-super-Mare, several
+circular, well-like pits may be seen, fairly preserved in shape owing to
+the rocky nature of the ground in which they have been excavated. One in
+particular is very perfect, and about two feet from the bottom is a seat
+formed of the rock extending all round the pit.
+
+These ancient pit dwellings are usually surrounded by an earthen
+rampart. Caesar says that "the Britons called that a town where they
+used to assemble for the sake of avoiding an incursion of enemies, when
+they had fortified the entangled woods with a rampart and ditch." The
+remains of many of these oppida may still be seen in almost all parts of
+the country; and in most of these hollows are plainly distinguishable,
+which doubtless were pit dwellings; but owing to the sides having fallen
+in, they have now the appearance of natural hollows in the earth.
+
+At Hurstbourne, Hants, nine of these early habitations were discovered
+by the late Dr. Stevens, some of which were rudely pitched with flint
+stones, and had passages leading into the pit. A few flints irregularly
+placed together with wood ashes showed the position of the hearths,
+where cooking operations had been carried on. The sloping
+entrance-passages are peculiar and almost unique in England, though
+several have been met with in France. A rude ladder was the usual mode
+of entrance into these underground dwellings. Fragments of hand-made
+British pottery and the commoner kinds of Romano-British ware were
+found, and portions of mealing stones and also a saddle-quern, or
+grain-crusher, which instruments for hand-mealing must have been in
+common use among the pit dwellers. The grain was probably prepared by
+parching it before crushing; the hollow understone prevented the grain
+from escaping; and the muller was so shaped as to render it easily
+grasped, while it was pushed backwards and forwards by the hands.
+Similar stones are used at the present time by the African natives, as
+travellers testify.
+
+[Illustration: ARTICLES FOUND IN PIT DWELLINGS
+(1) Knife of deer-antler
+(2) Bone needle
+(3) Marrow scoop
+(4, 5) Bone awls]
+
+One of the pits at Hurstbourne was evidently a cooking-hole, where the
+pit dwellers prepared their feasts, and bones of the Celtic ox (_bos
+longifrons_), pig, red deer, goat, dog, and hare or rabbit were found
+near it. One of the bones had evidently been bitten by teeth. The pit
+dwellers also practised some domestic industries, as Dr. Stevens found a
+needle, an awl or bodkin, and fragments of pointed bone, probably used
+for sewing skins together. A rude spindle-whorl shows that they knew
+something of weaving, and two bored stones were evidently buttons or
+dress-fasteners. A large supply of flint implements, scrapers, and
+arrow-heads, proves that the dwellings were inhabited by the Neolithic
+people before the Britons came to occupy them. I must not omit to notice
+the heating stones, or "pot-boilers." These were heated in the fire, and
+then placed among the meat intended to be cooked, in a hole in the
+ground which served the purpose of a cooking pot. I have found many such
+stones in Berkshire, notably from the neighbourhood of Wallingford and
+Long Wittenham. The writer of the _Early History of Mankind_ states that
+the Assineboins, or stone-boilers, dig a hole in the ground, take a
+piece of raw hide, and press it down to the sides of the hole, and fill
+it with water; this is called a "paunch-kettle"; then they make a number
+of stones red-hot in a fire close by, the meat is put into the water,
+and the hot stones dropped in until it is cooked. The South Sea
+Islanders have similar primitive methods of cooking. The Highlanders
+used to prepare the feasts of their clans in much the same way; and the
+modern gipsies adopt a not very dissimilar mode of cooking their stolen
+fowls and hedgehogs.
+
+We can now people these cheerless primitive pit dwellings with their
+ancient inhabitants, and understand something of their manners of life
+and customs. Their rude abodes had probably cone-shaped roofs made of
+rafters lashed together at the centre, protected by an outside coat of
+peat, sods of turf, or rushes. The spindle-whorl is evidence that they
+could spin thread; the mealing stones show that they knew how to
+cultivate corn; and the bones of the animals found in their dwellings
+testify to the fact that they were not in the wild state of primitive
+hunters, but possessed herds of cows and goats and other domestic
+animals.
+
+Who were these people? Mr. Boyd Dawkins is of opinion that the early pit
+dwellers belonged to the Neolithic folk of whom I have already told you,
+as the flint implements testify. But these dwellings were evidently
+occupied by a later people. The querns and spindle-whorl probably
+belonged to the Celts, or Britons, before the advent of the Roman
+legions; and that these people were the inhabitants of the Hampshire pit
+dwellings is proved by the presence of a British gold coin which is
+recognised by numismatists as an imitation of the Greek stater of Philip
+II. of Macedon. According to Sir John Evans, the native British coinage
+was in existence as early as 150 years before Christ. Hence to this
+period we may assign the date of the existence of these Celtic primitive
+habitations.
+
+Pit dwellings were not the only kind of habitations which the early
+inhabitants of our country used, and some of our villages possess
+constructions of remarkable interest, which recent industrious digging
+has disclosed. These are none other than lake dwellings, similar to
+those first discovered in Switzerland about fifty years ago. Few of our
+villages can boast of such relics of antiquity. Near Glastonbury, in
+1892, in a dried-up ancient mere a lake village was discovered, which I
+will describe presently; and recently at Hedsor in Buckinghamshire a
+pile dwelling has been found which some learned antiquaries are now
+examining. In Ireland and Scotland there are found the remains of
+fortified dwellings called Crannogs in some of the lakes, as in Dowalton
+Loch, Wigtownshire, and Cloonfinlough in Connaught, but these belong to
+later times and were used in the Middle Ages.
+
+[Illustration: IRON SPEAR-HEAD FOUND AT HEDSOR]
+
+In primitive times, when tribe warred with tribe, and every man's hand
+was against his fellow-man, and when wild and savage beasts roamed o'er
+moor and woodland, security was the one thing most desired by the early
+inhabitants of Europe. Hence they conceived the brilliant notion of
+constructing dwellings built on piles in the midst of lakes or rivers,
+where they might live in peace and safety, and secure themselves from
+the sudden attack of their enemies, or the ravages of beasts of prey.
+Switzerland is famous for its numerous clusters, or villages, of ancient
+lake dwellings, which were of considerable size. At Morges, on the Lake
+of Geneva, the settlement of huts extends 1,200 feet long by 150 in
+breadth; and that at Sutz on the Lake of Bienne covers six acres, and is
+connected with the shore by a gangway 100 feet long and 40 feet wide.
+Nor is the use of these habitations entirely abandoned at the present
+time. Venezuela, which means "little Venice," derives its name from the
+Indian village composed of pile dwellings on the shores of the Gulf of
+Maracaibo, as its original explorer Alonzo de Ojeda in 1499 chose to
+compare the sea-protected huts with the queen city of the Adriatic; and
+in many parts of South America, in the estuaries of the Orinoco and
+Amazon, such dwellings are still found, also among the Dyaks of Borneo,
+in the Caroline Islands, and on the Gold Coast of Africa. Herodotus
+describes similar dwellings on the Lake Prasias, existing in the fifth
+century B.C., and Lord Avebury states that now the Roumelian fishermen
+on the same lake "inhabit wooden cottages built over the water as in the
+time of Herodotus."
+
+These habitations of primitive man were built on piles driven into the
+bed of the lake or river. These piles were stems, or trunks of trees,
+sharpened with stone or bronze tools. A rude platform was erected on
+these piles, and on this a wooden hut constructed with walls of wattle
+and daub, and thatched with reeds or rushes. A bridge built on piles
+connected the lake village with the shore whither the dwellers used to
+go to cultivate their wheat, barley, and flax, and feed their kine and
+sheep and goats. They made canoes out of hollow trunks of trees. One of
+these canoes which have been discovered is 43 feet in length and over 4
+feet wide. The beams supporting the platform, on which the huts were
+erected, were fastened by wooden pins. Much ingenuity was exercised in
+the making of these dwellings. Sometimes they found that the mud of the
+lake was too soft to hold the piles; so they fashioned a framework of
+trunks of trees, which they let down to the bottom of the lake, and
+fastened the upright piles to it. Sometimes the rocky bed of the lake
+prevented the piles from being driven into it; so they heaped stones
+around the piles, and thus made them secure. The lake dwellers were very
+sociable, and had only one common platform for all the huts, which were
+clustered together. As all the actual dwellings have been destroyed by
+time's rude action, it is impossible to describe them accurately; but
+their usual size was about 20 feet by 12 feet. The floor was of clay,
+and in the centre of the building there was a hearth made of slabs of
+stone.
+
+The people who inhabited these structures belonged either to the later
+Stone Age, or the Bronze Age, as we learn from the relics which their
+huts disclose. In the earlier ones are found celts, flint flakes,
+arrow-heads, harpoons of stag's horn with barbs, awls, needles, chisels,
+and fish-hooks made of bone, and sometimes wooden combs, and skates made
+out of the leg-bone of a horse. Besides the remains of the usual
+domestic animals we find bones of the beaver, bear, elk, and bison.
+
+When the use of bronze was discovered the people still lived on in their
+lake dwellings. Fire often played havoc with the wooden wattle walls;
+hence we frequently find a succession of platforms. The first dwelling
+having been destroyed by flames, a second one was subsequently
+constructed; and this having shared the same fate, another platform with
+improved huts was raised upon the ruins of its predecessors. The relics
+of each habitation show that, as time went on, the pit dwellers advanced
+in civilisation, and increased the comforts and conveniences of life.
+
+Some of the dwellings of these early peoples belong to the Bronze Age,
+as do those of the Auvernier settlement in the Lake of Neuchatel; and
+these huts are rich in the relics of their former inhabitants. At Marin
+on the same lake the lake dwellers were evidently workers in iron; and
+the relics, which contain large spear-heads, shields, horse furniture,
+fibulas, and other ornaments, together with Roman coins, prove that they
+belonged to the period of which history tells us.
+
+I have described at length these Swiss lake dwellings, although they do
+not belong to the antiquities of our villages in England, because much
+the same kind of habitations existed in our country, though few have
+as yet been unearthed. Possibly under the peaty soil of some ancient
+river-bed, or old mere, long ago drained, you may be fortunate enough
+to meet with the remains of similar structures here in England. At
+Glastonbury a few years ago a lake village was discovered, which has
+created no small stir in the antiquarian world, and merits a brief
+description. Nothing was known of its existence previously; and this is
+an instance of the delightful surprises which explorers have in store
+for them, when they ransack the buried treasure-house of the earth,
+and reveal the relics which have been so long stored there.
+
+All that met the eyes of the diggers was a series of circular low
+mounds, about sixty in number, extending over an area of three acres.
+Imagine the delight of the gentlemen when they discovered that each of
+these mounds contained the remains of a lake dwelling which was
+constructed more than two thousand years ago.
+
+First they found above the soft peat, the remains of a lake long dried
+up, a platform formed of timber and brushwood, somewhat similar to the
+structures which we have seen in the Swiss lakes. Rows of small piles
+support this platform, and on it a floor of clay, or rather several
+floors. The clay is composed of several horizontal layers with
+intervening thin layers of decayed wood and charcoal, each layer
+representing a distinct floor of a dwelling. In the centre of each mound
+are the remains of rude hearths. The dwellings, of which no walls
+remain, were evidently built of timber, the crevices between the wood
+being filled with wattle and daub. In one of the mounds were found
+several small crucibles which show that the inhabitants knew how to work
+in metals. Querns, whetstones, spindle whorls, fibulae, and finger-rings
+of bronze, a horse's bit, a small saw, numerous implements of horn and
+bone, combs, needles, a jet ring and amber bead, all tell the tale of
+the degree of civilisation attained by these early folk. They worked in
+metals, made pottery and cloth, tilled and farmed the adjoining lands,
+and probably belonged to the late Celtic race before the advent of the
+Romans. These lake dwellers used a canoe in order to reach the mainland,
+and this primitive boat has been discovered. It is evidently cut out of
+the stem of an oak, is flat-bottomed, and its dimensions are 17 feet
+long, 2 feet wide, and 1 foot deep. The prow is pointed, and has a hole,
+through which doubtless a rope was passed, in order to fasten it to the
+little harbour of the lake village.
+
+It will be gathered that these people, whether dwelling in their pit or
+lake villages, showed so much capacity, industry, and social
+organisation, that even in the Neolithic Age they were far removed from
+a savage state, and a low condition of culture and civilisation. They
+showed great ingenuity in the making of their tools, their vessels of
+pottery, their ornaments, and clothing. They were not naked, woad-dyed
+savages. They could spin and weave, grow corn, and make bread, and had
+brought into subjection for their use domestic animals, horses and
+cattle, sheep and goats, and swine. They lived in security and comfort,
+and were industrious and intelligent; and it is interesting to record,
+from the relics which the earth has preserved of their civilisation, the
+kind of life which they must have lived in the ages which existed before
+the dawn of history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS
+
+Stone monuments--Traditions relating to them--Menhirs or hoar-stones--
+_Alignements_--Cromlechs--Stonehenge--Avebury--Rollright stones--Origin
+of stone circles--Dolmens--Earthworks--Chun Castle--Whittenham clumps--
+Uffington--Tribal boundaries--Roman rig--Grims-dike--Legends--Celtic
+words.
+
+
+Among the antiquities which some of our English villages possess, none
+are more curious and remarkable than the grand megalithic monuments of
+the ancient races which peopled our island. Marvellous memorials are
+these of their skill and labour. How did they contrive to erect such
+mighty monuments? How did they move such huge masses of stone? How did
+they raise with the very slender appliances at their disposal such
+gigantic stones? For what purpose did they erect them? The solution of
+these and many such-like problems we can only guess, and no one has as
+yet been bold enough to answer all the interesting questions which these
+rude stone monuments raise.
+
+Superstition has attempted to account for their existence. Just as the
+flint arrow-heads are supposed by the vulgar to be darts shot by fairies
+or witches which cause sickness and death in cattle and men, and are
+worn as amulets to ward off disease; just as the stone axes of early
+man are regarded as thunder bolts, and when boiled are esteemed as a
+sure cure for rheumatism, or a useful cattle medicine--so these stones
+are said to be the work of the devil. A friend tells me that in his
+childhood his nurse used to frighten him by saying that the devil lurked
+in a dolmen which stands near his father's house in Oxfordshire; and
+many weird traditions cluster round these old monuments.
+
+[Illustration: MENHIR]
+
+In addition to the subterranean sepulchral chambers and cairns which we
+have already examined, there are four classes of megalithic structures.
+The first consists of single stones, called in Wales, Cornwall, and
+Brittany, _menhirs_, a name derived from the Celtic word _maen_ or
+_men_ signifying a stone, and _hir_ meaning tall. In England they are
+known as "hoar-stones," _hoar_ meaning a boundary, inasmuch as they
+are frequently used in later times to mark the boundary of an estate,
+parish, or manor. There is one at Enstone, Oxfordshire, and at
+Wardington, Warwickshire. Possibly they were intended to mark the graves
+of deceased chieftains.
+
+The second class consists of lines of stones, which the French call
+_alignements_. Frequently they occur in groups of lines from two to
+fourteen in number, Carnac, in Brittany, possesses the best specimen
+in Europe of this curious arrangement of giant stones.
+
+The third class of megalithic monuments is the circular arrangement,
+such as we find at Avebury and Stonehenge. These are now usually called
+cromlechs, in accordance with the term used by French antiquaries,
+though formerly this name was applied in England to the dolmens, or
+chambered structures, of which we shall speak presently. According to
+the notions of the old curator of Stonehenge the mighty stones stood
+before the Deluge, and he used to point out (to his own satisfaction)
+signs of the action of water upon the stones, even showing the direction
+in which the Flood "came rushing in." The Welsh bards say that they were
+erected by King Merlin, the successor of Vortigern; and Nennius states
+that they were erected in memory of four hundred nobles, who were
+treacherously slain by Hengist, when the savage Saxons came. There is
+no need to describe these grand circles of huge stones which all
+antiquaries have visited.
+
+The cromlech at Avebury covers a larger area than that of Stonehenge,
+the circle being about 1,300 feet in diameter. There is a fine circle
+at Rollright, in Oxfordshire, which is the third largest in England.
+The diameter of the circle is about 107 feet, and the stones numbered
+originally about sixty. Near the circle stand the Five Whispering
+Knights, five large stones leaning together, probably the remains of
+a dolmen, and a large solitary stone, or menhir. Popular tradition has
+woven a strange legend about these curious relics of bygone ages. A
+mighty chieftain once ruled over the surrounding country; but he was
+ambitious, and wished to extend his sway, and become King of England.
+So he mustered his army, and the oracle proclaimed that if he could
+once see Long Compton, he would obtain his desire. Having proceeded
+as far as Rollright, he was repeating the words of the oracle--
+
+  "If Long Compton I can see,
+  King of England I shall be"--
+
+when Mother Shipton, who had doubtless ridden on her broomstick from
+her Norfolk home, appeared and pronounced the fatal spell--
+
+  "Move no more; stand fast, stone;
+  King of England thou shall none."
+
+[Illustration: ROLLRIGHT STONES From Camden's _Britannia_]
+
+Immediately the king and his army were changed into stone, as if the
+head of Medusa had gazed upon them. The solitary stone, still called the
+King Stone, is the ambitious monarch; the circle is his army; and the
+Five Whispering Knights are five of his chieftains, who were hatching a
+plot against him when the magic spell was uttered. The farmers around
+Rollright say that if the stones are removed from the spot, they will
+never rest, but make mischief till they are restored. Stanton Drew, in
+Somersetshire, has a cromlech, and there are several in Scotland, the
+Channel Islands, and Brittany. Some sacrilegious persons transported a
+cromlech bodily from the Channel Islands, and set it up at Park Place,
+Henley-on-Thames. Such an act of antiquarian barbarism happily has few
+imitators.
+
+For what purpose were these massive stones erected at the cost of such
+infinite labour? Tradition and popular belief associate them with the
+Druids. Some years ago all mysterious antiquarian problems were solved
+by reference to the Druids. But these priests of ancient days are now
+out of fashion, and it is certainly not very safe to attribute the
+founding of the great stone circles to their agency. The Druidical
+worship paid its homage to the powers of Nature, to the nymphs and genii
+of the woods and streams, whereas the great stone circles were evidently
+constructed by sun-worshippers. There is no doubt among antiquaries that
+they are connected with the burial of the dead. Small barrows have been
+found in the centre of them. Dr. Anderson is of opinion that the stone
+circles were developed out of the hedge, or setting of stone, which
+frequently surrounds the base of a barrow, and was intended to keep the
+ghost in, and prevent it from injuring the living. By degrees the wall
+was increased in size while the barrow or cairn decreased; until at last
+a small mound of earth, or heap of stones, only marked the place of
+burial, and the huge circle of stones surrounded it. Stonehenge, with
+its well-wrought stones and gigantic trilitha, is much later than the
+circles of Avebury and Rollright, and was doubtless constructed by the
+people who used iron, about two hundred years before our era. The
+earlier circles have been assigned to a period eight or ten centuries
+before Christ.
+
+[Illustration: DOLMEN]
+
+Many conjectures have been made as to how the huge capstones of the
+circle at Stonehenge were placed on the erect stones. Sir Henry Dryden
+thought that when the upright stones were set on end, earth or small
+stones were piled around them until a large inclined plane was formed,
+on which "skids" or sliding-pieces were placed. Then the caps were
+placed on rollers, and hauled up by gangs of men. Probably in some such
+way these wonderful monuments were formed.
+
+The last class of rude stone monuments is composed of dolmens, or
+chambered tombs, so named from the Welsh word _dol_, a table, and _maen_
+or _men_, a stone. They are in fact stone tables. Antiquaries of former
+days, and the unlearned folk of to-day, call them "Druids' altars," and
+say that sacrifices were offered upon them. The typical form is a
+structure of four or more large upright stones, supporting a large flat
+stone, as a roof. Sometimes they are covered with earth or stones,
+sometimes entirely uncovered. Some antiquaries maintain that they were
+always uncovered, as we see them now; others assert that they have been
+stripped by the action of wind and rain, and snow, frost, and thaw,
+until all the earth placed around them has been removed. Possibly
+fashions changed then as now; and it may console some of us that there
+was no uniformity of ritual even in prehistoric Britain. Dolmens contain
+no bronze or iron implements, or carvings of the same, and evidently
+belong to the time of the Neolithic folk.
+
+Among prehistoric remains none are more striking than the great camps
+and earthworks, which hold commanding positions on our hills and downs,
+and have survived during the countless years which have elapsed since
+their construction. Caesar's camps abound throughout England; it is
+needless to say that they had nothing to do with Caesar, but were made
+long years before the Conqueror ever set foot on British land. These
+early camps are usually circular in shape, or follow the natural curve
+of the hill on which they stand. Roman camps are nearly always square
+or rectangular. They consist of a high vallum, or rampart of earth,
+surrounded by a deep ditch, and on the _counterscarp_, or outside edge
+of the ditch, there is often another bank or rampart. The entrance to
+these strongholds was often ingeniously contrived, in order that an
+enemy endeavouring to attack the fortress might be effectually resisted.
+
+Chun Castle, in Cornwall, is an interesting specimen of ancient Celtic
+fortress. It consists of two circular walls separated by a terrace. The
+walls are built of rough masses of granite, some 5 or 6 feet long. The
+outer wall is protected by a ditch. Part of the wall is still about 10
+feet high. Great skill and military knowledge are displayed in the plan
+of the entrance, which is 6 feet wide in the narrowest part, and 16 in
+the widest, where the walls diverge and are rounded off on either side.
+The space within the fortress is about 175 feet in diameter. The
+Herefordshire Beacon on the Malvern Hills is a fine example of a
+triple-ramparted Celtic camp.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN AND SECTION OF CHUN CASTLE]
+
+In Berkshire we have the well-known Whittenham Clumps, the Sinodun
+of the Celts, on the summit of which there is a famous camp, with a
+triple line of entrenchment, the mound and ditch being complete. The
+circumference of the fortress is over a mile. Berkshire and Oxfordshire
+are very rich in these camps and earthworks, which guard the course of
+the old British road called the Iknield Way. Hill-forts crown the tops
+of the hills; and the camps of Blewberry, Scutchamore Knob (a corruption
+of Cwichelm's law), Letcombe, Uffington, and Liddington, command the
+ancient trackway and bid defiance to approaching foes.
+
+The object of these camps was to provide places of refuge, whither the
+tribe could retire when threatened by the advent of its enemy. The Celts
+were a pastoral people; and their flocks grazed on the downs and
+hillsides. When their scouts brought news of the approach of a hostile
+force, some signal would be given by the blowing of a horn, and the
+people would at once flee to their fortress driving their cattle before
+them, and awaiting there the advent of their foes.
+
+At Uffington there is a remarkable relic of British times called the
+Blowing Stone, or King Alfred's Bugle-horn, which was doubtless used by
+the Celtic tribes for signalling purposes; and when its deep low note
+was heard on the hillside the tribe would rush to the protecting shelter
+of Uffington Castle. There, armed with missiles, they were ready to hurl
+them at the invading hosts, and protect their lives and cattle until all
+danger was past. Those who are skilled at the art can still make the
+Blowing Stone sound. The name, King Alfred's Bugle-horn, is a misnomer,
+and arose from the association of the White Horse Hill with the battle
+which Alfred fought against the Danes at Aescendune, which may, or may
+not, have taken place near the old British camp at Uffington. There are
+several White Horses cut out in the turf on the hillsides in Wiltshire,
+besides the famous Berkshire one at Uffington, celebrated by Mr. Thomas
+Hughes in his _Scouring of the White Horse_. We have also some turf-cut
+crosses at White-leaf and Bledlow, in Buckinghamshire. The origin of
+these turf monuments is still a matter of controversy. It is possible
+that they may be Saxon, and may be the records of Alfred's victories;
+but antiquaries are inclined to assign them to an earlier date, and
+connect them with the builders of cromlechs and dolmens. It is certainly
+improbable that, when he was busily engaged fighting the Danes, Alfred
+and his men would have found time to construct this huge White Horse.
+
+[Illustration: THE WHITE HORSE AT UFFINGTON]
+
+In addition to the earthen mounds and deep ditch, which usually formed
+the fortifications of these ancient strongholds, there were wicker-work
+stockades, or palisading, arranged on the top of the vallum. Such
+defences have been found at Uffington; and during the present year on
+the ancient fortifications of the old Calleva Atrebatum, afterwards the
+Roman Silchester, a friend of the writer has found the remains of
+similar wattle-work stockades. Evidently tribal wars and jealousies were
+not unknown in Celtic times, and the people knew how to protect
+themselves from their foes.
+
+Another important class of earthen ramparts are the long lines of
+fortifications, which extend for miles across the country, and must have
+entailed vast labour in their construction. These ramparts were
+doubtless tribal boundaries, or fortifications used by one tribe against
+another. There is the Roman rig, which, as Mrs. Armitage tells us in her
+_Key to English Antiquities_, coasts the face of the hills all the way
+from Sheffield to Mexborough, a distance of eleven miles. A Grims-dike
+(or Grims-bank, as it is popularly called) runs across the southern
+extremity of Oxfordshire from Henley to Mongewell, ten miles in length;
+and near it, and parallel to it, there is a Medlers-bank, another
+earthen rampart, exceeding it in length by nearly a third. Near
+Salisbury there is also a Grims-dike, and in Cambridgeshire and
+Cheshire. Danes' Dike, near Flamborough Head, Wans-dike, and Brokerley
+Dike are other famous lines of fortifications.
+
+There are twenty-two Grims-dikes in England. The name was probably
+derived from Grim, the Saxon devil, or evil spirit; and was bestowed
+upon these mysterious monuments of an ancient race which the Saxons
+found in various parts of their conquered country. Unable to account for
+the existence of these vast mounds and fortresses, they attributed them
+to satanic agency.
+
+There is much work still to be done in exploring these relics of the
+prehistoric races; and if there should be any such in your own
+neighbourhood, some careful digging might produce valuable results.
+Perhaps something which you may find may throw light upon some disputed
+or unexplained question, which has perplexed the minds of antiquaries
+for some time. I do not imagine that the following legend will deter you
+from your search. It is gravely stated that years ago an avaricious
+person dug into a tumulus for some treasure which it was supposed to
+contain. At length after much labour he came to an immense chest, but
+the lid was no sooner uncovered than it lifted itself up a little and
+out sprang an enormous black cat, which seated itself upon the chest,
+and glowed with eyes of passion upon the intruder. Nothing daunted, the
+man proceeded to try to move the chest, but without avail; so he fixed a
+strong chain to it and attached a powerful team of horses. But when the
+horses began to pull, the chain broke in a hundred places, and the chest
+of treasure disappeared for ever.
+
+Some rustics assert that if you run nine times round a tumulus, and then
+put your ear against it, you will hear the fairies dancing and singing
+in the interior. Indeed it is a common superstition that good fairies
+lived in these old mounds, and a story is told of a ploughman who
+unfortunately broke his ploughshare. However he left it at the foot of a
+tumulus, and the next day, to his surprise, he found it perfectly whole.
+Evidently the good fairies had mended it during the night. But these
+bright little beings, who used to be much respected by our ancestors,
+have quite deserted our shores. They found that English people did not
+believe in them; so they left us in disgust, and have never been heard
+of since.
+
+If you have no other Celtic remains in your neighbourhood, at least you
+have the enduring possession of the words which they have bequeathed to
+us, such as _coat, basket, crook, cart, kiln, pitcher, comb, ridge_, and
+many others, which have all been handed down to us from our British
+ancestors. Their language also lives in Wales and Brittany, in parts of
+Ireland and Scotland, and in the Isle of Man, where dwell the modern
+representatives of that ancient race, which was once so powerful, and
+has left its trace in most of the countries of Europe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+ROMAN RELICS
+
+Roman remains numerous--Chedworth villa--Roads--Names derived from
+roads--_Itinerary_ of Antoninus--British roads--Watling Street--Iknield
+Street--Ryknield Street--Ermyn Street--Akeman Street--Saltways--
+Milestones--Silchester--Its walls--Calleva--Its gardens and villas--
+Hypocausts--Pavements--Description of old city--Forum--Temple--Baths--
+Amphitheatre--Church--Roman villa.
+
+
+"The world's a scene of change," sings Poet Cowley; but in spite of all
+the changes that have transformed our England, the coming and going of
+conquerors and invaders, the lapse of centuries, the ceaseless working
+of the ploughshare on our fields and downs, traces of the old Roman life
+in Britain have remained indelible. Our English villages are rich in the
+relics of the old Romans; and each year adds to our knowledge of the
+life they lived in the land of their adoption, and reveals the treasures
+which the earth has tenderly preserved for so many years.
+
+If your village lies near the track of some Roman road, many pleasing
+surprises may be in store for you. Oftentimes labourers unexpectedly
+meet with the buried walls and beautiful tesselated pavements of an
+ancient Roman dwelling-place. A few years ago at Chedworth, near
+Cirencester, a ferret was lost, and had to be dug out of the rabbit
+burrow. In doing this some Roman _tesserae_ were dug up; and when
+further excavations were made a noble Roman villa with numerous rooms,
+artistic pavements, hypocausts, baths, carvings, and many beautiful
+relics of Roman art were brought to light. Possibly you may be equally
+successful in your own village and neighbourhood.
+
+If you have the good fortune to live near a Roman station, you will
+have the pleasing excitement of discovering Roman coins and other
+treasures, when you watch your labourers draining the land or digging
+wells. Everyone knows that the names of many of the Roman stations
+are  distinguished by the termination _Chester, caster_, or _caer_,
+derived from the Latin _castra_, a camp; and whenever we are in the
+neighbourhood of such places, imagination pictures to us the
+well-drilled Roman legionaries who used to astonish the natives with
+their strange language and customs; and we know that there are coins
+and pottery, _tesserae_ and Roman ornaments galore, stored up beneath
+our feet, awaiting the search of the persevering digger. Few are the
+records relating to Roman Britain contained in the pages of the
+historians, as compared with the evidences of roads and houses, gates
+and walls and towns, which the earth has preserved for us.
+
+Near your village perhaps a Roman road runs. The Romans were famous for
+their wonderful roads, which extended from camp to camp, from city to
+city, all over the country. These roads remain, and are evidences of
+the  great engineering skill which their makers possessed. They liked
+their roads well drained, and raised high above the marshes; they liked
+them to go straight ahead, like their victorious legions, and never swerve
+to right or left for any obstacle. They cut through the hills, and
+filled up the valleys; and there were plenty of idle Britons about,
+who could be forced to do the work. They called their roads _strata_ or
+streets; and all names of places containing the word _street_, such as
+_Streatley_, or _Stretford_, denote that they were situated on one of
+these Roman roads.
+
+You may see these roads wending their way straight as a die, over hill
+and dale, staying not for marsh or swamp. Along the ridge of hills they
+go, as does the High Street on the Westmoreland hills, where a few
+inches below the grass you can find the stony way; or on the moors
+between Redmire and Stanedge, in Yorkshire, the large paving stones, of
+which the road was made, in many parts still remain. In central places,
+as at Blackrod, in Lancashire, the roads extend like spokes from the
+centre of a wheel, although nearly eighteen hundred years have elapsed
+since their construction. The name of Devizes, Wilts, is a corruption of
+the Latin word _divisae_, which marks the spot where the old Roman road
+from London to Bath was _divided_ by the boundary line between the Roman
+and the Celtic districts.
+
+In order to acquire a knowledge of the great roads of the Romans we must
+study the _Itinerary_ of Antoninus, written by an officer of the
+imperial Court about 150 A.D. This valuable road-book tells us the names
+of the towns and stations, the distances, halting-places, and other
+particulars. Ptolemy's _Geographia_ also affords help in understanding
+the details of the _Itinerary_, and many of the roads have been very
+satisfactorily traced. The Romans made use of the ancient British ways,
+whenever they found them suitable for their purpose. The British roads
+resembled the trackways on Salisbury Plain, wide grass rides, neither
+raised nor paved, and not always straight, but winding along the sides
+of the hills which lie in their course. There were seven chief British
+ways: Watling Street, which was the great north road, starting from
+Richborough on the coast of Kent, passing through Canterbury and
+Rochester it crossed the Thames near London, and went on through
+Verulam, Dunstable, and Towcester, Wellington, and Wroxeter, and thence
+into Wales to Tommen-y-Mawr, where it divided into two branches. One
+ran by Beth Gellert to Caernarvon and Holy Head, and the other through
+the mountains to the Manai banks and thence to Chester, Northwich,
+Manchester, Ilkley, until it finally ended in Scotland.
+
+The second great British road was the way of the Iceni, or Iknield
+Street, proceeding from Great Yarmouth, running through Cambridgeshire,
+Bedfordshire, Bucks, and Oxon, to Old Sarum, and finishing its course at
+Land's End. We have in Berkshire a branch of this road called the
+Ridgeway.
+
+The Ryknield Street beginning at the mouth of the Tyne ran through
+Chester-le-Street, followed the course of the Watling Street to
+Catterick, thence through Birmingham, Tewkesbury, and Gloucester, to
+Caermarthen and St. David's.
+
+The Ermyn Street led from the coast of Sussex to the south-east part of
+Scotland.
+
+The Akeman Street ran between the Iknield and Ryknield Streets, and
+led from what the Saxons called East Anglia, through Bedford, Newport
+Pagnel, and Buckingham to Alcester and Cirencester, across the Severn,
+and ending at St. David's.
+
+The Upper Saltway was the communication between the sea-coast of
+Lincolnshire and the salt mines at Droitwich; and the Lower Saltway led
+from Droitwich, then, as now, a great centre of the salt trade, to the
+sea-coast of Hampshire. Traces of another great road to the north are
+found, which seems to have run through the western parts of England
+extending from Devon to Scotland.
+
+Such were the old British roads which existed when the Romans came. The
+conquerors made use of these ways, wherever they found them useful,
+trenching them, paving them, and making them fit for military purposes.
+They constructed many new ones which would require a volume for their
+full elucidation. Many of them are still in use, wonderful records of
+the engineering skill of their makers, and oftentimes beneath the
+surface of some grassy ride a few inches below the turf you may find
+the hard concreted road laid down by the Romans nearly eighteen hundred
+years ago. Roman milestones we sometimes find. There is one near
+Silchester, commonly called the Imp Stone, probably from the first three
+letters of the Latin word _Imperator_, carved upon it. Curious legends
+often cluster round these relics of ancient times. Just as the
+superstitious Saxons, when they saw the great Roman roads, made by a
+people who had long vanished from the land, often attributed these great
+works to evil spirits, and called parts of these well-made streets the
+Devil's Highway, so they invented a strange legend to account for the
+Imp Stone, and said that some giant had thrown it from the city, and
+left on it the marks of his finger and thumb.
+
+Our English villages contain many examples of Roman buildings. Where
+now rustics pursue their calling, and sow their crops and reap their
+harvests, formerly stood the beautiful houses of the Roman nobles, or
+the flourishing towns of Roman citizens. Upon the sites of most of these
+old-world places new towns have been constructed; hence it is difficult
+often to trace the foundations of Roman cities in the midst of the
+masses of modern bricks and mortar. Hence we fly to the villages; and
+sometimes, as at Silchester, near a little English village, we find the
+remains of a large, important, and flourishing town, where the earth has
+kept safely for us during many centuries the treasures and memories of a
+bygone age.
+
+Every student of Roman Britain must visit Silchester, and examine the
+collections preserved in the Reading Museum, which have been amassed by
+the antiquaries who have for several years been excavating the ruins.
+The city contained a forum, or marketplace, having on one side a
+basilica, or municipal hall, in which prisoners were tried, business
+transactions executed, and the general affairs of the city carried on.
+On the other side of the square were the shops, where the butchers,
+bakers, or fishmongers plied their trade. You can find plenty of oyster
+shells, the contents of which furnished many a feast to the Romans who
+lived there seventeen hundred years ago. The objects which have been
+found tell us how the dwellers in the old city employed themselves,
+and how skilful they were in craftsmanship. Amongst other things we
+find axes, chisels, files for setting saws, hammers, a large plane, and
+other carpenters' tools; an anvil, a pair of tongs, and blacksmiths'
+implements; shoemakers' anvils, very similar to those used in our day,
+a large gridiron, a standing lamp, safety-pins, such as ladies use now,
+and many other useful and necessary objects.
+
+In order to protect the city it was surrounded by high walls, which seem
+to defy all the attacks of time. They are nine feet in thickness, and
+are still in many places twenty feet high. Outside the wall a wide ditch
+added to the strength of the fortifications. Watch-towers were placed at
+intervals along the walls; and on the north, south, east, and west sides
+were strongly fortified gates, with guard chambers on each side, and
+arched entrances through which the Roman chariots were driven.
+
+These walls inclose a space of irregular shape, and were built on the
+site of old British fortifications. Silchester was originally a British
+stronghold, and was called by them Calleva. The Celtic tribe which
+inhabited the northern parts of Hampshire was the Atrebates, who after a
+great many fights were subdued by the Romans about 78 A.D. Then within
+the rude fortifications of Calleva arose the city of Silchester, with
+its fine houses, temples, and baths, its strong walls, and gates, and
+streets, the great centre of civilisation, and the chief city of that
+part of the country.
+
+It is often possible to detect the course of Roman streets where now the
+golden corn is growing. On the surface of the roads where the ground is
+thin, the corn is scanty. Observation of this kind a few years ago led
+to the discovery of a Romano-British village at Long Whittenham, in
+Berks. In Silchester it is quite easy to trace the course of the streets
+by the thinness of the corn, as Leland observed as long ago as 1536. One
+is inclined to wonder where all the earth comes from, which buries old
+buildings and hides them so carefully; but any student of natural
+history, who has read Darwin's book on _Worms_, will cease to be
+astonished. It is chiefly through the action of these useful creatures
+that soil accumulates so greatly on the sites of ancient buildings.
+
+[Illustration: SILCHESTER. PLAN OF CITY]
+
+Within the walls of Silchester were gardens and villas replete with all
+the contrivances of Roman luxury. The houses were built on three sides
+of a square court. A cloister ran round the court, supported by pillars.
+The open space was used as a garden. At the back of the house were the
+kitchens and apartments for the slaves and domestics. The Romans adapted
+their dwellings to the climate in which they lived. In the sunny south,
+at Pompeii, the houses were more open, and would be little suited to our
+more rigorous climate. They knew how to make themselves comfortable,
+built rooms well protected from the weather, and heated with hypocausts.
+These were furnaces made beneath the house, which generated hot air; and
+this was admitted into the rooms by earthenware flue-tiles. The dwellers
+had both summer and winter apartments; and when the cold weather arrived
+the hypocaust furnaces were lighted, and the family adjourned to their
+winter quarters.
+
+The floors were made of _tesserae_, or small cubes of different
+materials and various colours, which were arranged in beautiful
+patterns. Some of these pavements were of most elegant and elaborate
+designs, having figures in them representing the seasons, or some
+mythological characters.
+
+The walls were painted with decorations of very beautiful designs,
+representing the cornfields, just as the Roman artists in Italy loved to
+depict the vine in their mural paintings. The mortar used by the Romans
+is very hard and tenacious, and their bricks were small and thin,
+varying from 8 inches square to 18 inches by 12, and were about 2 inches
+in thickness. Frequently we find the impression of an animal's foot on
+these bricks and tiles, formed when they were in a soft state before
+they were baked, and one tile recently found had the impression of a
+Roman baby's foot. Roman bricks have often been used by subsequent
+builders, and are found built up in the masonry of much later periods.
+
+[Illustration: CAPITAL OF COLUMN]
+
+It is quite possible to build up in imagination the old Roman city, and
+to depict before our mind's eye the scenes that once took place where
+now the rustics toil and till the ground. We enter the forum, the great
+centre of the city, the common resort and lounging-place of the
+citizens, who met together to discuss the latest news from Rome, to
+transact their business, and exchange gossip. On the west side stood the
+noble basilica, or hall of justice--a splendid building, its entrance
+being adorned with fine Corinthian columns; and slabs of polished
+Purbeck marble, and even of green and white marble from the Pyrenees,
+covered the walls. It was a long rectangular hall, 233 feet in length by
+58 feet in width, and at each side was a semicircular apse, which was
+called the Tribune. Here the magistrate sat to administer justice, or an
+orator stood to address the citizens. In the centre of the western wall
+was another apse, where the _curia_ met for the government of the city.
+Two rows of columns ran down the hall, dividing it into a nave with two
+aisles, like many of our churches. Indeed the form of the construction
+of our churches was taken from these Roman basilica. Several chambers
+stood on the west of the hall, one of which was another fine hall,
+probably used as a corn exchange. The height of this noble edifice, the
+roof of which was probably hidden by a coffered ceiling, must have been
+about fifty-seven feet.
+
+Passing along the main street towards the south gate we come to the
+foundations of a nearly circular temple. Two square-shaped buildings
+stood on the east of the city, which were probably temples for some
+Gaulish form of religion, as similar sacred buildings have been
+discovered in France. A quadrangle of buildings near the south gate,
+having various chambers, contained the public baths, whither the Romans
+daily resorted for gossip and discussion as well as for bathing. There
+is an ingenious arrangement for using the waste water for the purpose of
+flushing the drains and sewers. Nor were they ignorant of the invention
+of a force-pump, as the accompanying illustration on the next page
+shows.
+
+[Illustration: ROMAN FORCE-PUMP]
+
+The amphitheatre stands outside the gate, whither the citizens flocked
+to see gladiatorial displays or contests between wild beasts. With the
+exception of one at Dorchester, it is the largest in Britain. It is made
+of lofty banks of earth, which surround the arena, and must have been an
+imposing structure in the days of its glory, with its tiers of seats
+rising above the level arena. It is difficult to imagine this
+grass-covered slope occupied by a gay crowd of Romans and wondering
+Britons, all eagerly witnessing some fierce fight of man with man, or
+beast with beast, and enthusiastically revelling in the sanguinary
+sport. The modern rustics, who have no knowledge of what was the
+original purpose of "the Mount," as they name the amphitheatre, still
+call the arena "the lions' den."
+
+Silchester was a very busy place. There were dye works there, as the
+excavations show; hence there must have been some weaving, and therefore
+a large resident population. Throngs of travellers used to pass through
+it, and carts and baggage animals bore through its streets the
+merchandise from London, which passed to the cities and villas so
+plentifully scattered in western Britain.
+
+By far the most important of the discoveries made in Roman Britain is
+the little church which stood just outside the forum. It is very similar
+in form to the early churches in Italy and other parts of the Roman
+Empire, and is of the basilican type. The orientation is different from
+that used after the reign of Constantine, the altar being at the west
+end. The churches of S. Peter and S. Paul at Rome had the same
+arrangement; and the priest evidently stood behind the altar facing the
+congregation and looking towards the east at the time of the celebration
+of the Holy Communion. There is an apse at the west end, and the
+building is divided by two rows of columns into a nave and two aisles.
+The nave had probably an ambon, or reading-desk, and was mainly used by
+the clergy, the aisles being for the use of the men and women
+separately. A vestry stood at the western end of the north aisle. Across
+the eastern end was the narthex, or porch, where the catechumens stood
+and watched the service through the three open doors. Outside the
+narthex was the atrium, an open court, having in the centre the remains
+of the labrum, or laver, where the people washed their hands and faces
+before entering the church. We are reminded of a sermon by S.
+Chrysostom, who upbraided his congregation, asking them what was the use
+of their washing their hands if they did not at the same time cleanse
+their hearts by repentance. This interesting memorial of early
+Christianity was probably erected soon after the Emperor Constantine's
+Edict of Toleration issued in 313 A.D.
+
+But not only at Silchester and at other places, once the great centres
+of the Roman population, do we find Roman remains. In addition to the
+stations, camps, and towns, there were the villas of the rich Roman
+citizens or Gaulish merchants on the sunny slopes of many a hillside.
+Although hundreds of the remains of these noble houses have been
+discovered, there are still many to be explored.
+
+The villa consisted of the house of the proprietor, which occupied the
+centre of the little colony, together with the smaller houses of the
+servants and slaves, stables, cowsheds, mills, and granaries, and all
+the other usual outbuildings connected with a large estate. The main
+house was built around a central court, like an Oxford college; and
+resembled in architectural style the buildings which the excavations at
+Pompeii have disclosed. A corridor ran round the court supported by
+pillars, from which the rooms opened. In a well-defended town like
+Silchester the houses were usually built on three sides of the court;
+but the country villas, which had occasionally to be fortified against
+the attacks of wandering bands of outlaws and wild Britons, and the
+inroads of savage beasts, were usually built on all the four sides of
+the square court. They were usually of one story, although the existence
+of a force-pump in Silchester shows that water was laid on upstairs in
+one house at least. As the wells were less than thirty feet deep, a
+force-pump would not be needed to lift the water to the earth-level.
+Hence in some houses there must have been some upper chambers, a
+conclusion that is supported by the thickness of the foundations, which
+are far more substantial than would be required for houses of one story.
+The rooms were very numerous, often as many as sixty or seventy, and
+very bright they must have looked decorated with beautiful marbles and
+stuccoes of gorgeous hues, and magnificent pavements, statues and
+shrines, baths and fountains, and the many other objects of Roman luxury
+and comfort. The floors were made of _opus signinum_, such as the
+Italians use at the present day, a material composed of cement in which
+are embedded fragments of stone or brick, the whole being rubbed down to
+a smooth surface, or paved with mosaic composed of _tesserae_. In
+whatever land the Roman dwelt, there he made his beautiful tesselated
+pavement, rich with graceful designs and ever-enduring colours,
+representing the stories of the gods, the poetry of nature, and the
+legends of the heroes of his beloved native land. Here we see Perseus
+freeing Andromeda, Medusa's locks, Bacchus and his band of revellers,
+Orpheus with his lyre, by which he is attracting a monkey, a fox, a
+peacock, and other animals, Apollo singing to his lyre, Venus being
+loved by Mars, Neptune with his trident, attended by hosts of seamen.
+The seasons form an accustomed group, "Winter" being represented, as at
+Brading, by a female figure, closely wrapped, holding a lifeless bough
+and a dead bird. Satyrs and fauns, flowers, Graces and wood-nymphs,
+horns of plenty, gladiators fighting, one with a trident, the other with
+a net--all these and countless other fanciful representations look at us
+from these old Roman pavements. The Roman villa at Brading is an
+excellent type of such a dwelling, with its magnificent suites of rooms,
+colonnades, halls, and splendid mosaic pavements. As at Silchester, we
+see there fine examples of hypocausts. The floor of the room, called a
+_suspensura_, is supported by fifty-four small pillars made of tiles.
+Another good example of a similar floor exists at Cirencester, and many
+more at Silchester.
+
+[Illustration: TESSELATED PAVEMENT]
+
+Here is a description of a Roman gentleman's house, as drawn by the
+writer of _The History of Oxfordshire_:--
+
+"His villa lay sheltered from wild winds partly by the rising brow of
+the hill, and partly by belts of trees; it was turned towards the south,
+and caught the full sun. In the spring the breath of his violet beds
+would be as soft and sweet as in Oxfordshire woods to-day; in the summer
+his quadrangle would be gay with calthae, and his colonnade festooned
+with roses and helichryse. If we are to believe in the _triclinium
+aestivum_ of Hakewill, it says much for the warmth of those far-away
+summers that he was driven to build a summer dining-room with a north
+aspect, and without heating flues. And when the long nights fell, and
+winter cold set in, the slaves heaped higher the charcoal fires in the
+_praefurnium_; the master sat in rooms far better warmed than Oxford
+country houses now, or sunned himself at midday in the sheltered
+quadrangle, taking his exercise in the warm side of the colonnade among
+his gay stuccoes and fluted columns. Could we for a moment raise the
+veil, we should probably find that the country life of 400 A.D. in
+Oxfordshire was not so very dissimilar to that of to-day, ... and that
+the well-to-do Roman of rustic Middle England was ... a useful,
+peaceful, and a happy person."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
+
+Departure of Romans--Coming of Saxons--Bede--Saxon names of places--
+Saxon village--Common-field system--_Eorl_ and _ceorl_--Thanes,
+_geburs_, and _cottiers_--Description of village life--Thane's
+house--_Socmen_--Ploughman's lament--Village tradesmen--Parish
+council--Hundreds--Shires.
+
+
+The scene changes. The Roman legions have left our shores, and are
+trying to prop the tottering state of the falling empire. The groans
+of the Britons have fallen on listless or distracted ears, and no one
+has come to their succour. The rule of the all-swaying Roman power has
+passed away, and the Saxon hordes have poured over the hills and vales
+of rural Britain, and made it the Angles' land--our England.
+
+The coming of the Saxons was a very gradual movement. They did not
+attack our shores in large armies on one or two occasions; they came
+in clans or families. The head of the clan built a ship, and taking
+with him his family and relations, founded a settlement in wild Britain,
+or wherever the winds happened to carry them. They were very fierce
+and relentless in war, and committed terrible ravages on the helpless
+Britons, sparing neither men, women, nor children, burning buildings,
+destroying and conquering wherever they went.
+
+Bede tells the story of doings of the ruthless Saxons:--
+
+"The barbarous conquerors ... plundered all the neighbouring cities and
+country, spread the conflagration from the eastern to the western sea
+without any opposition, and covered almost every part of the devoted
+island. Public as well as private structures were overturned; the
+priests were everywhere slain before the altars; the prelates and
+the people, without any respect of persons, were destroyed with fire
+and sword; nor was there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly
+slaughtered. Some of the miserable remainder, being taken in the
+mountains, were butchered in heaps. Others, spent with hunger, came
+forth and submitted themselves to the enemy for food, being destined
+to undergo perpetual servitude, if they were not killed even upon the
+spot. Some, with sorrowful hearts, fled beyond the seas; others,
+continuing in their own country, led a miserable life among the woods,
+rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food to support life, and
+expecting every moment to be their last."
+
+Many antiquaries believe that the extirpation of the Britons was not so
+complete as Bede asserts, and that a large number of them remained in
+England in a condition of servitude. At any rate, the almost entire
+extinction of the language, except as regards the names of a few rivers
+and mountains, and of a few household words, seems to point to a fairly
+complete expulsion of the Britons rather than to a mingling of them with
+the conquering race.
+
+What remains have we in our English villages of our Saxon forefathers,
+the makers of England? In the first place we notice that many of the
+names of our villages retain the memory of their founders. When the
+family, or group of families, formed their settlements, they avoided the
+buildings and walled towns, relics of Roman civilisation, made clearings
+for themselves in the primeval forests, and established themselves in
+village communities. In the names of places the suffix _ing_, meaning
+_sons of_, denotes that the village was first occupied by the clan of
+some chief, whose name is compounded with this syllable _ing_. Thus the
+Uffingas, the children of Offa, formed a settlement at Uffinggaston, or
+Uffington; the Redingas, or sons of Rede, settled at Reading; the
+Billings at Billinge and Billingham; the Wokings or Hocings, sons of
+Hoc, at Woking and Wokingham. The Billings and Wokings first settled at
+Billinge and Woking; and then like bees they swarmed, and started
+another hive of industry at Billingham and Wokingham.
+
+These family settlements, revealed to us by the patronymic _ing_, are
+very numerous. At Ardington, in Berkshire, the Ardings, the royal race
+of the Vandals, settled; the Frankish Walsings at Wolsingham; the
+Halsings at Helsington; the Brentings at Brentingley; the Danish
+Scyldings at Skelding; the Thurings at Thorington; and many other
+examples might be quoted.
+
+Many Saxon names of places end in _field_, which denotes a forest
+clearing, or _feld_, made by the axes of the settlers in the primeval
+woods, where the trees were _felled_. These villages were rudely
+fortified, or inclosed by a hedge, wall, or palisade, denoted by the
+suffix _ton_, derived from the Anglo-Saxon _tynan_, to hedge; and all
+names ending with this syllable point to the existence of a Saxon
+settlement hedged in and protected from all intruders. Thus we have
+Barton, Preston, Bolton, and many others. The terminations _yard_,
+_stoke_, or stockaded place, as in Basingstoke, _worth_ (Anglo-Saxon
+_weorthig_), as in Kenilworth, Tamworth, Walworth, have much the same
+meaning.
+
+Perhaps the most common of all the terminations of names denoting the
+presence of Anglo-Saxon settlers is the suffix _ham_. When the _a_ is
+pronounced short the syllable denotes an inclosure, like _stoke_ or
+_ton_; but when the _a_ is long, it means home, and expresses the
+reverence with which the Anglo-Saxon regarded his own dwelling. England
+is the land of homes, and the natural affection with which we Englishmen
+regard our homes is to a great extent peculiar to our race. The
+Frenchman, the Spaniard, the Italian, do not have the same respect for
+home. Our Saxon forefathers were a very home-loving people, and it is
+from them doubtless that we inherit our love for our homes.
+
+We find, then, the Saxon holding the lands. The clan formed settlements;
+sections of each clan formed branch settlements; and several members of
+each section cut their way through the thick forests, felled the trees,
+built homesteads, where they tilled the land and reared their cattle.
+
+In early Saxon times the settlement consisted of a number of families
+holding a district, and the land was regularly divided into three
+portions. There was the village itself, in which the people lived in
+houses built of wood or rude stonework. Around the village were a few
+small inclosures, or grass yards, for rearing calves and baiting farm
+stock; this was the common farmstead. Around this was the arable land,
+where the villagers grew their corn and other vegetables; and around
+this lay the common meadows, or pasture land, held by the whole
+community, so that each family could turn their cattle into it, subject
+to the regulations of an officer elected by the people, whose duty it
+was to see that no one trespassed on the rights of his neighbour, or
+turned too many cattle into the common pasture.
+
+[Illustration: BEATING ACORNS FOR SWINE
+Cotton MS., _Nero_, c. 4]
+
+Around the whole colony lay the woods and uncultivated land, which
+was left in its natural wild state, where the people cut their timber
+and fuel, and pastured their pigs in the glades of the forest. The
+cultivated land was divided into three large fields, in which the
+rotation of crops was strictly enforced, each field lying fallow once
+in three years. To each freeman was assigned his own family lot, which
+was cultivated by the members of his household. But he was obliged to
+sow the same crop as his neighbour, and compelled by law to allow his
+lot to lie fallow with the rest every third year. The remains of this
+common-field system are still evident in many parts of the country, the
+fields being termed "lot meadows," or "Lammas lands." Our commons, too,
+many of which remain in spite of numerous inclosures, are evidences of
+the communal life of our village forefathers.
+
+How long the Saxon villages remained free democratic institutions, we do
+not know. Gradually a change came over them, and we find the manorial
+system in vogue. Manors existed in England long before the Normans came,
+although "manor" is a Norman word; and in the time of Canute the system
+was in full force. The existence of a manor implies a lord of the manor,
+who exercised authority over all the villagers, owned the home farm, and
+had certain rights over the rest of the land. How all this came about,
+we scarcely know. Owing to the Danish invasions, when the rude barbarous
+warriors carried fire and sword into many a peaceful town and village,
+the villagers found themselves at the mercy of these savage hordes.
+Probably they sought the protection of some thane, or _eorl_, with his
+band of warriors, who could save their lands from pillage. In return for
+their services they acknowledged him as the lord of their village, and
+gave him rent, which was paid either in the produce of these fields or
+by the work of their hands. Thus the lords of the manor became the
+masters of the villagers, although they too were governed by law, and
+were obliged to respect the rights of their tenants and servants.
+
+Saxon society was divided into two main divisions, the _eorl_ and the
+_ceorl_, the men of noble birth, and those of ignoble origin. The chief
+man in the village was the manorial lord, a _thane_, who had his demesne
+land, and his _gafol_ land, or _geneat_ land, which was land held in
+villeinage, and cultivated by _geneats_, or persons holding by service.
+These villein tenants were in two classes, the _geburs_, or villeins
+proper, who held the yardlands, and the _cottiers_, who had smaller
+holdings. Beneath these two classes there were the _theows_, or slaves,
+made up partly of the conquered Britons, partly of captives taken in
+war, and partly of freemen who had been condemned to this penalty for
+their crimes, or had incurred it by poverty.
+
+There were degrees of rank among Saxon gentlemen, as among those of
+to-day. The thanes were divided into three classes: (i.) those of royal
+rank (_thani regis_), who served the king in Court or in the management
+of State affairs; (ii.) _thani mediocres_, who held the title by
+inheritance, and corresponded to the lords of the manor in the later
+times; (iii.) _thani minores_, or inferior thanes, to which rank
+_ceorls_ or merchants could attain by the acquisition of sufficient
+landed property.
+
+We can picture to ourselves the ordinary village life which existed in
+Saxon times. The thane's house stood in the centre of the village, not a
+very lordly structure, and very unlike the stately Norman castles which
+were erected in later times. It was commonly built of wood, which the
+neighbouring forests supplied in plenty, and had stone or mud
+foundations. The house consisted of an irregular group of low buildings,
+almost all of one story. In the centre of the group was the hall, with
+doors opening into the court. On one side stood the kitchen; on the
+other the chapel when the thane became a Christian and required the
+services of the Church for himself and his household. Numerous other
+rooms with lean-to roofs were joined on to the hall, and a tower for
+purposes of defence in case of an attack. Stables and barns were
+scattered about outside the house, and with the cattle and horses lived
+the grooms and herdsmen, while villeins and _cottiers_ dwelt in the
+humble, low, shedlike buildings, which clustered round the Saxon thane's
+dwelling-place. An illustration of such a house appears in an ancient
+illumination preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 603. The lord and lady
+of the house are represented as engaged in almsgiving; the lady is thus
+earning her true title, that of "loaf-giver," from which her name "lady"
+is derived.
+
+[Illustration: HOUSE OF SAXON THANE]
+
+The interior of the hall was the common living-room for both men and
+women, who slept on the reed-strewn floor, the ladies' sleeping-place
+being separated from the men's by the arras. The walls were hung with
+tapestry, woven by the skilled fingers of the ladies of the household. A
+peat or log fire burned in the centre of the hall, and the smoke hid the
+ceiling and finally found its way out through a hole in the roof. Arms
+and armour hung on the walls, and the seats consisted of benches called
+"mead-settles," arranged along the sides of the hall, where the Saxon
+chiefs sat drinking their favourite beverage, mead, or sweetened beer,
+out of the horns presented to them by the waiting damsels. When the hour
+for dinner approached, rude tables were laid on trestles, and forthwith
+groaned beneath the weight of joints of meat and fat capons which the
+Saxon loved dearly. The door of the hall was usually open, and thither
+came the bards and gleemen, who used to delight the company with their
+songs and stories of the gallant deeds of their ancestors, the weird
+legends of their gods Woden and Thor, their Viking lays and Norse sagas,
+and the acrobats and dancers astonished them with their strange
+postures.
+
+Next to the thane ranked the _geburs_, who held land granted to them by
+the thane for their own use, sometimes as much as one hundred and twenty
+acres, and were required to work for the lord on the home farm two or
+three days a week, or pay rent for their holdings. This payment
+consisted of the produce of the land. They were also obliged to provide
+one or more oxen for the manorial plough team, which consisted of eight
+oxen.
+
+There was also a strong independent body of men called _socmen_, who
+were none other than our English yeomen. They were free tenants, who
+have by their independence stamped with peculiar features both our
+constitution and our national character. Their good name remains;
+English yeomen have done good service to their country, and let us hope
+that they will long continue to exist amongst us, in spite of the
+changed condition of English agriculture and the prolonged depression in
+farming affairs, which has tried them severely.
+
+[Illustration: WHEEL PLOUGH
+From Bayeux Tapestry]
+
+Besides the _geburs_ and _socmen_ there were the _cottiers_, who had
+small allotments of about five acres, kept no oxen, and were required to
+work for the thane some days in each week. Below them were the _theows_,
+serfs, or slaves, who could be bought and sold in the market, and were
+compelled to work on the lord's farm.
+
+Listen to the sad lament of one of this class, recorded in a dialogue of
+AElfric of the tenth century:--
+
+"What sayest thou, ploughman? How dost thou do thy work?"
+
+"Oh, my lord, hard do I work. I go out at daybreak, driving the oxen to
+field, and I yoke them to the plough. Nor is it ever so hard winter that
+I dare loiter at home, for fear of my lord, but the oxen yoked, and the
+ploughshare and the coulter fastened to the plough, every day must I
+plough a full acre, or more."
+
+"Hast thou any comrade?"
+
+"I have a boy driving the oxen with an iron goad, who also is hoarse
+with cold and shouting."
+
+"What more dost thou in the day?"
+
+"Verily then I do more. I must fill the bin of the oxen with hay, and
+water them, and carry out the dung. Ha! Ha! hard work it is, hard work
+it is! because _I am not free._"
+
+Evidently the ploughman's want of freedom was his great hardship; his
+work in ploughing, feeding, and watering his cattle, and in cleansing
+their stable, was not harder than that of an ordinary carter in the
+present day; but servitude galled his spirit, and made the work
+intolerable. Let us hope that his lord was a kind-hearted man, and gave
+him some cattle for his own, as well as some land to cultivate, and then
+he would not feel the work so hard, or the winter so cold.
+
+Frequently men were thus released from slavery; sometimes also freemen
+sold themselves into slavery under the pressure of extreme want. A man
+so reduced was required to lay aside his sword and lance, the symbols
+of the free, and to take up the bill and the goad, the implements of
+slavery, to fall on his knees and place his head, in token of submission,
+under the hands of his master.
+
+[Illustration: SMITHY
+From the Cotton MS., B 4]
+
+Each trade was represented in the village community. There were the
+_faber_, or smith, and the carpenter, who repaired the ironwork and
+woodwork of the ploughs and other agricultural implements, and in return
+for their work had small holdings among the tenants free from ordinary
+services. There was the _punder_, or pound-man, who looked after the
+repair of the fences and impounded stray cattle; the _cementarius_, or
+stonemason; the _custos apium_, or bee-keeper, an important person, as
+much honey was needed to make the sweetened ale, or mead, which the
+villagers and their chiefs loved to imbibe; and the steward, or
+_prepositus_, who acted on behalf of the lord, looked after the
+interests of the tenants, and took care that they rendered their legal
+services. The surnames Smith, Baker, Butcher, Carter, and many others,
+preserve the remembrance of the various trades which were carried on in
+every village, and of the complete self-dependence of the community.
+
+We have inherited many customs and institutions from our Saxon
+forefathers, which connect our own age with theirs. In recent years we
+have established parish councils in our villages. Formerly the pet
+theory of politicians was centralisation; everything had to be done at
+one centre, at one central office, and London became the head and centre
+of all government. But recently politicians thought that they had
+discovered a new plan for carrying on the internal affairs of the
+country, and the idea was to leave each district to manage its own
+affairs. This is only a return to the original Saxon plan. In every
+village there was a moot-hill, or sacred tree, where the freemen met to
+make their own laws and arrange their agricultural affairs. Here
+disputes were settled, plough lands and meadow lands shared in due lot
+among the villagers, and everything arranged according to the custom of
+the village.
+
+Our county maps show that the shires are divided into hundreds. This we
+have inherited from our Saxon forefathers. In order to protect
+themselves from their neighbours, the Saxon colonists arranged
+themselves in hundreds of warriors. This little army was composed of
+picked champions, the representatives of a hundred families; men who
+were ready in case of war to uphold the honour of their house, and to
+fight for their hearths and homes. These hundred families recognised a
+bond of union with each other and a common inheritance, and ranged
+themselves under one name for general purposes, whether for defence,
+administration of justice, or other objects.
+
+On a fixed day, three times a year, in some place where they were
+accustomed to assemble--under a particular tree,[1] or near some
+river-bank--these hundred champions used to meet their chieftain, and
+gather around him when he dismounted from his horse. He then placed his
+spear in the ground, and each warrior touched it with his own spear in
+token of their compact, and pledged himself to mutual support. At this
+assembly criminals were tried, disputes settled, bargains of sale
+concluded; and in later times many of these transactions were inserted
+in the chartularies of abbeys or the registers of bishops, which thus
+became a kind of register too sacred to be falsified. A large number of
+the hundreds bear the name of some chieftain who once used to call
+together his band of bearded, light-haired warriors and administer rude
+justice beneath a broad oak's shade.[2] Others are named after some
+particular spot, some tree, or ford, or stone, or tumulus, where the
+hundred court met.
+
+Our counties or shires were not formed, as is popularly supposed, by
+King Alfred or other royal person by the dividing up of the country into
+portions, but were the areas occupied by the original Saxon tribes or
+kingdoms. Most of our counties retain to this day the boundaries which
+were originally formed by the early Saxon settlers. Some of our counties
+were old Saxon kingdoms--such as Sussex, Essex, Middlesex--the kingdoms
+of the South, East, and Middle Saxons. Surrey is the Sothe-reye, or
+south realm; Kent is the land of the Cantii, a Belgic tribe; Devon is
+the land of the Damnonii, a Celtic tribe; Cornwall, or Corn-wales, is
+the land of the Welsh of the Horn; Worcestershire is the shire of the
+Huiccii; Cumberland is the land of the Cymry; Northumberland is the land
+north of the Humber, and therefore, as its name implies, used to extend
+over all the North of England. Evidently the southern tribes and
+kingdoms by conquest reduced the size of this large county and confined
+it to its present smaller dimensions. In several cases the name of the
+county is derived from that of its chief town, _e.g._ Oxfordshire,
+Warwickshire; these were districts which were conquered by some powerful
+earl or chieftain, who held his court in the town, and called his newly
+acquired property after its name.
+
+We have seen the picture of an ordinary English village in early Saxon
+times, the villeins and slaves working in the fields and driving their
+oxen, and the thane dressed in his linen tunic and short cloak, his hose
+bandaged to the knee with strips of cloth, superintending the farming
+operations. We have seen the freemen and thanes taking an active part in
+public life, attending the courts of the hundred and shire, as well as
+the folk moot or parish council of those times, and the slave mourning
+over his lack of freedom. But many other relics of Saxon times remain,
+and these will require another chapter for their examination.
+
+
+[1] Until the eighteenth century there stood a pollard oak in the parish
+of Shelford, Berks, where the hundred court used to be held.
+
+[2] Other theories with regard to the origin of the hundred have been
+suggested. Some writers maintain that the hundred was a district whence
+the hundred warriors were derived, or a group of townships. But the
+Bishop of Oxford in his _Constitutional History_ states: "It is very
+probable that the colonists of Britain arranged themselves in hundreds
+of warriors; it is not probable that the country was carved into equal
+districts. The only conclusion that seems reasonable is that under the
+name of geographical hundreds we have the variously sized _pagi_, or
+districts, in which the hundred warriors settled, the boundaries of
+these being determined by other causes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SAXON RELICS
+
+Peculiarities of Saxon barrows--Their contents--Weapons--Articles
+of personal adornment--Cremation--Saxon Cemeteries--Jutes--Saxons--
+Angles--Religion of Saxons--British Church in Wales--Conversion
+of Saxons--Saxon crosses--Whalley--St. Wilfrid--Ruthwell cross--
+Bewcastle cross--Eyam cross--Ilkley cross--Hexham cross--Cross at
+St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland--Cheeping crosses--Pilgrim crosses.
+
+
+The earth has preserved a vast store of relics of the Saxons, and for
+these we must search in the barrows which contain their dead. There are
+certain peculiarities which characterise these memorials of the race.
+The larger tumuli, whether belonging to Celt or Roman, usually stand
+alone, or in groups of not more than two or three, and were the
+monuments of distinguished people; whereas the Saxon barrows form a
+regular cemetery, each group being the common burying-place of the
+people in the district. Another characteristic is the large number of
+articles which they contain. Moreover it was the practice of the other
+races to lay the body on the ground, and build up the chamber and mound
+above it. The Saxons on the other hand laid the body in a deep grave
+before they began to construct the barrow.
+
+The body was usually stretched out on its back, but is sometimes found
+in a sitting position, as in graves recently discovered on Lord
+Wantage's estate, Berks. Coffins of hollowed trunks of trees were
+occasionally used, but these were not common. If the dead man was a
+warrior, his weapons were buried with him, and we find the head and
+spike of his spear, heads of javelins, a long iron broad-sword, a long
+knife, occasionally an axe, and over his breast the iron boss of his
+shield, the wooden part of which has of course decayed away.
+
+[Illustration: SAXON RELICS
+(1) Sword
+(2) Top of Sword Handle
+(3) Buckle
+(4) Spear-head
+(5) Plain Fibula]
+
+The articles of personal adornment are very numerous. Fibulae, or
+brooches, and buckles, made of bronze, are very beautifully ornamented.
+Gold fibulae of circular form are found in the Kentish barrows,
+frequently ornamented with real or fictitious gems. Rings, bracelets,
+necklaces of beads, pendants for the neck and ears, are very common. The
+beads are of glass, or amber, or variegated clay. Hairpins with which
+the Saxon ladies bound up their tresses, chatelaines with tweezers for
+removing superfluous hairs, toothpicks, scissors, and small knives, are
+very frequent, and combs made of bone.
+
+When cremation was used the ashes were deposited in an urn made of rude
+earthenware without the help of a lathe. Drinking-vessels of glass of
+fine and delicate workmanship, pointed or rounded at the bottom, are
+common. From the construction of these cups it is evident that the Saxon
+allowed no "heel-taps." Bronze bowls, dishes, and basins are found in
+Saxon barrows, and occasionally buckets.
+
+A pair of dice was found in a grave at Kingston Down, which indicates a
+favourite pastime of the Saxons. The presence of a large number of Roman
+coins shows that they used Roman money long after the legions had left
+our shores. Sceattas, or Saxon silver coins, are also frequently
+discovered.
+
+Many Saxon cemeteries have been discovered in various parts of England,
+but a vast number have never been examined; and the careful inspection
+of the contents of barrows must throw much light upon Saxon settlements
+in England. Bede tells us that there were three different branches of
+this race. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons
+settled in Essex, the country of the East Saxons, Sussex, that of the
+South Saxons, and Wessex, of the West Saxons. The Angles settled in East
+Anglia. Now an examination of barrows shows that the Angles practised
+cremation and urn burial, which was not so common amongst the Jutes and
+Saxons, and the fibulae found in the tombs of these tribes differ
+considerably in shape and size. The contents of these graves throw much
+light on the history of the people, their customs and habits. The action
+of the plough has often obliterated the traces of ancient barrows. It is
+advisable that the position of all such mounds should be carefully noted
+and recorded, and where possible excavations made which may help in
+settling many vexed questions, and enable us to understand more fully
+the condition of the pagan Saxon, ere the light of Christianity had
+dawned upon him.
+
+Our names for the days of the week tell us of the gods of our Saxon
+forefathers, whom they worshipped in their pagan and unregenerate state.
+Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuisco's-day, Woden's-day, Thor's-day, Frya's-day,
+Saeter's-day, link us on to the times when these "whelps from the
+kennels of barbarism," as the Britons loved to call their conquerors,
+swept away the old British Church, and established their heathen rites
+and customs. Their religion resembled that of their Scandinavian
+neighbours. Each village had its sacred spot, some clearing in the
+forest, a tree, or well, whither the people resorted to pray to their
+gods, and practise superstitious rites and customs which lingered long
+after the introduction of Christianity, and even still survive. They had
+also a few temples whither the freemen came three times a year.
+
+Driven out of England the ancient British Church found a refuge in the
+wilds of Wales and Cornwall, where it lived on and flourished
+vigorously, allied to the Churches of Ireland and Scotland, sending out
+missionaries to the Continent of Europe, having schools and colleges,
+monasteries, and numerous churches. Llancarvan, in Glamorganshire, was a
+celebrated seat of learning; and all places named Bangor, such as
+Bangor-Iscaed, St. Asaph, and many others, possessed schools and
+colleges. The village names of numerous places in Wales and Cornwall
+record the labours of many earnest, saintly men, who brought
+Christianity to the savage folk in these wild regions. There are nearly
+five hundred names of these holy men in Wales alone, whose memory is
+retained by this simple record; and Cornwall is dotted over with
+churches dedicated to men and women whose names are strange, and of whom
+we know nothing. History tells us of some of these early saints and
+martyrs, of St. Alban, the first British martyr, who was slain 303 A.D.
+during the Diocletian persecution in the city which bears his name; of
+St. David, a Welsh prince, who followed the active life of John the
+Baptist, and preached like him. The memory of early saints is enshrined
+in the names, St. Ives, St. Neots, St. Bees, and in St. Edmund's Bury,
+named after St. Edmund, who was taken prisoner by Ingvar the Viking, and
+having been bound to a tree, was scourged, and served as a target for
+the arrows of the Danes, being afterwards beheaded. All these record the
+bravery and zeal of the holy men of old who loved their God, and for His
+sake feared not to die.
+
+Nothing need be said of the conversion of the English. That is a story
+which has been often told. The scene is again changed. The temples of
+Woden and Thor at Canterbury and Godmundingham and elsewhere, with their
+heathen altars and shrines and idols, have been changed into Christian
+churches, and other houses of God have been raised in the various
+kingdoms; while Paulinus, Berinus, Aidan, Winfrid, and other preachers,
+travelled through the country, exhorting the people to accept the
+Christian faith.
+
+Memorials of these early Christian missionaries remain in many a village
+churchyard. Often there stands near the village church an old stone
+cross, its steps worn away by the rains and frosts of thirteen
+centuries; its head has doubtless gone, broken off by the force of the
+gales, or by the wild rage of human passion and Puritanical iconoclastic
+zeal; but it preserves the memory of the first conversion of the Saxon
+villagers to Christianity, and was erected to mark the spot where the
+people assembled to hear the new preacher, and to consecrate it for this
+purpose.
+
+In the life of St. Willibald we read that it was the custom of the Saxon
+nation, on the estates of some of their nobles or great men, to erect,
+not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God,
+beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common
+use of daily prayer. It is recorded also that St. Kentigern used to
+erect a cross in any place where he had converted the people, and where
+he had been staying for some time. Very probably the Saxon preacher
+would make use of the old open-air meeting-place, where the pagan
+villagers used to worship Woden; and thus the spots still used for
+public worship are in many cases the same which used to echo with the
+songs of Thor and the prayers of pagan Saxons.
+
+These crosses were the rallying-points for Christian congregations
+before churches arose, and the bells in their turrets summoned the
+people to the service of God. In Somersetshire alone there are two
+hundred relics of the piety of our forefathers; and the North of England
+and Scotland are especially rich in crosses. No two are ever quite
+similar. Some are of simple design or character; but many have such
+beautiful carving and scrollwork that we are astonished at the skill of
+the workmen who, with very simple and rude tools, could produce such
+wonderful specimens of art.
+
+The pagan Saxons worshipped stone pillars; so in order to wean them from
+their ignorant superstition, the Christian missionaries, such as St.
+Wilfrid, erected these stone crosses, and carved upon them the figures
+of the Saviour and His Apostles, displaying before the eyes of their
+hearers the story of the cross written in stone.
+
+The North of England has very many examples of the zeal of these early
+preachers of the faith, and probably most of them were fashioned by the
+monks and followers of St. Wilfrid, who was Archbishop of York at the
+beginning of the eighth century.
+
+When he travelled about his diocese a large body of monks and workmen
+attended him; and amongst these were the cutters in stone who made the
+crosses and erected them on the spots which Wilfrid consecrated to the
+worship of God.
+
+The Whalley cross is earlier than the time of Wilfrid. It is one of the
+crosses of Paulinus, who was one of the priests sent by Pope Gregory to
+help Augustine in the work of converting the Saxons, and who became
+Archbishop of York. Under the shadow of this very cross Paulinus, who
+came to England in 601 A.D., preached nearly thirteen hundred years ago.
+Indeed an old monkish writer wished to represent that Augustine himself
+came to Whalley and erected the cross, which he calls "St. Augustine's
+Cross"; but there is little doubt that Paulinus was the founder. In
+Puritan times this and other relics of early faith suffered badly, and
+was removed with two others from the churchyard, and used as a gatepost;
+but the spoiler repented, and restored it once more to its old
+resting-place.
+
+But how did the founders learn to make such beautiful patterns and
+designs? St. Wilfrid had travelled much; he had been to Rome and seen
+the wonderful examples of Roman skill in the great city. The Romans had
+left behind them in England their beautiful pavements, rich in designs,
+with splendid borders of fine workmanship. These, doubtless, the monks
+copied on parchment in the writing-rooms of their monasteries, and gave
+their drawings to the monks in the stone-shed, who reproduced them in
+stone. The only tool they had to produce all this fine and delicate work
+was the pick, and this increases our wonder at the marvels they were
+able to accomplish.
+
+There is a famous cross at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire, which for a short
+time formed part of the kingdom of Northumbria. Scenes from early
+Christian history are portrayed, and these are surrounded by bands with
+sentences in Latin describing them. The lowest panel is too defaced for
+us to determine the subjects; on the second we see the flight into
+Egypt; on the third figures of Paul, the first hermit, and Anthony, the
+first monk, are carved; on the fourth is a representation of our Lord
+treading under foot the heads of swine; and on the highest there is the
+figure of John the Baptist with the Lamb. On the opposite side are the
+Annunciation, the Salutation, and other scenes of gospel history. On the
+side of the cross is some beautiful scrollwork, which shows a wonderful
+development of skill and art.
+
+In addition to the Latin sentences there are five stanzas of an
+Anglo-Saxon poem of singular beauty. It is the story of the crucifixion
+told in touching words by the cross itself, which narrates its own sad
+tale from the time when it was a growing tree by the woodside, until at
+length, after the body of the Lord had been taken down--
+
+  "The warriors left me there,
+  Standing defiled with blood."
+
+On the head of the cross are inscribed the words, "Caedmon made me."
+This Caedmon was the holy monk, on whom the gift of writing verses was
+bestowed by Heaven, who in the year 680 A.D. began to pour forth his
+songs in praise of Almighty God, and told in Anglo-Saxon poetry the
+story of the creation and the life of our Lord. The Bewcastle cross is
+somewhat similar to that at Ruthwell. We see again the figure of our
+Lord standing on the heads of swine, but the lower figure is represented
+with a hawk, the sign of nobility, and is probably that of a person to
+whom the cross is a memorial. The ornamentation on this cross is very
+perfect and beautifully executed. The very beautiful cross at Eyam, in
+Derbyshire, differs both in style and workmanship from almost any other.
+The shaft has evidently been broken. In the panels of the head of the
+cross are figures of angels.
+
+Sometimes we find some very strange beasts carved on the old crosses. On
+the cross at Ilkley we observe some of these curious animals with their
+long tails interlacing. Sometimes the tail is wound round the creature's
+body, and the idea of the artist was to represent the animal reduced to
+a state of powerlessness. One forepaw is held up in sign of submission.
+Above is a figure of our Lord triumphing over the powers of evil, and
+these animals represent probably man's lower nature owning the supremacy
+of the King of Heaven. On the other side of the cross are figures of the
+four evangelists. The upper half of the figures alone appears dressed in
+flowing garments; each is carrying a book; circles of glory surround
+their heads, which are the symbols of the evangelists. St. Matthew has a
+man's head; St. Mark a leopard's; St. Luke's a calf's; and St. John an
+eagle's head.
+
+The crosses at Hexham, where Archbishop Wilfrid founded a monastery, are
+very ancient. We are able to tell the date of these stones, for they
+were placed at the head and feet of the grave of Bishop Acca, who was a
+follower of St. Wilfrid, and accompanied him on his missionary journeys.
+Acca succeeded Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham, and according to the old
+chronicler Bede, "being a most active man and great in the sight of God
+and man, he much adorned and added to his church." Acca died in 738
+A.D., and as the monastery of Hexham was soon destroyed, these crosses
+must have been erected eleven hundred and sixty-three years ago.
+
+The cross at St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland, is of much later date, and
+the workmanship is not nearly so fine and delicate as in the earlier
+crosses. The Saxons had deteriorated as a race just before the Normans
+came, and although the cross still appears on the flat stone, the design
+on the shaft of the cross merely represents a hunting scene; and a Saxon
+bowman is shown shooting at some animals. The religious conceptions of
+an earlier and purer time have disappeared. The moustache of the
+sportsman also shows that the stone belonged to a period very near the
+Norman Conquest, when that fashion of wearing the hair was in vogue.
+
+England is remarkable for these specimens of ancient art. On the
+Continent there are very few of these elaborately carved crosses; but
+it is noteworthy that wherever the English or Irish missionaries went,
+they erected these memorials of their faith. In Switzerland, where
+they founded some monasteries, there are some very similar to those
+in England.
+
+There are several other kinds of crosses besides those in churchyards.
+There are market crosses, called "cheeping" crosses after the
+Anglo-Saxon _cheap_, to buy, from which Cheapside, in London, Chippenham
+and Chipping Norton derive their names. Some crosses are "pilgrim"
+crosses, and were erected along the roads leading to shrines where
+pilgrimages were wont to be made, such as the shrine of St. Thomas
+a Becket at Canterbury, Glastonbury, Our Lady of Walsingham. Sometimes
+they were erected at the places where the corpse rested on its way to
+burial, as the Eleanor crosses at Waltham and Charing, in order that
+people might pray for the soul of the deceased. Monks also erected
+crosses to mark the boundaries of the property of their monastery.
+
+[Illustration: AN OLD MARKET CROSS]
+
+Time has dealt hardly with the old crosses of England. Many of them
+were destroyed by the Puritans, who by the Parliamentary decree of
+1643, ordered that all altars and tables of stones, all crucifixes,
+images and pictures of God and the saints, with all superstitious
+inscriptions, should be obliterated and destroyed. In London, St.
+Paul's Cross, Charing Cross, and that in Cheapside, were levelled
+with the ground, and throughout the country many a beautiful work
+of art which had existed hundreds of years shared the same fate.
+Place-names sometimes preserve their memory, such as Gerard's Cross,
+in Buckinghamshire, Crosby, Crossens, Cross Inn, Croston; these and
+many others record the existence in ancient times of a cross, and
+probably beneath its shade the first preachers of the gospel stood,
+when they turned the hearts of our heathen ancestors, and taught them
+the holy lessons of the Cross.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
+
+Saxon monasteries--Parish churches--Benedict Biscop--Aldhelm--St.
+Andrew's, Hexham--Brixworth Church--Saxon architecture--Norman
+architecture--Characteristics of the style--Transition Norman--
+Early English style--Decorated style--Perpendicular style.
+
+
+The early Saxon clergy lived in monasteries, where they had a church
+and a school for the education of the sons of thanes. Monastic houses,
+centres of piety and evangelistic zeal, sprang up, the abodes of
+religion, civilisation, peace, and learning. They were the schools of
+culture, sacred and profane, of industry and agriculture; the monks were
+the architects, the painters, the sculptors, the goldsmiths of their
+time. They formed the first libraries; they taught the young; they
+educated women in convents, and by degrees dispersed the shades of
+ignorance, idolatry, and barbarism, and reformed England.
+
+To record the number of these monastic houses which were erected in the
+seventh and eighth centuries would require much space; and as our chief
+concern is with the vestiges that remain in our English villages, and
+as most of these Saxon monasteries were plundered and destroyed by the
+Danes, or rebuilt on a grander scale by the Normans, we will not now
+enumerate them.
+
+After the country had been evangelised by the itinerant monks and
+preachers, the next process was to establish a church in every village,
+and to provide a pastor to minister therein. Archbishop Theodore
+encouraged the thanes to build and endow churches on their estates, and
+introduced to this country the parochial system, by means of which all
+villages could have the services of a resident pastor.
+
+Then the thane's house was not considered complete without its chapel;
+and in the scattered hamlets and village communities churches arose,
+rudely built of wood and roofed with thatch, wherein the Saxon _ceorls_
+and _cottiers_ loved to worship.
+
+The great Churchmen of the day were not content with such humble
+structures. They had travelled to Rome, and seen there some of the fine
+buildings dedicated for divine service; so they determined to have the
+like in their own country. One of these noble builders was Benedict
+Biscop, founder of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. When he
+built the former, he imported foreign artists from Gaul, who constructed
+the monastery after the Roman style, and amongst other things introduced
+glazed windows, which had never been seen in England before. Nor was his
+new house bare and unadorned. He brought from Rome vast stores of church
+furniture, many books, and the "arch-chanter" John, to teach his monks
+the music and ritual of Rome.
+
+Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, and first Bishop of Sherborne, was one of
+the foremost church-builders of the time, and the beautiful churches at
+Malmesbury, Sherborne, Bradford-on-Avon, Frome, and Wareham, owe their
+erection to his instrumentality. Wilfrid also was one of the saintly
+architects of the period. Here is a description of the church of St.
+Andrew, at Hexham, taken from the writings of Richard, prior of the
+monastery there:--
+
+"The foundations of this church St. Wilfrid laid deep in the earth for
+the crypts and oratories, and the passages leading to them, which were
+then with great exactness contrived and built under ground. The walls,
+which were of great length, and raised to an immense height, and divided
+into three several stones or tiers, he supported by square and other
+kinds of well-polished columns. Also, the walls, the capitals of the
+columns which supported them, and the arch of the sanctuary, he
+decorated with historical representations, imagery, and various figures
+of relief, carved in stone, and painted with a most agreeable variety of
+colour. The body of the church he compassed about with pentices and
+porticoes, which, both above and below, he divided with great and
+inexpressible art, by partition walls and winding stairs. Within the
+staircases, and above them, he caused flights of steps and galleries of
+stone, and several passages leading from them both ascending and
+descending, to be so artfully disposed, that multitudes of people might
+be there, and go quite round the church, without being seen by anyone
+below in the nave. Moreover in the several divisions of the porticoes or
+aisles, he erected many most beautiful and private oratories of
+exquisite workmanship; and in them he caused to be placed altars in
+honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Michael, St. John the Baptist,
+and the holy Apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, with all decent
+and proper furniture to each of them, some of which, remaining at this
+day, appear like so many turrets and fortified places."
+
+[Illustration: CONSECRATION OF A SAXON CHURCH]
+
+The Danish wars had a disastrous effect on such noble structures raised
+by these monastic architects, as well as on many a rustic village
+church, which fell a prey to the ruthless invading bands of pagan
+warriors. But frequently, as we study the history written in the
+stonework of our churches, we find amid the massive Norman walls traces
+of the work of Saxon builders, an arch here, a column there, which link
+our own times with the distant past when England was divided into eight
+kingdoms, or when Danegeld was levied to buy off the marauding
+strangers.
+
+Roman buildings served as a model for our Saxon architects, and Roman
+bricks were much used by them. Brixworth Church is perhaps the finest
+specimen of our early Saxon churches. It has semicircular arches, made
+of Roman bricks, springing from square massive piers with single abaci.
+
+[Illustration: TOWER OF BARNACK CHURCH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE]
+
+We will try to point out the distinguishing features of Saxon work, in
+order that you may be able to detect the evidence of its existence in
+your own village and neighbourhood. The walls are chiefly formed of
+rubble or rag stone, having "long and short work," _i.e._ long block of
+cut stone laid alternately horizontally and vertically, at the corners
+of the building and in the jambs of the doors. Often narrow ribs of
+masonry run vertically up the walls, and a string-course runs
+horizontally. The churches of Barnack and Wittering in Northamptonshire,
+St. Michael's, Oxford, and the towers of Earl's Barton are good examples
+of this.
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY, EARL'S BARTON CHURCH]
+
+Saxon doorways have semicircular arches, and sometimes the head is
+shaped in the form of a triangle. The jambs are square-edged, the stone
+of the arch is plain, and a hood or arch of ribwork projecting from the
+surface of the wall surrounds the doorway. Belfry windows have two
+semicircular-headed lights divided by a _baluster_ shaft, _i.e._ a
+column resembling a turned-wood pillar. This feature is quite peculiar
+to Saxon architecture.
+
+Anglo-Saxon single-light windows have two splays, increasing in width
+from the centre of the wall in which the window is placed. Norman
+windows have only one splay on the internal side of the building. Saxon
+arches separating the nave from the aisles and chancel are plain. There
+is no sub-arch as in Norman buildings. They are often very small,
+sometimes only five or six feet wide, and stand on square piers.
+
+[Illustration: TOWER WINDOW, MONKWEARMOUTH CHURCH
+Built by Benedict Biscop, _circa_ A.D. 674]
+
+Some Saxon churches have crypts, but few of them remain. The crypt made
+by St. Wilfrid at Hexham, mentioned above, still exists, and also one at
+Ripon Cathedral, in which there is a small window called "Wilfrid's
+needle." There is a legend about this which states that if a maid goes
+through the "needle," she will be married within the year. Repton Church
+has a very perfect specimen of Saxon crypt.
+
+The ground plan of Saxon churches differed. Many were cruciform, and
+consisted of nave, transepts, and chancel. The east wall of the chancel
+was often semicircular or polygonal, sometimes rectangular. The church
+of St. Lawrence, at Bradford-on-Avon, mentioned by William of
+Malmesbury, is a fine specimen of a Saxon church, and also the little
+church at Escombe, Durham, and that of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire,
+recently rescued from being used as a farmstead.
+
+After the close of the thousandth year after the birth of Christ a new
+impulse was given to church-building. People imagined that with that
+year the millennium would arrive and the Second Advent take place. It
+would be vain to build beautiful churches, if they were so soon to
+perish in the general destruction of the world, as vain as to heap up
+treasure by means of trade. Hence people's minds were unsettled, and the
+churches left in ruins. But when the millenary had safely passed away,
+they began to restore the fallen shrines, and build new churches, and
+the late Saxon or early Norman style came into vogue. Canute was a great
+church-builder, and Edward the Confessor rebuilt Westminster Abbey after
+the new fashion. Then came William the Conqueror with his Norman
+builders, and soon nearly every village had its church, which was
+constructed, according to William of Malmesbury, _novo aedificandi
+genere_.
+
+We will now notice the characteristics of early Norman work, traces of
+which you may be able to recognise in your own church. The doorways are
+very remarkable, profusely adorned with richly carved ornamental
+mouldings and sculpture. The archways are round, and are composed of a
+succession of receding arches, all elaborately carved. The doorway of
+Malmesbury Church has eight arches, recessed one within the other. These
+arches are supported by one or more shafts, which are sometimes carved.
+Above the door and below the arch is the tympanum, covered with
+sculpture, representing scriptural subjects, such as the figure of the
+Saviour in allusion to His saying, "I am the door," or the _Agnus Dei_,
+or Adam and Eve, or such legendary or symbolical subjects as St. George
+and the Dragon, or the Tree of Life.
+
+[Illustration: SCULPTURED HEAD OF DOORWAY, FORDINGTON CHURCH, DORSETSHIRE]
+
+Porches are not very common in early Norman structures, but several
+still exist, notably at Malmesbury, Balderton, and Brixworth. The
+windows are usually small and narrow, the jambs being splayed only on
+the inside of the church. Three such windows placed together usually
+give light over the altar. The walls of Norman buildings are thick and
+massive, and are often faced with cut stone. String-courses or mouldings
+projecting from the walls, run horizontally along them, and are often
+adorned with the zigzag or other Norman patterns of ornament. The tower
+often stands between the nave and the chancel, and is usually low and
+massive. In the eastern counties are found many round towers made of
+flint masonry. Flat buttresses are a sure sign of Norman work, as they
+were not used in any of the subsequent styles of architecture.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN CAPITALS
+(1) Crypt, Worcester Cathedral
+(2) Winchester Cathedral]
+
+The arches of the Norman builders are easily recognised. The piers in
+country churches are nearly always cylindrical; but there are several
+examples of massive square or octagonal piers, and also a number
+of round columns attached, so as to form one pier. The _cushion_
+capital is the most common form used in the Norman style. It is easily
+recognisable, but difficult to be described; and perhaps the
+accompanying sketch will enable the reader to discover a cushion
+capital when he sees it. The early Norman builders loved to bestow
+much labour on their capitals; and while preserving the usual cushion
+form, enriched them with much elaboration. The _scallop_ frequently
+occurs, and also the _volute_, which was copied from the work of Roman
+builders, who themselves imitated the Greek sculptures. Sometimes the
+capitals are elaborately carved with figures of men, or animals, or
+foliage.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN ORNAMENTAL MOULDINGS.
+(1)  Indented. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(2)  Zig-zag. Iffley, Oxfordshire
+(3)  Alternate Billet. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(4)  Double Cone. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(5)  Pellet. Stoneleigh, Warwickshire
+(6)  Lozenge. Essendine, Rutland
+(7)  Cable. Fritwell, Oxfordshire
+(8)  Star. Stringham, Norfolk
+(9)  Medallion. Iffley, Oxfordshire
+(10) Beak-Head. Steetley, Derbyshire
+(11) Nail-Head. St. Ethelred's, Norwich
+(12) Embattled. Lincoln Cathedral]
+
+Norman arches resemble the doorways in having sub-arches recessed within
+an outer arch, the intrados often being decorated with mouldings such as
+the zigzag or the lozenge. The chancel arch is usually very elaborately
+ornamented with various mouldings, which are very numerous and peculiar.
+Those illustrated on the previous page are the most common.
+
+[Illustration: CROYLAND ABBEY CHURCH, LINCOLNSHIRE]
+
+The Normans were also much skilled in vaulting with stone, as the crypts
+in our churches testify. Over the vaulted roof of the aisles was the
+_triforium_, a kind of gallery between this roof and the external roof
+of the church. Very few of the wooden roofs of Norman churches remain.
+The fonts are large, square or cylindrical in shape, and are decorated
+with mouldings or sculpture, often very elaborate but rudely executed.
+At Winchester Cathedral the font is carved with a representation of the
+baptism of King Cynigils at Dorchester. Other favourite subjects were
+the creation of man, the formation of Eve, the expulsion from Paradise,
+Christ upon the cross, the Four Evangelists, the baptism of our Lord,
+and legendary or symbolical representations.
+
+[Illustration: SEMI-NORMAN ARCH, CHURCH OF ST. CROSS]
+
+This style of architecture prevailed until about the middle of the
+twelfth century, when the _Transition Norman_ became in vogue. It is
+characterised by the introduction of the pointed arch. Many conjectures
+as regards its origin have been made. Some suppose that the idea of
+making the arch pointed was suggested by the intersection of
+semicircular arches in ornamental arcades. Others say that the Crusaders
+introduced it on their return from the East, or that it was suggested by
+the Norman vaulting, or from the form of the _vesica piscis_, the most
+ancient of Christian symbols. The Cistercian monks were the first to
+introduce it to this country, and the Cistercian abbeys of Fountains,
+Kirkstall, Furness, and Tintern are noble specimens of Transition Norman
+work. Religious zeal and enthusiasm are often reflected in the improved
+condition of our churches, and the grand buildings of this period are
+outward and visible signs of a great religious revival. Semicircular
+arches, however, continued to be used for windows and for the triforium;
+the capitals of the piers were decorated with foliage somewhat similar
+to that used in a subsequent period.
+
+[Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH PIERS AND CAPITALS
+(1) Salisbury Cathedral
+(2) Lincoln Cathedral]
+
+Then arose the Early English style of architecture which flourished
+from about the year 1175 to 1275, and is characterised by a gradual
+abandonment of the heavy and massive features of the Norman style, and
+the adoption of lighter and more elegant forms of construction and
+decoration. Salisbury Cathedral, erected 1220-1260 A.D., is the most
+perfect example of this period. The arches are pointed, and the piers
+supporting them are often composed of an insulated cylindrical column
+surrounded by slender detached shafts, all uniting together under one
+capital, and divided into parts by horizontal bands. In small churches
+plain octagonal or circular piers are frequently used, as in the
+succeeding style, from which they can only be distinguished by the
+mouldings. Mouldings are often the surest guides in helping us to
+ascertain the date of a building. We have already studied the Norman
+mouldings. In this style they are composed of bold rounds and deep
+hollows, usually plain, or ornamented with the dog-tooth.
+
+[Illustration: TOOTH OR DOG-TOOTH ORNAMENT]
+
+The lancet window is now introduced, at first of only one light, very
+narrow and long, and differing from the Norman window in having a
+pointed arch. At the east end of the chancel there are often three
+lancet windows, the centre one higher than the rest, with one dripstone
+over them. The first idea of window-tracery was the introduction of a
+plain lozenge-shaped opening over a double lancet window, the whole
+being covered by a single dripstone. From this simple arrangement it
+was not difficult to develop the beautiful bar-tracery which came into
+vogue in the subsequent period of English architecture. The capitals
+of the Early English style are bell-shaped, at first quite plain, but
+subsequently these are often covered with beautifully sculptured foliage
+of a very graceful character. Circular windows at this period came
+into vogue in the gables of churches. They were either plain or
+quatre-foiled. Norman towers were sometimes capped with spires in the
+thirteenth century. The walls are not so thick or massive as in the
+Norman period, and the buttresses are stouter and more numerous, and
+project further from the wall. Flying buttresses were also introduced at
+this period. We can generally distinguish Early English work from that
+of the Norman style by its lightness and elegance, as compared with the
+roughness and massiveness of the latter; and its plainness and
+simplicity sufficiently distinguish it from that of the Decorated
+period.
+
+[Illustration: BROWNSOVER CHAPEL, WARWICKSHIRE]
+
+The Decorated style (1275-1375) which prevailed during the reigns of
+the three Edwards was ushered in by a period of Transition, during which
+there was gradually developed the most perfect style which English
+architectural skill has ever attained. In the thirteenth century our
+builders were striving to attain the highest forms of graceful design
+and artistic workmanship. In the fourteenth their work reached
+perfection, while in the fifteenth there was a marked decline in their
+art, which in spite of its elaborate details lacked the beauty of the
+Decorated style.
+
+[Illustration: MOULDINGS, TEWKESBURY ABBEY]
+
+[Illustration: OGEE ARCH]
+
+The arches of this period are usually wider, and are distinguished from
+those of the Early English by the character of the mouldings. The
+ball-flower, consisting of a ball inclosed by three or four leaves,
+somewhat resembling a rosebud, is the favourite ornament, and a
+four-leaved flower is often used. Roll mouldings, quarter, half, or
+three-quarters round, frequently occur, and produce a very pleasing
+effect. The form of the arch is in many instances changed, and the
+graceful _ogee_ arch is introduced. The piers are round or octagonal in
+village churches, and in large churches are formed by a cluster of
+cylindrical shafts, not detached as in the preceding period, but closely
+united. The capitals are bell-shaped, and in large churches richly
+sculptured. Few of the wooden roofs remain, as they have been superseded
+in later times; but the marks of the old roofs may often be seen on the
+eastern wall of the tower. The windows are larger than those of the
+earlier style, and are filled with geometrical and flowing tracery of
+great variety and beauty. Small windows have heads shaped in the ogee or
+trefoil forms. Square-headed windows are not uncommon, especially in the
+clerestory, and in monastic churches circular windows are frequently met
+with. It is characteristic of this style that the carving is not so deep
+as in the previous work. We find groups of shallow mouldings separated
+by one cut deeper than the others.
+
+[Illustration: CAPITALS
+(1) Hanwell
+(2) Chacombe Church]
+
+[Illustration: DECORATED WINDOWS
+(1) Merton College Chapel
+(2) Sandiacre, Derbyshire]
+
+[Illustration: MOULDINGS
+(1) Elton, Huntingdonshire
+(2) Austrey, Warwickshire]
+
+At length the glories of the Decorated period pass away and are merged
+and lost in the _Perpendicular_ which held sway from 1375 to 1540. The
+work is now more elaborate and richer, but lacks the majestic beauty of
+the Decorated style. It is easy to distinguish Perpendicular windows.
+They are larger than any which we have seen before; the mullions are
+carried straight up through the head of the window; smaller mullions
+spring from the heads of the principal lights, and thus the windows
+are broken up into panel-like compartments, very different from the
+beautiful curves of the Decorated style. Simple pointed arches are still
+in use, but gradually they become flattened; and the arch, commonly
+known as the Tudor arch, is a peculiar feature of this style. In village
+churches the mouldings of the arch are often continued down the piers
+without any capital or shaft.
+
+[Illustration: MERTON COLLEGE CHAPEL, OXFORD]
+
+Piers are commonly formed from a square or parallelogram with the angles
+fluted, having on the flat face of each side a semicyclindrical shaft.
+The base mouldings are polygonal. The most common doorway is the Tudor
+arch having a square head over it. The doors are often richly
+ornamented. There are a large number of square-headed windows, and so
+proud were these builders of their new style of window that they
+frequently inserted Perpendicular windows in walls of a much earlier
+date. Hence it is not always safe to determine the age of a church by an
+examination of the windows alone. Panel-work tracery on the upper part
+of the interior walls is a distinctive feature of this style.
+
+[Illustration: VESTRY DOOR, ADDERBURY CHURCH, OXON]
+
+[Illustration: ST. ERASMUS' CHAPEL, WESTMINSTER ABBEY]
+
+The slope of the roof is much lower than before, and often the former
+high-pitched roofs were at this period replaced by the almost flat roofs
+prevalent in the fifteenth century. The parapets are often embattled.
+
+The rose, the badge of the houses of York and Lancaster, is often used
+as an ornamental detail, and also rows of the Tudor flower, composed of
+four petals, frequently occur. One of the most distinctive mouldings is
+the _cavetto_, a wide shallow hollow in the centre of a group of
+mouldings. Also we find a peculiar wave, and a kind of double ogee
+moulding which are characteristic of the style.
+
+[Illustration: WINDOW, CHRISTCHURCH, OXFORD]
+
+Spires of this period are not very common, and usually spring from
+within the parapet. The interiors of our churches were enriched at this
+time with much elaborate decoration. Richly carved woodwork in screens,
+rood-lofts, pulpits, and pews, sculptured sedilia and a noble reredos,
+and much exuberance of decorative imagery and panel-work, adorned our
+churches at this time, much of which was obliterated or destroyed by
+spoliators of the Reformation period, the iconoclastic Puritans of the
+seventeenth century, or the "restorers" of the nineteenth. However, we
+may be thankful that so much remains to the present day of the work of
+our great English church-builders, while we endeavour to trace the
+history of each church written in stone, and to appreciate these relics
+of antiquity which most of our villages possess.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE _DOMESDAY BOOK_
+
+The coming of the Normans--_Domesday Book_--Its objects--Its contents--
+Barkham in _Domesday_--Saxon families--Saxons who retained their
+estates--Despoiled landowners--Village officers and artisans--
+Villeins--_Bordarii_--_Cottarii_--_Servi_--Socmen--Presbyter--Names
+of Normans--The teaching of _Domesday_.
+
+
+There was a great stir in our English villages when the news was brought
+to them that William of Normandy had landed in England, and intended to
+fight for the English Crown. News travelled very slowly in those days.
+First the villeins and the cottiers who were not fighting with their
+lord heard that a great battle had been fought at Stamford Bridge, in
+Yorkshire, in which their gallant King Harold had defeated his own
+brother Tostig, aided by the King of Norway, Hardrada, and a large army.
+Then the news reached them that William of Normandy had arrived, and
+that Harold was marching night and day to meet him. Then they heard of
+the fatal battle of Hastings; and when it was told them that their brave
+King Harold was slain, and that William, the Norman, was the conqueror
+of England and the acknowledged king of the country, all England groaned
+to hear the fatal news. And then, after a few years, they found that
+their old lord had been deprived of his estates, and a new, haughty,
+proud Norman, who talked like a Frenchman, and laughed at their dear old
+Saxon language, came and ruled over them. He brought Norman servants
+with him, who took the best of the land, and made the Saxons do all the
+hard work on the farm, treating them like slaves.
+
+And now we must examine a most valuable document which throws a
+wonderfully clear light on the condition of England just before and
+after the Conquest. I refer to the _Domesday Book_, or survey of the
+country which William caused to be made. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler
+tells us that after a great Council at Gloucester the king "sent his men
+over all England, into every shire, and caused to be ascertained how
+many hundred hides were in the shire, or what land the king himself had,
+and cattle within the land, or what dues he ought to have in twelve
+months from the shire. Also he caused to be written how much land his
+archbishops had, and his suffragan bishops, and abbots, and earls; and
+though I may narrate somewhat prolixly, what or how much each man had
+who was a holder of land in England, in land, or in cattle, and how much
+money it might be worth. So very narrowly he caused it to be traced out,
+that there was not one single hide, nor one yard of land, nor even, it
+is shame to tell, though it seemed to him no shame to do, an ox, nor a
+cow, nor a swine was left that was not set down in his writ. And all the
+writings were brought to him afterwards."
+
+The commissioners appointed by the king, among whom were Remigius,
+Bishop of Lincoln, and Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, were to
+inquire the following details concerning each parish:--
+
+Its name. Who held it in the time of King Edward the Confessor. The
+present possessor. Number of hides in the manor, number of ploughs, of
+homagers, villeins, cottars, free tenants, tenants in socage; how much
+wood, meadow, and pasture; number of mills and fishponds; the value in
+the time of the last king; and its present value.
+
+Such a survey was of immense value. Its object, according to the king,
+was that every man might know and be satisfied with his rightful
+possessions, and not with impunity usurp the property of others. But it
+was also of great service to the king, so that he might know who were
+his vassals, the amount of taxation which he could draw from them, and
+the actual strength of his new kingdom.
+
+The commissioners performed their work with much care and exactness. The
+survey is wonderfully complete, and was compiled in a very short time.
+It is of great value to the historians of subsequent ages. The writing
+of the book is very clear and beautiful, the abbreviations alone
+presenting some difficulty to an unaccustomed reader. No illuminations
+adorn the text. At the head of each page the name of the county is
+written in red ink. The book is preserved in an ancient chest in the
+Public Record Office, where it was removed from the Chapter House at
+Westminster.
+
+As an example we may take the _Domesday_ description of the parish of
+Barkham, which runs as follows:--
+
+"IN CERLEDONE HD.
+
+"Rex ten in dnio Bercheha. AElmer Tenuit de rege. E. Te 7 m  iii hid.
+Tra e iii car. In dnio e una, 7 vi uilli 7 iiii bord cu iii car. Ibi
+v. ac pti. Silua de XL pore. Valuit iiii lib. T.R.E. 7 m: iii. lib."
+
+TRANSLATION.
+
+"In the hundred of Charlton.
+
+"The king holds Barkham in demesne. AElmer held it of King Edward. Then,
+as now, it was rated for three hides. The land is three ploughlands. In
+demesne there is one ploughland. There are six villeins, four borderers
+with three ploughs. There are five acres of pasture. Wood for the
+pasturage of forty hogs. It was worth 4l. in the time of King Edward,
+afterwards, and now, 3l."
+
+King Edward here mentioned was Edward the Confessor. A hide, when it is
+used as a measure of land, may be taken at about one hundred and twenty
+acres. A ploughland was as much land as one plough with oxen could
+plough in a year. The villeins were men who tilled their lord's land,
+and in return for certain services had holdings under him. The borderers
+were cottagers who also worked for their lord and held smaller holdings,
+from one to ten acres. In other entries we find the number of serfs
+recorded, and also mention of the hall of the lord of the manor, where
+the manorial courts were held, the church, the priest's house, the names
+of landowners and tenants, the mill, and of the various officers and
+artisans who made up the village community.
+
+_Domesday_ tells us of the old Saxon families, many of whom lost their
+estates when the Conqueror came, and were supplanted by the favourites
+of the new king. Some of them contrived to weather the storm and retain
+their lands. Almer, or Almar, the lord of Barkham, who succeeded his
+brother Stigand as Bishop of Elmham in 1047, when the latter became
+archbishop, was among the number of the dispossessed, and probably found
+shelter with many of his compatriots in the cloister. Several of
+William's Norman adventurers married the heiresses of the old Saxon
+gentry, and thus became possessed of great estates. Thus Robert D'Oili
+married the daughter of Wigod, lord of Wallingford, and soon gained
+possession of his father-in-law's property.
+
+However, the names of the fortunate Saxons who retained their estates
+are few in comparison with those who were dispossessed. We find Edgar
+Atheling, real heir to the throne, retaining a small estate; but he was
+a feeble prince, and therefore not to be feared by William. His sister
+Cristina had also land in Oxfordshire. Bishop Osbern, of Exeter, a
+kinsman of the late king, also held his estates; and amongst the list we
+find Seward the huntsman, of Oxfordshire; Theodric the goldsmith; Wlwi
+the huntsman, of Surrey; Uluric the huntsman, of Hampshire, who were not
+deprived of their lands, their occupations being useful to the king.
+
+The list of despoiled landowners is a long one, and need not here be
+recorded. One Brictric was very unfortunate. When ambassador to Baldwin
+of Flanders he refused to marry the count's daughter Maud. The slighted
+lady became the Conqueror's consort, and in revenge for her despised
+love caused Brictric to be imprisoned and his estates confiscated, some
+of which were given to the queen. The luckless relations and connections
+of the late royal house were consistently despoiled, amongst them
+Editha, the beautiful queen of King Edward, and daughter of Earl Godwin,
+of whom it was written: "_Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwynus Editham_";
+and Gida, the mother of Harold; Godric, his son; and Gwith, his brother.
+Harold himself--the earl, as he is called, and not the king, who fought
+and died at Senlac, if he did not, as the romance states, end his life
+as a holy hermit at Chester--had vast estates all over England, which
+went to enrich William's hungry followers. Hereward the Wake, the
+English hero, also held in pre-Norman days many fat manors. Few of the
+Saxon landowners were spared, and it is unnecessary here to record the
+names of the Uchtreds, Turgots, Turchils, Siwards, Leurics, who held
+lands "in the time of King Edward," but whose place after Domesday knows
+them no more.
+
+_Domesday_ tells us also the names of the officers and artisans who
+played important parts in the old village communities. The _villani_, or
+villeins, corresponding to the Saxon _ceorls_, were the most important
+class of tenants in villeinage, and each held about thirty acres in
+scattered acre or half-acre strips, each a furlong in length and a perch
+or two in breadth, separated by turf balks. The villein thus supported
+himself and his family, and in return was bound to render certain
+services to the lord of the manor, to work on the home farm, and provide
+two or more oxen for the manorial plough-team. He was not a free tenant,
+could acquire no property, and his lord's consent was needed for the
+marriage of his daughters. But the law protected him from unjust usage;
+his holdings were usually regranted to his son. He could obtain freedom
+in several ways, and by degrees acquired the rights and privileges of a
+free tenant.
+
+Next to the villeins were the _bordarii_, who lived in _bords_ or
+cottages, _i.e._ boarded or wooden huts, and ranked as a lower grade of
+villeins. They held about five acres, but provided no oxen for the
+manorial plough-team. Below them were the _cottarii_, or cottiers, who
+were bound to do domestic work and supply the lord's table. They
+corresponded to the modern labourer, but lacked his freedom. The lowest
+class of all were the _servi_, or serfs, who corresponded to the Saxon
+_theows_. In Norman times their condition was greatly improved; they
+mingled with the cottiers and household servants, and gradually were
+merged with them.
+
+The _sochemanni_, or socmen, our yeomen, who abounded chiefly in the
+Danish district of England, were inferior landowners who had special
+privileges, and could not be turned out of their holdings, though they
+rendered certain services to the lord of the manor, and in this respect
+differed little from the villeins. _Domesday Book_ also mentions a class
+of men called _burs_ or _geburs_, who were the same as _coliberti_; also
+the _commendati_, who received privileges in return for services
+rendered to the lord of the manor.
+
+Each village community was self-contained, and had its own officers.
+Although _Domesday Book_ was not compiled in order to ascertain the
+condition of the Church and its ministers, and frequently the mention of
+a parish church is omitted where we know one existed, the _presbyter_,
+or priest, is often recorded. Archbishop Egbert's _Excerptiones_
+ordained that "to every church shall be allotted one complete holding
+(mansa), and that this shall be free from all but ecclesiastical
+services." According to the Saxon laws every tenth strip of land was
+set aside for the Church, and _Domesday_ shows that in many villages
+there was a priest with his portion of land set apart for his support.
+
+Then there was a _prepositus_, bailiff or reeve, who collected the lord's
+rents, assisted by a _bedellus_, beadle or under-bailiff. _Bovarii_, or
+oxherds, looked after the plough-teams. The _carpentarius_, or carpenter;
+the _cementarius_, or bricklayer; the _custos apium_, or beekeeper; the
+_faber_, or smith; the _molinarius_, or miller--were all important
+officers in the Norman village; and we have mention also of the
+_piscatores_ (fishermen), _pistores_ (bakers), _porcarii_ (swineherds),
+_viccarii_ (cowmen), who were all employed in the work of the village
+community.
+
+_Domesday Book_ enables us to form a fairly complete picture of our
+villages in Norman and late Saxon times. It tells us of the various
+classes who peopled the village and farmed its fields. It gives us a
+complete list of the old Saxon gentry and of the Norman nobles and
+adventurers who seized the fair acres of the despoiled Englishmen. Many
+of them gave their names to their new possessions. The Mandevilles
+settled at Stoke, and called it Stoke-Mandeville; the Vernons at
+Minshall, and called it Minshall-Vernon. Hurst-Pierpont, Neville-Holt,
+Kingston-Lysle, Hampstead-Norris, and many other names of places
+compounded of Saxon and Norman words, record the names of William's
+followers, who received the reward of their services at the expense of
+the former Saxon owners. _Domesday Book_ tells us how land was measured
+in those days, the various tenures and services rendered by the tenants,
+the condition of the towns, the numerous foreign monasteries which
+thrived on our English lands, and throws much light on the manners and
+customs of the people of this country at the time of its compilation.
+_Domesday Book_ is a perfect storehouse of knowledge for the historian,
+and requires a lifetime to be spent for its full investigation.
+
+[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A MANOR]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+NORMAN CASTLES
+
+Castle-building--Description of Norman castle--A Norman household--
+Edwardian castles--Border castles--Chepstow--Grosmont--Raglan--Central
+feature of feudalism--Fourteenth-century castle--Homes of chivalry--
+Schools of arms--The making of a knight--Tournaments--Jousts--Tilting
+at a ring--Pageants--"Apollo and Daphne"--Pageants at Sudeley Castle
+and Kenilworth--Destruction of castles--Castles during Civil War period.
+
+
+Many an English village can boast of the possession of the ruins of an
+ancient castle, a gaunt rectangular or circular keep or donjon, looking
+very stern and threatening even in decay, and mightily convincing of the
+power of its first occupants. The new masters did not feel very safe in
+the midst of a discontented and enraged people; so they built these huge
+fortresses with strong walls and gates and moats. Indeed before the
+Conquest the Norman knights, to whom the weak King Edward the Confessor
+granted many an English estate, brought with them the fashion of
+building castles, and many a strong square tower began to crown the
+fortified mounds. Thence they could oppress the people in many ways, and
+the writers of the time always speak of the building of castles with a
+kind of shudder. After the Conquest, especially during the regency of
+William's two lieutenants, Bishop Odo and Earl William Fitz-osbern, the
+Norman adventurers who were rewarded for their services by the gift of
+many an English manor, built castles everywhere. The wretched men of
+the land were cruelly oppressed by forced labour in erecting these
+strongholds, which were filled "with devils and evil men." Over a
+thousand castles were built in nineteen years, and in his own castle
+each earl or lord reigned as a small king, coining his own money, making
+his own laws, having power of life and death over his dependants, and
+often using his power most violently and oppressively.
+
+[Illustration: OLD SARUM]
+
+The original Norman castle consisted of a keep, "four-square to every
+wind that blew," standing in a bailey court. It was a mighty place with
+walls of great thickness about one hundred and fifty feet high. It
+contained several rooms, one above the other. A deep well supplied the
+inhabitants with water. Spiral stone steps laid in the thickness of the
+wall led to the first floor where the soldiers of the garrison resided.
+Above this was the hall, with a chimney and fireplace, where the lord
+of the castle and his guests had their meals, and in the thickness of
+the wall there were numerous chambers used as sleeping-apartments and
+garderobes, and the existence of a piscina in one of these shows that it
+was a small chapel or oratory. The upper story was divided by wooden
+partitions into small sleeping-rooms; and unlike our modern houses, the
+kitchen was at the top of the keep, and opened on the roof.
+
+Descending some stone steps which led from the ground floor in ancient
+time we should visit the dungeons, dark, gloomy, and dreadful places,
+where deep silence reigns, only broken by the groans of despairing
+captives in the miserable cells. In one of these toads and adders were
+the companions of the captive. Another poor wretch reposed on a bed of
+sharp flints, while the torture-chamber echoed with the cries of the
+victims of mediaeval cruelty, who were hanged by their feet and smoked
+with foul smoke, or hung up by their thumbs, while burning rings were
+placed on their feet. In Peak Castle, Derbyshire, a poor, simple squire,
+one Godfrey Rowland, was confined for six days without either food or
+drink, and then released from the dungeon with his right hand cut off.
+In order to extract a heavy ransom, to obtain lands and estates, to
+learn the secrets of hidden treasure, the most ingenious and devilish
+tortures were inflicted in these terrible abodes.
+
+[Illustration: A NORMAN CASTLE
+(1) The dungeon.
+(2) Chapel.
+(3) Stable.
+(4) Inner bailey.
+(5) Outer bailey.
+(6) Barbican.
+(7) Mount.
+(8) Soldiers' lodgings.]
+
+The same style of castle-building continued for a century and a half
+after the Norman Conquest. It is possible to distinguish the later keeps
+by the improved and fine-jointed ashlar stonework, by the more frequent
+use of the stone of the district, instead of that brought from Caen, by
+the ribs upon the groins of the vaulting of the galleries and chambers
+in the walls, and by the more extensive use of ornaments in the bosses,
+windows, doors, and fireplaces. The style of the decoration approaches
+the Early English character.
+
+The walls of the keep were not the only protection of the fortress. A
+moat surrounds the whole castle, crossed by a drawbridge, protected
+on the side remote from the castle by a barbican. High walls with an
+embattled parapet surround the lower court, or ballium, which we enter
+by a gate defended by strong towers. A portcullis has to be raised, and
+a heavy door thrown back, before we can enter; while above in the stone
+roof of the archway there are holes through which melted lead and pitch
+can be poured upon our heads, if we attempt to enter the castle as
+assailants. In the lower court are the stables, and the mound where the
+lord dispenses justice, and where criminals and traitors are executed.
+Another strong gateway flanked by towers protects the inner court, on
+the edge of which stands the keep which frowns down upon us as we enter.
+
+An immense household was supported in every castle. Not only were there
+men-at-arms, but also cooks and bakers, brewers and tailors, carpenters,
+smiths, masons, and all kinds of craftsmen; and all the crowd of workers
+had to be provided with accommodation by the lord of the castle. Hence
+a building, in the form of a large hall, was erected sometimes of stone,
+usually of wood, in the lower or upper court for these soldiers and
+artisans, where they slept and had their meals.
+
+A new type of castle was introduced during the reigns of the three
+Edwards. The stern, massive, and high-towering keep was abandoned, and
+the fortifications arranged in a concentric fashion. A fine hall with
+kitchens occupied the centre of the fortress; a large number of chambers
+was added, and the inner and outer courts both defended by walls, as we
+have already described, were introduced. The Edwardian castles of
+Caernarvon and Beaumaris belong to this type of fortress.
+
+[Illustration: BROUGHTON CASTLE]
+
+The border counties of Wales are remarkable for the number and beauty
+of their ancient castles. On the site of British earthworks the Romans
+established their camps. The Saxons were obliged to erect their rude
+earthen strongholds in order to keep back the rebellious Welsh, and
+these were succeeded by Norman keeps. Monmouthshire is famous for its
+castles; out of the eleven hundred erected in Norman times twenty-five
+were built in that county. There is Chepstow Castle, with its early
+Norman gateway spanned by a circular arch flanked by round towers. In
+the inner court there are the gardens and ruins of a grand hall, and in
+the outer the ruins of a chapel with evidences of beautifully groined
+vaulting, and also a winding staircase leading to the battlements. In
+the dungeon of the old keep at the south-east corner of the inner court
+Roger de Britolio, Earl of Hereford, was imprisoned for rebellion
+against the Conqueror, and in later times Henry Martin, the regicide,
+lingered as a prisoner for thirty years, employing his enforced leisure
+in writing a book in order to prove that it is not right for a man to be
+governed by one wife. Then there is Grosmont Castle, the fortified
+residence of the Earl of Lancaster; Skenfrith Castle; White Castle, the
+_Album Castrum_ of the Latin records, the Landreilo of the Welsh, with
+its six towers, portcullis, and drawbridge flanked by massive tower,
+barbican, and other outworks; and Raglan Castle, with its splendid
+gateway, its Elizabethan banqueting-hall ornamented with rich stone
+tracery, its bowling-green, garden terraces, and spacious courts, an
+ideal place for knightly tournaments in ancient days. Raglan is
+associated with the gallant defence of the castle by the Marquis of
+Worcester in the Civil War.
+
+The ancient castles of England were the central feature of feudal
+society. They were the outward and visible sign of that system. M.
+Guizot in his _History of Civilisation_ says, "It was feudalism which
+constructed them; their elevation was, so to speak, the declaration of
+its triumph." On the Continent they were very numerous long before
+castle-building became the fashion in England, and every suzerain saw
+with displeasure his vassal constructing his castle; for the vassal thus
+insured for himself a powerful means of independence. The Norman barons
+in the troublous times of Stephen lived a life of hunting and pillage;
+they were forced to have a fortified retreat where they might shut
+themselves up after an expedition, repel the vengeance of their foes,
+and resist the authorities who attempted to maintain order in the
+country.
+
+Others followed the example of the barons. The townsfolk fortified their
+towns, monks their monasteries; and even within the town-walls many
+houses had their towers and gates and barriers in order to keep back
+troublesome visitors.
+
+Here is a description of a French castle in the fourteenth century:--
+
+"First imagine to yourself a superb position, a steep mountain,
+bristling with rocks, furrowed with ravines and precipices; upon the
+declivity is the castle. The small houses which surround it set off its
+grandeur; the river seems to turn aside with respect; it forms a large
+semicircle at its feet. This castle must be seen when, at sunrise, the
+outward galleries glimmer with the armour of the sentinels, and the
+towers are shown all brilliant with their large new gratings. Those high
+buildings must be seen, which fill those who defend them with courage,
+and with fear those who should be tempted to attack them.
+
+"The door presents itself covered with heads of boars or wolves, flanked
+with turrets and crowned with a high guard-house. Enter, there are three
+inclosures, three moats, three drawbridges to pass. You find yourself in
+a large square court, where are cisterns, and on the right and left the
+stables, hen-houses, pigeon-houses, coach-houses; the cellars, vaults,
+and prisons are below; above are the dwelling-apartments; above these
+are the magazines, larders, or salting-rooms, and arsenals. All the
+roofs are bordered with machicolations, parapets, guard-walks, and
+sentry-boxes. In the middle of the court is the donjon, which contains
+the archives and the treasure. It is deeply moated all round, and can
+only be entered by a bridge, almost always raised. Although the walls,
+like those of the castle, are six feet thick, it is surrounded up to
+half its height with a chemise, or second wall, of large cut stones.
+This castle has just been rebuilt. There is something light, fresh,
+laughing about it, not possessed by the heavy massive castles of the
+last century."
+
+One would scarcely expect to hear a castle described as "light, fresh,
+laughing"; yet so a fourteenth-century castle seemed to eyes accustomed
+to the gloomy, stern, and massive structures of the eleventh and twelfth
+centuries. In these no beauty or display of art was attempted. Defence
+and safety were the only objects sought after in the construction of our
+ancient strongholds.
+
+Strange as it may seem, these castles were the birthplaces and homes of
+chivalry. Women were raised to an exalted position, and honoured and
+reverenced by knights and warriors. A prize won in a tournament was
+esteemed of vastly greater value, if it were bestowed upon the
+successful combatant by some lady's hand. "Queens of Beauty" presided at
+these contests of knightly skill and daring. The statutes and ordinances
+for jousts and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, at
+the command of Edward IV., conclude thus: "Reserving always to the
+queenes highness and the ladyes there present, the attributing and gift
+of the prize after the manner and forme accustomed." If a knight was
+guilty of any impropriety of conduct, he was soundly beaten by the other
+knights, in order to teach him to respect the honour of the ladies and
+the rights of chivalry.
+
+In the days of chivalry a knight vowed in somewhat extravagant language
+eternal love to his particular lady fair, wore her glove or her guerdon
+on his helmet, and swore to protect it with his life. Family ties and
+domestic joys were cultivated. The wife of a knight was often herself a
+warrior. Fair ladies have donned armour and followed their lords to the
+Crusades; and often during her lord's absence at the wars in France, or
+Scotland, or the Holy Land, the wife would defend his fief and castle,
+and sometimes was called upon to withstand a siege, when some
+neighbouring lord coveted the fair estates of the absent warrior, and
+sought to obtain them by force of arms.
+
+The castles also were schools, not of learning, but of arms and
+chivalry, where the sons of vassals were trained in all the qualites
+that become a knight. The sons of vassals were sent to the castle of the
+suzerain to be brought up with his sons. Numerous reasons have been
+assigned for the origin of this custom, which we need not now enumerate.
+The practice, however, became general, and concerning it an ancient work
+entitled _L'ordre de la Chevalerie_ records:--
+
+"It is fitting that the son of the knight, while he is a squire, should
+know how to take care of a horse; and it is fitting that he should serve
+before and be subject to his lord; for otherwise he will not know the
+nobleness of his lordship when he shall be a knight; and to this end
+every knight shall put his son in the service of another knight, to the
+end that he may learn to carve at table and to serve, and to arm and
+apparel a knight in his youth. According as to the man who desires to
+learn to be a tailor or a carpenter, it is desirable that he should have
+for a master one who is a tailor or a carpenter; it is suitable that
+every nobleman who loves the order of chivalry, and wishes to become and
+be a good knight, should first have a knight for a master."
+
+When the young squire attained the age of manhood he was admitted to the
+honour of knighthood, which was bestowed upon him with much ceremony and
+dignity. First he was divested of his garments and put in a bath, a
+symbol of purification; then they clothed him in a white tunic, a symbol
+of purity, in a red robe, a symbol of the blood which he was bound to
+shed in the service of the faith; and then in a close black coat, a
+reminder of the death which awaited him. Then he was obliged to observe
+a fast for twenty-four hours, and in the evening entered the church and
+there passed the night in prayer. On the morrow after confession and the
+receiving of Holy Communion, he heard a sermon upon the duties of
+knighthood, and then advancing to the altar presented his sword to the
+priest, who blessed it. Kneeling before his lord he was asked, "With
+what design do you desire to enter into the order? If it is in order to
+become rich, to repose yourself, and to be honoured without doing honour
+to chivalry, you are unworthy of it, and would be to the order of
+chivalry what the simoniacal priest is to the prelacy."
+
+His answers being satisfactory, knights, or ladies, advance and clothe
+him with the equipments of his order, spurs, the hauberk or coat of
+mail, the cuirass, the vambraces and gauntlets, and lastly his sword.
+Then his lord gives him three blows of a sword on his shoulder, saying,
+"In the name of God, of Saint Michael, and Saint George I dub thee
+knight," adding, "Be brave, adventurous, and loyal." He then mounts his
+horse, caracoles about, brandishing his lance, and afterwards in the
+courtyard he repeats the performances before the people ever eager to
+take part in the spectacle.
+
+[Illustration: TOURNAMENT]
+
+The young knight was now able to take part in the jousts, and all kinds
+of chivalric displays, which were common and frequent. Many castles
+have, like that at Carisbrooke, a tilting-ground within the walls; but
+great and important tournaments were held outside the castle. Richard I.
+appointed five special places for the holding of tournaments, namely
+between Sarum and Wilton, between Stamford and Wallingford, between
+Warwick and Kenilworth, between Brakely and Mixeberg, and between Blie
+and Tykehill. There was much pomp and ceremony attached to these
+knightly exercises. The lists, as the barriers were called which
+inclosed the scene of combat, were superbly decorated, and surrounded by
+pavilions belonging to the champions, ornamented with their arms and
+banners. The seats reserved for the noble ladies and gentlemen who came
+to see the fight were hung with tapestry embroidered with gold and
+silver. Everyone was dressed in the most sumptuous manner; the minstrels
+and heralds were clothed in the costliest garments; the knights who were
+engaged in the sports and their horses were most gorgeously arrayed. The
+whole scene was one of great splendour and magnificence, and, when the
+fight began, the shouts of the heralds who directed the tournament, the
+clashing of arms, the clang of trumpets, the charging of the combatants,
+and the shouts of the spectators, must have produced a wonderfully
+impressive and exciting effect upon all who witnessed the strange
+spectacle.
+
+The regulations and laws of the tournament were very minute. When many
+preliminary arrangements had been made with regard to the examination of
+arms and helmets and the exhibition of banners, etc., at ten o'clock on
+the morning of the appointed day, the champions and their adherents were
+required to be in their places. Two cords divided the combatants, who
+were armed with a pointless sword and a truncheon hanging from their
+saddles. When the word was given by the lord of the tournament, the
+cords were removed, and the champions charged and fought until the
+heralds sounded the signal to retire. It was considered the greatest
+disgrace to be unhorsed. A French earl once tried to unhorse our King
+Edward I., when he was returning from Palestine, wearied by the journey.
+The earl threw away his sword, cast his arms around the king's neck, and
+tried to pull him from his horse. But Edward put spurs to his horse and
+drew the earl from the saddle, and then shaking him violently, threw him
+to the ground.
+
+The joust (or just) differed from the tournament, because in the former
+only lances were used, and only two knights could fight at once. It was
+not considered quite so important as the grand feat of arms which I have
+just described, but was often practised when the more serious encounter
+had finished. Lances, or spears without heads of iron, were commonly
+used, and the object of the sport was to ride hard against one's
+adversary and strike him with the spear upon the front of the helmet, so
+as to beat him backwards from his horse, or break the spear. This kind
+of sport was of course rather dangerous, and men sometimes lost their
+lives at these encounters. In order to lessen the risk and danger of the
+two horses running into each other when the knights charged, a boarded
+railing was erected in the midst of the lists, about four or five feet
+high. The combatants rode on separate sides of this barrier, and
+therefore they could not encounter each other except with their lances.
+Sometimes two knights would fight in mortal combat. If one knight
+accused the other of crime or dishonour, the latter might challenge him
+to fight with swords or lances; and, according to the superstition of
+the times, the victor was considered to be the one who spoke the truth.
+But this ordeal combat was far removed from the domain of sport.
+
+When jousts and tournaments were abandoned, tilting on horseback at a
+ring became a favourite courtly amusement. A ring was suspended on a
+level with the eye of the rider; and the sport consisted in riding
+towards the ring, and sending the point of a lance through it, and so
+bearing it away. Great skill was required to accomplish this surely and
+gracefully. Ascham, a writer in the sixteenth century, tells us what
+accomplishments were required from the complete English gentleman of the
+period:--
+
+"To ride comely, to run fair at the tilt or ring, to play at all
+weapons, to shoot fair in bow, or surely in gun; to vault lustily, to
+run, to leap, to wrestle, to swim, to dance comely, to sing, and play of
+instruments cunningly; to hawk, to hunt, to play at tennis, and all
+pastimes generally which be joined to labour, containing either some fit
+exercises for war, or some pleasant pastime for peace--these be not only
+comely and decent, but also very necessary for a courtly gentleman to
+use."
+
+In the days of pageants and royal progresses these old castles were the
+scenes of very lively exhibitions of rustic histrionic talent. The
+stories of Greek and Roman mythology were ransacked to provide scenes
+and subjects for the rural pageant. Shepherds and shepherdesses, gods
+and goddesses, clowns and mummers, all took part in the rural drama
+which kings and queens delighted to honour. When Queen Elizabeth visited
+the ancient and historic castle of Sudeley, great preparations were made
+for the event, and a fine classical pageant was performed in her
+presence, a sketch of which may not be without interest.
+
+The play is founded on the old classical story of Apollo and Daphne. The
+sun-god Apollo was charmed by the beauty of the fair Daphne, the
+daughter of a river-god, and pursued her with base intent. Just as she
+was about to be overtaken, she prayed for aid, and was immediately
+changed into a laurel tree, which became the favourite tree of the
+disappointed lover. The pageant founded on this old classical legend
+commenced with a man who acted the part of Apollo, chasing a woman who
+represented Daphne, followed by a young shepherd bewailing his hard
+fate. He, too, loved the fair and beautiful Daphne, but Apollo wooed her
+with fair words, and threatened him with diverse penalties, saying he
+would change him into a wolf, or a cockatrice, or blind his eyes. The
+shepherd in a long speech tells how Daphne was changed into a tree, and
+then Apollo is seen at the foot of a laurel tree weeping, accompanied by
+two minstrels. The repentant god repeats the verse:--
+
+  "Sing you, play you; but sing and play my truth;
+  This tree my lute, these sighs my note of ruth:
+  The laurel leaf for ever shall be green,
+  And chastity shall be Apollo's queen.
+  If gods may die, here shall my tomb be placed,
+  And this engraven, 'Fond Phoebus, Daphne chaste.'"
+
+A song follows, and then, wonderful to relate, the tree opens, and
+Daphne comes forth. Apollo resigns her to the humble shepherd, and then
+she runs to Her Majesty the Queen, and with a great deal of flattery
+wishes her a long and prosperous reign.
+
+Such was the simple play which delighted the minds of our forefathers,
+and helped to raise them from sordid cares and the dull monotony of
+continual toil. In our popular amusements the village folk do not take
+part, except as spectators, and therefore lose half the pleasure;
+whereas in the time of the Virgin Queen the rehearsals, the learning the
+speeches by heart, the dresses, the excitement, all contributed to give
+them fresh ideas and new thoughts. The acting may not have been very
+good; indeed Queen Elizabeth did not always think very highly of the
+performances of her subjects at Coventry, and was heard to exclaim,
+"What fools ye Coventry folk are!" But I think Her Majesty must have
+been pleased at the concluding address of the players at Sudeley. After
+the shepherds had acted a piece in which the election of the King and
+Queen of the Bean formed a part, they knelt before the real queen, and
+said--
+
+"Pardon, dread Sovereign, poor shepherds' pastimes, and bold shepherds'
+presumptions. We call ourselves kings and queens to make mirth; but when
+we see a king or queen we stand amazed. At chess there are kings and
+queens, and they of wood. Shepherds are no more, nor no less, wooden.
+In theatres workmen have played emperors; yet the next day forgotten
+neither their duties nor occupation. For our boldness in borrowing their
+names, and in not seeing Your Majesty for our blindness, we offer these
+shepherds' weeds; which, if Your Majesty vouchsafe at any time to wear,
+it shall bring to our hearts comfort, and happiness to our labours."
+
+When the queen visited Kenilworth Castle, splendid pageants were
+performed in her honour. As she entered the castle the gigantic porter
+recited verses to greet Her Majesty, gods and goddesses offered gifts
+and compliments on bended knee, and the Lady of the Lake, surrounded
+by Tritons and Nereids, came on a floating island to do homage to the
+peerless Elizabeth and to welcome her to all the sport the castle could
+afford. For an account of the strange conduct of Orion and his dolphin
+upon this occasion, we refer our readers to Sir Walter Scott's
+_Kenilworth_; and the lover of pageants will find much to interest him
+in Gascoigne's _Princely Progress_.
+
+The glories of our ancient castles have passed away; some indeed are
+preserved, and serve as museums, or barracks, or the country house of
+some noble lord; but most of them are in ruins. All traces of many a
+Norman castle have completely vanished. There was once a castle at
+Reading, but the only relics of it are the names Castle Hill and Castle
+Street. The turbulent barons made such terrible use of their fortresses
+during the troublous times of the civil war in Stephen's reign that in
+the more settled reign of Henry II. they were deprived of this means of
+oppression and their castles destroyed wholesale. The civil war in the
+reign of Charles I. was also another great cause of the destruction of
+these old fortresses. They were of great service during the progress of
+the war to those who were fortunate enough to possess them, and many of
+them in spite of Cromwell's cannon were most gallantly held and stoutly
+defended. Donnington Castle, Berkshire, was bravely held in spite of a
+prolonged siege during all the time that the war lasted by gallant
+Colonel Boys, who beat off the flower of the Parliamentary army; and
+when in obedience to the King's command he yielded up the castle, he and
+his brave garrison marched out with all the honours of war, having
+earned the respect of both friend and foe. Many other castles could tell
+the story of similar sieges in the days when "the gallants of England
+were up for the King."
+
+But these brave sieges were the cause of their destruction. Cromwell
+when in power recognised their strength; they were too dangerous, these
+castles, and must be destroyed. His cannon-balls had rattled against
+their stone walls without much effect during the war; but their fate was
+sealed with that of their King, and the gunpowder of Cromwell's soldiers
+was soon employed in blowing up the walls that resisted him so long, and
+left them battered and smoking ruins.
+
+Since then the ivy has grown over them to hide their nakedness. Forlorn
+and lonely the ruined castle stands. Where once loud clarion rang, the
+night owls hoot; vulgar crowds picnic where once knights fought in all
+the pride and pomp of chivalry. Kine feed in the grass-grown bailey
+court; its glory is departed. We need no castles now to protect us from
+the foes of our own nation. Civil wars have passed away, we trust, for
+ever; and we hope no foreign foeman's foot may ever tread our shores.
+But if an enemy threatened to attack England her sons would fight as
+valiantly as in the brave days of old, though earthen ramparts have
+replaced the ancient castles and iron ships the old wooden walls of
+England.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MONASTERIES
+
+Beautiful surroundings--Benefits conferred by monasteries--Charity--
+Learning--Libraries--Monks not unhappy--Netley--Cluny--Alcuin--
+Monastic friendships--St. Bernard--Anselm--Monks shed happiness
+around them--Desecration--Corruption of monasteries--Chaucer's
+prior--Orders of monks--Plan of a monastery--_Piers Ploughman's_
+description of a monastery--A day in a monastery--Regulations as
+regards blood-letting--The infirmary--Food--Hospitium--Chapter-house.
+
+
+In the neighbourhood of many of our villages stand the ruins of an old
+monastery. Who were the builders of these grand and stately edifices?
+What kind of men lived within those walls? What life did they lead? We
+will try to picture to ourselves the condition of these noble abbeys, as
+they were in the days of their glory, before the ruthless hands of
+spoilers and destroyers robbed them of their magnificence.
+
+It has often been remarked that the monks knew well how to choose the
+most beautiful spots for their monastic houses, establishing them by the
+banks of some charming river, surrounded by beautiful scenery and
+fertile fields.
+
+They loved the beauties of nature, and had a keen sense for discovering
+them. They had a delicate and profound appreciation of the delights of
+the country, and loved to describe the beauties that surrounded their
+habitations. Nature in its loveliness and wild picturesqueness was a
+reflection of God's beauty, a temple of His light and goodness. Moreover
+they built their monasteries amidst forests and wild scenery, far from
+the haunts of men, seeking solitude, wherein they could renew their
+souls by the sweetness of a life of contemplation, and consecrate their
+energies to the service of God. In the days of war and bloodshed, of
+oppression and lawlessness, holy men found it very difficult to be "in
+the world and yet not of it." Within the monastic walls they found
+peace, seclusion, solitude; they prayed, they worked, they wrote and
+studied. They were never idle. To worship, to labour, to fight as the
+_milites Christi_ with weapons that were not carnal, these were some of
+the duties of the monks.
+
+The world owes much to these dwellers in monasteries. They rescued the
+people from barbarism, and uplifted the standard of the cross. They
+emerged from their cells to direct councils, to preach and teach at the
+universities, to build churches and cathedrals, and astonish the world
+by their skill and learning. Who can tell what services they rendered to
+their nation and to all mankind by pouring forth that ceaseless stream
+of intercession day and night for the averting of the judgments of
+divine wrath which the crimes and follies of men so richly deserved?
+"What the sword is to the huntsman, prayer is to the monk," says St.
+Chrysostom; and well did they use this weapon for the spiritual and
+material benefit of all.
+
+Another great benefit they conferred upon the world was that of charity.
+They were the true nurses of the poor. There were no poor laws, and
+union workhouses, and hospitals. The monks managed to supply all the
+wants of all who suffered from poverty, privation, and sickness. "The
+friendship of the poor constitutes us the friends of kings," says St.
+Bernard; "but the love of poverty makes kings of us." They welcomed in
+their ranks poor men, who were esteemed as highly as those of noble
+birth on entering the cloister. All men were equal who wore the monk's
+robe.
+
+Amongst other services the monks rendered was the cultivation of
+learning and knowledge. With wonderful assiduity they poured forth
+works of erudition, of history, of criticism, recorded the annals of
+their own times, and stored these priceless records in their libraries,
+which have done such good service to the historians of modern times. The
+monasteries absorbed nearly all the social and intellectual movement of
+the thirteenth century. Men fired with poetical imagination frequently
+betook themselves to the cloister, and consecrated their lives to the
+ornamentation of a single sacred book destined for the monastery which
+gave them in exchange all the necessaries of life. Thus the libraries of
+the monastic houses were rich in treasures of beautifully illuminated
+manuscripts, which were bound by members of the community. The Abbot of
+Spanheim in the fifteenth century gives the following directions to his
+monks:--
+
+"Let that one fasten the leaves together, and bind the book with boards.
+You, prepare those boards; you, dress the leather; you, the metal
+plates, which are to adorn the binding."
+
+[Illustration: NETLEY ABBEY, SOUTH TRANSEPT]
+
+Terrible is it to think of the dreadful destruction of these libraries
+at the time of the spoliation of monasteries and of the priceless
+treasures which they contained.
+
+We are apt to suppose that the lives of the monks were gloomy, hard,
+severe, and that few rays of the sunshine of happiness could have
+penetrated the stern walls of the cloister. But this does not appear to
+have been the case. The very names of monasteries show that they
+rejoiced in their solitude and labour. Netley Abbey was called the
+Joyous Place, _loeto loco_; and on the Continent there are many names
+which bear witness to the happiness that reigned in the cloister.
+Moreover the writings of the monks proclaim the same truth. Cluny is
+called by Peter Damien his _hortus deliciarum_ (garden of delights), and
+it is recorded that when Peter de Blois left the Abbey of Croyland to
+return to France he stopped seven times to look back and contemplate
+again the place where he had been so happy. Hear how Alcuin laments on
+leaving the cloister for the Court of Charlemagne:--
+
+"O my cell! sweet and well-beloved home, adieu for ever! I shall see no
+more the woods which surround thee with their interlacing branches and
+aromatic herbs, nor thy streams of fish, nor thy orchards, nor thy
+gardens where the lily mingles with the rose. I shall hear no more those
+birds who, like ourselves, sing matins and celebrate their Creator, in
+their fashion--nor those instructions of sweet and holy wisdom which
+sound in the same breath as the praises of the Most High, from lips and
+hearts always peaceful. Dear cell! I shall weep thee and regret thee
+always."
+
+The life was very peaceful, entirely free from care, and moreover
+lighted by the whole-hearted friendships which existed between the
+brethren. A chapter might be written on the love of the cloister, which
+like that of David for Jonathan, was "wonderful, passing the love of
+women." Thus St. Bernard burst out in bitter grief at the loss of a
+brother monk:--
+
+"Flow, flow, my tears, so eager to flow! he who prevented your flowing
+is here no more! It is not he who is dead, it is I who now live only to
+die. Why, oh, why have we loved, and why have we lost each other?"
+
+The letters of Anselm to Lanfranc and Gondulph, his dearest friends,
+abound in expressions of the most affectionate regard and deep true
+friendship. He writes:--
+
+"How can I forget thee? Can a man forget one who is placed like a seal
+upon his heart? In thy silence I know that thou lovest me; and thou
+also, when I say nothing, thou knowest that I love thee. What can my
+letter tell thee that thou knowest not already, thou who art my second
+soul?"
+
+The monks' lot was not sad and melancholy. They loved God and His
+service, and rejoicing in their mutual regard and affection were happy
+in their love and work. Orderic Vitalis writes, "I have borne for
+forty-two years with happiness the sweet yoke of the Lord." Moreover
+they shed happiness on those who dwelt around them, on the crowds of
+masons and carpenters, traders and workmen, who dwelt under the shadow
+of the monastery or farmed the fields of the monastic estates. No
+institution was ever more popular; no masters more beloved. They took a
+hearty interest in the welfare of all their tenants, and showed an
+active sympathy for all. The extent of their charity was enormous. In a
+French abbey, when food was scarce, they fed 1,500 to 2,000 poor in the
+course of the year, gave monthly pensions to all the families who were
+unable to work, entertained 4,000 guests, and maintained eighty monks--a
+wonderful record truly.
+
+The influence of the monastery was felt in all the surrounding
+neighbourhood--the daily services, the solemn and majestic chants, the
+processions, must have created a deep impression on the minds of people.
+Many of the great writers and thinkers of subsequent ages have
+appreciated the wonderful labours of the monks. Dr. Johnson wrote:--
+
+"I never read of a hermit, but in imagination I kiss his feet; never of
+a monastery, but I fall on my knees and kiss the pavement."
+
+And now these noble buildings, hallowed by a thousand memories, exist
+only as dishonoured ruins. Some have been pulled down entirely, and the
+site used for gaols or barracks. Convicts labour where once monks
+prayed. The renowned abbey of Cluny is a racing stable, and Le Bec, the
+home of Anselm, has suffered a like profanation. Factories have invaded
+some of these consecrated sites. Many have been used as quarries for
+generations. All the carved and wrought stone has been cut off, and used
+for making bridges and roads and private houses. Nature has covered the
+remains with clinging ivy, and creeping plants, and wild flowers, and
+legends cluster round the old stones and tell the story of their
+greatness and their ruin. The country folk of western Ireland show the
+marks on the stones furrowed by the burning tears of the monks when they
+were driven out of their holy home. I am describing the condition of the
+monasteries in the days of their glory, when the spirit of the religious
+orders was bright and pure and enthusiastic. It cannot be denied that
+often the immense wealth which kings and nobles poured into the treasury
+of the monks begat luxury and idleness. Boccaccio in Italy, and even
+Dante, and our own Chaucer, write vigorously against the corruption of
+the monks, their luxury, love of sport, and neglect of their duty. Thus
+Chaucer wrote of a fourteenth-century prior:--
+
+  "Therefore he was a prickasoure a right:
+  Greihounds he hadde as swift as foul of flight:
+  Of pricking and of hunting for the hare
+  Was all his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.
+  I saw his sleves purfiled at the hond
+  With gris, and that the finest in the loud.
+  And for to fasten his hood under his chinne,
+  He hadde of gold ywrought a curious pinne:
+  A love-knotte in the greter end ther was.
+  His head was balled, and shone as any glas,
+  And eke his face, as it had been anoint.
+  He was a lord full fat and in good point
+  His eye stepe, and rolling in his bed,
+  That stemed as a forneis of led.
+  His botes souple, his hors in gret estat,
+  Now certainly he was a fayre prelat.
+  He was not pale as a forpined gost.
+  A fat swan loved he best of any rost.
+  His palfrey was as broune as is a bery."
+
+Many were the efforts to reform the abuses which crept into the monastic
+houses. Holy men grieved over the scandals of the times in which they
+lived. Many monasteries remained until the end homes of zeal and
+religion, and the unscrupulous tools of Henry VIII. could find naught
+to report against them. The only charge they could fabricate against
+one monastery was "that the monks would do evil, if they could."
+
+The foundation of the various orders of monks shows the efforts which
+were from time to time made by earnest men to revive the zeal and
+religious enthusiasm characteristic of the early dwellers in
+monasteries. The followers of St. Benedict and St. Columba were the
+first monks of the western Church who converted the peoples of England,
+Germany, Belgium, and Scandinavia. The Benedictines had many houses in
+England in Saxon times. In the tenth and eleventh centuries flourished
+a branch of the Benedictines, the order of Cluny, who worked a great
+religious revival, which was continued in the twelfth by the order of
+the Cistercians, founded at Citeaux in Burgundy. Some of our most
+beautiful English abbeys--Fountains, Kirkstall, Rievaulx, Tintern,
+Furness, and Byland--all belonged to this order. In the thirteenth and
+fourteenth centuries the new orders of preaching friars founded by St.
+Francis and St. Dominic arose, and exercised an immense influence in
+the world. They did not shut themselves up in the cloister, but went
+everywhere, preaching in the market-places, and tending the sick, the
+lepers, and the outcasts. At first they were immensely popular, but
+the orders degenerated like their predecessors, and long before the
+Reformation laid themselves open to the derision and the scoffs of the
+more enlightened men of the age. Since the days of the Friars there
+has been no building of monasteries in England. Wealth, luxury, and
+corruption had destroyed the early piety of the monks, and rich men
+preferred to give their wealth for the purpose of founding colleges
+and hospitals, rather than in increasing the number of religious houses.
+
+[Illustration: A MONK TRANSCRIBING]
+
+We will now visit these monasteries, and try to picture them as they
+stood in the days of their glory, and see the daily life which the monks
+led. The rules of the orders differed somewhat, some being stricter than
+others; and likewise the arrangements of the buildings were not all
+based upon one plan. The Carthusian monasteries differ widely from those
+of the other orders, owing to the rule that each monk should have his
+separate cell, wherein he lived and had his food, and only met his
+brethren in church and in the chapter-house. We will examine the usual
+plan of a monastery, the main buildings of which clustered round the
+cloister-court. This was called the paradise, around which was a covered
+ambulatory. Here the monks read and wrote, and sometimes had little
+spaces partitioned off for studies, with bookstands and cupboards. It
+was the great centre of the monastic life. The earlier ambulatories were
+open, but in the fourteenth century they had windows looking on to the
+cloister-court, filled with stained glass. The monks must have found the
+open cloister a somewhat chilly place for writing, and although their
+fingers were endured to hardness, had sometimes to abandon their tasks.
+Orderic Vitalis tells us that his fingers were so numbed by the cold in
+a hard winter that he was obliged to leave his writing until a more
+congenial season.
+
+On the north of the cloister-court stood the monastic church, the
+grandest and noblest of the monastic buildings, adorned with shrines,
+and tombs, and altars. Several of our cathedrals were monastic churches,
+and afford us some idea of the splendour and magnificence of these
+stately buildings. Many other churches built by the monks, quite as
+large and noble as any of our cathedrals, are now in ruins, with only a
+wall or a buttress remaining to mark the site of the once noble minster.
+The church was usually cruciform, with nave and aisles. East of the
+high altar in the choir stood the lady-chapel, and round the choir a
+retro-choir, or presbytery. There was a door on the south side of the
+church, opposite the eastern ambulatory, for the entrance of the monks.
+The south transept formed part of the eastern side of the cloister. On
+the same side stood the chapter-house, a large chamber richly ornamented
+with much architectural detail, and adorned with mural paintings.
+Between the chapter-house and the church there is a narrow room, which
+was the sacristy, and on the south of the chapter-house a building in
+two stories, the ground floor being the frater-house, where the monks
+retired after meals to converse, the upper room being the dortor, or
+dormitory, where they slept. A passage often separated the chapter-house
+from this building.
+
+On the south side of the cloister-court stood the refectory, a long
+room in which the monks took their meals; and on the west was a range
+of buildings the use of which differed in various monasteries, in some
+for cellars and larders, in others for dormitories. Sometimes this
+western building was the _domus conversorum_, or house of the lay
+brethren. The abbot's lodging was a fine house, consisting of hall,
+chambers, kitchen, buttery, and cellars, capable of entertaining a
+large number of guests, and frequently stood on the east side of the
+chapter-house quite separate from the other buildings. In small monastic
+houses governed by a prior his residence often formed the western side
+of the cloister-court. The farmery, or infirmary, where sick monks were
+nursed during illness, was a separate building, having its own kitchen,
+refectory, and chapel. The hospitium was also a separate building near
+the outer gate of the abbey, and consisted of a hall, dormitories, and a
+chapel, in which each night a goodly company of guests were entertained
+and courteously welcomed by the hospitaller. A high wall surrounded the
+abbey precincts, in which was the outer gate, consisting of a porter's
+lodge, a prison, and a large room in which the manorial court was held,
+or the abbot met the representatives of the townsfolk in order to direct
+their affairs and choose their chief magistrate or settle their
+differences.
+
+The author of _Piers Ploughman_ gives a description of the appearance of
+a monastery in the fourteenth century. As he approached the monastic
+buildings he was so bewildered by their greatness and beauty that for a
+long time he could distinguish nothing certainly but stately buildings
+of stone, pillars carved and painted, and great windows well wrought. In
+the centre quadrangle he notices the stone cross in the middle of grass
+sward. He enters the minster, and describes the arches as carved and
+gilded, the wide windows full of shields of arms and merchants' marks on
+stained glass, the high tombs under canopies, with armed effigies in
+alabaster, and lovely ladies lying by their sides in many gay garments.
+He passes into the cloister, and sees it pillared and painted, and
+covered with lead, and conduits of white metal pouring water into bronze
+lavatories beautifully wrought. The chapter-house was like a great
+church, carved and painted like a parliament-house. Then he went into
+the refectory, and found it a hall fit for a knight and his household,
+with broad tables and clean benches, and windows wrought as in a church.
+And then he wandered and wondered at "the halls full high and houses
+full noble, chambers with chimneys and chapels gay," and kitchens fit
+for a king in his castle, and their dorter or dormitory with doors full
+strong, their fermerye (infirmary) and frater, and many more houses, and
+strong stone walls, enough to harbour the queen. The author was
+evidently amazed at all the sights which he witnessed in the monastery.
+
+We will now see the monks at work, and spend a day with them in their
+monastic home. It is not easy definitely to map out a monk's day. The
+difficulty arises in a measure from the want of distinct marks of time.
+A monastic day was divided into twelve hours of uncertain length,
+varying according to the season; but the religious observances began at
+midnight, when the brethren rose at the sound of a bell in the dortor
+for the continuous service of Mattins and Lauds. They then retired to
+sleep, until the bell again summoned them at sunrise, when Prime was
+said, followed by the morning Mass, private masses and confessions, and
+the meeting of the Chapter; after this, work; then Tierce; then High
+Mass, followed by Sext. A short time was then devoted to reading, during
+which the _ministri_ and the reader at table dined; and then the monks
+sat down to dinner. This was the first food of the day, though the
+weaker brethren were allowed to sustain themselves with wine and water,
+or bread steeped in wine. Dinner was followed by a brief rest in the
+dormitory. If the monks did not wish to sleep they could read in the
+dorter; but they were to be careful not to disturb their resting
+brethren by any noise, such as that caused by turning over the leaves of
+their books. At one o'clock the bell rang for None, a short service
+consisting of a hymn, two psalms, some collects, the Lord's Prayer, and
+versicles. Then the brethren washed themselves, had a stoup of wine in
+the frater, and worked until Evensong, which was followed by supper.
+After supper they read in the cloister until the bell rang for
+Collation, which consisted of a reading in the chapter-house, whence
+they retired to the fratery for a draught of wine or beer. Then followed
+Compline, and then the monks were ready for bed, and retired to the
+dortor. Even there rules followed them, and directed them how they were
+to take off their shoes, and "to behave with more quiet, self-restraint,
+and devotion than elsewhere."
+
+I have not exhausted all the services which the monks attended. In
+addition to the principal ones there were several minor functions, at
+which devotion to the Blessed Virgin was the chief feature. The life was
+hard and the discipline severe; and lest the animal spirits of the monks
+should rise too high, the course of discipline was supplemented by
+periodical blood-letting. The doctors of the day were firm believers in
+the utility of this practice, and perhaps it had special advantages for
+dwellers in monasteries. According to the mediaeval metrical treatise on
+medicine, _Flos Medicinae_, or _Regimen Sanitatis Salerni_--
+
+  "Spiritus uberior exit per phlebotomaniam."
+
+  "It maketh cleane your braine, releeves your eie,
+  It mends your appetite, restoreth sleep,
+  Correcting humours that do waking keep;
+  And inward parts and sences also clearing
+  It mends the voyce, touch, smell, taste, hearing."
+
+According to the _Observances_ of the Augustinian Priory at Barnwell,
+Cambridge, each brother was compelled to be bled seven times a year. It
+was probably a welcome duty, as the monks enjoyed a regular holiday, and
+were solaced with unwonted good fare.
+
+Those who wished to be bled asked leave in Chapter, and having received
+a formal licence, attended High Mass. After the gospel they left the
+quire, and were bled in the farmery, where they remained three days.
+During this period they were excused attendance at the daily services,
+except on very special occasions; and minute directions are given for
+their personal comfort. They were allowed fire and lights, with suitable
+food, eggs and vegetables being specially mentioned; and they might take
+exercise within the precincts, and even beyond them, should the prelate
+give them leave. The infirmary seems to have been the most cheerful
+place in the monastery. Its inmates were "to lead a life of joy and
+freedom from care, in comfort and happiness." Conversation was freely
+permitted, though sarcastic and abusive language was strictly forbidden.
+"Games of dice and chess, and other games unsuitable to those who lead a
+religious life, were forbidden"; "because beyond all doubt they are
+offensive to God, and frequently give occasion to strife and contention
+among those who play them." We notice that invalids were allowed to walk
+in the "vineyards"; evidently the monks grew their own grapes, and made
+their own wine. The infirmary must have been well frequented. The
+complaints which are often specially mentioned as likely to compel the
+monks to resort to it are "irksomeness of life in the cloister," "long
+continuance of silence," "fatigue in the quire or extension of fasting,"
+and "sleeplessness and overwork."
+
+With regard to blood-letting the various orders had different customs.
+The Benedictines and Cluniacs had no stated times or seasons for the
+operation. The Cistercians prescribe bleeding four times in the year.
+The Carthusians were bled five times, and the Dominicans four times in
+the year.
+
+The food of the monastery was varied and plentiful. Fish and flesh were
+brought to the table, the former being obtained from the monastic
+stew-ponds. Fruit was supplied, both raw and cooked, and a good supply
+of beer and wine. Wine seems to have been very commonly used, and some
+relaxation was evidently permitted in the matter of drink.
+
+The hospitium, or guest-house, is worthy of a visit. Thither flocked a
+mixed crowd of knights and dames, monks and clerks, palmers, friars,
+traders with their wares, minstrels with their songs, and beggars,
+enjoying to the full the hospitality of the monks, who recognised it as
+one of their duties "to entertain strangers." The religious houses were,
+to a great extent, the inns of the Middle Ages; and when they were
+situated on the high roads, the guests were numerous and their
+entertainment costly. We are reminded, however, by the _Observances_ of
+Barnwell Priory that "by showing hospitality to guests the reputation of
+the monastery is increased, friendships are multiplied, animosities are
+blunted, God is honoured, charity is increased, and a plenteous reward
+in heaven is promised." It was enjoined that the hosteller, or brother
+in charge of the hospitium, should have "facility of expression, elegant
+manners, and a respectable bringing up; and if he have no substance to
+bestow he may at any rate exhibit a cheerful countenance and agreeable
+conversation, for friends are multiplied by agreeable words." He had to
+provide clean cloths and towels, cups without flaws, spoons of silver,
+mattresses, blankets and untorn sheets, pillows, quilts, etc. His duties
+are laid down with much minuteness; every morning he was required to go
+through the inventory, lest anything should be missing.
+
+The meeting in the chapter-house we must not omit to describe. When all
+the brethren had taken their seats, one monk went to the pulpit and read
+aloud the martyrology for the day. Then some psalms and collects were
+read, and a portion of the monastic rule, and briefs announcing the
+deaths of persons in whom the brethren were interested. The _tabula_, or
+notice-board, recording the names of those who were responsible for
+certain duties, was read; and a sermon followed. After the precentor had
+given minute instructions with regard to the reading and singing of the
+services for the day, the abbot said: "Speak of your own order." This
+was the call to confession; and any brother who was conscious that he
+had transgressed any rule, or neglected his duty, came forward and asked
+pardon for his fault. This was followed by the report of the _circator_,
+whose duty was to play the spy, and discover the faults of the monks.
+And after this the brethren accused each other. One brother started up
+saying: "I accuse ---- a brother." The accused came forward and stood
+before the abbot, waiting patiently for the charge. The accuser then
+stated the charge, which was admitted, or denied, by the accused. If the
+abbot judged him to be flogged, the culprit might not be flogged by his
+accuser. He rose from his knees and modestly divested himself of his
+garments, remaining covered from his girdle downwards; and he who
+flogged him might not cease till the abbot bade him. Then he helped the
+brother to put on his clothes, who bowed to the abbot and went back to
+his place. The Chapter, after this exciting interlude, proceeded to
+transact the temporal business of the house, and then adjourned.
+
+The chapter-house was often the scene of great events in the history of
+England. At Reading Abbey in this noble chamber parliaments were held.
+Here Heraclius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, presented to Henry II. the
+keys of the Holy Sepulchre, and invoked his aid in the crusade against
+the Saracens. Here the bishops assembled and excommunicated Longchamp,
+Chancellor and Regent of the country. Here the marriage contract between
+John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster was signed, when there were great
+rejoicings in the ancient town, and tilts and tournaments took place
+daily. These gay scenes must have greatly disturbed the tranquil life of
+the monks, and contrasted strangely with their normal condition.
+
+The picture of monastic life, which a study of the records of a
+monastery brings before us, is strange and alien to our present ideas;
+but it is brightened by a spirit of sincere religion and true charity,
+and helps us to understand the attraction of the convent walls in
+turbulent and troublous times.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE MANOR-HOUSE
+
+Evolution of a country house--Saxon house--Addition of separate
+sleeping-chambers--Castles--Tudor houses--Old manor-houses--Secret
+chambers--Rectories and vicarages--Duty of hospitality--Kelvedon
+Rectory--Allington--Tithe-barns--Alfriston clergy-house--Almshouses--
+Hermitages--Little Budworth--Knaresborough--Reclusorium or anchor-hold--
+Laindon--Rattenden--Female recluses--Whalley.
+
+
+The two principal houses in an English village are the manor-house and
+the rectory, wherein according to the theories of the modern political
+Socialist and agitator "the two arch-tyrants" of the labourers dwell,
+the squire and the parson. There is much of interest in the growth and
+evolution of the country house, which resulted in the construction of
+these old, pleasant, half-timbered granges and manor-houses, which form
+such beautiful features of our English villages.
+
+[Illustration: SOUTHCOTE MANOR SHOWING MOAT AND PIGEON-HOUSE]
+
+[Illustration: OCKWELLS MANOR-HOUSE]
+
+In our description of the village in Anglo-Saxon times we gave a picture
+of a house of a Saxon gentleman, which consisted mainly of one large
+hall, wherein the members of the household lived and slept and had their
+meals. There was a chapel, and a kitchen, and a ladies' bower, usually
+separated from the great hall, and generally built of wood. In Norman
+times the same plan and arrangements of a country house continued. The
+fire still burnt in the centre of the hall, the smoke finding its way
+out through a louvre in the roof. Meals were still served on tables laid
+on trestles, which were removed when the meal was finished. The lord and
+lady, their family and guests, dined at the high table placed on the
+dais, as in a college hall, the floor of which was boarded. The
+household and retainers dined in the space below, which was strewn with
+rushes and called "the marsh," which, according to Turner's _History of
+Domestic Architecture_, "was doubtless dirty and damp enough to deserve
+that name." The timbers of the roof in the better houses were moulded,
+the walls hung with tapestry, and at the lower end of the hall was a
+screen, above which in later times was the minstrels' gallery. The
+screen formed a passage which led into a separate building at right
+angles to the hall, containing the cellar, buttery, and kitchen.
+Parallel with this at the upper end of the hall was a building of two
+stories, one used as a parlour, and the other was called the "great
+chamber," where the lady and her guests retired after dining in the
+hall.
+
+[Illustration: RICHMOND PALACE]
+
+Later on a greater refinement of domestic customs was introduced. In the
+twelfth century a separate sleeping-chamber for the lord was added. The
+next century saw him and his lady dining in a room apart from his
+servants, a custom which was much satirised by the author of _Piers
+Ploughman_, who wrote--
+
+  "Now hath each rich a rule
+  To eaten by themselve,
+  In a privy parlour
+  For poor man sake,
+  Or in a chamber with a chimney;
+  And leave the chief hall,
+  That was made for meals
+  Men to eaten in."
+
+Evidently the author did not approve of the new fashion. But the
+advantages of the custom were much appreciated by the squires and ladies
+of the day, and this process of development led to a multiplication of
+rooms, and the diminution of the size of the great hall. The walls were
+raised, and an upper room was formed under the roof for sleeping
+accommodation. There are many old farmhouses throughout the country,
+once manor-houses, which retain in spite of subsequent alterations the
+distinguishing features of this mediaeval style of architecture.
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY AND STAIRCASE, UFTON COURT]
+
+The nobles built their castles as late as the fourteenth century; but
+under the Tudor monarchs, when the government of the country was strong
+and more settled, fortified dwellings were deemed no longer necessary,
+and the great landowners built splendid country houses. English domestic
+architecture then reached the period of its highest perfection. Instead
+of castles men built palaces, the noblest specimens of our English
+style, before it became corrupted. Hatfield House and Hampton Court are
+its best examples.
+
+During the fifteenth century the common hall had decreased in
+importance; and now in smaller houses it disappeared altogether, and a
+grand entrance hall usually took its place. The number of rooms was
+increased enormously, and corridors were introduced. The principal
+features of an Elizabethan house are the gallery and noble staircase.
+
+[Illustration: THE PORCH, UFTON COURT]
+
+Early in the seventeenth century Inigo Jones introduced the revived
+classic style of architecture into England, and entirely altered the
+appearance and arrangement of our manor-houses. Palladio was the
+originator of this style. The old English model was declared obsolete,
+and fashion dictated that Italian villas must supersede the old houses.
+These new buildings were very grand with their porticos and colonnades;
+but the architects cared little for comfort and convenience. Indeed a
+witty nobleman suggested to the owner of one of these new houses that
+he had better hire a lodging over the way and look at it.
+
+[Illustration: OLD MANOR HOUSE, UPTON COURT]
+
+The old manor-houses are often surrounded by a moat, and not unfrequently
+contain secret rooms and underground passages, which were often used as
+places of refuge in troublous times. Those held by recusants usually had
+two or three hiding-places ingeniously contrived, which must have baffled
+all pursuers, and were needed for the concealment of the Roman Catholic
+priest, in the days when his services were proscribed. There are two
+cleverly designed hiding-places at Ufton Court, Berkshire, which was held
+by the Roman Catholic family of Perkins. In a subterranean vault under an
+old house at Hurley, in which the bones of monks were discovered, the
+supporters of William of Orange used to meet to plan his succession to
+the English Crown. The walls of many of the manor-houses and halls in
+Lancashire and Yorkshire could tell of many a plot for the restoration
+of the Stuarts to the throne, and of many a deep health drunk to "Bonnie
+Charlie," while the chorus rang--
+
+  "He's over the seas and far awa',
+  He's over the seas and far awa',
+  But of no man we'll stand in awe,
+  But drink his health that's far awa'."
+
+The rectories and vicarages scattered over the country have passed
+through the same transformation as the manor-houses, which they much
+resembled. The rectory was often surrounded by a moat, with an entrance
+protected by a gatehouse. The duty of entertaining strangers and
+travellers was always duly recognised by the clergy, and entailed a
+heavy charge upon their income. Those who lived off the main roads used
+to provide accommodation for an occasional guest, but the rectors in the
+more frequented districts had frequently to entertain many travellers.
+There _is_ a description of the rectory-house of Kelvedon, Essex, in a
+deed dated 1356, which runs as follows:--
+
+"One hall situate in the manor of the said abbot and convent
+[Westminster] near the said church, with a soler and chamber at one end
+of the hall, and with a buttery and cellar at the other. Also one other
+house in three parts, namely a kitchen with a convenient chamber in the
+end of the said house _for guests_, and a bakehouse. Also one other
+house in two parts next the gate at the entrance of the manor for a
+stable and cow-house. He [the vicar] shall also have a convenient
+grange, to be built within a year at the expense of the prior and
+convent. He shall also have the curtilage with the garden adjoining the
+hall on the north side enclosed as it is with hedges and ditches."
+
+[Illustration: WINDOW OF SOUTH WING, UFTON COURT]
+
+Here the house for guests is an important feature of the clergyman's
+house; and about the same date, in 1352, we find the Bishop of
+Winchester ordering the prior and convent of Merton to provide "a
+competent manse for the vicar, viz. a hall with two rooms, one at one
+end of the hall, and the other at the other end, with a drain to each,
+and a suitable kitchen with fireplace and oven, and a _stable for six
+horses_, all covered with tiles, and completed within one year, such
+place to remain to the use of the said vicar and his successors." Unless
+the vicar was a very sporting parson he would not require a stable for
+six horses, and this was doubtless intended for the accommodation of the
+steeds of his guests.
+
+The descriptions of these old rectory-houses are interesting. The Rector
+of Allington, Kent, possessed a house consisting of "a hall, parlour,
+and chamber over the parlour, stairs-head, beside the parson's
+bedchamber, parson's lodging-chamber, study, chamber behind the chimney,
+chamber next adjoining westward, buttery, priest's chamber, servants'
+chamber, kitchen, mill-house, boulting-house, larder, entries, women's
+chamber; gatehouse, still beside the gate, barn next the gate; cartlage,
+barn next the church, garden-house, court." The barn next the church was
+probably the tithe-barn. Tithe was then paid in kind; hence a barn was
+required to contain the dues of the parishioners. Sometimes these
+tithe-barns are very large and long, especially when the tithe-owner was
+the abbot of some monastery. Near Reading there is still standing the
+barn of the abbey, and at Cholsey, in Berkshire, there is one of the
+finest specimens of the kind in England.
+
+[Illustration: STONE TITHE BARN, BRADFORD-ON-AVON]
+
+There still remain several of these old pre-Reformation parsonages and
+rectories. The most noted is the clergy-house at Alfriston, Sussex,
+which has been carefully preserved. It follows the usual type of
+fourteenth-century house, and consists of a fine hall, the lower part
+divided off by a screen, a soler of two stories at one end, and a
+kitchen at the other. It is built of oak framework, filled in with
+"wattle and daub." There is a large chimney and grate in the hall, and
+huge beams support the thatched roof. Parsonages of mediaeval times
+remain at West Dean, Sussex; at King's Stanley and Notgrove,
+Gloucestershire; Wonstone, Hants; Helmsley, Yorkshire; and at several
+other places. The Rectory of Shellingford, Berks, though much disguised
+by modern additions, is an original fourteenth-century house.
+
+In many villages there are old almshouses founded by pious benefactors
+for "poor brethren and sisters." As we enter the quiet courtyard paved
+with cobble stones, the spirit of olden days comes over us. The chapel
+where daily prayer is said morning and evening; the panelled
+dining-hall, with its dark oaken table; the comfortable rooms of the
+brethren; the time-worn pump in the courtyard--all recall the memory of
+old times, when life was more tranquil, and there was less hurry and
+busy bustling.
+
+Sometimes we meet with a curious little house built of stone or timber,
+erected along the great highways, near some bridge or ford, wherein a
+"holy hermit" once dwelt, and served his generation by directing
+travellers to the nearest monastery or rectory, and spent his days in
+seclusion and prayer. Such indeed is the traditional idea of the
+hermit's life; but the real hermit of the Middle Ages did not always
+live a very lonely or ascetic life. He was supported by the alms of the
+charitable and did no work, but lived an idle life, endured no
+hardships, and escaped not the scoffs of the satirical. _Piers
+Ploughman_ tells us of workmen--"webbers and tailors, and carters'
+knaves, and clerks without grace, who liked not long labour and light
+wages; and seeing that lazy fellows in friars' clothing had fat cheeks,
+forsook their toil and turned hermits. They lived in boroughs among
+brewers and begged in churches." They had a good house, with sometimes a
+chaplain to say daily Mass for them, a servant or two to wait on them,
+and plenty of food and drink provided by a regular endowment or the
+donations of the charitable. They did not shut themselves up in their
+cells and hold no intercourse with their fellow-men; and herein they
+differed from the recluses who were not supposed to go outside the doors
+of their anchorages. Both males and females were enrolled as recluses,
+but only the latter seem to have taken upon themselves the vows of
+complete seclusion.
+
+Several of these hermitages remain. There is one at Little Budworth, in
+Cheshire, in the park of Sir Philip Egerton. Warkworth has a famous one,
+consisting of a chapel hewn out of the rock, with an entrance porch, and
+a long, narrow room with a small altar at the east end, wherein the
+hermit lived. At Knaresborough, Yorkshire, there is a good example of a
+hermitage, hewn out of the rock, consisting of a chapel, called St.
+Robert's Chapel, with groined roof, which was used as the living-room of
+the hermit. This chapel was the scene of Eugene Aram's murder. At
+Wetheral, near Carlisle; Lenton, near Nottingham; on the banks of the
+Severn, near Bewdley, Worcestershire, there are anchorages, and also at
+Brandon, Downham, and Stow Bardolph, in Norfolk. Spenser in the _Faery
+Queen_ gives the following description of a hermit's cell:--
+
+  "A little lowly hermitage it was,
+  Down by a dale, hard by a forest's side,
+  Far from resort of people that did pass
+  In traveill to and froe; a little wyde
+  There was an holy Chappell edifyde,
+  Wherein the hermite dewly wont to say
+  His holy things, each morne and eventyde;
+  Hereby a chrystall streame did gently play,
+  Which from a sacred fountaine welled forth alway."
+
+Within the churchyard of many a town or village church, and usually
+attached to the church, stood a reclusorium, or anchor-hold, wherein a
+recluse, male or female, once resided. At Laindon Church, Essex, there
+is a fine specimen of a house of this kind attached to the west end.
+Generally the anchor-hold was a small room, built of wood, connected
+with the church. Frequently there is a room over the porch of a church
+which may have been used for this purpose, the recluse living usually in
+the church. At Rettenden, Essex, there is a room over the vestry which
+has evidently been an anchor-hold. There was a window, now blocked up,
+through which the recluse could see the high altar, and the celebration
+of the holy mysteries, and another for him to look out, hold converse
+with his friends, and receive their alms. The church of St. Patricio,
+near Crickhowel, South Wales, has an anchor-hold; also Clifton Campville
+Church, Staffordshire; Chipping Norton Church, Oxfordshire; Warmington
+Church, Warwickshire; and many churches have rooms over the porch which
+were formerly used by recluses. The church itself was frequently the
+habitation of the anchorite. There is a notice of a hermit who lived in
+St. Cuthbert's Church, Thetford, and performed divine service therein.
+
+Of female recluses we gather many details in the _Ancren Riewle_ of
+Bishop Poore of Salisbury, who left very minute directions for the
+regulation of their austere and solitary lives. The little cell had an
+altar where the anchoress frequently prayed, and through a window saw
+the elevation of the Host in the daily Mass. The walls were covered
+with mural paintings. There was a table, a fire, and a cat lying before
+it. An unglazed window with a shutter was covered by a black curtain,
+through which she could converse with anyone outside without being seen.
+She was not allowed to put her head out of the open window. "A peering
+anchoress, who is always thrusting her head outward, is like an untamed
+bird in a cage," says the good bishop. The long hours of solitude were
+spent in devotion, working embroidery, reading her few books, talking to
+her servant or to those who desired to speak with her through the
+curtained window.
+
+The poor caged birds must often have wished to break the bars of their
+cage, and occasionally they escaped from their solitary confinement. In
+the churchyard of Whalley, Lancashire, there are two cottages which
+stand upon the site of a reclusorium, founded by Henry, Duke of
+Lancaster, in 1349. Here in the reign of Henry VI. lived one Isole de
+Heton, who wearied of her lot, and left the anchor-hold, an example
+which was followed by several of her successors. A scandal having
+arisen, the hermitage was dissolved.
+
+Many a sad story of ruined hopes and broken hearts could these walls
+tell, which were the living tombs of many a devout or erring sister,
+who, wounded in the world's war, sought the calm seclusion of a cell,
+and found there the peace which elsewhere they had failed to find.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+PARISH CHURCHES
+
+The Porch--Font--Stone benches--Pews--Pulpits--Rood-lofts--Destruction
+of--Screens--Royal arms--Chancel--Stalls--_Misereres_--Lectern--High
+altar and its furniture--Piscina--Credence--Aumbry--Sedilia--Easter
+sepulchre--Reredos--Shrines--Numerous altars--Chantry chapels--
+Hagioscopes--Images--Low side windows--Vestries--Vestments--Churches
+in olden times--Reading pews--Galleries--Destruction and profanation--
+Evils of "restoration."
+
+
+In the centre of our village stands the church, always the most
+important and interesting building in the place. We will suppose that
+it has not suffered overmuch at the hands of the "restorers" of the
+nineteenth, or the Puritans of the seventeenth, or the spoliators of
+an earlier century, so that we may observe all those details which
+characterise an ancient church. In spite of all the vandalism which has
+taken place, in spite of the changes in ceremonial and forms of worship,
+our beautiful old churches still retain relics of the past which time
+has spared.
+
+We will enter the church and notice first the porch, often a large
+structure with a chamber above. Why was it made so large? According to
+the Sarum use several services took place in the porch. Parts of the
+baptismal service and of the marriage service and the churching of women
+were there performed; hence the porch was an important building, and
+it was necessary to make it rather large. Above the door there is
+frequently a niche for the image of the patron saint of the church,
+which has not usually escaped the destructive hand of the Puritan. The
+room over the porch was frequently inhabited by a recluse, as I have
+already recorded in the previous chapter. Near the door always stands
+the font, signifying that baptism is the entrance to the Church of
+Christ. Ancient fonts are large enough to allow the infant to be totally
+immersed, and are made of stone or lead. Childrey Church, in our county
+of Berks, has a fine cylindrical, leaden font, of Norman date, carved
+with figures of bishops. Norman fonts are frequently carved, the
+favourite subjects being the Baptism of our Lord, the Twelve Apostles,
+and the evangelistic symbols. Early English and Decorated fonts are not
+usually carved, but in the Perpendicular style they are rich with
+ornamentation, the Seven Sacraments being a not uncommon design. We have
+sometimes noticed the symbols of Freemasonry carved on fonts, as at
+Bray, in Berkshire. To the same period belong the splendid spire-shaped
+font-covers, of immense weight, of which I am sometimes a little
+fearful, lest the mechanism by which they are raised should become
+damaged, and terrible disaster follow during the progress of a baptismal
+service. At Sonning, Berks, there is a small stone desk attached to a
+pillar for the service-book to rest on.
+
+The nave of the church is now filled with seats for the use of the
+congregation. In early times they do not seem to have been considered
+necessary, and until the fourteenth century the stone benches ranged
+against the walls were the only seats provided. Even as late as the
+fourteenth century it does not appear that many churches had pews, but
+in the fifteenth they became general. The hideous monstrosities of
+post-Reformation times did not then disfigure our churches. The pews
+were low open seats made of oak, sometimes carved at the back, and
+panelled, with the ends higher than the rest, and often richly carved.
+Many rich men left money in their wills for the _puying_ of churches.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT PEW-WORK, TYSOE CHURCH, WARWICKSHIRE]
+
+It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that the
+fashion of erecting high pews set in, which so disfigured our churches,
+and were frequently censured by the authorities. Some of these (as at
+Whalley) resemble four-posted beds; others are like cattle-pens, large
+square boxes with seats all round, wherein the occupants sit and sleep,
+screened from the rest of the congregation. The carving of the woodwork
+of these erections is often very elaborate. Modern pews are happily
+based upon the more primitive fashion.
+
+Preaching not being considered such an important part of the service in
+pre-Reformation times, pulpits in churches of that period were not so
+usual as in modern churches. Monastic refectories had pulpits, which the
+reader occupied when he read to his brethren during meals. Beaulieu
+Abbey has the most ancient pulpit in this country, which evidently
+belongs to the thirteenth century.
+
+The churches of Devonshire and Norfolk have wooden pulpits of the
+fifteenth century, which were painted and gilded, the figures of the
+four doctors of the church--SS. Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, and
+Jerome--being the favourite subjects. In 1603 the churchwardens were
+ordered to provide in every church "a comely and decent pulpit." Hence
+most of our pulpits date from this period. The sides were panelled and
+carved with scrollwork; and at the same time a sounding-board was
+introduced. Occasionally the hour-glass which regulated the length of
+the preacher's discourse remains, with its beautiful scroll-worked
+stand.
+
+The most striking feature of the pre-Reformation Church was the
+rood-loft, a narrow long gallery above the beautifully decorated screen,
+which separated the chancel from the nave. In this loft was erected the
+rood, or figure of our blessed Lord on the cross, together with figures
+of the Virgin and St. John on each side. Both the screen and the loft
+were richly panelled and ornamented with tracery and carvings, and
+before them hung one or more lamps. Sometimes tall candlesticks stood on
+pillars on each side of the figures. A staircase of stone, constructed
+in the wall near the chancel-arch, led to the rood-loft, and the
+blocked-up archway of this rood-stair frequently remains. The priest
+stood in the rood-loft to read the gospel and epistle, and sometimes
+preached there; official notices were read, and from it the bishop used
+to give the Benediction. The rood-cloth, or veil, hid the rood during
+Lent, and in some churches we have seen the roller which was used to
+raise this veil. A special altar, called the rood-altar, used to stand
+under the screen.
+
+[Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH SCREEN, THURCASTON, LEICESTERSHIRE]
+
+The Reformers played havoc with these old rood-lofts and screens, which
+were regarded as monuments of idolatry and superstition. The
+churchwardens' account-books of many churches bear witness to this
+destruction. Those of St. Giles', Reading, tell of certain _items_ "for
+pulling down the rood and carting away the rubbish." Instead of the
+figure of our Lord they put up the royal arms; and one John Serjente, of
+Hytchen, is licensed in 1614--
+
+"to paynte in all the Churches and Chappells, within this Realme of
+England, the Kinges Majesties armes in due forme with helme creste
+mantell and supporters as they oughte to be--and to wright in fayre text
+letters the tenn commandments, the beliefe, and the Lord's prayer, with
+some other fruitefull and profitable sentences of holye scripture."
+
+In spite of this destruction of the ancient roods, several lofts still
+remain, _e.g._ at Bradninch, Cullompton, Dartmouth, Hartland, Kenton,
+Ugborough, and Plymtree, in Devonshire; in several places in
+Somersetshire, and at Charlton-on-Otmoor (erected in 1485) and
+Handborough, Oxfordshire. A very large number of the old screens remain,
+ornamented with the arms of Elizabeth or James I.
+
+Proceeding eastward we enter the chancel, so called because it is
+inclosed with _cancelli_, or the lattice-work of the screen. If the
+church was formerly connected with some monastery we shall see some
+beautifully carved wooden stalls with rich canopies over them. The seats
+are curiously constructed. They can be turned up, and beneath the seats
+is a projecting bracket of wood, commonly adorned with carved
+work--animals, birds, leaves, and flowers, and often with grotesque,
+satirical, and irreverent devices. They are called miserere-stalls, and
+were used by the monks or canons to lean against during the portions of
+the long mediaeval services, when they were not allowed to be seated. As
+this practice was a concession to human weakness or infirmity, the seats
+were called in France _misericordes_, and in England _misereres_. The
+subjects of the sculptures are often extremely curious. Domestic scenes,
+fables, such as the "Fox and the Grapes," demons carrying off monks,
+"The Seven Deadly Sins," are some of these subjects. Miss Phipson has
+published a learned work on _Choir Stalls and their Carvings_, which
+contains reproductions of three hundred of her sketches of curiously
+wrought _misereres_.
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE CHURCH IN THE VALE]
+
+The lectern formerly stood in the chancel; and then, as now, was often
+in the form of a large eagle, emblematic of St. John. Most of these
+reading-desks belong to the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and are
+made of wood, latten, iron, or stone, as well as of brass. There is a
+very curious wooden one at East Hendred, Berks, representing a foot
+resting on the head of a dragon, emblematic of the word of God
+conquering the powers of evil. Ancient wooden double reading-desks are
+not uncommon. The ornamentation usually denotes the period when they
+were constructed.
+
+And now we approach the high altar of the church, made of stone, covered
+with a beautifully worked frontal and cloth, and inclosed at the sides
+with curtains suspended on iron rods projecting from the wall. A
+crucifix hangs above the altar, and two candlesticks stand, one on each
+side. The furniture and accessories of the altar in pre-Reformation
+times were numerous. There was the pyx, a box or vessel of precious
+metal, in which the Host was reverently preserved for the purpose of
+giving communion to the sick and infirm. There were two small cruets or
+vessels for containing the wine and water used in Holy Communion, one
+engraved with the letter "V" (_vinum_), and the other "A" (_aqua_). An
+_osculatorium_, or pax tablet, of ivory or wood, overlaid with gold, was
+used for giving the kiss of peace during the High Mass just before the
+reception of the Host. Of church plate generally we shall write in a
+subsequent chapter.
+
+[Illustration: NORMAN PISCINA, ROMSEY CHURCH, HANTS]
+
+On the south we see the piscina, which is contained in a beautifully
+carved niche--a hollow basin with a stone drain, wherein the priest
+washed his hands before consecrating the elements, and poured the water
+from the rinsed chalice. Above it in the niche was the credence, a shelf
+of stone, on which were placed the chalice and paten and all things
+necessary for the celebration. In some churches there is a separate
+credence table. On the north side was the aumbry, or locker, where the
+sacred vessels, altar linen, and service books were kept, guarded by a
+strong wooden door. The doors have usually disappeared, but a very large
+number of churches have the hole in the wall which was formerly the
+aumbry.
+
+On the south side are the sedilia, or stone seats, for the assistant
+clergy, frequently with canopies richly carved, and usually three in
+number. Opposite to the sedilia in the north wall is a large arch,
+within which the holy sepulchre was set up at Easter. This was a wooden
+structure made for the deposition of the consecrated elements of the
+Eucharist from the evening of Good Friday until the morning of Easter
+Day; during which time it was watched by a quasi-guard, after the manner
+of our Lord's sepulchre. The books of St. Lawrence, Reading, record:--
+
+"Anno 1498. In primis payed for Wakyng of the Sepulchre viii'd."
+
+"Anno 1510. It. payed to Walter Barton to the new Sepulchur iiii'li
+xiii's x'd."
+
+As this sum of money was a considerable one at that period, the
+sepulchre must have been an object of unusual magnificence. Sometimes
+it was a permanent structure of stone, carved with figures of soldiers
+watching the tomb of our Lord. Behind the altar was the reredos. In
+village churches these screens were made up of recessed stone panels,
+surrounded by sculptured wallflowers and other devices; but in large
+churches they were very ornate, enriched with niches, statues,
+tabernacle-work, and other adornments. Many of them were destroyed at
+the Reformation, together with the stone altars. Some were covered up
+and concealed by plaster, in order to preserve them from iconoclastic
+violence. They were buried and forgotten, until by some happy accident
+their existence was revealed in modern times. Nearly all large churches,
+and some village churches, especially those connected with a monastery,
+had shrines, or receptacles for the body or relics of a saint. Some
+of them were fixed, and made of stone or wood, adorned with rich
+tabernacle-work, such as the shrine of St. Cuthbert at Durham, or of St.
+Frideswide at Oxford; and others were portable, shaped like coped boxes,
+covered with precious metal, enamels, and engraving. Sculptured stones
+in the walls of our churches often mark the spot in the building where
+relics were stored.
+
+It is evident from the existence of niches and piscinas in other parts
+of the church, besides in the south wall near the high altar, that there
+formerly existed many altars in the sacred building. At the east end of
+each aisle we usually find these indications of the existence of an
+altar, which belonged to a chantry chapel, separated from the rest of
+the church by a screen. Here a priest said Mass daily for the soul of
+the founder of the chantry, his ancestors, and posterity. Ancient stone
+altars still remain in some of our churches. Sometimes they have been
+removed from their place, and used as tombstones, or in paving the floor
+of the church. They can be recognised by the five crosses engraved on
+them, one at each corner, and one in the centre of the stone.
+
+Hagioscopes, or squints, are openings in the thickness of the wall,
+enabling worshippers in the chantry chapels to witness the elevation of
+the Host at the high altar. They are usually plain; but in some churches
+we find these curious apertures moulded and decorated with architectural
+designs.
+
+Pre-Reformation churches had several wooden images of saints, most of
+which were destroyed by the iconoclastic zeal of the Reformers or
+Puritans. The brackets on which these figures stood often remain, though
+the images have disappeared.
+
+[Illustration: LOW SIDE WINDOW, DALLINGTON CHURCH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE]
+
+Low side windows, commonly called "Lepers' windows," are very frequently
+found in our churches, and usually on the south wall of the chancel.
+Their object has been, and is, much disputed among antiquaries. The
+vulgar idea is that poor lepers used to come to this window to see the
+celebration of the Mass; but unfortunately it is quite impossible in
+many cases to see the high altar through this window, and moreover
+lepers were not allowed to enter a churchyard. Another idea is that
+they were used as confessionals, the priest in the church hearing the
+confession of the penitent who knelt on the grass in the churchyard.
+A more inconvenient arrangement could not have been devised; and this
+idea might be at once dismissed, were it not that one of Henry's
+commissioners for suppressing monasteries and chantries wrote: "We think
+it best that the place where these friars have been wont to hear outward
+confession of all-comers at certain times of the year, be walled up, and
+that use to be done for ever." It appears that sometimes at any rate the
+low side windows were used for this purpose. However, I am inclined to
+think that they were intended for the use of the anchorites or recluses,
+who dwelt in churches. The windows were not glazed, but had iron bars on
+the outside, and a wooden shutter on the inside of the church. These
+windows were probably their means of communication with the outside
+world.
+
+Many village churches then, as now, had no vestry. Where a _vestiarium_
+existed it was usually on the north side of the chancel, and its
+contents were more elaborate than the plain surplice stole and hood of
+recent times. In the vestry press we should find an alb of fine white
+linen, somewhat similar to a surplice, ornamented with "apparels,"
+_i.e._ embroidery, on the cuffs and skirts; a girdle made of white silk
+embroidered with colours; an amice, or oblong piece of fine linen, worn
+on the head or as a collar; a stole with embroidered ends; a maniple, or
+strip of ornamented linen worn by the priest in his left hand during
+celebrations; dalmatic, chasuble and other vestments which the ornate
+ritual of the mediaeval church required.
+
+Before the Reformation the appearance of our churches was certainly
+splendid, and differed much from the Puritan simplicity of later times.
+The walls were covered with mural paintings. The windows, soon to be
+
+"Shorn of their glass of a thousand colourings,
+Through which the deepened glories once could enter,"
+
+were then resplendent with stained glass. Above, the rood looked down on
+all the worshippers. Everywhere there was beautifully carved woodwork,
+gilded and painted, tombs of knights and dames all painted and adorned,
+altars with rich embroidered hangings. The floor was composed of
+encaustic tiles, and had many memorial brasses. Armour, crests, and
+banners hung upon the walls. Lights burned before numerous images, and
+the whole appearance of our churches was gorgeous and magnificent.
+
+Many changes have taken place since. Coatings of whitewash hide the
+mural paintings. Sacrilegious hands "have broken down all the carved
+work with axes and hammers." The stone altars have disappeared, and
+instead we have "an honest table decently covered." Reading-pews for the
+clergy were set up, and in the last century the hideous "three decker,"
+which hid the altar and utterly disfigured the sacred building. Instead
+of the low open seats great square high pews filled the nave. Hideous
+galleries were erected which obstructed the windows and hid the
+architectural beauties of former days. The old timber roofs were
+covered, and low flat ceilings substituted. Brasses were torn up and
+sold by dishonest churchwardens, and old monuments broken and defaced.
+The old stained-glass windows were destroyed. The Communion table was
+taken from the east end of the chancel, and seats erected round it.
+Crosses were defaced everywhere, and crucifixes destroyed. Puritan
+profanation and wanton destruction devastated our churches to a degree
+which has never been equalled since the hordes of heathens and barbaric
+Danish invaders carried fire and sword into the sanctuaries of God.
+
+[Illustration: READING-PEW, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, LANGLEY CHAPEL, SALOP]
+
+Much harm was done by the Goths and Vandals of the nineteenth century.
+Many old churches, replete with a thousand memories of the past, were
+pulled down entirely, and modern structures of "Victorian Gothic" style
+erected in their place, which can have none of the precious associations
+which the old churches had. Much harm was done to the old features of
+many churches by so-called "restoration," carried out by men ignorant of
+architecture and antiquities. But we are learning better now. The
+Society of Antiquaries has done much to prevent injudicious restoration
+and the destruction of our old churches, and if any incumbent and his
+parishioners are thinking of restoring their church, they cannot do
+better than to consult the secretaries of that learned body, who will
+show how best to preserve the interesting memorials of the past which
+time has spared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+CHURCH PLATE
+
+Spoliation--Few remains of pre-Reformation plate--Testimony of
+inventories--Plate found in graves of bishops--Characteristics of
+chalices in different periods--Inscriptions--Devices on patens--
+Censers--Pyx--Monstrance--Chrismatory--Pax--Sacring bell--Elizabethan
+chalice--Bridal cup--Post-Reformation plate--Hall marks.
+
+
+We have already mourned over the wanton destruction of much that was of
+intense interest and value in our churches; but the most systematic
+robbery and spoliation of our church goods at the time of the
+Reformation were carried out in the matter of church plate. Henry VIII.
+stripped our cathedrals and conventual churches of almost all that was
+valuable, and the unscrupulous commissioners of Edward VI. performed a
+like office for our parish churches and chantries. A large number of
+the old chalices were also melted down and converted into Communion
+cupsduring the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth. Hence of all the
+vast store of church plate which our churches possessed before the
+Reformation, at the present time throughout all England only thirty-four
+chalices and seventy-three patens remain. It is true that not all the
+ancient vessels fell into the hands of the commissioners of the king. In
+the churchwardens' account books of the period we read of sundry sales
+of church plate. Evidently the parishioners had some presentiment of the
+coming spoliation; so they sold their valuables, and kept the proceeds
+of the sale for "the paving of the streets," or other parochial
+necessities.
+
+The ancient inventories of church goods show the deplorable loss of the
+valuables of the church which has taken place. Thus at the church of St.
+Lawrence, Reading, in the year 1517, the inventory tells us of the
+following: a cross of silver and gilt; a censer of silver gilt; another
+censer; a ship of silver for holding incense; another ship of silver;
+two candlesticks of silver; two books bound in silver; two basins of
+silver; a pyx of silver gilt, with a silver pin; a monstrance of silver
+gilt; a silver gilt chrismatory for the holy oil; a pax; two cruets; a
+bell; a chalice, with a crucifix enamelled on the foot and the Trinity
+on the paten; another chalice, with a crucifix engraved on the foot
+and a hand on the paten; another chalice similarly described; another
+similar to first chalice; and two others, with a crucifix on the foot
+and a vernicle, or _vera icon_ (a representation of our Lord's face
+miraculously delineated on the napkin of St. Veronica). All these
+vessels were made of silver or silver gilt. Nor were these all the
+treasures. There were several reliquaries of silver gilt containing
+parts of the holy cross; a gridiron, with a bone of St. Lawrence, and
+other articles contained in silver boxes; and many books bound with
+silver clasps. The total weight of silver in this church amounted to
+seven hundred ounces.
+
+Village churches were, of course, less sumptuously furnished than this
+important town church, which being situated under the shadow of one of
+the largest and most important abbeys in the kingdom, would receive many
+costly gifts and benefactors. But the inventories of village churches
+show that there was no lack of plate, rich altar hangings, copes, and
+vestments, which helped to swell the goodly heap of spoil. In country
+churches in Oxfordshire there were silver chalices and patens, pyxes,
+censers, candlesticks, chrismatories, crosses, sanctus bells, and other
+articles of plate.
+
+It was the practice in mediaeval times to place in the coffin of a
+bishop a chalice and paten; hence some of the earliest specimens of
+church plate which we possess have been recovered from episcopal
+graves.[3] The Rites of Durham enjoin that on the death of a bishop
+he was to be buried "with a little chalice of silver, other metal, or
+wax" aid upon his breast within the coffin.[4] Most of these were made
+of pewter or lead, but some have been found of silver gilt, latten,
+and tin. It is perhaps scarcely necessary for our present purposes to
+describe these early specimens of sacred vessels, as the number of them
+is so limited; and few of my readers will be able to discover any
+mediaeval examples amongst the plate of their own church. However, I
+will point out a few peculiarities of the plate of each period.
+
+The earliest chalice, used in the church of Berwick St. James, Wilts,
+until a few years ago, and now in the British Museum, dates from the
+beginning of the thirteenth century. Its bowl is broad and shallow, the
+stem and knot (by which the vessel was held) and foot being plain and
+circular. Then the makers (from 1250 to 1275) fashioned the stem and
+knot separately from the bowl and foot, and shaped them polygonally.
+During the remaining years of the century the foot was worked into
+ornate lobes. Then the bowl is deepened and made more conical. About
+1350 the custom arose of laying the chalice on its side on the paten to
+drain at the ablutions at Mass; and as the round-footed chalices would
+have a tendency to roll, the foot was made hexagonal for stability.
+Henceforth all the mediaeval chalices were fashioned with a six-sided
+foot. By degrees the bowl became broader and shallower, and instead of
+the base having six points, its form is a sexfoil without any points.
+Several old chalices are engraved with the inscription--
+
+Calicem salutaris accipiam et nomen Domini inbocabo.
+
+[Illustration: CHALICE AND PATEN, SANDFORD, OXFORDSHIRE
+_Circa_ A.D. 1301]
+
+In one of the compartments of the base there was a representation of a
+crucifix, or the Virgin, or ihc, or xpc.
+
+The usual devices on ancient patens were the _Manus Dei_, or hand of
+God, in the act of blessing; on later ones the vernicle, or face of our
+Lord; the Holy Trinity; the Holy Lamb; the sacred monogram. The oldest
+paten in existence is that found at Chichester Cathedral in a coffin,
+and its date is about the year 1180. In the centre is a rude engraving
+of the _Agnus Dei_, and it bears the inscription--
+
+Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi miserere nobis.
+
+[Illustration: PRE-REFORMATION PLATE
+(1) 13th Century
+(2) Early 16th Century
+(3) Elizabethan
+(4) Manus Dei
+(5) Vernicle]
+
+The grave of Bishop Grostete at Lincoln yielded up an ancient paten
+(1230-53), which has the figure of a bishop vested, the right hand
+raised in the act of blessing, the left holding a crozier. The oldest
+piece of church plate still in use is a remarkable paten at Wyke Church,
+near Winchester, the date of which is about 1280. It bears an engraving
+of the _Agnus Dei_ holding a banner, and around the rim is the legend--
+
+CUNTA: CREO: VIRTUTE: REGO: PIETATE REFORMO.
+
+Another favourite inscription was _Benedicamus patrem et filium cum
+spiritu sancto_; but on the paten in the church of Great Waltham, Essex,
+the important word _spiritu_ is omitted for want of room.
+
+[Illustration: CENSER OR THURIBLE]
+
+We have already mentioned several of the important pieces of church
+plate which were in use in mediaeval times. Censers, or thuribles, were
+common in all our ancient parish churches, sometimes of gold or silver,
+more usually of brass or latten, and were in the shape of a covered vase
+or cup, perforated so as to allow the fumes of burning incense to
+escape. Most of our English censers are now in museums, but several
+ancient ones are still in use in the private chapels of Roman Catholic
+families.
+
+Old inventories always mention a pyx, a box or vessel of gold or silver,
+in which the Host was reserved for the sick and infirm. It often
+resembles a chalice, except that instead of the bowl there is a covered
+receptacle for the Host. A beautiful specimen was dug up a few years ago
+in the churchyard of Yateley, Hants. Another vessel was the monstrance,
+in which the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession, and exposed
+on the altar. The form varied. Sometimes monstrances were made in
+the shape of a tower, or a covered chalice; sometimes in the form of
+images carrying silver pyxes, elaborately ornamented with many jewels.
+Processions were always a great feature of mediaeval worship; hence the
+monstrance was frequently in use, especially on such occasions as the
+celebrations of Corpus Christi Day.
+
+Holy oil was much used in the services, as in the Roman Catholic Church
+at the present time. It was blessed by a bishop on Maundy Thursday, and
+used in Baptism, Confirmation, and Extreme Unction, as well as at the
+Consecration of Churches, Ordination, and the Coronation of Kings. The
+vessel for holding the oil was an important piece of church plate, and
+was called a chrismatory. Usually there were three distinct vessels, one
+for holding the oil for the sick, a second for use at confirmations, and
+a third for the baptismal oil. Sometimes these vessels are labelled with
+the words EXT. UNC., CAT., and CHR., according to the recommendation of
+St. Charles Borromeo, in order that each oil might be kept for its
+proper use, and that no confusion might arise.
+
+The pax was a small tablet of silver or other precious metal, used for
+giving the kiss of peace during High Mass. The celebrant kissed the
+tablet, and held it aloft before all the people. It was usually adorned
+with a representation of the _Agnus Dei_. Of the cruets containing wine
+and water for the celebration we have already written. Then there was a
+sacring bell, often made of silver, which was rung during the service at
+the time of the elevation of the Host, and at the sound the congregation
+knelt.
+
+We have now examined the aumbry, and noted its contents, upon which the
+commissioners in the reign of Edward VI. made such shameful inroads.
+Henceforth the plate was confined to a chalice and paten, alms-dish, and
+usually a large silver flagon. The form of the chalice was entirely
+changed. As we have noticed, the bowl of the pre-Reformation chalices
+became smaller and shallower, on account of the gradually introduced
+practice of refusing the wine to the laity. Now in the year 1562 the
+size of the bowl was greatly enlarged, and the "Communion cup" took
+the place of the "Massing chalice." Some poor parishes were obliged to
+content themselves with pewter vessels. St. Lawrence's Church, Reading,
+had a curious bridal cup, which was carried before all brides who
+were married in that church. The custom of drinking wine in the church
+at marriages is enjoined in the Hereford Missal, and the Sarum
+Missal ordered that the bread immersed in the wine, and consumed by
+the company, should first be blessed by the priest. Some of these
+post-Reformation vessels are extremely interesting. They record the
+thankofferings of pious donors on the occasion of some great event in
+the national annals, such as the Restoration, or of some private mercy
+vouchsafed to the individual. They record the connection of some family
+with the parish, the arms they bore; and the Hall marks tell us of their
+date, which is often anterior to the date of the inscription.
+
+Hall marks were first introduced in 1300 by Edward I. in order to keep
+up the purity of silver, and consisted of the lion's or leopard's head
+crowned. This was called the king's mark. The maker's mark was
+introduced in 1363, and was some initial or badge chosen by the
+silversmith. To these were added in 1438 the year letter or assayer's
+mark, a different letter being chosen for each year. When the alphabet
+was exhausted, another with differently shaped letters was begun. In
+1545 the lion passant was introduced, and since 1784 the portrait of the
+reigning sovereign has appeared. With the assistance of Mr. Cripps' _Old
+English Plate_, which contains a list of the alphabets used in marking
+plate, it is not very difficult to discover the date of any piece of
+silver. Inventories of church plate are being made in many counties and
+dioceses, and no more useful work can be undertaken by our local
+antiquarian societies.
+
+
+[3] _Mediaeval Chalices and Patens_, by W.H. St. John Hope and
+T.M. Fallow.
+
+[4] Surtees Society, vol. xv. pp. 45, 49.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES
+
+Reverence for the dead--Cists--Stone coffins--Devices--Introduction
+of effigies--Cross-legged effigies--Wooden effigies--Incised
+effigies--Brasses--Essentially English--Vast number of brasses--
+Palimpsests--Destruction--Costumes and fashions--Ecclesiastics--
+Lawyers--Soldiers--Canopies and inscriptions--Punning inscriptions--
+Contractions--Emblems--Heraldry.
+
+
+The pious care which we all love to bestow on the mortal remains of our
+nearest and dearest, and the respect and honour with which all men
+regard the bodies of departed heroes, kings, saints, and warriors, have
+produced a remarkable series of sepulchral monuments, examples of which
+may be found everywhere. The cairns and tumuli of the primitive races
+which inhabited our island were the results of the same feelings of
+reverent regard which inspired the beautifully carved mediaeval
+monuments, the memorial brass, or the cross-shaped tombstone of to-day.
+
+I have already mentioned the cromlechs and barrows and other memorials
+of the early inhabitants of Britain. We have seen the cists of Saxon
+times, the coffins formed of several stones placed together in the form
+of a table. The Normans introduced stone coffins for the sepulchre of
+their great men, many of which may be seen in our cathedrals and old
+conventual churches. On the lids of their coffins they frequently cut a
+single cross. When the style of architecture changed to that of the
+Early English and Decorated periods, monumental slabs were ornamented
+with much greater richness and elaboration, and inscriptions were added,
+and also some device which showed the trade, rank, or profession of the
+departed. Thus the chalice and paten denoted a priest; a sword showed
+the knight; an axe, a forester; an ink-horn, a notary; shears, a wool
+merchant.
+
+At the beginning of the thirteenth century it occurred to someone to
+preserve the likeness of his departed friend as well as the symbols of
+his rank and station. So effigies were introduced upon the surface of
+the slabs, and were carved flat; but ere fifty years had passed away the
+art of the sculptor produced magnificent monumental effigies. Knights
+and nobles lie clad in armour with their ladies by their sides. Bishops
+and abbots bless the spectators with their uplifted right hands. Judges
+lie in their official garb, and merchants with the emblems of their
+trade. At their feet lie animals, usually having some heraldic
+connection with the deceased, or symbolical of his work--_e.g._ a dragon
+is trodden down beneath the feet of a bishop, signifying the defeat of
+sin as the result of his ministry. The heads of effigies usually rest on
+cushions, which are sometimes supported by two angels.
+
+A peculiar characteristic of the military effigies in England is that
+the knights are often represented with the legs crossed. Many
+speculations have been made with regard to the meaning of this fashion
+of cross-legged effigy. It is a popular superstition, in which for some
+years the writer shared, that such effigies represented Crusaders. We
+were told in our young days that when the knight had his legs crossed at
+the feet he had gone to the Crusades once; when at the knees, that he
+had been to two Crusades; and when crossed at the thighs, he had been
+thrice to rescue the Holy City from the hands of the infidels. All this
+seemed very plausible and interesting, but it is undoubtedly a myth.
+Many known Crusaders have their effigies with uncrossed legs, and many
+who never went to the Crusades have cross-legged effigies. Moreover,
+there are no such monuments in any foreign country which swelled the
+army of Crusaders. Hence we must abandon the pleasing superstition, and
+reconcile ourselves to the fact that no particular signification can be
+assigned to these cross-legged effigies, and that only fashion prompted
+the mediaeval sculptors to adopt this attitude for their figures. This
+mode prevailed until about the year 1320.
+
+At the close of the fifteenth century the art of making monumental
+effigies degenerated together with the skill of the architects of that
+period. We see the husband and wife kneeling facing each other, with a
+faldstool before each figure. A company of small figures below the
+effigies represent the children, the boys on one side, the girls on the
+other.
+
+Early wooden effigies were also in use. There is one much battered by
+the careless hands of former generations of villagers in the rural
+church of my parish of Barkham. The artists often used much colour,
+gilding, and enamel in making these effigies; and often rich canopies
+were erected over them, containing fine tabernacle-work and figures of
+saints in niches.
+
+Another form of effigy was commonly in use, in addition to the figures
+just described. These are called incised effigies, which were cut
+in outline upon flat slabs of stone, the lines being filled in with
+enamelled metals. Thorton Abbey, Lincolnshire, and Brading, in the Isle
+of Wight, have examples of this work. But the great expense of these
+enamels, and also their frailty when exposed in the pavements of
+churches, led to the use of brass; and hence arose the introduction of
+memorial brasses for which our country is famous.
+
+We owe the application of brass to memorial tablets to the artists of
+Flanders, and the date of their introduction is about the middle of the
+thirteenth century. The execution of almost all of our English brasses
+is due to native artists. Foreign brasses are usually of great size,
+and consist of a quadrangular sheet of metal, on which is engraved
+the figure, usually under a canopy, the background being ornamented
+with rich diaper, foliage, or scrollwork, and the incisions filled
+with colouring. Several brasses in England conform to this style of
+workmanship, and are evidently the production of foreign artists. The
+English brasses, on the contrary, consist of separate pieces, with an
+irregular outline, corresponding with that of the figure. They have no
+brass background; and for delicacy of engraving and general appearance
+the English brasses are by far the best.
+
+The names of the makers of brasses have been almost entirely lost. Two
+only bear marks which are supposed to be those of the engraver. No other
+country can boast of so large a number of these memorials as England, in
+spite of the hard usage they have received and their wanton destruction.
+About four thousand remain; and constantly we find the matrices cut in
+stone slabs, from which brasses have been torn; so that we may assume
+that quite as many have been destroyed as those which survive. The
+southern and eastern counties are most richly furnished with these
+monuments, whereas the western and northern counties have but few
+brasses. Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent are the most rich in this
+respect. The earliest brass of which we have any record is that of
+Simon de Beauchamp, who died before 1208. This is mentioned by Leland.
+The earliest brass now in existence is that of Sir John D'Aubernown at
+Stoke Dabernon, Surrey, which was fashioned in 1277. In the fourteenth
+century a very large number of brasses, remarkable for their beauty of
+form and execution, were made. The artistic workmanship began to decline
+in the fifteenth century, and in the following became utterly degenerate.
+
+It was not an uncommon practice for subsequent generations to appropriate
+the memorials of their predecessors. Such brasses are called palimpsests.
+By the carelessness of churchwardens, by fraud, or spoliation, brasses
+were taken from the churches, and acquired by some maker in the town.
+When a new one was required, the tradesman would take from his stock,
+and on the reverse engrave the figure of the individual whose memory he
+was called upon to perpetuate. Hence when brasses are taken up from the
+pavements, frequently the remains of a much earlier memorial are found on
+the reverse side. There is an example of this curious method of procedure
+at St. Lawrence's Church, Reading, where on the reverse of a brass to the
+memory of Walter Barton was found the remains of the brass of Sir John
+Popham, who was buried at the Charterhouse, London. This monastery was
+dissolved in 1536, the monuments sold, Sir John Popham's brass among them,
+which was evidently soon converted into a memorial of Walter Barton.
+
+Sometimes the original brass was appropriated as it lay, the figure
+being slightly altered to suit the style of costume prevalent at the
+later date. In other cases the engraver did not even trouble himself to
+alter the figure, and simply added a new inscription and shield of arms.
+
+The wanton destruction and gross neglect of churchwardens, both before
+and after the Reformation, were very great. At St. Mary's Church,
+Reading, the accounts tell a sad tale of the disgraceful damage in the
+year 1547:--
+
+"Receyvid of John Saunders for iii cwt lacking ix'li of metall that was
+taken upp of the graves, and of olde candlestycks at vi's the hundred
+xlvj's ii'd."
+
+Evidently a clean sweep was made of most of the memorial brasses in the
+church, and few escaped destruction. The tale is too familiar. Most
+churches have suffered in the same way.
+
+The study of brasses throws much light upon the costumes and fashions of
+the day when they were engraved. We see priests, who may be recognised
+by the tonsure and vestments, amongst which we find the alb, amice,
+stole, maniple, and chasuble. The pastoral staff, ring, mitre, sandals,
+tunic, dalmatic, and gloves mark the graves of bishops and mitred
+abbots.
+
+A close skull-cap, a long robe with narrow sleeves, a hood, tippet, and
+mantle buttoned on the right shoulder, compose the dress of judges and
+officers of the law, as depicted on brasses. The changes in the fashion
+and style of armour, which took place between the fourteenth and the
+seventeenth centuries, are all accurately represented in these
+memorials; and also the picturesque costumes of ladies with their
+curious headgear; and the no less various fashions of the male
+civilian's dress. A study of brasses is an admirable guide to the
+prevailing style of dress during the periods of their construction.
+
+The beautiful canopies over the heads of the figures are well worthy of
+attention, and also the inscriptions. These usually take the form of
+Latin verses; and although many were written by learned abbots and
+scholars, the classical knowledge displayed is somewhat faulty. Here
+are a few examples:--
+
+Respice quid prodest precentis temporis aebum
+Omne quod est, nichil est, preter amare deum.
+
+Sometimes the author of the inscription recorded his name, as did the
+learned Dame Elizabeth Hobby on a brass at Shottesbrooke, which runs--
+
+O multum dilecte senex, pater atqz bocate,
+  Del quia grandaebis, bel quia probus eras.
+Annos bixisti nobies decem, atqz satelles
+  Fidus eras regum, fidus erasqz tuis.
+Iam satis functus baleas, sed tu, deus alme,
+  Sic mihi concedas bibere siqz mori.
+
+Variety was added sometimes by jumbling together various languages,
+Norman-French, Latin, and English being often oddly combined.
+
+People in the Middle Ages loved punning and playing upon the sound of
+words. Thus a brass to the memory of Thomas Hylle (or Hill) has some
+verses beginning "_Mons_ in valle jacet." John Day, the printer, had a
+very extravagant and jocular epitaph beginning--
+
+"Here lies the Daye that darkness could not blynd."
+
+"He set a Fox to wright how Martyrs runne
+By death to lyfe"--
+
+alluding to his publication of Foxe's _Book of Martyrs_. His widow
+probably married a man named Stone. Hence we read--
+
+"Als was the last encreaser of his store,
+Who mourning long for being left alone,
+Sett upp this tombe, her self turned to a Stone."
+
+"Orate pro anima," or "of your charite pray for the soul of ----" were
+usual inscriptions.
+
+It is somewhat difficult for the unpractised eye to read inscriptions on
+brasses, owing to the contractions and omissions of letters. Thus _m_
+and _n_ are often omitted, and a line is placed over the adjoining
+letter to indicate the omission. Thus a=ia stands for _anima_, leg=u for
+_legum_. The letter _r_ is also left out. Z stands for _que_, and there
+are many other contractions, such as D=ns for _Dominus_, D=s for _Deus_,
+E=ps for _Episcopus_, g=ia for _gratia_, m=ia for _misericordia_, and
+many others.
+
+The study of the emblems and devices is full of interest. Of
+ecclesiastical emblems we have the symbols of the Holy Trinity--God the
+Father represented as an aged person, holding a crucifix on which the
+dove, an emblem of the Holy Spirit, is alighting--representations of our
+Lord, angels, saints,[5] evangelists, the fylfot cross, roses, and
+figures of Death. Sometimes the figure on the brass holds a heart in his
+hand, which indicates a response on the part of the deceased to the old
+invitatory "Sursum corda."
+
+The armorial bearings of the deceased are usually represented on
+brasses, and also personal or professional devices. The founders of
+churches hold representations in miniature of the churches which they
+founded. Bishops and abbots have a pastoral staff; priests, a chalice,
+or a book; wool merchants have woolpacks beneath their feet, and other
+tradesmen have similar devices denoting their special calling.
+Merchants' marks also frequently appear; and the mediaeval taste for
+punning is shown by frequent rebuses formed on the names of the
+deceased, _e.g._ a peacock, for one named Pecok; a fox, for a Foxley;
+four tuns and a cross, for Master Croston.
+
+England may well be proud of the brass memorials of her worthy sons and
+daughters. It is, however, terribly sad to see the destruction which
+fanatical and greedy folk have wrought on these beautiful monuments.
+As we have already noticed, the spoliators of the Reformation period
+accomplished much wanton destruction, and removed tombs "for greedinesse
+of the brasse." Cromwell's soldiers and commissioners did a vast deal
+more damage, violating sepulchres and monuments, and destroying brasses
+everywhere. A third cause of the defacement and loss of these valuable
+memorials has been the gross carelessness of churchwardens and
+incumbents, who during any alterations or restoration of their churches
+have allowed them to be sold, destroyed, or appropriated by the
+builders. Truly we have entered upon a diminished inheritance. It
+behoves us to preserve with the utmost vigilance and care the memorials
+which fanaticism, greed, and carelessness have spared.
+
+
+[5] The following are the principal emblems of the Apostles:--
+St. Andrew, a cross saltier; St. Bartholomew, a knife; St. James the
+Great, a pilgrim's staff, wallet, escallop shell; St. James the Less, a
+fuller's bat, or saw; St. John, a chalice and serpent; St. Jude, a boat
+in his hand, or a club; St. Matthew, a club, carpenter's square, or
+money-box; St. Matthias, a hatchet, battle-axe, or sword; St. Paul, a
+sword; St. Peter, keys; St. Philip, a tau cross, or a spear; St. Simon,
+fishes; St. Thomas, an arrow or spear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE PARISH CHEST
+
+Contents of the parish chest--Parish registers--Effect of Civil War--
+Burials in woollen--"Not worth £600"--Care bestowed upon registers--
+Curious entries--Astrology--Gipsies--Jester--Heart-burial--Plagues--Royal
+visits--Licences for eating flesh, for to be touched for king's evil--
+Carelessness of custody of registers--Churchwardens' account books--Their
+value--Curious entries--Sports and pastimes--Paschall money--Brief
+books--Strange entries in registers and account books--Dog-whippers--
+King's evil--Treating bishops and poor scholars of Oxford.
+
+
+The parish chest in the vestry usually contains many documents, which
+are of profound interest to the student of village antiquities. It
+contains the old churchwardens' account books, the parish registers,
+lists of briefs, and often many other papers and records which bear on
+the history of the parish. The old register books record the names of
+past generations of villagers, and many curious facts about the parish
+and its people, which are not found in the dull dry columns of our
+modern books.
+
+Parish registers were first ordered by Thomas Cromwell in the year 1538,
+and from that date many of our registers begin.[6] But all vicars did
+not obey the injunctions of Viceregent Cromwell; they were renewed by
+Edward VI. in 1547 and by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and most of our old
+register books begin with this date. James I. ordered that the registers
+should be written over again in a parchment book, the entries previously
+having been recorded on paper. Hence many of our books, although they
+begin with the year 1538, are really copies of the paper records made
+previous to 1603.
+
+The disturbances of the Civil War period caused much neglect in the
+keeping of the registers. The incumbent was often driven away from his
+flock, and parish registrars were chosen by the parishioners and
+approved and sworn before a justice of the peace. Here is a record of
+this business taken from the books of this parish:--
+
+"Whereas Robtr Williams of the prish of Barkham in the County of Berks
+was elected and chosen by the inhabitants of the same prish to be there
+prish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms was approved and sworne this
+sixteenth day of November 1653. Ri: Bigg, J.P."
+
+Henceforth the children are registered as having been _born_, not
+_baptised_, until the Restoration brought back the clergyman to his
+flock again, and the entries are written in a scholarly hand, and the
+disorder of the previous years ceases.
+
+In 1679 an Act was passed requiring that the dead should be buried in
+woollen, the purpose being to lessen "the importation of linen from
+beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper
+manufacturers of this kingdom." A penalty of £5 was inflicted for a
+violation of this Act; and as frequently people preferred to be buried
+in linen, a record of the fine appears--_e.g._ at Gayton,
+Northamptonshire, where we find in the register--
+
+"1708. Mrs. Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5, in _Linnen_, and the
+forfeiture of the Act payd fifty shillings to ye informer and fifty
+shillings to ye poor of the parishe."
+
+Pope wrote the following lines on the burial of Mrs. Oldfield, the
+actress, with reference to this custom:--
+
+  "Odious! in woollen! 'twould _a_ saint provoke
+  (Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke);
+  No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace
+  Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face."
+
+Sometimes after the name in the register is added the words, "Not worth
+£600." This refers to the Act of William III. in 1694, which required
+that all persons baptised, married, or buried, having an estate of that
+value, should pay a tax of twenty shillings. The money was required for
+carrying on the war with France, and the Act was in force for five
+years. This description of the personal estate was not intended to be
+invidious, but was of practical utility in enforcing the Act.
+
+The parish registers reflect with wonderful accuracy the life of the
+people, and are most valuable to the student of history. Clergymen took
+great pride in recording "the short and simple annals of the poor." A
+Gloucestershire rector (1630 A.D.) wrote in his book the following good
+advice which might with advantage be taken in many other villages:--
+
+"If you will have this Book last, bee sure to aire it att the fier, or
+in the Sunne, three or four times a yeare--els it will grow dankish and
+rott, therefore look to it. It will not be amisse when you find it
+dankish to wipe over the leaves with a dry wollen cloth. This Place
+is very much subject to dankishness; therefore I say looke to it."
+
+A study of the curious entries which we occasionally find conveys much
+remarkable information. Sometimes, in the days of astrology, in order
+to assist in casting the nativity, it is recorded that at the time of
+the child's birth "the sun was in Libra," or "in Taurus." Gipsies were
+evidently numerous in the sixteenth century, as we constantly find
+references to "the roguish AEgyptians." The domestic jester finds
+his record in the entry: "1580. March 21, William, fool to my Lady
+Jerningham." The suicide is "infamously buried." Heart-burial is often
+recorded, as at Wooburn, Bucks: "1700. Cadaver Edi Thomas, equitis
+aurati, hic inhumatum fuit vicessimo tertio die Junii."
+
+Records of the visitations of the plague are very numerous in all parts
+of England, as at Egglescliffe, Durham: "1644. In this year there died
+of the plague in this towne one and twenty people; they are not all
+buried in the churchyard, and are not in the Register." Sometimes masses
+of human bones are found buried in fields outside towns and villages,
+memorials of this devastating plague.
+
+Parish clerks have not always had very musical voices when they shout
+out the "Amens." The Rector of Buxted, Sussex (1666 A.D.), records with
+a sigh of relief the death of his old clerk, "whose melody warbled forth
+as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone."
+
+Sometimes royal visits to the neighbourhood are recorded, even a royal
+hunt, as when James I. hunted the hare at Fordham, Cambridgeshire. The
+register of Wolverton gives "a license for eating flesh on prohibited
+days granted to Sir Tho. Temple, on paying 13s. 4d." Storms,
+earthquakes, and floods are described; and records of certificates
+granted to persons to go before the king to be touched for the disease
+called the king's evil.
+
+The Civil War is frequently mentioned, and also caused the omission of
+many entries. At Tarporley, Cheshire, there is a break from 1643 to
+1648, for which the rector thus accounts:--
+
+"This intermission hapned by reason of the great wars obliterating
+memorials, wasting fortunes, and slaughtering persons of all sorts."
+
+Parish registers have fared ill and suffered much from the gross
+carelessness of their custodians. We read of the early books of Christ
+Church, Hants, being converted into kettle-holders by the curate's wife.
+Many have been sold as waste paper, pages ruthlessly cut out, and
+village schoolbooks covered with the leaves of old registers. The
+historian of Leicestershire writes of the register of Scraptoft:--
+
+"It has not been a plaything for young pointers--it has not occupied a
+bacon scratch, or a bread and cheese cupboard--it has not been scribbled
+on within and without; but it has been treasured ever since 1538, to the
+honour of a succession of worthy clergymen."--_O si sic omnes_!
+
+The churchwardens' account books are even of greater value to the
+student of history than the registers, priceless as the latter are
+for genealogical purposes. The Bishop of Oxford states that "in the
+old account books and minute books of the churchwardens in town and
+country we possess a very large but very perishable and rapidly
+perishing treasury of information on matters the very remembrance
+of which is passing away, although their practical bearing on the
+development of the system of local government is indisputable, and
+is occasionally brought conspicuously before the eye of the people
+by quaint survivals.... It is well that such materials for the
+illustration of this economic history as have real value should be
+preserved in print; and that the customs which they illustrate should
+be reclaimed by History from the misty region of folklore, whilst they
+can." Many of these account books date from pre-Reformation times,
+and disclose the changes which took place in the fabric of our churches,
+the removal of roods and other ecclesiastical furniture, during the
+Reformation. They are usually kept with great exactness, and contain
+an accurate record of the receipts and expenditure for each year. Some
+of the entries are very curious, and relate to the sports and pastimes
+of our ancestors, the mystery plays, and church ales, which were all
+under the patronage of the churchwardens. The proceeds of these
+entertainments were devoted to the maintenance of the church, and
+were included in the accounts, as well as the necessary cost of the
+merry diversions. Thus in the books of St. Lawrence's Church, Reading,
+we find such items as the following:--
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"1499. Paid for a coat for Robin Hood             5  4
+         "  for a supper to Robin Hood and
+               his company                        1  6
+         "  for making the church clean
+               against the day of drinking
+               in the said church                    4"
+
+"1531. Paid for five ells of canvass for a coat
+            for Maid Marian                       1  6-1/4"
+
+"Bells for the Morris dancers," "liveries and coats," "bread and ale,"
+"horse-meat of the horses for the kings of Colen on May Day," are some
+of the items which appear in these books.
+
+Another book tells us about the "Gatherings" at Hock-tide, when on one
+day the men stopped the women, and on the next the women the men, and
+refused to let them go until they gave money. The women always succeeded
+in collecting the most money.
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"It'm.  receyved of the men's gatherynge          7  3
+   "       "       "    women's gatherynge       37  5"
+
+Traces of this custom are still found in many country places. The
+practice of "hocking" at Hungerford and "lifting" in Lancashire subsist
+still, but the money collected is no longer devoted to any pious uses.
+
+The item "Paschall money at Easter" frequently occurs. This was
+originally a collection for the Paschal taper, which burned before the
+high altar at Eastertide. When, in the reign of Elizabeth, the taper was
+no longer used, the money was devoted to buying the bread and the wine
+for the Easter Communion. Another item which often appears is a payment
+of "Smoke farthings" to the bishop of the diocese at his Visitation
+Court. This is another name for Peter's pence, formerly given to the
+Pope. In the accounts of Minchinhampton we find the entry under the year
+1576: "For Pentecost money, otherwyse peter pence, sometyme payed to
+Antecryst of Rome xvi'd." After the Reformation the tax was collected,
+but given to the bishop.
+
+There are very many other points of interest which a study of the
+churchwardens' books presents. In more recent times we find constant
+payments for the slaughter of sparrows, and many other items which
+scarcely come under the head of ecclesiastical charges.[7] But of course
+the vestry was then the council chamber of the parish, which managed all
+the temporal affairs of the village community. Possibly, in these days
+of Poor Law Unions, District and County Councils, our affairs may be
+managed better; but there is much to be said in favour of the older
+system, and Parish Councils are not much of an improvement on the old
+vestries.
+
+Another book which our parish chest contains is the Brief Book. Briefs
+were royal letters which were sent to the clergy directing that
+collections be made for certain objects. These were very numerous and
+varied. The building of St. Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire, a
+fire at Drury Lane Theatre, rebuilding of churches, the redemption of
+English slaves taken by pirates, the construction of harbours in
+Scotland, losses by hail, floods, French refugees, Reformed Episcopal
+churches in Great Poland and Polish Prussia, Protestants in Copenhagen,
+loss by fire, colleges in Philadelphia--these and many other objects
+were commended to the liberality of Churchmen. The sums collected were
+usually very small, and Pepys wrote in his _Diary_, June 30th, 1661:--
+
+"To church, when we observe the trade of briefs is come now up to so
+constant a course every Sunday that we resolve to give no more to them."
+
+The granting of briefs gave rise to much abuse, and they were finally
+abolished by the advice of Lord Palmerston.
+
+The contents of the parish chest afford an unlimited mass of material
+for those who love to study the curious customs of our forefathers and
+their strange usages. Here is a record of a much-married person:--
+
+"Mary Blewitt, ye wife of nine husbands successively, buried eight of
+ym, but last of all ye woman dy'd and was buried, May 7th 1681."
+
+In the margin of the register is written, "This was her funeral text."
+
+The register of Sparsholt, Berks, records an instance of the body of a
+dead man being arrested for debt. The entry is:--
+
+"The corpse of John Matthews, of Fawler, was stopt on the churchway for
+debt, August 27, 1689. And having laine there fower days, was by
+Justices warrant buryied in the place to prevent annoyances--but about
+sixe weekes after it was by an order of Sessions taken up and buried in
+the churchyard by the wife of the deceased."
+
+A dog-whipper was an ancient parish official, whose duty was to drive
+out all dogs from the church. The Wakefield accounts contain the
+items:--
+
+"1616. Paid to Gorby Stork for whippinge          s. d.
+    doggs                                         2  6"
+
+"1703. For hatts shoes and hoses for sexton
+    and dog-whipper                              18  6"
+
+Another official was the person appointed to arouse members of the
+congregation from their slumbers during divine service. The parish
+accounts of Castleton record:--
+
+                                                  s. d.
+"1702. Paid to sluggard waker                    10  0"
+
+Sometimes the cost of a journey to London was
+defrayed by the parish in order to enable a sufferer
+to be touched for the king's evil. The Ecclesfield
+accounts contain the following entry relating to this
+custom:--
+
+"1641. Given to John Parkin wife towards her
+    travell to London to get cure of his Majestie
+    for the disease called the Evill, which her   s. d.
+    Sonen Thorn is visited withall                6  8"
+
+The clergymen were required to keep a register of all who were so
+touched, in order that they might not again go to the king and receive
+the bounty which accompanied the touch. Hence we read in the register of
+Hambleden, Bucks:--
+
+"1685. May 17, Mary Wallington had a certificate to goe before the King
+for a disease called the King's Evil."
+
+The treating of bishops and clergy is often noticed in the accounts.
+Sometimes a sugar-loaf was presented, as at St. James', Bristol:--
+
+"1629. Paid for a sugar loaf for the Lord Bishop 15's 10'd"
+
+Sometimes items relate to their refreshment:--
+
+"1593. Pd for a galland of beer given to the
+    Beishopp of Hereford                            iiii'd"
+
+"1617. Pd for a quart of wine and sugar bestowed
+    upon two preachers                                 x'd"
+
+The status of students at the Universities was not so high in former
+days as at present, and poor scholars used to beg their way to Oxford
+and Cambridge, and receive the assistance of the charitable. Hence we
+read in the Leverton accounts:--
+
+"1562. Gave to a pore scholar at Oxford.            2s. 0d."
+
+With this record of "a pore scholar" we must leave our study of the
+contents of the parish chest, which afford such valuable and accurate
+information about village and town life of ancient times.
+
+
+[6] 812 registers begin in 1538, 40 of which contain entries prior to
+that date. 1,822 registers date from 1538 to 1558, and 2,448 from
+1558 to 1603.
+
+[7] In the Whitchurch books we find: "1671. Paide for a coate and
+wastcoate for good wife Clarke 13s., also for linen and shoes; to the
+Chiurgeons for looking at Ezechiell Huller's legg £3." And such-like
+entries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS
+
+Destruction of old windows--Wilfrid's glass-window makers--Glass,
+stained and painted--Changes in style--Work of foreign artists--Inlaid
+tiles--Ironwork on doors and screens--Norman hinges--Mediaeval
+plumbing work--Mural decoration, frescoes, and wall-painting--Cause
+of their destruction--St. Christopher--Consecration crosses--Norman
+art--Favourite subjects--Yew trees in churchyards--Lich-gates--The
+churchyard--Curious epitaphs.
+
+
+No branch of archaeology is more interesting than the study of our
+stained-glass windows, which illustrate so clearly the faith, history,
+and customs of our ancestors. We have again to thank the fanatics of
+the Reformation and Cromwellian periods for the shameful destruction
+of so many beautiful windows. How great has been the loss to art and
+history caused by their reckless demolition! And in addition to this
+miserable violence our windows have suffered greatly from the ignorant
+indifference of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which allowed
+priceless examples of old glass to be removed and replaced by the
+hideous specimens of the modern glass-painters.
+
+In Saxon times this art found a home in England, the _artifices
+lapidearum et vitrearum fenestrarum_ having been invited to this country
+by Wilfrid, Bishop of York, in 709. The earliest specimen of ancient
+glass now in existence is in the choir-aisles of Canterbury Cathedral,
+where it was probably fixed when the cathedral was rebuilt after the
+fire in 1174.
+
+Coloured glass is of two kinds: (1) _Stained glass_, made by mixing
+metallic oxides with the glass when in a state of fusion, the colours
+thus going through the whole mass; (2) _Painted glass_, in which
+colouring is laid upon the white or tinted glass, and fixed by the
+action of fire. As the style of architecture changed, so the art of the
+glass-painter changed with it. In the Early English period the colours
+were very rich, and the designs consisted of medallions containing
+subjects taken from Holy Scripture, or the lives of the saints, upon
+grounds of ruby and blue. Mosaic patterns form the groundwork of the
+medallions, and a border of scrolls and foliage incloses the whole
+design. The outlines of the figures are formed by the lead. In the
+Decorated period the medallions disappear, and in their place we find
+single figures of large size under canopies. Instead of the mosaic
+backgrounds diaper-work in whole colours is used. Lights and shades are
+introduced in the dresses and canopies, and foliage is painted on the
+panes. The artists of this period first introduced heraldic devices into
+the windows. A border of white glass intervenes between the window and
+the medallion.
+
+When the Perpendicular style was in vogue the art of the glass-painter
+degenerated, as did that of the architect. Stained glass was little
+used, and the artists painted with enamel colours their designs upon the
+glass. The figures were larger than before, and the canopies of great
+size and with much architectural detail, landscapes and buildings
+appearing in the background. During this period inscriptions began to be
+used. In the sixteenth century the progress of the art was in the same
+direction. Large figures, and groups of figures, fill the whole window,
+and the existence of mullions is disregarded in the execution of the
+design. Glass-painting flourished until the Civil War period, and then
+died out.
+
+English churches benefited much by the work of foreign artists. The
+great Florentine Francesco di Lievi da Gambassi visited this country.
+There is a letter dated 1434, written "to the master glass-painter
+Gambassi, then in Scotland, and who made works in glass of various
+kinds, and was held to be the best glass-painter in the world." How much
+must we regret the destruction of the windows made by this excellent
+artist in Holyrood chapel and elsewhere by fanatical mobs! The Fairford
+windows are perhaps the finest and most interesting in England. The
+story runs that they were made in Germany for a church in Rome, and that
+the vessel conveying them was captured by an English ship; and as the
+noble church at Fairford was then being built, the glass was sent there
+and given to it. Shiplake Church, Oxfordshire, has some of the beautiful
+glass which once adorned the ruined church of St. Bertin at St. Omer,
+plundered during the French Revolution.
+
+Some good work was accomplished in the seventeenth century by English
+artists, who practised enamel painting, notably by Jervais, who in 1717
+executed from designs by Sir Joshua Reynolds the beautiful west window
+of New College Chapel, Oxford.
+
+The floors of our churches were enriched with inlaid tiles. Various
+patterns and designs were impressed upon them when the clay was moist, a
+metallic glaze covered the surface, and then the tiles were placed in
+the furnace. Many designs are found on ancient tiles, such as heraldic
+devices, monograms, sacred symbols with texts, architectural designs,
+figures, and patterns. The age of the tiles may be determined by
+comparing the designs imprinted upon them with the architectural
+decorations belonging to particular periods. In the sixteenth century
+many Flemish tiles were brought to England, and superseded those of
+English manufacture.
+
+In the Middle Ages no branch of art was neglected. Even the smith, who
+made the ironwork for the doors, locks, and screens, was an artist, and
+took pains to adapt his art to the style of architecture prevailing in
+his time. Norman doors are remarkable for their beautifully ornamented
+hinges. They have curling scrollwork, and a large branch in the form of
+the letter C issuing from the straight bar near the head. Early English
+doors have much elaborate scrollwork, with foliage and animals' heads.
+During the Decorated period the hinges are simpler, on account of the
+carved panelling on the doors, and they continue to become plainer in
+the subsequent period. The knockers on the doors often assume very
+grotesque forms, as at Durham Cathedral. The mediaeval plumber was also
+an artist, and introduced shields of arms, fleur-de-lis, and other
+devices, for the enrichment of spires, and pipes for carrying off water
+from the roof.
+
+[Illustration: THE ANNUNCIATION, ENBORNE CHURCH]
+
+No part of the ancient decoration of our churches has suffered more than
+the paintings and frescoes which formerly adorned their walls. In the
+whole of the country there are very few of the ancient edifices which
+retain any traces of the numerous quaint designs and figures painted on
+the inner surfaces of their walls during the Middle Ages. Our ancestors
+used to make free use of colour for the purpose of architectural
+decoration, and employed several means in order to produce the effect.
+They sometimes used fresco, by means of which they produced pictures
+upon the walls covered with plaster while the plaster was wet. Sometimes
+they employed wall-painting, _i.e._ they covered the walls when the
+plaster was dry with some pictorial representation. The distinction
+between fresco and wall-painting is frequently forgotten. Most of the
+early specimens of this art are monochromes, but subsequently the
+painters used polychrome, which signifies surface colouring in which
+various colours are employed. The vaulted ceilings, the timber roof, the
+screens and canopies, the monuments with their effigies, as well as the
+surface of the walls, were often coloured with diaper-work. Colour and
+gilding were marked features in all mediaeval buildings, and even richly
+carved fonts and sculptural monuments were embellished with this method
+of decoration. The appearance of our churches in those times must have
+been very different from what it is now. Then a blaze of colour met the
+eye on entering the sacred building, the events of sacred history were
+brought to mind by the representations upon the walls, and many an
+unlearned rustic acquired some knowledge of biblical history from the
+contemplation of the rude figures with which his village church was
+adorned.
+
+"Even the very walls of this dread place,
+And the tall windows, with their breathing lights,
+Speak to the adoring heart."
+
+The practice of painting the walls of our churches dates as far back as
+Saxon times; but very few fragments of pre-Norman art remain. Of Norman
+work we have numerous examples, and sometimes it is found that the early
+specimens of the art have been painted over in later Gothic times, and
+ruder and larger figures have eclipsed the more careful work of previous
+ages. An example of this was discovered in the church of St. Lawrence,
+Reading, where no less than five distinct series of paintings were
+discovered, painted one over another.
+
+[Illustration: THE CRUCIFIXION, HATFORD, BERKS]
+
+Several circumstances have combined to obliterate these specimens of the
+art of former days. It was not the intention of the Reformers themselves
+to destroy them. They distinguished carefully between "an embossed and
+gilt image, and a process of a story painted with the gestures and
+action of many persons; and commonly the sum of the story written withal
+hath another use in it than one dumb idol or image standing by itself."
+It was left to the Puritans, impelled by fanaticism and ignorance, to
+make "a slanderous desolation of the places of prayer," and it is to
+them we owe much of the destruction of the old mural paintings. At the
+end of the eighteenth century there was a prejudice against these works
+of art; for in 1773 we find the Bishop of London refusing to allow
+Reynolds, West, and Barry to clothe the naked walls of St. Paul's
+Cathedral with pictures painted by themselves. Coated over by layers of
+plaster, or whitewashed until all traces were obliterated, these relics
+of ancient art have remained for generations, and it is only when an old
+church is being restored, and the coats of plaster and whitewash
+removed, that their presence is revealed; and then too often the colours
+fade away on exposure to the air.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PAUL, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+One of the favourite subjects of mural decoration was a figure of St.
+Christopher with the Infant Saviour on his shoulder.[8] He usually has a
+staff, and strange-looking fish swim about his feet as he crosses the
+river; on one side there is a hermitage, with the figure of a hermit
+holding a lantern to guide the saint, and on the other a windmill. This
+figure usually was painted on the wall opposite the principal entrance,
+as it was deemed lucky to see St. Christopher on first entering a
+church. Moreover the sight of the saint was a preservative against
+violent death during the day, and also a preventive against drowsiness
+during the service, as the following verses show:--
+
+  "Christophori sancti speciem quicunque tuetur
+  Illo namque die nullo languore tenetur."
+
+Churchwardens' accounts record the painting of these figures--
+
+"1503-4.  It. payd to mylys paynter for payntyng
+              of Seynt X'fer viii's iiii'd"
+
+"1521.    It. payd to John Payne for payntyng
+              of Sent Leonard left by the wyffs
+              onpaynted xx'd"
+
+A curious order was issued by Edward III. for arresting painters to work
+in St. Stephen's Chapel at Westminster, to which artists of every
+description were liable to surrender as often as the king required their
+services.
+
+[Illustration: ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+In Saxon times Consecration crosses were painted on the interior walls,
+twelve in number, on the spots where the bishop marked the cross with holy
+oil; and sometimes twelve crosses were carved or painted on the exterior
+walls. During Norman times the art made progress, and there are many
+specimens of mural decoration of this period, which correspond with the
+mouldings generally used then; but not many scenes and figures were
+depicted. Representations of bishops, _Agnus Dei_, scenes from the life of
+our Lord, the apostles, the Last Judgment, St. George, scenes from the
+life of St. Nicholas, St. John writing the Apocalypse, were favourite
+subjects. At Copford the painter evidently tried to make the chancel
+figuratively to represent the glories of heaven.
+
+During the reign of Henry III. great progress was made, and travelling
+monks roamed the country leaving behind them in many a village church
+traces of their skill in artistic decoration. The murder of St. Thomas of
+Canterbury now became a favourite subject, also the lives of St. Catherine
+of Alexandria, St. Nicholas, St. Margaret, St. Edmund, the Seven Acts of
+Mercy, and the wheel of fortune. In the fourteenth century the Doom was
+the usual decoration of the space over the chancel arch, and scenes from
+the New Testament, legends of saints, "moralities," etc., were depicted on
+the walls. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the artists paid
+little respect to the work of their predecessors, and frequently painted
+new designs over the earlier mural decorations. They also adorned very
+beautifully the roofs and screens. The arrival of the Flemings in the
+eastern counties is shown by the portraying of subjects and saints not
+usually worshipped in England. The figures of St. George become more
+numerous and also of St. Christopher, who were regarded with much
+superstitious reverence by all classes.
+
+The vanity of human greatness is taught by the morality, "Les Trois Rois
+Morts et les Trois Rois Vifs," representing three kings going gaily
+hunting meeting three skeletons, the remains of kings once as powerful
+as they. "The Dance of Death," so popular abroad, also appears in some
+English churches. The wholesale destruction of so many specimens of
+mediaeval art cannot be too strongly condemned and deplored. If any of my
+readers should be fortunate enough to discover any traces of colouring
+hidden away beneath the coats of whitewash on the walls of their church,
+I would venture to advise them to very carefully remove the covering, and
+then to consult Mr. Keyser's book on _Mural Decorations_, where they will
+find an account of the best methods for preserving these valuable
+specimens of early art.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PETER, KINGSTON LISLE]
+
+In the churchyard stands the old weather-beaten yew tree, looking like a
+sentinel keeping watch over the graves of our forefathers. Some of these
+trees are remarkable for their age; the yews at Fountains Abbey, in
+Yorkshire, were probably in a flourishing condition so long ago as the
+year 1132, and some are older still. Why they were planted in churchyards
+it is difficult to ascertain. It has been conjectured that they were
+planted in so secure a spot in order that the men might provide themselves
+with bows, as all the bows used by the English, with which they did such
+execution against their enemies, were made of yew. Others contend that its
+green boughs were used instead of palms on Palm Sunday, or for funerals.
+But I think that they were regarded with veneration by our forefathers
+when they were still heathen, and that some religious symbolism--such as
+of immortality--attached to them; and that when the Christian teachers
+came they made use of this religious sentiment of the people, planted the
+Christian cross by the side of the yew, and under its shade preached
+lessons of true immortality, of which the heathen ideals were only corrupt
+legends and vain dreams.
+
+At the entrance of the churchyard there is often a lich-gate, _i.e._ a
+corpse-gate, where the body may rest while the funeral procession is
+formed. _Lych_ is the Saxon word for a dead body, from which Lich-field,
+"the field of dead bodies," is derived. Bray, in Berkshire, famous for
+its time-serving vicar, is also famous for its lich-gate, which has two
+rooms over it.
+
+"God's acre" is full of holy associations, where sleep "the rude
+forefathers of the hamlet." There stands the village cross where the
+preachers stood in Saxon times and converted the people to Christianity,
+and there the old sundial on a graceful stone pedestal. Sometimes amid
+the memorials of the dead stood the parish stocks. Here in olden days
+fairs were held, and often markets every Sunday and holiday, and minstrels
+and jugglers thronged; and stringent laws were passed to prevent "improper
+and prohibited sports within the churchyard, as, for example, wrestling,
+football, handball under penalty of twopence forfeit." Here church ales
+were kept with much festivity, dancing, and merry-making; and here
+sometimes doles were distributed on the tombstones of parochial
+benefactors, and even bread and cheese scrambled for, according to the
+curious bequests of eccentric donors.
+
+And then there are the quaint epitaphs on the gravestones, of which many
+have made collections. Here is one to the memory of the driver of a
+coach that ran from Aylesbury to London:--
+
+  "Parker, farewell! thy journey now is ended,
+  Death has the whip-hand, and with dust is blended;
+  Thy way-bill is examined, and I trust
+  Thy last account may prove exact and just,
+  When He who drives the chariot of the day,
+  Where life is light, whose Word's the living way,
+  Where travellers, like yourself, of every age,
+  And every clime, have taken their last stage,
+  The God of mercy and the God of love,
+  Show you the road to Paradise above."
+
+Here is another to the memory of a once famous Yorkshire actor, buried
+at Beverley:--
+
+"In memory of Samuel Butler, a poor player that struts and frets his
+hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. Obt. June 15th, 1812,
+Aet. 62."
+
+Here is a strange one from Awliscombe, Devon:--
+
+"Here lie the remains of James Pady, brickmaker, late of this parish,
+in hopes that his clay will be remoulded in a workmanlike manner, far
+superior to his former perishable materials.
+
+  "Keep death and judgment always in your eye,
+  Or else the devil off with you will fly,
+  And in his kiln with brimstone ever fry;
+  If you neglect the narrow road to seek,
+  Christ will reject you like a half-burnt brick."
+
+Those interested in the brave mortals who go down to the sea in ships
+will like to read the following verses which appear on the tomb of
+William Harrison, mariner, buried in Hessle Road Cemetery, Hull:--
+
+  "Long time I ploughed the ocean wide,
+    A life of toil I spent;
+  But now in harbour safe arrived
+    From care and discontent.
+
+  "My anchor's cast, my sails are furled,
+    And now I am at rest;
+  Of all the ports throughout the world,
+    Sailors, this is the best."
+
+The following original epitaph in a neighbouring churchyard compares very
+favourably with the flattering and fulsome inscriptions prevalent at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century, written in what has been called
+"lapidary style ":--
+
+  "He was----
+    But words are wanting to say what;
+  Say what is just and kind,
+    And he was that."
+
+
+[8] At Sedgeford the Infant is portrayed with three heads, illustrating
+the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+CHURCH BELLS
+
+Bell customs and village life--Antiquity of bells--Christening of
+bells--"Ancients"--Inscriptions--Dedications--Inscriptions of
+praise--Leonine verses--Curious inscriptions--Historical events
+recorded--Uses of bells--Passing bell--Pancake bell--Curfew--Guiding
+bells--Names of benefactors--Great bells--Sanctus bell--Sacring
+bell--Frequent ringing of bell--Change-ringing--Care of bells.
+
+
+Bells play an important part in village life, and there are few more
+interesting branches of the study of village antiquities than bell-lore.
+Ringing customs throw much light upon the manners and doings of our
+ancestors. Bells rang to commemorate the great events in history, news
+of which was conveyed to the quiet village; they sounded forth the joys
+and sorrows of the parishioners in their generations, pealed merrily at
+their weddings, and mourned for them at their funerals. As the bell
+"Roland" of Ghent seemed endowed with a human voice, and was silenced
+for ever by Charles V. lest it should again rouse the citizens to arms,
+so these bells in our village steeples seem to speak with living tongues
+and tell the story of our village life.
+
+Bells have great antiquity. Odoceus, Bishop of Llandaff, in 550 A.D.,
+is said to have taken the bells away from his cathedral during a time
+of excommunication. Bede mentions them in the seventh century. In 680
+Benedict, Abbot of Wearmouth, imported some from Italy, and in the tenth
+century St. Dunstan hung many. Ireland probably had bells in the time
+of St. Patrick, who died in 493, and a bell that bears his name is
+preserved at Belfast. The earliest Saxon bells were not cast, but were
+made of plates of iron riveted together, and were probably used as
+hand-bells.
+
+Bells were usually christened. Those of Crowland Abbey were named Pega,
+Bega, Tatwin, Turketyl, Betelin, Bartholomew, and Guthlac. A fire in
+1091 destroyed this peal. Those of the priory of Little Dunmow, Essex,
+according to an old chartulary, were new cast and baptised in 1501.
+
+"Prima in honore Sancti Michaelis Archangeli."
+"Secunda in honore Sancti Johannis Evangelisti."
+"Tertia in honore S. Johannis Baptisti."
+"Quarta in honore Assumptionis beatae Mariae."
+"Quinta in honore Sanctae Trinitatis et omnium sanctorum."
+
+The tenor bell at Welford, Berks, has the inscription, "Missi de celis
+habeo nomen Gabrielis 1596."
+
+Bells dating from before the year 1600 are called "ancients," and it is
+a very pleasant discovery to find one of these in our church tower; and
+still more so if it be a pre-Reformation bell. Unfortunately a large
+number of "ancients" have been recast, owing chiefly to the craze for
+change-ringing which flourished in England between 1750 and 1830. The
+oldest bell in this country is said to be St. Chad's, Claughton, which
+bears the date 1296. Pre-Reformation bells are very seldom dated.
+
+Mediaeval bells have many curious inscriptions on them, which record the
+name of the donor, the bell-founder, together with heraldic and other
+devices. The inscriptions are often written in the first person, the
+bell being supposed to utter the sentiment, as it sends forth its sound.
+A study of the inscriptions on bells is full of interest. The earliest
+are simple dedications of the bell to our Lord, or to some saint. The
+principal inscriptions of this class are: "Jesus," "Jesus Nazarenus Rex
+Judeorum," "Sit nomen IHC benedictum," "Sum Rosa Pulsata Mundi Maria
+Vocata," "Sum Virgo Sancta Maria." The invocation, "Ora pro nobis," very
+frequently is inscribed on bells, followed by the name of some saint,
+and almost every saint in the Calendar is duly honoured in some bell
+inscription.
+
+Bells were always rung on joyful occasions; hence inscriptions
+expressing thankfulness and praise were appropriate. Consequently we
+find such words as "Laus et Gloria Deo," "Laus Deo Gratia
+Benefactoribus," "Alleluja," "Praise God," and other similar
+inscriptions of praise.
+
+Some old bells have Latin hexameter verses inscribed on them, composed
+by monks, which are called Leonine verses, from one Leoninus, a monk of
+Marseilles, who lived in the early part of the twelfth century. A few
+examples of these will suffice:--
+
+  "Est michi collatum ihc illud nomen amaetum."
+  "Protege Virgo pia quos convoco Sancta Maria."
+  "Voce mea viva depello cunta nocina."
+
+This refers to the belief that the ringing of bells drives away all
+demons and tempests, storms and thunders, and all other hurtful things.
+One bell proudly asserts:--
+
+  "Me melior vere non est campana sub ere."
+
+Inscriptions in English are often quaint and curious. Here is one from
+Somerset:--
+
+  "My treble voice
+  Makes hearts rejoice."
+
+Another self-complacent bell asserts--
+
+  "If you have a judicious ear,
+  You'll own my voice is sweet and clear."
+
+Loyal inscriptions are often found, such as--
+
+  "For Church and King
+  We always ring."
+
+  "I was made in hope to ring
+  At the crownacion of our King."
+
+  "Ye people all that hear me ring
+  Be faithful to your God and King."
+
+A bell that has been recast sometimes praises the merits of its new
+founder at the expense of its first maker, as at Badgworth,
+Gloucester:--
+
+  "Badgworth ringers they are mad,
+  Because Rigbe made me bad;
+  But Abel Rudhall you may see
+  Hath made me better than Rigbe."
+
+Sometimes all the bells which compose a peal tell their various uses.
+Thus at Bakewell we find some verses on each bell:--
+
+1. "When I begin our merry Din
+   This Band I lead from discord free;
+   And for the fame of human name,
+   May every Leader copy Me."
+
+2. "Mankind, like us, too oft are found
+   Possess'd of nought but empty sound."
+
+3. "When of departed Hours we toll the knell,
+   Instruction take and spend the future well."
+
+4. "When men in Hymen's Bands unite,
+   Our merry peals produce delight;
+   But when Death goes his dreary Rounds,
+   We send forth sad and solemn sounds."
+
+5. "Thro' grandsires and Tripples with pleasure men range,
+   Till Death calls the Bob and brings on the Last Change."
+
+6. "When Vict'ry crowns the Public Weal
+   With Glee we give the merry Peal."
+
+7. "Would men like us join and agree
+   They'd live in tuneful Harmony."
+
+8. "Possess'd of deep sonorous Tone
+   This Belfry King sits on his throne;
+   And when the merry Bells go round,
+   Adds to and mellows ev'ry Sound;
+   So in a just and well pois'd State,
+   Where all Degrees possess due Weight,
+   One greater Pow'r one greater Tone
+   Is ceded to improve their own."
+
+A Rutland bell has the following beautiful inscription:--
+
+  "Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei."
+  ("Not noise but love sings in the ear of God.")
+
+Historical events are sometimes recorded, as at Ashover, Derbyshire,
+where a recasted bell states:--
+
+  "This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April 1814."
+
+The uses of bells are often shown by their inscriptions. People were
+aroused by their sound each morning in many places, as at St. Ives,
+where a bell is inscribed--
+
+  "Arise and go about your business."
+
+The villagers were summoned to extinguish fires by ringing of bells.
+Thus Sherborne, Dorset, has a bell inscribed--
+
+  "Lord, quench this furious flame:
+  Arise, run, help put out the same."
+
+Bell-ringing customs are very numerous.[9] The passing bell has many
+variants. In some places three times three strokes are sounded for a
+man, three times two for a woman, and three times one for a child. Out
+of the first-named of these practices probably arose the phrase, "Nine
+tailors make a man," which is usually explained as more properly
+signifying "nine tellers make a man." Then we have a pancake bell,
+which formerly summoned people to confession, and not to eat pancakes;
+a gleaning bell, an eight hours' bell rung at 4 a.m., noon, and 8 p.m.
+The curfew bell survives in many places, which, as everyone knows, was
+in use long before William the Conqueror issued his edict. Peals are
+rung on "Oak Apple Day," and on Guy Fawkes' Day, "loud enough to call
+up poor Guy." Church bells played a useful part in guiding the people
+homewards on dark winter evenings in the days when lands were
+uninclosed and forests and wild moors abounded, and charitable folk,
+like Richard Palmer, of Wokingham, left bequests to pay the sexton for
+his labour in ringing at suitable times when the sound of the bells
+might be of service to belated travellers. Names of benefactors often
+find a permanent memorial on the bells which they gave; as at Binstead,
+Hants, where a bell has the inscription--
+
+  "Doctor Nicholas gave five pound
+  To help cast this peal tuneable and sound."
+
+And another bell in the same tower records the name of our famous
+Berkshire bell-founders, the Knight family. The inscription runs:--
+
+  "Samuel Knight made this ring
+  In Binstead steeple for to ding."
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT BELL FOUND AT WARWICK]
+
+The story of our great bells, of "Great Toms," "Big Bens," "Great
+Peters," need not be told here. They wake the echoes of our great
+cities, and are not heard among the hills and dales of rural England.
+Outside the church at the apex of the gable over the chancel arch there
+is sometimes a small bell-cote, wherein the sanctus or saunce bell once
+hung. This was rung during the service of High Mass when the _Ter
+Sanctus_ was sung, in order that those who were engaged at their work
+might know when the canon of the Mass was about to begin, in order that
+they might kneel at the sound and pray to God. At Bosham Harbour the
+fishermen used to so join in the service of the sanctuary, and it is
+said that when George Herbert's sanctus bell sounded for prayers, the
+ploughmen stopped from their work for a few moments and prayed. The
+sanctus bell differed from the sacring bell, which was a hand-bell rung
+inside the church at the elevation of the Host.
+
+Old churchwardens' accounts record the very frequent ringing of bells.
+In addition to the Great Festivals, Corpus Christi Day, Church feasts
+and ales, the occasions of royal visits, of episcopal visitations,
+victories, and many other great events, were always celebrated by the
+ringing of the church bells. In fact by the fondness of English folk
+for sounding their bells this country earned the title in the Middle
+Ages of "the ringing island." Peal-ringing was indeed peculiar to
+England. It was not until the seventeenth century that change-ringing
+became general, and our old bells suffered much at the hands of the
+followers of the new fashion.
+
+In recent years the study of our church bells has made great progress,
+and many volumes have been written upon the bells of various counties.
+Too long have our bells been left to the bats and birds, and the belfry
+is often the only portion of a church which is left uncared for. We are
+learning better now, and the bells which have sounded forth the joys
+and sorrows of our villagers for so many generations are receiving the
+attention they deserve.
+
+
+[9] A collection of these will be found in my book on _Old English
+Customs Extant at the Present Time_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE
+
+Local government--Changes in the condition of villeins and labourers--
+Famine and pestilence--Effects of the Great Plague--Spirit of
+independence--Picture of village life--Church house--Church ales--
+Pilgrimages--Markets--Old English fair--Wars--Hastings--Hereward
+the Wake--Great Civil War--Restoration--Beacons.
+
+
+Let us try to imagine the ordinary life and appearance of a mediaeval
+English village in the "piping times of peace." Of course, no two
+villages are quite alike; each has many distinguishing features; but
+a strong family likeness is observable. In the Middle Ages a village
+was much more independent than it is now. Then there were no Acts of
+Parliament to control its affairs, and it regulated its own conduct
+much to its own satisfaction, without any outside interference. Of
+course, sometimes things were managed badly; but the village knew
+it had only itself to blame, and therefore could not grumble at the
+Government, or the fickleness of members of Parliament, or the
+unreasonable conduct of Local Government Boards. Was not the lord
+of the manor quite capable of trying all criminals? and did not the
+rector and the vestry settle everything to the satisfaction of everyone,
+without any "foreigners" asking questions, or interfering?
+
+The position of the villeins and _cottiers_ has changed considerably
+since the days of William the Norman. The former were now free tenants,
+who paid rent for their land to the lord of the manor, and were not
+bound to work for him, while the latter worked for wages like our
+modern agricultural labourer. There was thus in the twelfth century a
+gradual approximation to modern conditions on many estates; the home
+farm was worked by hired labourers who received wages; while the
+villeins had bought themselves off from the obligation of doing
+customary work by paying a quit-rent.
+
+We should like to know something of the way in which our ancestors
+farmed their land, and fortunately several bailiffs have left us
+their account books very carefully kept, and one Walter de Henley
+in 1250 wrote a book on the _Art of Husbandry_, which gives us much
+information. The rent of land was about sixpence per acre. They
+ploughed three times a year, in autumn, April, and at midsummer, and
+used oxen for their plough-teams. Women helped their husbands in
+ploughing and harvest work. An old writer describes the farmer's wife
+"walking by him with a long goad, in a cutted cote cutted full high."
+Pigs and poultry were numerous on a mediaeval farm, but sheep were the
+source of the farmer's wealth. Large flocks of divers breeds roamed the
+hills and vales of rural England, and their rich fleeces were sent to
+Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent for the manufacture of cloth by the Flemish
+weavers. After the Black Death, a great plague which ravaged the
+country in 1348, the labourers were fewer in number, and their wages
+higher; hence the farmers paid increased attention to their sheep,
+which yielded rich profits, and required few labourers to look after
+them.
+
+Prior to the advent of this grim visitor, the Great Plague, the
+prosperity of our villages had greatly increased. The people were
+better fed and better clothed than any of their neighbours on the
+Continent. Moreover they were free men, and enjoyed their freedom.
+There was much happiness in our English villages in those days, and
+"Merry England" was not a misnomer. There were, however, two causes of
+suffering which for a time produced untold wretchedness--two unwelcome
+visitors who came very frequently and were much dreaded--famine and
+pestilence. There is necessarily a sameness in the records of these
+pestilences.
+
+The chief famine years were 1315 and 1316, but there is hardly any
+period of five years from the death of Edward I. to the coming of
+Henry of Richmond without these ghastly records of the sufferings of
+the people. Disease not only arrested the growth of the population,
+but reduced it considerably. It was mostly of a typhoid nature. The
+undrained soil, the shallow stagnant waters which lay upon the surface
+of the ground, the narrow and unhealthy homes, the filthy and neglected
+streets of the towns, the excessive use of salted provisions and
+absence of vegetables, predisposed the people to typhoid diseases, and
+left them little chance of recovery when stricken down with pestilence.
+
+The Great Plague arrived in England in 1348 from the shores of Italy,
+whither it had been wafted from the East. It was probably carried to
+the port of Bristol by travelling merchants, whence it spread with
+alarming rapidity over the whole land. Whole villages were depopulated,
+and about one-third of the people of England perished. It is difficult
+for us to imagine the sorrow and universal suffering which the plague
+caused. Its effects were, however, beneficial to the villagers who
+survived. Naturally labourers became very scarce and were much sought
+after. Wages rose enormously. The tenants and rustics discovered that
+they were people of importance. Manor lords found it too expensive to
+farm their lands, and were eager to hand them over to their tenants,
+many of whom became much richer and more independent than formerly. The
+spirit of independence pervaded all classes. There came to our village
+many wandering friars, followers of Wiklif, who preached discontent to
+the labouring rustics, told them that the gentry had no right to lord
+it over them, that they were as good as their masters, who ought not to
+live in fine houses in luxury supported by their toil and the sweat of
+their brows. And when oppressive taxes were levied, the rustics
+revolted, and gained much for which they strove. The golden age of the
+English labourer set in, when food was cheap, wages high, and labour
+abundant. A fat pig could be bought for fourpence, and three pounds of
+beef for a penny; and in spite of occasional visits of the plague, the
+villager's lot was by no means unhappy.
+
+Here is a picture of village life in those days. The village church
+stood in the centre of the hamlet, with a carefully made fence around
+it, in order that no swine or foul beast might desecrate the graves.
+Surrounded by the churchyard, with its yew tree and lich-gate, the
+church was very similar to the old building wherein the villagers still
+worship. All the houses had thatched roofs, and chief among the other
+dwellings stood the lord's hall. Near the church was a curious building
+called the church house, which has almost entirely passed away, except
+in the records of old churchwardens' accounts. It was a large building,
+in which could be stored wool, lime, timber, sand, etc., and was often
+let to pedlars, or wandering merchants, to deposit their goods during
+the fair.
+
+In this building there was a long low room with a large fireplace and
+hearth, around which a dozen or more could sit in comfort, except when
+the wind blew the smoke down the wide, open chimney; but our ancestors
+were accustomed to smoky chimneys, and did not mind them. In the centre
+of the room was a large oak table. This was the scene of some very
+festive gatherings. Aubrey thus describes the church house:--
+
+"In every parish was a church house, to which belonged spits, crocks,
+and other utensils for dressing provisions. Here the housekeepers met.
+The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at
+butts, etc., the ancients [_i.e._ old folks] sitting gravely by, and
+looking on."
+
+The churchwardens bought, and received presents of, a large quantity of
+malt, which they brewed into beer and sold to the company. Hence these
+feasts were called "church ales," and were held on the feast of the
+dedication of the church, the proceeds being devoted to the maintenance
+of the poor. Sometimes they were held at Whitsuntide also, sometimes
+four times a year, and sometimes as often as money was wanted or a
+feast desired. An arbour of boughs was erected in the churchyard on
+these occasions called Robin Hood's Bower, where the maidens collected
+money for the "ales," and "all went merry as a marriage bell"--rather
+too merry sometimes, for the ale was strong and the villagers liked it,
+and the ballad-singer was so merry, and the company so hearty--and was
+it not all for a good cause, the support of the poor? The character of
+these festivals deteriorated so much, until at last "church ales" were
+prohibited altogether, on account of the excess to which they gave
+rise.
+
+[Illustration: AN ANCIENT VILLAGE]
+
+There was a large amount of gaiety in the old villages in those days.
+Men were not in so great a hurry to grow rich as they are now. The
+Church authorised many holidays in the course of the year; and what
+with May Day festivities, Plough Mondays, Hocktide and Shrovetide
+sports, harvest suppers, fairs, and "ales," the villagers had plenty of
+amusement, and their lives certainly could not be described as dull.
+Sometimes the village would be enlivened by the presence of a company
+of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury, or
+to Holywell, blessed by St. Winifred, in order to be cured of some
+disease. Although these pilgrims were deemed to be engaged on a
+religious duty, they certainly were not generally very serious or sad.
+Chaucer describes a very joyous pilgrimage in his _Canterbury Tales_,
+how the company met at the Tabard Inn, in Southwark, including the
+knight and the abbot, the prioress and the shipman, the squire and the
+merchant, the ploughman and sompnour (or summoner, "of whose visage
+children were sore afeard"), and rode forth gaily in the spring
+sunshine--
+
+  "The holy blissful martyr for to seek,
+  That them hath holpen when that they were sick."
+
+Pilgrim crosses are numerous all over England, where the pilgrims
+halted for their devotions by the way, and sometimes we find churches
+planted on the roadside far from human habitations, with no
+parishioners near them; and some people wonder why they were so built.
+These were pilgrim churches, built for the convenience of the
+travellers as they wended their way to Canterbury. The villages through
+which they passed must have been much enlivened by the presence of
+these not very austere companies.
+
+The ordinary lives of the farmers were diversified by the visits
+to the weekly markets held in the neighbouring town, where they took
+their fat capons, eggs, butter, and cheese. Here is a curious relic
+of olden times, an ancient market proclamation, which breathes the
+spirit of former days, and which was read a few years ago at
+Broughton-in-Furness, by the steward of the lord of the manor, from
+the steps of the old market cross. These are the words:--
+
+"O yes, O yes, O yes![10] The lord of the manor of Broughton and of
+this fair and market strictly chargeth and commandeth on Her Majesty's
+behalf, that all manners of persons repairing to this fair and market
+do keep Her Majesty's peace, upon pain of five pounds to be forfeited
+to Her Majesty, and their bodies to be imprisoned during the lord's
+pleasure. Also that no manner of person within this fair and market do
+bear any bill, battle-axe, or other prohibited weapons, but such as be
+appointed by the lord's officers to keep this fair or market, upon pain
+of forfeiture of all such weapons and further imprisonment. Also, that
+no manner of person do pick any quarrel, matter, or cause for any old
+grudge or malice to make any perturbation or trouble, upon pain of five
+pounds, to be forfeited to the lord, and their bodies to be imprisoned.
+Also, that none buy or sell in corners, back sides, or hidden places,
+but in open fair or market, upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods
+and merchandise so bought and sold, and their bodies to imprisonment.
+Also, that no manner of persons shall sell any goods with unlawful mete
+or measures, yards or weights, but such as be lawful and keep the true
+assize, upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods and further
+imprisonment. Lastly, if any manner of persons do here find themselves
+grieved, or have any injuries or wrong committed or done against them,
+let them repair to the lord or his officers, and there they shall be
+heard according to right, equity, and justice. God save the Queen and
+the lord of the manor!"
+
+And besides the weekly markets there were the great annual fairs, which
+lasted many days, and were frequented by all classes of the population.
+These fairs were absolutely necessary for the trade of the country in
+the days when few people travelled far from their own homesteads, and
+even the towns with their small number of inhabitants did not afford a
+sufficient market for the farmer's and trader's stock.
+
+The greatest of all English fairs was held in the little village of
+Stourbridge, near Cambridge, now almost absorbed by the University
+town. Hither flocked merchants and traders from all parts of Europe.
+Flemish merchants brought their fine linen and cloths from the great
+commercial cities of Belgium. Genoese and Venetian traders came with
+their stores of Eastern goods. Spaniards and Frenchmen brought their
+wines, and the merchants of the Hanse towns of Germany sold furs and
+flax, ornaments and spices, while in return for all these treasures our
+English farmers brought the rich fleeces of their sheep, their corn,
+horses, and cattle. The booths were planted in a cornfield, and the
+circuit of the fair, which was like a well-governed city, was over
+three miles. The shops were built in streets or rows, some named after
+the various nations that congregated there, and others after the kind
+of goods offered for sale. There were Garlick Row, Bookseller's Row,
+Cook Row; there were a cheese fair, a hop fair, a wool fair, and every
+trade was represented, together with taverns, eating-houses, and in
+later years playhouses of various descriptions. In the eighteenth
+century one hundred thousand pounds' worth of woollen manufactures was
+sold in a week in one row alone. A thousand pack-horses were used to
+convey the goods of the Lancashire merchants to this famous fair. Now
+railways have supplanted the pack-horses; fairs have had their day; the
+trade of the country can now be carried on without them; and their
+relics with their shows and shooting-galleries and steam roundabouts
+have become a nuisance.
+
+The peaceful life of the villagers was sometimes disturbed by the
+sounds and sights of conflict. The exciting tales of war are connected
+with the history of many an English village, and many "little
+Wilhelmines" and labouring "grandsires" have discovered "something
+large and round," traces of these ancient conflicts and "famous
+victories."
+
+  "For often when they go to plough
+  The ploughshare turns them out,
+  'And many thousand men,' quoth he,
+  'Were slain in that great victory.'"
+
+Many a lance and sword, and gilt spur, beautifully enamelled, which
+once decked the heel of a noble knight, have been found in our fields,
+and remind us of those battles which were fought so long ago.
+
+        "The knights are dust,
+         Their good swords rust,
+  Their souls are with the saints, we trust."
+
+Sometimes the spectres of armed knights and warriors are supposed to
+haunt these scenes of ancient slaughter, and popular superstition has
+handed down the memory of the battles which were fought so long ago. It
+tells us of the mythical records of the fights of King Arthur and his
+Knights of the Round Table by the banks of the River Douglas, which ran
+with blood for three days, so terrible was the slaughter. It tells us
+how stubbornly the Britons resisted the Roman armies, so that on one
+occasion not one Briton was left to tell the tale of their defeat.
+
+When we visit the site of some battle with the history book in our hand,
+it is possible to imagine the lonely hillside peopled again with the
+dense ranks of English archers, or hear the clanging of the armour as
+the men-at-arms charged for "St. George and merry England"; and the air
+will be full again of the battle-cries, of the groans of the wounded and
+the shouts of the victors.
+
+Visit the scene of the battle of Hastings. Here on the high ground,
+flanked by a wood, stood the brave English, under the leadership of
+Harold, with his banner, woven with gold and jewels, shining
+conspicuously in the morning sunlight. Here they stood in the form of
+a wedge; there they turned the Normans, and put them to flight. Then
+the Normans rallied, pretended to fly, decoyed the brave English from
+their position, and by stratagem succeeded in defeating them at last.
+Or go to the Madingley Windmill, near Cambridge, and see the fifteen
+miles of rich drained cornfields which intervene between "Ely's stately
+fane" and the spot on which you are standing. Here read Kingsley's
+well-known story of _Hereward; or, The Last of the English_, and instead
+of the rich cornfields you will see that black abyss of mud and bottomless
+slime into which sank the flower of Norman chivalry as they tried to
+cross that treacherous bog to conquer the gallant Hereward and to
+plunder the monastery of Ely, the last stronghold of the English. On
+they came, thousands upon thousands, rushing along the floating bridge
+which they had formed, until at last it gave way beneath the weight, and
+the black slime swallowed up the miserable wretches.
+
+Or let us take our stand on the Round Tower, near the summit of the Edge
+Hill, and see the site of the first battle between the troops of Charles
+I. and the soldiers of the Parliament. The whole of that green lane was
+lined with troops. In a cottage which stood at our feet the king
+breakfasted before the battle; from that mound he surveyed the forces of
+the enemy. Just as the bells in yonder church had ceased to ring for
+service on Sunday afternoon the cannon began to roar, and the fight
+commenced. There Prince Rupert charged with headlong fury, carrying all
+before him. And so we can follow the fortunes of the fight until the
+brave Cavaliers retired to rest--
+
+  "And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered
+  The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die."
+
+The memory of many a fight is recorded in the names of the fields,
+places, and hills on which the battle raged. Lichfield (_i.e._ the
+field of the dead), Battlefield, Battle, Battleflats, Standard Hill,
+Slaughterford, and many others, all tell the tale of war and slaughter.
+
+In some parts of the country, especially in Oxfordshire, there are fine
+avenues of trees, which appear to lead to a large house; but when you
+have walked to the end of the trees there is nothing to be seen. These
+avenues tell the tale of war, of the destruction of the manor-house of
+some old Royalist who fought for his king when the "Roundheads" and
+Cromwell's "Ironsides" were more than a match for the gallant Cavaliers.
+His house was destroyed, he and his sons killed, unless they were
+fortunate enough to escape to France and wait the merry time "when the
+king should enjoy his own again." How many of our uplands and gentle
+vales have been stained with blood, and seen the terrible horrors of
+war, of which we in these favoured days know nothing from our own
+experience! We read about the sad battles and sieges which have taken
+place in other countries, but can hardly imagine the time when hostile
+soldiers were riding through our village lanes, and the noise of the
+cannon was booming in the distance, as on that famous Sunday morning in
+October, 1642, when Richard Baxter was disturbed in his preaching at
+Alcester by that strange sound, and knew that the terrible conflict had
+begun between the king and Parliament. Our English villages suffered
+very much. All farming was stopped, manor-houses destroyed, some of the
+best blood in England spilt, and many a home made desolate. Indeed, in
+some parts of the country the people had literally no bread to eat, and
+no clothing to cover their nakedness; and Cromwell ordered collections
+to be made in London for the relief of the distressed people in
+Lancashire. Then the old clergyman was driven from his flock, and some
+commissioner appointed who wrote in the register-books of the parish the
+names of the children who were born, but did not record their baptism as
+the clergyman did. And then some black-gowned Puritan, with his hair cut
+short, came and took possession of the living, and preached very long
+sermons about Cromwell "girding his sword upon his thigh," and about
+blinded Papists, and about Mahershalal-hash-baz, who made haste to
+divide the spoil.
+
+But in the glorious year 1660 everyone began to throw up his cap and
+welcome right royally the king from over the water; and the long-faced
+Puritan disappeared, and the writing in the register-books changed into
+that of a scholarly hand; and many of our churches were enriched by
+thankofferings of plate and other gifts, because the good people of
+England rejoiced exceedingly that their loved Church and her services
+were restored to them; and "the king at last enjoyed his own again." The
+memory of the adventures of King Charles II., when he was endeavouring
+to escape from England after the last crushing defeat of the royal
+troops at Worcester, called by Cromwell "the crowning mercy," still
+lingers in many of the country villages through which the unfortunate
+monarch passed. The king and a few faithful followers avoided the towns,
+passed the ford of the Salwarp at Hemford Mill, and proceeded by Chester
+Lane to Broadwaters and Kinfare Heath. Presently they reached Brewood
+Forest, where there stood two old hunting-lodges, built by the Giffards
+in troublous times as hiding-places for proscribed Papists. They were
+called White Ladies and Boscobel, and were inhabited by staunch
+Royalists named Penderel; so the king knew he would be safe there. He
+was disguised as a forester with leathern jerkin and trunk hose, his
+long hair cropped, and his hands blackened. All day he lay concealed in
+a coppice, and in the evening, under the name of Will Jackson, he supped
+with the Penderels, and then tried to cross the Severn, but all the
+fords and bridges were guarded. The next day he and Colonel Carlos
+remained concealed in a large oak near Boscobel, and the memory of Royal
+Oak day is still preserved. He had other narrow escapes, and was saved
+by Mistress Jane Lane, the beautiful daughter of Colonel Lane. A pass
+had been obtained for her and her groom to go to Abbot's Leigh, near
+Bristol. The plan was arranged that the king should act as groom; so
+Charles mounted his horse, and Mistress Lane sat behind him on a
+pillion, and together they rode through Warwickshire to Bristol. The
+king was nearly captured at Long Marston, for some troopers of Cromwell
+suspected the party, and came to examine the house where they rested.
+The cook, however, set Charles to wind up the jack, and because he was
+awkward struck him with the basting-ladle just as the soldiers entered
+the kitchen. Their suspicions were thus removed; and in this old house
+the remains of the jack are still preserved. The poor king was
+disappointed of his ship; the skipper unfortunately told his wife that
+he was going to take the king to France, and she was angry, and locked
+him up in his room, so that he could not fulfil his engagement. At last
+Lord Wilmot procured a ship for the fugitive king, who set sail joyfully
+from Shoreham, near Brighton, and reached Paris in safety. There must
+have been great excitement in the villages of England when the troopers
+were scouring the country in all directions, and the unfortunate king
+was known to be wandering about disguised as a servant.
+
+If there are any hills or high ground in your neighbourhood commanding
+an extensive view of the country, it is probable that in olden days a
+beacon was placed there, so that the country might be aroused in case of
+an invasion, and frequently we find that the tower of a church was used
+as a beacon, and occasionally the iron brazier remains, as at Little
+Budworth, Cheshire. When the Spaniards determined to invade England in
+the reign of "Good Queen Bess," and sent the Invincible Armada,
+consisting of an enormous number of ships and men and guns, bonfires
+were placed on every hill; and when a gallant merchant vessel brought
+the news that the Spaniards were coming, the bonfires were lighted, and
+everyone prepared to resist their attack. Macaulay has told us in very
+stirring verse of how the news spread, as each fire was lighted,
+
+  "From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay";
+
+how Beachy Head caught the signal from St. Michael's Mount, and sent it
+swiftly over the country from tower to hill-top,
+
+  "Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile,
+  And the red glare of Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle."
+
+Again, within the memory of the old inhabitants of your village, the
+hill beacons were brought into use when Napoleon I. threatened to invade
+England; and on January 31, 1803, by some mistake, the fire on Hume
+Castle, in Berwickshire, was lighted; other beacons responded, and ere
+morning dawned thousands were marching ankle-deep through the dense mud
+of the winter roads to their appointed stations. The mistake was not
+without its uses, as Napoleon saw that England was ready, and did not
+venture to attack our shores. A similar accident took place in the reign
+of Henry VIII. There was a conspiracy against the king by the Roman
+Catholics, who did not like their monasteries being destroyed, called
+"The Pilgrimage of Grace." Beacons were erected on the heights of
+Pendel, in Lancashire, and on the various hills of Yorkshire and
+Derbyshire; but the beacon on Pendel was fired before the conspirators
+were quite ready for action, and their plot came to nothing.
+
+Once again in the history of our country were these beacon fires
+lighted; but it was not to announce the approach of an enemy, but to
+reflect the gladness of the nation which for so many years had enjoyed
+the reign of so good a ruler as Queen Victoria, who has now passed away
+from us, and whom the whole nation mourns. And as we witnessed the
+sudden blaze of the beacons we thought, perhaps, of other occasions when
+they were used, and were thankful that rejoicings and thanksgivings were
+the cause, and not invasions or conspiracies.
+
+
+[10] This is a corruption of the old Norman-French word _oyez_,
+"hear ye."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES
+
+Decay of old sports--Twelfth Night--Shrovetide--Mothering Sunday--
+Hocktide--May Day--Miracle plays--St. John's Day--Rush-bearing--Beating
+the bounds--Archery--Quintain--Football--Christmas games--Stocks--
+Cucking-stool.
+
+
+It is the custom of some writers to represent the lot of an English
+villager in past ages as having been particularly hard and disagreeable;
+to enlarge upon the scanty wages which he received; and to compare his
+position unfavourably with that of the agricultural labourer of the
+present day. I have already pointed out that the small wages which he
+received are no test of his poverty, because he received so much more in
+lieu of wages; and certainly he had far more opportunities of enjoyment
+and recreation than the present generation has. Now we have scarcely any
+village games or sports, except when some energetic rector or curate
+starts a cricket club. Old social customs, which added such diversity to
+the lives of the rustics two centuries ago, have died out. The village
+green, the source of so much innocent happiness, is no more; and a
+recent writer has observed that the ordinary existence of agricultural
+labourers is so dull that in East Anglia they have almost forgotten how
+to laugh!
+
+We will now try to realise how our village forefathers used to enjoy
+themselves, how they used to spend their holidays, and to picture to
+ourselves the scenes of happy social intercourse which once took place
+in our own hamlet. Every season of the year had its holiday customs and
+quaint manner of observance, some of them confined to particular
+counties, but many of them universally observed.
+
+On the eve of Twelfth Night, January 5th, we see the good farmer and his
+labourers in Devonshire joining hands round his apple trees, and
+singing--
+
+      "Here's to thee, old apple tree!
+  Hence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow!
+  And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!
+        Hats full! caps full!
+        Bushel, bushel, sacks full,
+      And my pockets full too! Huzza!"
+
+A hearty supper followed, and with laughter, songs, and good wishes to
+the farmer and his wife, the company passed a very joyous evening. In
+Herefordshire, Yorkshire, and other parts of England similar customs
+prevailed.
+
+[Illustration: ANN HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE]
+
+Then followed Twelfth Night, which was celebrated by great rejoicings
+and merry-makings, a game called the choosing of kings and queens being
+played, and Twelfth Night cakes consumed in plenty. The next Monday was
+called Plough Monday, when the labourers used to draw a plough round
+the parish and receive presents of money, favouring the spectators with
+sword-dancing and mumming, preparatory to beginning to plough after the
+Christmas holidays. The men were decked out with gay ribbons, and were
+accompanied by morris-dancers. The Christmas holidays lasted these
+twelve days, and during them it was customary for the gentlemen to
+feast the farmers, and for the farmers to feast their labourers. Then
+came the Shrovetide festivities, on Shrove Tuesday, when pancakes,
+football, and cock-fighting, and a still more barbarous custom of
+throwing sticks at hens, were generally in vogue. On Mid-Lent Sunday,
+commonly called "Mothering Sunday," it was the pleasing custom for
+servants and apprentices to carry cakes or furmity as presents to their
+mother, and to receive from her a cake with her blessing. This was
+called "going a-mothering." The old poet Herrick alludes to the custom
+in Gloucestershire in these words:--
+
+  "I'll to thee a simnell bring,
+  'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering;
+  So that when she blesseth thee,
+  Half that blessing thou'lt give me."
+
+Then came the diversions of Hocktide, on the second Monday and Tuesday
+after Easter, when the men and women intercepted the public on alternate
+days with ropes, and boldly exacted money for pious purposes. There was
+a Hocktide play, which was acted before Queen Elizabeth, and caused her
+much amusement. She gave the players two bucks and five marks of money,
+which delighted them exceedingly.
+
+Very shortly afterwards the great rural festival of our forefathers
+took place, the glad May Day, when, in the early dawn, the lads and
+lassies left their towns and villages, and going into the woods to the
+sound of music, gathered the may or blossomed branches of the tree,
+and bound them with wreaths of flowers. At sunrise they returned, and
+decorated the lattices and doors with the sweet-smelling spoil of
+their joyous journey, and spent the rest of the day in sports and
+pastimes, and dancing round the Maypole. The setting-up of the
+May-pole was a very joyous ceremony. A long string of oxen, gaily
+decked with flowers, drew to the village green the time-honoured pole,
+decked with streamers, flowers, and flags, where it was raised amidst
+laughter and shouts; and the Queen of the May was enthroned in an
+arbour and all danced round; and the morris-dancers, Robin Hood, Friar
+Tuck, and Maid Marian performed wonderful antics as they led the
+revels. Targets were set up at the other end of the green, and archery
+formed an important part of the day's pleasures. The preachers at the
+time of the Reformation thought the people made an idol of the
+Maypole, and condemned the innocent amusements, which were revived
+again when Charles II. came to the throne. After May Day our villagers
+had not long to wait until the Whitsuntide holiday came round--
+
+    "A day of jubilee,
+    An ancient holiday;
+  When, lo! the rural revels are begun,
+  And gaily echoing to the laughing sky,
+    On the smooth-shaven green,
+    Resounds the voice of mirth."
+
+I have already given a description of these Whitsuntide rejoicings in
+a preceding chapter.
+
+Then there were the miracle plays, or "mysteries," as they were called,
+in June, on Corpus Christi Day, which were performed before the
+Reformation, principally in the neighbourhood of large monasteries;
+Coventry, Chester, London, York being specially renowned for these
+performances. The subjects were taken from Holy Scripture, or from
+the lives of saints, and were intended to teach the people religious
+knowledge, but the scenes were disfigured by many absurdities and
+grotesque perversions. Their history is a curious one, too long to
+enter upon in this chapter; but often in the open fields, at the bottom
+of natural amphitheatres, were these plays performed, very similar in
+construction to the famous passion play performed by the peasants, at
+Ober Ammergau, in Bavaria, the last surviving specimen of the ancient
+religious drama.
+
+Then there were the bonfires to be lighted on St. John's Day upon the
+hillsides, and the dance of the young people around them, the more
+venturesome youths leaping through the flames, all carrying home the
+firebrands and forming a glad procession. Afterwards followed the busy
+harvest-time, when everyone was too hard at work, and too tired at the
+end of the day's labours, to think of holiday-making; but at length
+came the harvest home, when the last sheaf was gathered in, and the
+harvest supper was a very joyous occasion. With light hearts, smiling
+faces, and cheerful shouts, the harvest labourers and their wives and
+children, carrying green boughs, a sheaf of wheat, and rude flags,
+formed a glad procession to the farmer's house, where they found the
+fuelled chimney blazing wide, and "the strong table groaning beneath
+the smoking sirloin." The feast over, they retired to some near
+hillock, and made the welkin ring with their shouts, "Holla, holla,
+holla, largess!"--largess being the presents of money and good things
+which the farmer had bestowed. Such was the harvest home in the good
+old days, a joy and delight to both old and young. Shorn of much of its
+merriment and quaint customs, it still lingers on; but modern habits
+and notions have deprived it of much of its old spirit and
+light-heartedness.
+
+The floors of the old churches were formerly unpaved and unbearded,
+simply made of clay, and were covered over with rushes. Once a year
+there was a great ceremony, called "rush-bearing." Rushes were cut in
+the neighbouring marsh, and made up into long bundles, decked with
+ribands and flowers. Then a procession was formed, everyone bearing a
+bundle of rushes, or placing them in the rush-cart beautifully adorned;
+and with music, drums, and ringing of bells, they marched to the church
+and strewed the floor with their honoured burdens. Long after the
+rushes ceased to be used in church the ceremony was continued, and I
+have myself witnessed a rush-bearing procession such as I have
+described. A village feast, followed by dancing round the May-pole,
+generally formed the conclusion to the day's festivities.
+
+"Beating the bounds" of the parish was another annual ceremony, which
+often took place on Ascension Day and is still in use at Oxford.
+Boundaries of property were not so clearly defined in those days as
+they are now; and hedgerows, walls, and railings were scarce. The
+bounds of the parish were often marked by trees, called "gospel trees,"
+because the clergyman used to read the gospel for the day under their
+shade. The people carried a processional cross and willow wands, and
+boys were generally flogged at the boundaries, or ducked in the river,
+if that constituted a boundary, in order to impress upon their memories
+where the bounds were. The village feast afterwards made some amends to
+them for their harsh treatment.
+
+The village sports were a great source of enjoyment, and were frequently
+indulged in. The time-honoured archery developed the skill of our
+English bowmen, and won for them many a battle before the days of
+gunpowder and cannons. Then there was the very ancient game of the
+quintain, which consisted of an upright post with a cross-post turning
+upon a pin. At one end of the latter was a broad board, at the other a
+heavy sand-bag. The play, which required skill and dexterity, was to
+ride against the broad end with a lance, and pass by before the sandbag,
+swinging round, could strike the player to the ground. This was a common
+sport at wedding festivities. There were also the games of singlestick,
+cudgelling, and wrestling, which had many votaries, and the famous game
+of quarter-staff, so general in Berkshire, and so graphically described
+in _The Scouring of the White Horse_, by Mr. Hughes. An old parishioner
+of mine was the reputed champion of this game, which has now almost died
+out. Football is an ancient sport, and the manner formerly in vogue most
+nearly resembles the game authorised by the Rugby rules. The football
+was thrown down in the churchyard, and the object was to carry it
+perhaps two or three miles, every inch of ground being keenly contested.
+"Touch-downs" were then unknown, but it is evident from old records that
+"scrimmages" and "hacking" were much in vogue. Sack-racing, grinning
+through horse-collars, running after pigs with greased tails, were some
+of the lighter forms of amusement which pleased the villagers.
+
+Then in the winter evenings there were "carols" to be practised for
+Christmas, and each village boasted of its own musicians, who played
+violins, flutes, clarionets, and other instruments in church, before
+the days of harmoniums and organs. Their music might not be of a very
+first-rate order, but they delighted in it, took an interest in it; and
+how pleased they were to take part in the service, and to play over
+their favourite hymn tunes, with a great many twirls and variations, to
+their children during the winter evenings! Christmas brought its
+accustomed merry-makings. In the north every farmer gave two feasts,
+one called "t' ould foaks' neet," and the other "t' young foaks' neet."
+Here is Sir Walter Scott's description of an ancient Christmas:--
+
+  "And well our Christian sires of old
+  Loved when the year its course had roll'd
+  And brought blithe Christmas back again,
+  With all its hospitable train.
+  Domestic and religious rite
+  Gave honour to the holy night:
+  On Christmas Eve the bells were rung;
+  On Christmas Eve the Mass was sung;
+  That only night in all the year
+  Saw the staled priest the chalice rear.
+  The damsel donn'd her kirtle sheen;
+  The hall was dressed with holly green;
+  Forth to the wood did merry men go,
+  To gather in the mistletoe.
+  Then open wide the baron's hall,
+  To vassal, tenant, serf, and all;
+  Power laid his rod of rule aside,
+  And Ceremony doft'd his pride.
+  The heir with roses in his shoes,
+  That night might village partner choose;
+  The lord, underogating, share
+  The vulgar game of 'post and pair.'
+  All hailed with uncontrolled delight
+  The general voice, the happy night,
+  That to the cottage, as the crown,
+  Brought tidings of salvation down.
+
+  "The fire, with well-dried logs supplied,
+  Went roaring up the chimney wide;
+  The huge hall-table's oaken face
+  Scrubb'd till it shone, the day of grace,
+  Bore then upon its massive board
+  No mark to part the squire and lord.
+  Then was brought in the lusty brawn,
+  By old blue-coated serving man;
+  Then the grim boar's head frowned on high
+  Crested with bays and rosemary.
+  Well can the green-garb'd ranger tell
+  How, when, and where the monster fell;
+  What dogs before his death he tore,
+  And all the baiting of the boar;
+  While round the merry wassail bowl,
+  Garnished with ribbons, blithe did trowl.
+  Then the huge sirloin reek'd: hard by
+  Plum-porridge stood, and Christmas pie;
+  Nor fail'd old Scotland to produce
+  At such high time her savoury goose.
+  Then came the merry maskers in,
+  And carols roared with blithesome din;
+  If unmelodious was the song,
+  It was a hearty note, and strong.
+  Who lists may in this mumming see
+  Traces of ancient mystery;
+  White shirts supply the masquerade,
+  And smutted cheeks the visor made;
+  But, oh! what masquers, richly dight,
+  Can boast of bosoms half so light!
+  England was merry England when
+  Old Christmas brought his sports again.
+  'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale;
+  'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale.
+  A Christmas gambol oft would cheer
+  A poor man's heart through half the year."
+
+Such was the manner of keeping Christmas in olden times; and if "the
+mightiest ale" was sometimes too mighty, and although the intemperance
+of our forefathers was a vice much to be deplored, at any rate their
+hearty manner of keeping this annual feast was effectual in promoting
+"goodwill amongst men," and in cheering the hearts of the poor.
+
+In this chapter I have attempted to show the varied amusements and
+recreations in which our village ancestors took part. On the old village
+green, which in too many of our villages has been inclosed and become a
+thing of the past, many of these sports and pastimes once took place.
+There stood the village stocks, in which the refractory paid the penalty
+of their misdeeds; and sometimes, too, a pillory was added, which held
+fast the head, arms, and legs of the culprit, while the villagers, rude
+vindicators of the law, threw stones, rotten eggs, and other missiles at
+the unhappy victim. At the edge of the pond you might have seen a long
+plank which turned on a swivel, with a chair at the end overhanging the
+water. This was called a "cucking-stool," and was used to duck scolds or
+brawlers. The culprit was placed in the chair, and the other end of the
+plank was raised several times, so that the ardour of the culprit was
+effectually cooled by frequent immersions. These were rough methods of
+administering justice, but often very effectual in checking vice.
+
+The social customs which formerly existed in each village, the sports
+and pastimes associated with the village green, the May Day festivals,
+and the Christmas carollings were of great value, inasmuch as they
+tended to infuse some poetical feeling into the minds of the people,
+softened the rudeness of rustic manners, and gave the villagers simple
+pleasures which lightened their labours. They prevented them from
+growing hard, grasping, and discontented with their lot. They promoted
+good feeling between the farmers and their labourers. The customs of
+the town were a poor exchange for the ancient country manners and
+amusements; and it was a sad day for our country when the villagers
+lost their simplicity and the power of appreciating the primitive
+pleasures of rural England.
+
+[Illustration: OLD STOCKS AND WHIPPING POST]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE VILLAGE INN
+
+Monastic inns--Village inns--Highwaymen--Inn signs--Famous inns--
+Man-traps.
+
+
+In almost every village in England there is an inn. Before the
+Reformation there were very few of these hostelries, as travellers
+were always accommodated at the monasteries, each of which, as we have
+seen, had a hospitium, or guest-house, where their wants were attended
+to by special officers appointed for the purpose, and where they could
+remain for several days. But the destruction of the monasteries
+produced many changes in the condition of the country; it introduced
+the necessity of a poor law, for the poor were always relieved by the
+monasteries; it required the erection of schools and places for
+education, as all the education of the country had been carried on in
+these monastic buildings; and when the old guesthouses ceased to
+exist, travellers, merchants, and pedlars required some place in which
+to lodge when they moved about the country, and inns became plentiful
+as time went on. Hence in almost every village in England there is an
+inn, which is generally a landmark; and if you wish to direct a
+stranger to some place where he desires to go, you doubtless tell him
+to turn to the right by "The Bull," or to keep straight on until he
+comes to "The Magpie." Indeed, a friend of mine, who is a strong
+teetotaler, asserts that the only good use inns have is to help people
+to find their road. But old inns have a great history. In former days
+they used to be meeting-places of plotters and conspirators. All the
+distinguished people in the country used to pass through the villages
+and towns on the great roads through the country, and when the horses
+were being changed they used to partake of the good fare which the
+landlord provided. Those were busy times for the old inns, when there
+was stabling for fifty or sixty horses, and the coaches used to rattle
+through the village to the inn door long before the iron horses began
+to drag their freight of passengers along the iron roads, and the
+scream of the engines took the place of the cheerful notes of the
+posthorn.
+
+Sometimes a gentleman would ride to an inn door on a beautiful,
+fleet-looking steed, and receive a hearty welcome from the landlord;
+but the pistols in his belt looked ominous, and presently some
+soldiers would steal noiselessly into the inn where the gentleman was
+refreshing himself, and there would be heard the sounds of vigorous
+fighting; and often, in some wonderful way, Claude Duval or the noted
+Dick would fight his way out, whistle to his steed, jump into the
+saddle, and ride away before his less nimble pursuers had recovered
+from their astonishment. Very many exciting scenes have taken place in
+our old inns, but in these days railways have changed all things; and
+in many streets where the coaches used to rattle along, and the place
+was alive with merry sounds, the moss now grows, and all is silence
+and desolation. We should certainly think it inconvenient to take
+three days to travel from London to Bath, and it would not be pleasant
+to have a visit from Dick Turpin on the way, and to have all one's
+valuables appropriated by that notorious highwayman; but in these days
+of worry and busy bustling it would be refreshing to catch a glimpse
+of those quiet times when people were not so much in a hurry, and to
+hear the sound of the posthorn once more instead of the whistle of the
+steam-engine.
+
+The quaint-looking pictures and curious names which attract our notice
+as we pass an inn door have some queer stories to tell. We notice a very
+curious collection of animals sometimes, and a strange assortment of
+things; and the reason why our ancestors put some of these curious
+things together is somewhat difficult for us to find out. In olden days,
+other houses of tradesmen besides inns had signs. Grocers, tailors,
+candlestick-makers, all had signs; but most of these have disappeared,
+except one belonging to a certain sweep of my acquaintance, whose house
+is adorned with the figure of a man coming out of a globe, with the
+motto, "Help me through the world." Over their doors barbers still have
+their poles, which represented once the fact that the barber was
+prepared to bandage up wounded arms and legs, and to perform the office
+of blood-letting; the stripes on the pole were intended to represent the
+bandages, and the barber was the surgeon of the town. We do not seem to
+have so much blood to spare as our forefathers, as the barber always
+bled his customers once or twice a year, especially in the springtime,
+the operation being considered very beneficial.
+
+One reason for the curious mixture of animals and other things which we
+see on signboards is that an apprentice, when he had finished his time
+and begun to set up for himself, adopted some sign, and then joined with
+it the sign of his old master. This will account for such curiosities as
+"The Lamb and Dolphin," "The Goose and Gridiron," "The Fox and Seven
+Stars," combinations of things for which it would otherwise be difficult
+to account. Another reason is that signs were taken from the armorial
+bearings, or crests, of some popular character, or of some great family
+in the neighbourhood. For example, I may mention "The Bear with the
+Ragged Staff," which was the crest of Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick,
+commonly called "The Kingmaker," who was slain in the battle of Barnet,
+1471 A.D. "The Blue Boar" was one of the badges of the House of York.
+"The Bull" is a very common sign, because it was a very common crest,
+and we have them in all colours--black, red, white; lions also rage in
+blue, white, and red attire. Sometimes we meet with "The Cross Keys,"
+the keeper of which was probably an old servant or tenant of an abbey or
+monastery, and chose his sign from that of the monastery with which he
+was connected. Frequently, in olden times, a cross was erected at the
+meeting of two or three roads, or where the pilgrims to Canterbury used
+to pass; afterwards an inn was built near it, and was, in many cases,
+called the Cross Inn.
+
+One very common cause of curious signs is the way in which the original
+word has been corrupted by ignorant people frequently repeating words
+which they did not understand, and thus changing their whole meaning.
+You may have seen an inn described as "The Swan with Two Necks"--a very
+rare bird indeed. But it was never intended to disfigure the bird by
+giving it two necks; the original sign was "The Swan with Two _Nicks_"
+and nicks were the marks which were cut on a swan's bill to distinguish
+it from other swans, so that it might be known to whom the bird
+belonged. But _nicks_ became _necks_ in course of conversation, until at
+last a fabulous creature with two beautifully curved necks appeared on
+the signboard. This same cause will account for the two strange signs,
+"Bull and Gate" and "Bull and Mouth." The original signs were "Boulogne
+Gate" and "Boulogne Mouth," _i.e._ the gate and harbour of the town of
+Boulogne, in France, which was captured by the English under King Henry
+VIII. in the year 1544. The English were very pleased to hear of the
+defeat of the French, and of the taking of that important town, and
+several inns were named in honour of the event; but the French
+"Boulogne" was too much for our good English mouths to speak, so it
+became "Bull and."
+
+Another name which puzzled our forefathers was "_La Belle Sauvage_"
+("the Beautiful Savage"), which was named after a noted savage beauty
+who was the rage at Paris. Others assert that the name of the landlady
+was Isabella Savage, shortened into Bella Savage. However, in course of
+time the name was altered into "Bell and Savage," and a picture
+representing this odd combination stood over the door. In the same way
+the original sign, "Whip and Nag," between which there is often a very
+close connection, became "Whip and Egg"; and the reason why these two
+articles should be placed together is not so evident. So also there does
+not seem any reason for an inn to be called "Bag o' Nails"; but when we
+are told that the original word was "Bacchanals," _i.e._ followers of
+Bacchus, the old god of wine, we can understand how the corruption, "Bag
+o' Nails," arose. Before the days of licensing, when everyone could sell
+liquor who chose without obtaining any licence from the magistrates, it
+was the custom to put a bush over the doorway, in order to inform the
+passers-by that liquor could be purchased there. This is the origin of
+the saying, "Good wine needs no bush."
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE INN WITH OLD TITHE BARN OF READING ABBEY]
+
+"The Catherine Wheel" tells us the sad story of St. Catherine, who was
+born at Alexandria, and for converting fifty heathen philosophers to
+Christianity was sentenced by the Emperor Maxentius to death on a wheel,
+devised by most ingenious cruelty, armed with knives, saws, and nails.
+It is recorded that she was rescued from this fate, but was afterwards
+beheaded (305 A.D.). It is curious that this instrument of torture and
+the story of St. Catherine's heroism should be recorded on a signboard.
+But it may have been brought before the public by a certain miracle
+play, founded on the life of St. Catherine, which used to be performed
+on festival days. However, the Catherine wheel appears frequently on the
+coats-of-arms of several families, and it may be that the sign was taken
+from these.
+
+"The George," also, is a very popular sign; and the "St. George of
+merry England" is the patron saint of this country, and the battle-cry
+of her knights and yeomen of ancient days. Who does not remember that
+stirring scene on St. George's Mount during the Crusades, described in
+Sir Walter Scott's _Talisman_, when King Richard tore down the Austrian
+banner, which the Austrian monarch had dared to erect beside the Royal
+Standard of England? St George is generally represented as slaying
+a dragon. He was a soldier who served gallantly under the Emperor
+Diocletian, and commanded a legion of soldiers; he was a Christian,
+and by the dragon whom he slew is meant the devil, red with the blood
+of the Christians. So popular a personage as St. George, whose name
+inspired our ancestors with courage, and was often borne by them into
+the heart of the foe, would soon be recorded in paintings and become a
+general sign. "The Goat" is a common sign, and is taken from the crest
+of the Duke of Bedford; but "The Goat and Compasses" has puzzled many
+people as to its origin. It appears to be a corruption of a pious
+expression, "God encompasseth us"; and this shows how strangely words
+may be twisted and converted by ignorant and careless usage.
+
+There are some very noted inns where great events have taken place,
+amongst which I may mention the Bull Inn at Coventry. Here Henry VII.
+was entertained the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, when
+he won for himself the English crown. Here Mary Queen of Scots was
+detained by order of Elizabeth. Here the conspirators of the Gunpowder
+Plot met to devise their scheme for blowing up the Houses of
+Parliament. And when the citizens refused to open their gates to
+Charles I. and his soldiers, no doubt there were great disputings
+amongst the frequenters of "The Bull" as to what would be the result
+of their disloyal refusal.
+
+Some of the inns in remote country places did not enjoy a very enviable
+reputation, and were little better than man-traps, where the
+unfortunate traveller was robbed and murdered. At Blewbury, in
+Berkshire, there was an inn, the landlord of which was suspected of
+murdering his guests with great secrecy and mystery, and no one could
+tell what he did with the bodies of the victims he was supposed to have
+murdered. A few years ago an old tree in the neighbourhood of the inn
+was blown down, and on digging up the roots a skeleton was found among
+them. People wondered how it could have been placed there, but at last
+a very old inhabitant told the story of the mysterious disappearance of
+the bodies of the late landlord's guests, and the mystery was at length
+accounted for. Whenever he slew a man he planted a tree, placing the
+body of the murdered victim beneath it. The constables never thought of
+looking there; and probably under every tree which he planted (and
+there were several), when their roots are dug up, the bones of his
+numerous victims will be discovered.
+
+Another story is connected with the old "Hind's Head" at Bracknell,
+which was another of these mantraps, where many travellers slept to
+rise no more. One winter's night a stout-hearted farmer stayed there,
+and joined several jovial companions round the kitchen fire. They ate
+and drank merrily, and at last the serving-maid showed the traveller
+to his chamber. She told him that he was surrounded by robbers and
+murderers, showed him a trap-door at the side of the bed, on which if
+he stepped he would tumble headlong into a deep well. She directed him
+to tie the bed into a bundle, put it on the trap-door, and escape by
+the window. He did so; down went the bundle, instead of the farmer,
+into the well, and he managed to effect his escape. Rousing the
+neighbourhood he captured the villains, who were all executed, and the
+bones of many of their victims were found in the well. Happily such
+inns were rare.
+
+To describe the conditions of the old inns for which England was
+famous, of the good fare which awaited the travellers by the coach, of
+the spacious corridors, of the comfortable beds hung with silk and
+smelling of lavender; to tell of all the great folk who entered their
+doors--kings, queens, poets, generals, highwaymen, statesmen, grooms,
+conspirators, coachmen--all this would require much space to relate.
+When railways came in, their ancient glory departed; the old stables
+are destroyed; grass grows in the courtyard; and the object of their
+existence has almost ceased to be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
+
+Belief in witches--Survival of water ordeal--Witches turned into hares--
+Cruelties practised on witches--Bishop Jewel on the "evil eye"--
+Fairies--Berkshire popular superstitions--Field-names--Homes of famous
+men--Washington Irving's description of an English village--Rural
+exodus--Conclusion.
+
+
+There is yet another class of subjects connected with old village life,
+of absorbing interest and importance. I refer to the old superstitions
+and folklore which still linger on in the recollections of the "oldest
+inhabitant," and which ought to be at once treasured up, lest they
+should be altogether lost. The generation of those who believed firmly
+in the power of the "evil eye" of the witch, and who feared to disturb
+the revels of the fairies on their rings and mounds, is only just
+passing away. An old gipsy has told me some strange stories of the
+superstitions of former days. He has told me of the witch at Farnham
+who made the cows wild and prevented them from giving milk; of another
+witch who lived at Henley-on-Thames, and who when thrown into the river
+"floated like a cork." Here we have a survival of the old Saxon method
+of trying culprits by the water ordeal, often used in examining
+witches. This particular witch could turn herself into a hare, so my
+venerable gipsy friend, aged one hundred and six years, informed me,
+and the dogs hunted her. He told me of the Tadley witch, who "wished"
+several people, and greatly injured them. It seems to have been a
+common practice of the old witches to turn themselves into hares, in
+order to vex the squires, justices, and country parsons, who were fond
+of hunting, as the old dames could elude the speed of the swiftest
+dogs. An old writer states "that never hunters nor their dogs may be
+bewitched, they cleave an oaken branch, and both they and their dogs
+pass over it." Mary Dore, a witch of Beaulieu, Hampshire, used to turn
+herself into a hare in order to escape detection when caught in the act
+of wood-stealing, to which she was somewhat addicted.
+
+Old women were rather harshly used in the days when people believed in
+the power of witches. If any farmer's cattle died, it was immediately
+concluded that the animals were bewitched; and some wretched old woman
+was singled out, and summarily tried and burnt. If anyone fell ill,
+some "witch" had evidently a waxen image of the sufferer, and stuck
+needles into it; and such was the power of the witch that, wherever the
+person was, he felt the stab of the cruel needle. Hence the witch had
+to be found and burnt. If the corn crops failed, was not witchcraft the
+cause? for had not old Mother Maggs been heard to threaten Farmer
+Giles, and had not her black cat been seen running over his fields?
+Even good Bishop Jewel did not disbelieve in the power of the evil eye.
+In preaching before Queen Elizabeth he said: "It may please Your Grace
+to understand that witches and sorcerers are marvellously increased
+within Your Grace's realm. Your Grace's subjects pine away even unto
+the death, their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is
+benumbed, their senses are bereft. I pray God they never practise
+further than on the subject." To so great an extent did faith in the
+witches' fatal power prevail. Our forefathers used to believe in the
+existence of other, and more pleasant little companions than the old
+toothless witches--the bright little fairies who, on account of the
+neglect which they have received from the present generation of
+Englishmen, have, so it is reported, left our shores in disgust, never
+to return. The previous inhabitants of our villages did not so treat
+them; and did not the fairies always bring them luck? They nailed the
+horseshoe to the stable door to keep out the witches, lest the old
+beldams should ride their steeds by night to the witches' revels; but
+no one wished to exclude the fairies. Did not the dairymaids find the
+butter ready churned, and the cows milked by these kind assistants? Was
+there not an old lady in Yorkshire who knew all about the fairies, had
+often heard them making butter, and had seen the butter smeared all
+over the gate by a little green man with a queer cap who had been seen
+slipping under a culvert? Canon Atkinson told us of this lady who knew
+all these strange things, and of the Hart Hall "Hob" who worked so hard
+with his flail, and of many other curious folk who frequented the
+Yorkshire moors in olden days. The last witch had just died before he
+went to Danby, but he found the whole atmosphere of the folklore
+firmament so surcharged with the being and work of the witch, that he
+seemed able to trace her presence and her activity in almost every nook
+and corner of the neighbourhood.
+
+The wells all over England were haunted by fairies, and is it not
+confidently asserted that "the good people" (as the fairies are called)
+live in wilds and forests, and shun great cities because of the
+wickedness which exists therein? Have they never appeared to the lonely
+traveller, clothed in green, with long hair floating over their
+shoulders, and with faces more blooming than the blush of a summer
+morning? Then there were the fairy rings formed by the dancing of their
+merry feet.
+
+  "Some say the screech-owl, at each midnight hour,
+  Awakes the fairies in yon ancient tower.
+  Their nightly dancing ring I always dread,
+  Nor let my sheep within that circle tread;
+  When round and round all night, in moonlight fair,
+  They dance to some strange music in the air."
+
+Then there were brownies; and knockers, who worked in mines, and showed
+rich veins of silver; and elves--all of whom were included in old
+village superstitions, and many were the tales told of the good deeds
+they did, and the luck they brought. Nor must we forget the story of
+the invisible smith who inhabited Wayland Smith's Cave, in Berkshire.
+Whenever a farmer tied up his horse in the cave, and left the money on
+a particular stone, on his return he found his horse shod by the kind
+efforts of the invisible smith. There is also the old Berkshire story
+of the old witch who lived in a cave by the roadside, and who, by the
+power of her "evil eye," could stop the strongest team of horses, so
+that, however much the carters lashed and swore at them, the animals
+would not budge an inch until she permitted them to go. Here are a few
+of the common superstitions current in Berkshire. If a corpse be kept
+over a Sunday another death will occur before the week is out; should a
+big bumble-bee enter the window, a guest may be expected; and when the
+woodpecker, commonly called the yaffle, laughs, they say the rain is
+coming. When the thick mist lies in the valley, the people say it is
+the White Lady, a belief closely akin to the Dame Blanche, who is said
+in Normandy to haunt streams. If one row of freshly sown seeds or
+potatoes does not come up, it foretells a death in the family. If a
+girl mends her clothes on her back, she risks having a drunken husband.
+A screech-owl is unlucky, and so also is it if a bird fly against the
+window.
+
+A woman came to the rectory a few years ago for a drop of sacramental
+wine, which she wanted for an infant who had "the graspings." This
+complaint I discovered to be a craving for something, accompanied by
+restlessness; and it was supposed that a drop of sacramental wine would
+cure an infant so troubled. If the mother before the child was born
+craved for drink, this craving was communicated to the child, and could
+only be remedied by a drop of wine used in Holy Communion. This
+superstition, which I have met with elsewhere, probably is a relic of
+pre-Reformation days, and of sacramental Reservation.
+
+A tramp was passing through a Hampshire village a short time ago, and
+calling at a house, begged for a glass of water. The woman who lived
+there said that she was sorry she could not give him water to drink, as
+there was a child in the house unbaptised, and therefore it would be
+unlucky. The origin of this superstition it is difficult to trace.
+
+These are some of the legends and superstitions which linger amongst
+us. Every neighbourhood has its stories, its legends, and romantic
+histories. It is a sad pity that these should pass away without any
+record being made. Many curious customs and ceremonies relating to
+christenings, marriages, and burials linger in remote hamlets; and
+charms, curious remedies, and other relics of the quaint superstitions
+of our forefathers, are full of interest to the lover of our English
+villages.
+
+As we walk in the fields, or study the old map of the parish, the names
+of the fields invite our attention. These are full of interest, and
+often tell us about matters which would be entirely forgotten. Some
+names tell us of the great forests which used to exist all over the
+country, when kings and noblemen, outlaws and poachers, used to hunt
+the deer and the wild boars in many a successful run. These forests
+were large tracts of country in its natural state, partly wood, partly
+heather and grass, which were owned by the king, and were especially
+brought under the harsh forest laws of the Norman sovereigns.
+
+Some of our field-names remind us of the existence of these old forests
+where corn now grows, and also of swamps and islands where everything
+now is dry and far removed from water. Sometimes they tell us of the
+old common lands which used to be farmed by the villeins and borderers,
+and of the strange way in which they used to manage their farming. Each
+man used to keep one or more oxen for the village plough until they
+made up the team into eight; then they ploughed the land in strips of
+an acre or half-acre each, divided by a bit of unploughed turf called
+a balk. Each strip was a furlong, _i.e._ a "furrow long," _i.e._ the
+length of the drive of a plough before it is turned. This was forty
+rods, or poles, and four of these furrows made up the acre. These
+pieces of land were called "shots," and there were "headlands," or
+common field-ways, to each shot; and "gored acres," which were corners
+of the fields which could not be cut up into strips, and odds and ends
+of unused land, which were called "No Man's Land," or "Jack's Land." It
+is curious, too, that all the strips belonging to one man did not lie
+together, but were scattered all over the common land, which must have
+been a very inconvenient arrangement for farming purposes. There were
+also in each village community a blacksmith, whose duty it was to keep
+in repair the ironwork of the village ploughs, a carpenter for the
+woodwork, and a pound-keeper, or punder, who looked after the stray
+cattle. Many of the "balks" still remain on the hillsides where these
+old common lands existed, and the names of the fields bear witness to
+the prevalence of this old field system.
+
+They tell us, too, of the way in which attempts were made to force the
+growth of particular crops, and in many parishes you will find a "flax
+piece," which reminds us of a foolish Act of Henry VIII. ordering the
+cultivation of that plant. Metals, too, which have long ago been
+worked out, and trades which no longer exist, have left their traces
+behind in the names of our lanes and fields. Also they speak of the
+early days when the wolf or the bear might be seen in our woods or
+fields, or of the beaver which loved the quietude of our streams, of
+the eagle which carried off the lambs undisturbed by sound of the
+keeper's gun. Sometimes he was disturbed in his thefts by the flight
+of a good strong English arrow, which came from a sturdy English bow
+drawn by a good strong English arm. The English archers were famous
+everywhere, and many a battle has been won by their valour and their
+skill. A law was passed in the reign of Edward IV. that every
+Englishman should have a bow of his own height, and that butts for the
+practice of archery should be set up in every village; and every man
+was obliged to shoot up and down on every feast-day, or be fined one
+halfpenny. Consequently, in some villages we find a field called "The
+Butts," where this old practice took place.[11]
+
+Many villages are associated with the lives of distinguished
+men--authors, soldiers, and statesmen. Perhaps your village may have
+bred other poets besides "the mute inglorious Milton" of Gray's
+_Elegy_. Not far from where I am writing was Pope's early home, the
+village of Binfield, which he calls--
+
+          "My paternal home,
+  A little house, with trees arow,
+  And, like its master, very low."
+
+On the other side lies the village of Three Mile Cross, where Miss
+Mitford lived and wrote "Our Village"; and Arborfield, called in her
+book Arborleigh, about which she tells some pleasant stories, is the
+adjoining parish. Sometimes, as I ride down a grassy lane, a favourite
+haunt of the distinguished authoress, I seem to see her seated on a
+fallen tree weaving her pretty romances, while her favourite dog, which
+she often describes, plays and barks around her. A few miles in another
+direction lies Eversley, the loved abode of Charles Kingsley, about
+whom many stories linger in the countryside. To visit the uncomfortable
+brick-paved study where he wrote, the garden where he used to pace and
+think out his great thoughts, is delightfully refreshing and
+invigorating to a jaded writer.
+
+[Illustration: OLD COTTAGES]
+
+These are only instances of places which have become interesting on
+account of the famous men who once lived in them; and England has many
+heroes of the sword and pen whose lives each Englishman should study;
+and when you visit their dwelling-places you will recall their
+achievements, and perhaps endeavour to imitate their examples. Here is
+an instance of how little the villagers know of the distinguished men
+who once lived amongst them. The great Duke of Wellington did not live
+a very long time ago, and yet some friends of mine who were staying at
+Strathfieldsaye, near the Iron Duke's house, and made inquiries amongst
+the villagers about their recollections of the hero of Waterloo, could
+obtain no information. At last one venerable rustic vouchsafed the
+extraordinary intelligence, "I believe as 'ow 'e were very good at
+war"! What a thing it is to be famous!
+
+Much more remains to be said upon the various subjects which this
+history of our village suggests. But the day is closing, and our walk
+through its sequestered lanes and our thoughts about the various scenes
+which yonder venerable oaks have witnessed, must cease. But enough has
+been said to show what a wealth of interest lies beneath the calm
+exterior of ordinary village life. An American truly observes that
+everything in the rural life of England is associated with ideas of
+order, of quiet, sober, well-established principles, of hoary usage,
+and reverent custom--the growth of ages of regular and peaceful
+existence. The impression which the appearance of an English village
+left on his mind is beautifully described in the following passage:--
+
+"The old church of remote architecture with its low, massive portal,
+its gothic tower, its windows rich with tracery and painted glass,
+its scrupulous preservation, its stately monuments of warriors and
+worthies of olden times, ancestors of the present lords of the soil;
+its tombstones, recording successive generations of sturdy yeomanry,
+whose progeny still plough the same fields, and kneel at the same
+altar; the parsonage, a quaint, irregular pile, partly antiquated,
+but repaired and altered in the tastes of various eyes and occupants;
+the stile and footpath leading from the churchyard, across pleasant
+fields, and along shady hedgerows, according to an immemorial
+right-of-way; the neighbouring village, with its venerable cottages,
+its public green sheltered by trees, under which the forefathers of
+the present race have sported; the antique family mansion, standing
+apart in some little rural domain, but looking down with a protecting
+air on the surrounding scene. All these common features of English
+landscape evince a calm and settled security, and hereditary
+transmission of homebred virtues and local attachments, that speak
+deeply and touchingly for the moral character of the nation."
+
+One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+continual decrease of its population. All our young men flock to the
+towns, attracted by the greater excitement which town life offers, as
+compared with the more homely pleasures of the country. The rural
+exodus is an alarming and very real danger to the welfare of social
+England. Agricultural machinery has greatly diminished the number of
+labourers required on a farm. Agricultural depression and the decreased
+value of land have caused many old country families to close their old
+manor-houses, as they cannot afford to live on their estates.
+
+Let us hope that those whose happy lot it is to live in the quiet
+hamlets of our native land, afar from the noise and din of busy towns,
+will learn to love more deeply their village homes, and interest
+themselves in their surroundings. To those who read the history of
+their native place, each house and field, each stone and tree, will
+tell its story, and recount the wonders it has witnessed. And as the
+stories of wars and fights, of superstition and of crime, fall on our
+ears, we shall be thankful that our lot is cast in more peaceful days,
+when no persecutions, religious or political, disturb the tranquillity
+of our village life. And when we read of the piety and simplicity of
+our forefathers, their veneration of their church, their love of home,
+their innocent joys and social customs, we should strive to imitate
+their virtues which have materially helped to make England a great and
+powerful nation. It is hoped that these chapters upon the old life of
+our country, and the manners and customs of our forefathers, may induce
+many of my readers to read and study history more deeply, may serve to
+create an interest in the relics that remain to us of the past, and to
+preserve the fleeting traditions that Time doth consecrate.
+
+
+[11] In many cases the name "Butts" refers to the fact of the land,
+under the common-field system, _abutting_ on meadows or roads, _e.g._
+"Butt-close," in the parish of St. Mary Bourne.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+
+To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village,
+the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the
+name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and
+old county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor's _Words
+and Places_, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in
+_Domesday_ and old documents. Bede's _History_, the _Anglo-Saxon
+Chronicles_, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may
+contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also
+Kemble's _Saxons in England_. The _Domesday Book_ is, of course, a mine
+of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many documents which will
+be of great service--the _Testa de Neville_ (Edward II.), _Marshall
+Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls,
+Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem_, and the _Feet of Fines_. The
+_Manor Court Rolls_, if they still exist, in the custody of the lord of
+the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local antiquarian
+societies and county histories will of course be examined. The history
+of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The British
+Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of _Heralds'
+Visitations_, and Burke's _Landed Gentry_ and Dugdale's _Baronage_
+are the chief sources of information. Old _wills_ will yield much
+information, many of which are in course of publication by the Index
+Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House and many
+diocesan registries contain the original documents. The Historical
+Manuscripts Commission has published many volumes of borough records
+which are of great service, and the lives of any great men connected
+with the parish may be studied in the _Dictionary of National
+Biography_. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains
+valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and
+its contents should be carefully examined.
+
+The registers of the diocese contain many documents relating to the
+ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a
+list of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any
+monastery, Dugdale's _Monasticon_ will furnish some information. The
+Public Record Office contains the documents _Taxatio Ecclesiastica P.
+Nicholai IV._ and _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, which give an account of the
+value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the sale
+of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the saint
+to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in spite of
+years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some early will
+of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which usually
+gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ in
+stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the
+help of Rickman's _Gothic Architecture_ or Parker's _Glossary of Gothic
+Architecture_. If there has ever been a monastery in the parish,
+Dugdale's _Monasticon_ should be consulted; and if there are any remains
+of a castle, Clark's _Mediaeval Military Architecture in England_ will
+be useful. Prehistoric remains, such as barrows, earthworks, pit
+dwellings, and caves should be described; also any Roman roads and
+villas; the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood, geology, folklore,
+and dialect.
+
+The following books are recommended:--
+
+Evans' _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_.
+Evans' _ Ancient Bronze Implements_.
+Boyd Dawkins' _Cave Hunting_.
+Boyd Dawkins' _Early Man in Britain_.
+Greenwell's _British Barrows_.
+Fergusson's _Rude Stone Monuments_.
+Cox's _How to Write the History of a Parish_.
+Wright's _Essays on Archaeological Subjects_.
+Parker's _Mediaeval Domestic Architecture_.
+Sims' _Manual for the Topographer and Genealogist_.
+Burn's _History of Parish Registers_.
+Seebohm's _English Village Community_.
+Toulmin Smith's _English Gilds_.
+Haine's _Manual of Monumental Brasses_.
+Bloxam's _Principles of Gothic Architecture_.
+Tanner's _Notitia Monastica_.
+Cutts' _Middle Ages_.
+Lee's _Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms_.
+
+
+INDEX
+
+Akeman Street, 60
+Aldhelm, church-builder, 103
+Alfriston clergy-house, 180
+_Alignements_, 46
+Allington rectory, 180
+Almshouses, 181
+Altars, 191
+Amphitheatre, Roman, 67
+Anchoresses, 183
+Anchor-hold, 183
+Anglo-Saxon villages, 74-89
+Archery, 277, 298
+Architecture, English, 102-24
+Arresting a dead body, 227
+Arrow-heads, 20
+_Art of Husbandry_, 255
+Astrology, belief in, 222
+Aumbry, 192
+Avebury cromlech, 46
+
+B
+
+Ball-flower moulding, 118
+Barkham in _Domesday_, 128
+Barnack Church, 106
+Barrows or tumuli, 23-3
+  "    long and round, 25
+  "    near churchyards, 23
+  "    Saxon, 90-3
+  "    their contents, 24, 29
+Basilica, Roman, 66
+Beacons, 268
+Beating the bounds, 276
+Bede, 75
+Bell-ringing customs, 250
+Bells, 245-53
+  "    christening of, 246
+  "    inscription on, 247-50
+Benedict Biscop, 103
+Benedictine monks, 161
+Bewcastle cross, 98
+Bishops, treating of, 229
+Black Death, 255
+Blood-letting, 167-9
+Blowing Stone, 52
+_Bordarii_, 131
+Border castles, 140
+Brachycephalic race, 21
+Brasses, monumental, 212-18
+Bridal cup, 207
+Brief Book, 226
+Brighthampton, pit dwellings at,  33
+British Church, 93
+  "    oppida, 34
+  "    roads, 60, 61
+  "    saints and martyrs, 94
+Bronze Age, 21, 40
+Budworth hermitage, 182
+Burial urns, 29, 30
+  "    urns in woollen, 220
+
+C
+
+Caesar's camps, 50
+Camps, 50-52
+Carthusian monks, 162
+Castles, 135-53
+Cave men, 16
+Celts, 21, 34, 37, 56
+Cemeteries, Saxon, 92
+Censers, 205
+Chancels, 190
+Charles II., adventures of, 267
+Chaucer's satire on monks, 160
+Chepstow Castle, 140
+Chest, parish, 218-29
+Chivalry, 143, 148
+Chrismatory, 206
+Christmas in olden time, 278
+Chun Castle, 51
+Church ales, 258
+Church bells, 245-53
+  "    house, 258
+  "    plate, 200-8
+  "    yard, 243
+Churches, parish, 184 99
+Churchwardens' account books, 223-6
+Cistercian monks, 114, 161
+Civil War, effects of, 153, 220, 265
+Cloister of monastery, 163
+Cluny, monks of, 161
+Consecration crosses, 239
+Conversion of Saxons, 94, 95
+Crannogs, 38
+Cremation, 28, 29, 92
+Cromlechs, 46-9
+Crosses, Saxon, 95-101
+Cross-legged effigies, 211
+Cucking-stool, 280
+
+D
+
+Decay of old sports, 271
+Decorated architecture, 117
+Desecration of monasteries, 159
+Devil's Highway, 61
+Dog-tooth ornament, 116
+Dog-whipper, 228
+Dolichocephalic race, 19
+Dolmen, 49, 50
+_Domesday Book_, 125-34
+Donnington Castle, 152
+Druids, 48, 50
+
+E
+
+Early English architecture, 115-17
+Earthworks, 50-6
+Easter sepulchre, 193
+Edge Hill, battle of, 264
+Edwardian castles, 140
+Emblems on brasses, 217
+Enstone, menhir at, 45
+Eslithic man, 14
+Epitaphs, curious, 243
+Ermyn Street, 60
+"Evil eye," 291-3
+
+F
+
+Fairford windows, 232
+Fairies, 56, 293
+Fairs, 261
+Feudalism, 141
+Field-names, 296-8
+Flint implements, discovery of, 11
+Flint implements, 15, 20
+Fonts, 186
+Food in barrows, 24, 25
+Football, 277
+Force-pump, Roman, 68
+Frescoes, 234
+Friars, preaching, 161
+Future life, belief in, shown by barrows, 24
+
+G
+
+Gambassi, glass-painter, 232
+_Geburs_, 82
+Gentleman, accomplishments of a, 149
+Geological changes, 11-13
+Glaciers in Britain, 12
+Glass, stained, 230-3
+Glastonbury, pit dwellings at, 37, 41, 42
+Green, village, 8, 280
+Grims-dike, 54, 55
+Grosmont Castle, 141
+Guizot on castles, 141
+
+H
+
+Hagioscopes, 194
+Hall marks, 208
+Harvest homes, 275
+Hastings, battle of, 264
+Heart burial, 222
+Hedsor, pile dwellings at, 37, 38
+_Hereivard the Wake_, 264
+Hermits, 181
+Hexham church, 104
+  "    crosses, 99
+Highwaymen, 283
+Hocktide sports, 225, 273
+Homes of famous men, 298
+Hospitium of monastery, 169
+House, evolution of country, 172-7
+Hundreds, origin of, 87
+Hurstbourne, Hants, pit dwellings at, 34
+
+I
+
+Ice Age, 12, 13
+Iknield Street, 60
+Ilkley cross, 99
+Inigo Jones, 176
+Inns, 7, 282-90
+Inventories, 201
+Iron Age, 21
+  "    work in churches, 233
+_Itinerary_ of Antoninus, 59
+
+J
+
+Jervais, glass-painter, 232
+Johnson, Dr., on monasteries, 159
+
+K
+
+Keep of Norman castle, 137
+Kelvedon rectory, 179
+Kenilworth Castle, 151
+King's evil, 228
+Knaresborough hermitage, 182
+Knighthood, admission to, 145
+
+L
+
+Laindon reclusorium, 183
+Lammas lands, 79
+Lecterns, 191
+Legends, 44, 55, 263
+"Lepers' windows," 195
+Lich-gate, 242
+Local Government, 254
+Low side windows, 195
+
+M
+
+Manor-house, 172-7
+Manors, 79, 133
+Man-traps, 289
+Markets, 260
+May Day, 225, 273
+Mediaeval village, 254-70
+Menhir, 45
+"Merry England," 256
+Milestones, Roman, 61
+Miracle plays, 274
+_Misereres_, 191
+Monasteries, Saxon, 102
+  "    154-71
+  "    charity of, 159
+Monastic day, 166, 167
+  "    inns, 282
+Monks, benefits conferred by, 155
+  "    corruption of, 160
+Monstrances, 206
+Monumental effigies, 209-12
+Mothering Sunday, 273
+Mouldings, Decorated, 118, 120
+  "    Early English, 116
+  "    Norman, 112
+  "    Perpendicular, 123
+Mural paintings, 234-41
+
+N
+
+Neolithic man, 15, 18, 20, 37
+Norman architecture, 109-15
+  "    castles, 135-53
+  "    place-names, 132
+  "    villages, 125-34
+Normans, coming of, 125
+
+O
+
+Ockwells manor-house, 173
+Ogee arch, 118
+Organised condition of society among prehistoric races, 31
+Ornaments, Saxon, 91
+_Osculatorium_, 192
+Oxford, poor scholar of, 229
+
+P
+
+Pageants, 149-52
+Paleolithic man, 14
+Palimpsests, 213
+Parish chest, 218-29
+  "    registers, 218-23
+Paschall money, 225
+Pastimes, 271-81
+Pavements, Roman, 71, 72
+Pax, 192, 206
+Perpendicular architecture, 120
+Pews, 187
+_Piers Ploughman_, 165, 174, 181
+Pile dwellings, 37-43
+Pilgrimages, 259
+Piscina, 192
+Pit dwellings, 33-7
+Place-names, 76, 101
+Plague, 255-7
+Plate, church, 200-8
+  "    "    in bishop's coffin, 202
+Ploughman's lament, 84
+Plough Monday, 272
+Porch, 185
+"Pot-boilers," 36
+Pre-Reformation plate, 202-5
+Pulpits, 188
+Pytheas of Marseilles, 10
+Pyx, 191, 206
+
+Q
+
+Quintain, 277
+
+R
+
+Raglan Castle, 141
+Reading Abbey, 171
+Reading-pews, 197
+Reclusorium, 183
+  "    at Rettenden, 183
+Rectories, 177-81
+Registers, parish, 218-23
+Religion of Saxons, 93
+"Restoration," 199
+Rollright Stones, 46, 47
+Roman relics, 57-73
+  "    rig, 54
+  "    roads, 58-62
+  "    villas, 70-3
+Rood-loft, 188
+Royal arms in churches, 190
+Rural exodus, 300
+Rush-bearing, 276
+Ruthwell cross, 97
+Ryknield Street, 60
+
+S
+
+Sacring bell, 252
+St. Christopher, 238
+Salisbury Cathedral, 115
+Saltways, 61
+Sanctus bell, 252
+Saxon architecture, 106-9
+  "    house, 172
+  "    monasteries, 102
+  "    place-names, 76, 77
+  "    relics, 90-101
+Saxons, coming of, 74, 75
+Screens, 189
+Secret chambers, 177
+Settle, Victoria Cave at, 17
+Shires, origin of, 88
+Shrovetide sports, 273
+Signs of inns, 284-8
+Silchester, 54, 62-70
+Slavery under Saxons, 84
+Sluggard waker, 228
+Smoke farthings, 226
+_Socmen_, 83, 131
+Spenser's description of hermitage, 182
+Sports and pastimes, 271-81
+Stocks, 280
+Stonehenge, 46
+Stone monuments, 44-50
+Stourbridge Fair, 261
+Sudeley Castle, pageant at, 149-51
+Sun-worship, relics of, 27
+Superstitions, 44, 295
+Switzerland, pile dwellings in, 38-41
+
+T
+
+"Terraces," 19
+_Tesserae_, 65, 71
+Thanes, 80
+Thane's house, 81
+Thuribles, 205
+Tiles, 233
+Tournaments, 146-9
+Tudor arch, 121
+  "    houses, 175
+Tumuli, _see_ Barrows
+Turf monuments, 53, 54
+Twelfth Night, 272
+Tympana, Norman, 110
+
+U
+
+Uffington, 52-4
+Ufton Court, Berks, 176, 178
+
+V
+
+Vernicle, 201
+Vestry, contents of, 196
+Vicarages, 177-81
+Villas, Roman, 70-3
+Villeins, 130, 255
+
+W
+
+Wars, 262-70
+Watling Street, 60
+Wayland Smith's Cave, 27, 294
+Whalley cross, 96
+  "    reclusorium, 184
+White Castle, 141
+White Horse Hill, 53
+Whittenham Clumps, 52
+Wilfrid, St., 96, 104, 108, 230
+Witches, 291
+  "    turned into hares, 292
+Woollen, burials in, 220
+Worlebury, pit dwellings at, 34
+
+Y
+
+Yeomen, 83, 131
+Yew tree in churchyard, 241
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+This file should be named 8vilg10.txt or 8vilg10.zip
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8vilg11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8vilg10a.txt
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+
diff --git a/old/8vilg10.zip b/old/8vilg10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a29a29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/8vilg10.zip
diff --git a/old/8vilg10h.htm b/old/8vilg10h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73ee22f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/8vilg10h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,9509 @@
+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+<title>ENGLISH VILLAGES</title>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+<style type="text/css">
+<!--
+body {margin:10%; text-align:justify}
+img {border: 0;}
+blockquote {font-size:14pt}
+P {font-size:14pt}
+-->
+</style>
+</head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+#2 in our series by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: English Villages
+
+Author: P. H. Ditchfield
+
+Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9197]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on September 15, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger, Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga
+and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<center>
+<img alt="title.jpg (23K)" src="title.jpg" height="880" width="519">
+
+<br><br><br>
+
+<br><br><br>
+
+<img alt="front.jpg (121K)" src="front.jpg" height="679" width="919">
+
+<br><br><br>
+</center>
+
+<center>
+<h1>ENGLISH VILLAGES</h1>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>P.H. DITCHFIELD
+M.A., F.S.A.</h2>
+<br><br>
+<h3>
+TO MY WIFE</h3>
+<br><br><br><br></center>
+<h2>
+PREFACE</h2>
+
+<p>Eleven years ago my little book on the antiquities of English villages
+was published. Its object was to interest our rustic neighbours in
+their surroundings, to record the social life of the people at various
+times&mdash;their feasts and fairs, sports and pastimes, faiths and
+superstitions&mdash;and to describe the scenes which once took place in the
+fields and lanes they know so well. A friendly reviewer remarked that
+the wonder was that a book of that kind had never been written before,
+and that that was the first attempt to give a popular and readable
+sketch of the history and associations of our villages. In the present
+work I have attempted to fill in the sketch with greater detail, and to
+write not only for the villagers themselves, but for all those who by
+education are able to take a more intelligent interest in the study of
+the past.</p>
+
+<p>During the last decade many village histories have been written, and
+if this book should be of service to anyone who is compiling the
+chronicles of some rural world, or if it should induce some who have
+the necessary leisure and ability to undertake such works, it will not
+have been written in vain.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+continual decrease of the population. The rural exodus is an alarming
+and very real danger to the welfare of social England. The country is
+considered dull and life therein dreary both by squire and peasant
+alike. Hence the attractions of towns or the delights of travel empty
+our villages. The manor-house is closed and labourers are scarce. To
+increase the attractions of our villages, to arouse an interest in
+their past history and social life, is worth attempting; and perhaps
+this Story may be of some use in fostering local patriotism, and in
+reconciling those who spend their lives far from the busy hives of men
+to their lot, when they find how much interest lies immediately around
+them.</p>
+
+<p>The study of archaeology has been pursued with much vigour during
+recent years, and increased knowledge has overthrown the many wild
+theories and conjectures which were gravely pronounced to be
+ascertained facts by the antiquaries of fifty years ago. Gildas,
+Geoffrey of Monmouth, or Richard of Cirencester are no longer accepted
+as safe and infallible guides. We know that there were such people as
+the Druids, but we no longer attribute to them the great stone circles
+nor imagine them sacrificing on "Druid's altars," as our forefathers
+called the dolmens. The history of Britain no longer begins with the
+advent of Julius Caesar, nor is his account of the Celtic tribes and
+their manners accepted as a full and complete statement of all that
+is known about them. The study of flint implements, of barrows and
+earthworks, has considerably thrown back our historical horizon and
+enabled us to understand the conditions of life in our island in the
+early days of a remote past before the dawn of history. The systematic
+excavation of Silchester, so ably conducted by the Society of
+Antiquaries, and of other Roman sites of towns and villas, enables us
+to realise more clearly the history of Britain under the rule of the
+Empire; and the study of the etymology of place-names has overthrown
+many of the absurd derivations which found a place in the old county
+histories, and are often repeated by the writers of modern guide books.
+Moreover patient labour amid old records, rolls, and charters, has
+vastly increased our knowledge of the history of manors; and the
+ancient parish registers and churchwardens' account books have been
+made to yield their store of information for the benefit of industrious
+students and scholars. There has been much destruction and much
+construction; and this good work will doubtless continue, until at
+length English archaeology may be dignified with the title of an exact
+science. Destruction of another kind is much to be deplored, which has
+left its mark on many an English village. The so-called "restoration"
+of ancient parish churches, frequently conducted by men ignorant of the
+best traditions of English architecture, the obliteration of the old
+architectural features, the entire destruction of many interesting
+buildings, have wrought deplorable ruin in our villages, and severed
+the links with the past which now can never be repaired. The progress
+of antiquarian knowledge will I trust arrest the destroyer's hand and
+prevent any further spoliation of our diminished inheritance. If this
+book should be found useful in stimulating an intelligent interest in
+architectural studies, and in protecting our ancient buildings from
+such acts of vandalism, its purpose will have been abundantly achieved.</p>
+
+<p>I am indebted to many friends and acquaintances for much information
+which has been useful to me in writing this book; to Sir John Evans
+whose works are invaluable to all students of ancient stone and bronze
+implements; to Dr. Cox whose little book on <i>How to Write the History
+of a Parish</i> is a sure and certain guide to local historians; to Mr.
+St. John Hope and Mr. Fallow for much information contained in their
+valuable monograph on <i>Old Church Plate</i>; to the late Dr. Stevens, of
+Reading; to Mr. Shrubsole of the same town; to Mr. Gibbins, the author
+of <i>The Industrial History of England</i>, for the use of an illustration
+from his book; to Mr. Melville, Mr. P.J. Colson, and the Rev. W.
+Marshall for their photographic aid; and to many other authors who are
+only known to me by their valuable works. To all of these gentlemen I
+desire to express my thanks, and also to Mr. Mackintosh for his
+artistic sketch of a typical English village, which forms the
+frontispiece of my book.</p>
+
+<p>P.H.D.</p>
+
+<p>BARKHAM RECTORY<br>
+<i>May</i>, 1901</p>
+<br><br><br><br>
+<h2>
+CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<p>CHAPTER</p>
+
+<p>I. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#1">INTRODUCTION</a><br>
+II. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#2">PREHISTORIC REMAINS</a><br>
+III. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#3">TUMULI OR BARROWS</a><br>
+IV. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#4">PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS</a><br>
+V. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#5">CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS</a><br>
+VI. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#6">ROMAN RELICS</a><br>
+VII. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#7">ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES</a><br>
+VIII. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#8">SAXON RELICS</a><br>
+IX. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#9">ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE</a><br>
+X. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#10">NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE "DOMESDAY BOOK"</a><br>
+XI. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#11">NORMAN CASTLES</a><br>
+XII. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#12">MONASTERIES</a><br>
+XIII. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#13">THE MANOR-HOUSE</a><br>
+XIV. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#14">PARISH CHURCHES</a><br>
+XV. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#15">CHURCH PLATE</a><br>
+XVI. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#16">MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES</a><br>
+XVII. &nbsp;<a href="#17">THE PARISH CHEST</a><br>
+XVIII. <a href="#18">STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS</a><br>
+XIX. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#19">CHURCH BELLS</a><br>
+XX. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#20">THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE</a><br>
+XXI. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#21">VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES</a><br>
+XXII. &nbsp;<a href="#22">THE VILLAGE INN</a><br>
+XXIII. <a href="#23">VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE</a></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#appendix">APPENDIX</a>&mdash;BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#index">INDEX</a></p>
+<br><br><br><br>
+<h2>
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+<p>FULL-PAGE (photographs)</p>
+[Click on photographs to enlarge]
+
+<p>
+<a href="#019">An English village Village street</a><br>
+<a href="#026">Palaeolithic implements</a><br>
+<a href="#033">Neolithic and bronze implements</a><br>
+<a href="#114">Old market cross</a><br>
+<a href="#155">Broughton Castle</a><br>
+<a href="#172">Netley Abbey, south transept</a><br>
+<a href="#189">Southcote Manor, showing moat and pigeon-house</a><br>
+<a href="#194">Old Manor-house&mdash;Upton Court</a><br>
+<a href="#199">Stone Tithe Barn, Bradford-on-Avon</a><br>
+<a href="#210">Village church in the Vale</a><br>
+<a href="#279">An ancient village</a><br>
+<a href="#294">Anne Hathaway's cottage</a><br>
+<a href="#303">Old stocks and whipping-post</a><br>
+<a href="#310">Village inn, with old Tithe Barn of Reading Abbey</a><br>
+<a href="#323">Old cottages</a></p>
+
+<br><br>
+<p>IN THE TEXT (drawings)</p>
+
+<p>
+<a href="#032">Barbed and leaf-shaped arrow-heads</a><br>
+<a href="#039">Plan of a tumulus</a><br>
+<a href="#040">Plan of tumulus called Wayland Smith's Cave, Berkshire</a><br>
+<a href="#043">Celtic cinerary urn</a><br>
+<a href="#048">Articles found in pit dwellings</a><br>
+<a href="#051">Iron spear-head found at Hedsor</a><br>
+<a href="#058">Menhir</a><br>
+<a href="#060">Rollright stones (from Camden's <i>Britannia</i>, 1607)</a><br>
+<a href="#062">Dolmen</a><br>
+<a href="#064">Plan and section of Chun Castle</a><br>
+<a href="#066">The White Horse at Uffington</a><br>
+<a href="#077">Plan of Silchester</a><br>
+<a href="#079">Capital of column</a><br>
+<a href="#081">Roman force-pump</a><br>
+<a href="#085">Tesselated pavement</a><br>
+<a href="#091">Beating acorns for swine (from the Cotton MS., <i>Nero</i>, c. 4)</a><br>
+<a href="#094">House of Saxon</a> thane<br>
+<a href="#096">Wheel plough (from the Bayeux tapestry)</a><br>
+<a href="#098">Smithy (from the Cotton MS., B 4)</a><br>
+<a href="#104">Saxon relics</a><br>
+<a href="#118">Consecration of a Saxon church</a><br>
+<a href="#120">Tower of Barnack Church, Northamptonshire</a><br>
+<a href="#121">Doorway, Earl's Barton Church</a><br>
+<a href="#122">Tower window, Monkwearmouth Church</a><br>
+<a href="#124">Sculptured head of doorway, Fordington Church, Dorset</a><br>
+<a href="#125">Norman capitals</a><br>
+<a href="#126">Norman ornamental mouldings</a><br>
+<a href="#127">Croyland Abbey Church, Lincolnshire</a><br>
+<a href="#128">Semi-Norman arch, Church of St. Cross</a><br>
+<a href="#129">Early English piers and capitals</a><br>
+<a href="#130">Dog-tooth ornament</a><br>
+<a href="#131">Brownsover Chapel, Warwickshire</a><br>
+<a href="#132">Ball-flower mouldings, Tewkesbury Abbey</a><br>
+<a href="#132">Ogee arch</a><br>
+<a href="#133a">Decorated capitals, Hanwell and Chacombe</a><br>
+<a href="#133b">Decorated windows, Merton College Chapel; Sandiacre, Derbyshire</a><br>
+<a href="#134">Decorated mouldings, Elton, Huntingdonshire; Austrey, Warwickshire</a><br>
+<a href="#135">Perpendicular window, Merton College Chapel, Oxford</a><br>
+<a href="#136a">Tudor arch, vestry door, Adderbury Church, Oxon</a><br>
+<a href="#136b">Perpendicular parapet, St. Erasmus' Chapel, Westminster Abbey</a><br>
+<a href="#137">Perpendicular moulding, window, Christchurch, Oxford</a><br>
+<a href="#147">Diagram of a manor</a><br>
+<a href="#150">Ancient plan of Old Sarum</a><br>
+<a href="#152">A Norman castle</a><br>
+<a href="#161">Tournament</a><br>
+<a href="#178">A monk transcribing</a><br>
+<a href="#190">Ockwells manor-house</a><br>
+<a href="#191">Richmond Palace</a><br>
+<a href="#192">Doorway and staircase, Ufton Court</a><br>
+<a href="#193">The porch, Ufton Court</a><br>
+<a href="#196">Window of south wing, Ufton Court</a><br>
+<a href="#206">Ancient pew-work, Tysoe Church, Warwickshire</a><br>
+<a href="#208">Early English screen, Thurcaston, Leicestershire</a><br>
+<a href="#212">Norman piscina, Romsey Church, Hants</a><br>
+<a href="#215">Lowside window, Dallington Church, Northamptonshire</a><br>
+<a href="#218">Reading-pew, seventeenth century, Langley Chapel, Salop.</a><br>
+<a href="#223">Chalice and paten, Sandford, Oxfordshire</a><br>
+<a href="#224">Pre-Reformation plate</a><br>
+<a href="#225">Censer or thurible</a><br>
+<a href="#254">Mural paintings (several)</a><br>
+<a href="#271">Ancient sanctus bell found at Warwick</a></p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="1"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>INTRODUCTION</h3>
+
+<p>Local histories&mdash;Ignorance and destruction&mdash;Advantages of the study
+of village antiquities&mdash;Description of an English village&mdash;The church&mdash;
+The manor-house&mdash;Prehistoric people&mdash;Later inhabitants&mdash;Saxons&mdash;Village
+inn&mdash;Village green&mdash;Legends.</p>
+
+<p>
+To write a complete history of any village is one of the hardest literary
+labours which anyone can undertake. The soil is hard, and the crop after
+the expenditure of much toil is often very scanty. In many cases the
+records are few and difficult to discover, buried amidst the mass of
+papers at the Record Office, or entombed in some dusty corner of the
+Diocesan Registry. Days may be spent in searching for these treasures
+of knowledge with regard to the past history of a village without any
+adequate result; but sometimes fortune favours the industrious toiler,
+and he discovers a rich ore which rewards him for all his pains. Slowly
+his store of facts grows, and he is at last able to piece together the
+history of his little rural world, which time and the neglect of past
+generations had consigned to dusty oblivion.</p>
+
+<p>In recent years several village histories have been written with varied
+success by both competent and incompetent scribes; but such books are few
+in number, and we still have to deplore the fact that so little is known
+about the hamlets in which we live. All writers seem to join in the same
+lament, and mourn over the ignorance that prevails in rural England with
+regard to the treasures of antiquity, history, and folklore, which are to
+be found almost everywhere. We may still echo the words of the learned
+author of <i>Tom Brown's Schooldays</i>, the late Mr. Hughes, who said that
+the present generation know nothing of their own birthplaces, or of the
+lanes, woods, and fields through which they roam. Not one young man in
+twenty knows where to find the wood-sorrel, or the bee-orchis; still
+fewer can tell the country legends, the stories of the old gable-ended
+farmhouses, or the place where the last skirmish was fought in the Civil
+War, or where the parish butts stood. Nor is this ignorance confined to
+the unlearned rustics; it is shared by many educated people, who have
+travelled abroad and studied the history of Rome or Venice, Frankfort or
+Bruges, and yet pass by unheeded the rich stores of antiquarian lore,
+which they witness every day, and never think of examining closely and
+carefully. There are very few villages in England which have no objects
+of historical interest, no relics of the past which are worthy of
+preservation. "Restoration," falsely so called, conducted by ignorant
+or perverse architects, has destroyed and removed many features of our
+parish churches; the devastating plough has well-nigh levelled many an
+ancient barrow; railroads have changed the character of rustic life and
+killed many an old custom and rural festival. Old legends and quaint
+stories of the countryside have given place to talks about politics and
+newspaper gossip. But still much remains if we learn to examine things
+for ourselves, and endeavour to gather up the relics of the past and save
+them from the destructive hand of Time.</p>
+
+<p>A great service may thus be rendered not only to the cause of history,
+but also to the villagers of rural England, by those who have time,
+leisure, and learning, sufficient to gain some knowledge of bygone times.
+It adds greatly to the interest of their lives to know something of the
+place where they live; and it has been well said that every man's concern
+with his native place has something more in it than the amount of rates
+and taxes that he has to pay. He may not be able to write a history of
+his parish, but he can gather up the curious gossip of the neighbourhood,
+the traditions and stories which have been handed down from former
+generations. And if anyone is at the pains to acquire some knowledge of
+local history, and will impart what he knows to his poorer neighbours, he
+will add greatly to their interest in life. Life is a burden, labour mere
+drudgery, when a man has nothing in which he can interest himself. When
+we remember the long hours which an agricultural labourer spends alone,
+without a creature to speak to, except his horses or the birds, we can
+imagine how dull his life must be, if his mind be not occupied. But here,
+on his own ground, he may find an endless supply of food for thought,
+which will afford him much greater pleasure and satisfaction than
+thinking and talking about his neighbours' faults, reflecting upon his
+wrongs, or imitating the example of one of his class who, when asked
+by the squire what he was thinking so deeply about, replied, "Mostly
+naught." To remove the pall of ignorance that darkens the rustic mind,
+to quicken his understanding and awaken his interest, are certainly
+desirable objects; although his ignorance is very often shared by his
+betters, who frequently hazard very strange theories and manifest many
+curious ideas with regard to village antiquities.</p>
+
+<p>We will walk together through the main roads of the village, and observe
+some of its many points of interest. Indeed, it is no small thing to live
+in such a "city of memories" as every village is, when at every turn and
+corner we meet with something that reminds us of the past, and recalls
+the pleasing associations of old village life. To those who have lived
+amid the din and turmoil of a large town, where everybody is in a hurry,
+and there is nothing but noise, confusion, and bustle, the delicious
+calm and quietude of an old English village, undisturbed by the world's
+rude noise, is most grateful. But to live in memory of what has gone
+before, of the lives and customs of our forefathers, of the strange
+events that have happened on the very ground upon which we are standing,
+all this will make us love our village homes and delight in them
+exceedingly. In most of our large towns the old features are fast
+disappearing; historical houses have been pulled down to make room
+for buildings more adapted to present needs, and everything is being
+modernised; but in the country everything remains the same, and it is
+not so difficult to let one's thoughts wander into the past, and picture
+to one's self the old features of village life in bygone times.</p>
+
+<p>Most of our villages have the usual common features, and it is not
+difficult to describe a typical example, though the details vary very
+much, and the histories of no two villages are identical. We see arising
+above the trees the church, the centre of the old village life, both
+religious, secular, and social. It stands upon a site which has been
+consecrated to the service of God for many centuries. There is possibly
+in or near the churchyard a tumulus, or burial mound, which shows that
+the spot was set apart for some religious observances even before
+Christianity reached our shores. Here the early Saxon missionary planted
+his cross and preached in the open air to the gathered villagers. Here
+a Saxon thane built a rude timber church which was supplanted by an
+early Norman structure of stone with round arches and curiously carved
+ornamentation. This building has been added to at various times, and now
+shows, writ in stone, its strange and varied history. The old time-worn
+registers, kept in the parish chest in the vestry, breathe the
+atmosphere of bygone times, and tell the stories and romances of the
+"rude forefathers of the hamlet." The tombs and monuments of knights and
+ancient heroes tell many a tale of valour and old-world prowess, of
+families that have entirely died out, of others that still happily
+remain amongst us, and record the names and virtues of many an
+illustrious house. The windows, brasses, bells, and inscriptions, have
+all some interesting story to relate, which we hope presently to examine
+more minutely.</p>
+
+<p>Nestling amid the trees we see the manor-house, standing probably on the
+site of a much older edifice; and this building carries our thoughts back
+to the Saxon and early Norman times, when the lord of the manor had
+vassals and serfs under him, held his manorial court, and reigned as a
+king in his own small domain. The history of the old English manor is a
+very important one, concerning which much has been written, many
+questions disputed, and some points still remain to be decided.</p>
+
+<p>Then we notice an old farmhouse which has doubtless seen better days, for
+there are the remains of an ancient moat around it, as if some family of
+importance once lived there, and wished to guard themselves and their
+possessions from troublesome visitors. This moat tells of the times of
+war and lawlessness, of wild and fierce animals roaming the countryside;
+and if the walls of the old house could speak how many stories could they
+tell of the strange customs of our ancestors, of bread riots, of civil
+wars, and disturbances which once destroyed the tranquillity of our
+peaceful villages!</p>
+
+<p>We shall endeavour to discover the earliest inhabitants of our villages
+who left their traces behind in the curious stone and bronze weapons of
+war or domestic implements, and who lived in far remote periods before
+the dawn of history. The barrows, or tumuli, which contain their dead
+bodies tell us much about them; and also the caves and lake dwellings
+help us to form some very accurate notions of the conditions of life in
+those distant days. We shall see that the Britons or Celts were far from
+being the naked woad-dyed savages described by Caesar, whose account has
+so long been deemed sufficient by the historians of our childhood. We
+shall call to mind the many waves of invaders which rolled over our
+country&mdash;the Celts, the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans&mdash;all of whom
+have left some traces behind them, and added sundry chapters to the story
+of our villages.</p>
+
+<p>The fields too proclaim their story, and tell us of the Saxon folk who
+were our first farmers, and made clearings in the forests, and tilled the
+same soil we work to-day. They tell us too of the old monks who knew so
+much about agriculture; and occasionally the plough turns up a rusty
+sword or cannon ball, which reveals the story of battles and civil wars
+which we trust have passed away from our land for ever. The very names of
+the fields are not without signification, and tell us of animals which
+are now extinct, of the manners of our forefathers, of the old methods of
+farming, and the common lands which have passed away.</p>
+
+<p>The old village inn, with its curiously painted signboard, has its own
+story to tell, of the old coaching days, and of the great people who used
+to travel along the main roads, and were sometimes snowed up in a drift
+just below "The Magpie," which had always good accommodation for
+travellers, and stabling for fifty horses. All was activity in the stable
+yard when the coach came in; the villagers crowded round the inn doors to
+see the great folks from London who were regaling themselves with
+well-cooked English joints; and if they stayed all night, could find
+comfortable beds with lavender-scented sheets, and every attention. But
+the railroads and iron steeds have changed all that; until yesterday the
+roads were deserted, and the glory of the old inns departed. Bicyclists
+now speed along in the track of the old coaches; but they are not quite
+so picturesque, and the bicycle bell is less musical than the cheerful
+posthorn.</p>
+
+<p>On the summit of a neighbouring hill we see a curious formation which is
+probably an earthwork, constructed many centuries ago by the early
+dwellers in this district for the purpose of defence in dangerous times,
+when the approach of a neighbouring tribe, or the advance of a company of
+free-booting invaders, threatened them with death or the destruction of
+their flocks and herds. These earthworks we shall examine more closely.
+An ivy-covered ruin near the church shows the remains of a monastic cell
+or monastery; and in the distance perhaps we can see the outlines of an
+old Norman keep or castle; all of these relate to the story of our
+villages, and afford us subjects for investigation and research.</p>
+
+<p>Then there is the village green where so many generations of the
+villagers have disported themselves, danced the old country dances
+(now alas! forgotten), and reared the merry May-pole, and crowned
+their queen. Here they held their rural sports, and fought their bouts
+of quarter-staff and cudgel-play, grinned through horse-collars, and
+played pipe and tabor at many a rustic feast, when life was young and
+England merry. We shall try to picture to ourselves these happy scenes
+of innocent diversion which cheered the hearts of our forefathers in
+bygone times.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="019"></a>
+<center>
+<a href="019.jpg"><img alt="019h.jpg (38K)" src="019h.jpg" height="322" width="511"></a>
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+<p>We will try to collect the curious legends and stories which were told to
+us by our grandsires, and are almost forgotten by the present generation.
+These we should treasure up, lest they should be for ever lost. Local
+tradition has often led the way to important discoveries.</p>
+
+<p>In this brief circuit of an ordinary English village we have found many
+objects which are calculated to excite our imagination and to stimulate
+inquiry. A closer examination will well repay our study, and reward the
+labour of the investigator. It is satisfactory to know that all possible
+discoveries as to the antiquities of our villages have not yet been made.
+We have still much to learn, and the earth has not yet disclosed all its
+treasures. Roman villas still remain buried; the sepulchres of many a
+Saxon chieftain or early nomad Celt are still unexplored; the pile
+dwellings and cave domiciles of the early inhabitants of our country have
+still to be discovered; and piles of records and historical documents
+have still to be sought out, arranged, and examined. So there is much
+work to be done by the antiquary for many a long year; and every little
+discovery, and the results of every patient research, assist in
+accumulating that store of knowledge which is gradually being compiled
+by the hard labour of our English historians and antiquaries.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="2"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>PREHISTORIC REMAINS</h3>
+
+<p>Pytheas of Marseilles&mdash;Discovery of flint implements&mdash;Geological
+changes&mdash;Palaeolithic man&mdash;Eslithic&mdash;Palaeolithic implements&mdash;
+Drift men&mdash;Cave men&mdash;Neolithic man and his weapons&mdash;Dolichocephalic&mdash;
+Celtic or Brachycephalic race&mdash;The Iron Age.</p>
+
+<p>
+It was customary some years ago to begin the history of any country with
+the statement, "Of the early inhabitants nothing is known with any
+certainty," and to commence the history of England with the landing of
+Julius Caesar B.C. 55. If this book had been written forty or fifty
+years ago it might have been stated that our first knowledge of Britain
+dates from 330 B.C. when Pytheas of Marseilles visited it, and described
+his impressions. He says that the climate was foggy, a characteristic
+which it has not altogether lost, that the people cultivated the ground
+and used beer and mead as beverages. Our villagers still follow the
+example of their ancestors in their use of one at least of these drinks.</p>
+
+<p>Of the history of all the ages prior to the advent of this Pytheas all
+written record is silent. Hence we have to play the part of scientific
+detectives, examine the footprints of the early man who inhabited our
+island, hunt for odds and ends which he has left behind, to rake over
+his kitchen middens, pick up his old tools, and even open his burial
+mound.</p>
+
+<p>About fifty years ago the attention of the scientific world was drawn to
+the flint implements which were scattered over the surface of our fields
+and in our gravel pits and mountain caves; and inquiring minds began
+to speculate as to their origin. The collections made at Amiens and
+Abbeville and other places began to convince men of the existence of an
+unknown and unimagined race, and it gradually dawned on us that on our
+moors and downs were the tombs of a race of men who fashioned their
+weapons of war and implements of peace out of flint. These discoveries
+have pushed back our knowledge of man to an antiquity formerly never
+dreamed of, and enlarged considerably our historical horizon. So we will
+endeavour to discover what kind of men they were, who roamed our fields
+and woods before any historical records were written, and mark the very
+considerable traces of their occupation which they have left behind.</p>
+
+<p>The condition of life and the character and climate of the country were
+very different in early times from what they are in the present day; and
+in endeavouring to discover the kind of people who dwelt here in
+prehistoric times, we must hear what the geologists have to tell us
+about the physical aspect of Britain in that period. There was a time
+when this country was connected with the Continent of Europe, and the
+English Channel and North Sea were mere valleys with rivers running
+through them fed by many streams. Where the North Sea now rolls there
+was the great valley of the Rhine; and as there were no ocean-waves to
+cross, animals and primitive man wandered northwards and westwards from
+the Continent, and made their abode here. It is curious to note that the
+migratory birds when returning to France and Italy, and thence to the
+sunny regions of Algiers and other parts of Northern Africa, always
+cross the seas where in remote ages there was dry land. They always
+traverse the same route; and it appears that the recollection of the
+places where their ancestors crossed has been preserved by them through
+all the centuries that have elapsed since "the silver streak" was formed
+that severs England from her neighbours.</p>
+
+<p>In the times of which we are speaking the land was much higher than it
+is now. Snowdon was 600 feet greater, and the climate was much colder
+and more rigorous. Glaciers like those in Switzerland were in all the
+higher valleys, and the marks of the action of the ice are still plainly
+seen on the rocky cliffs that border many a ravine. Moreover we find in
+the valleys many detached rocks, immense boulders, the nature of which
+is quite different from the character of the stone in the neighbourhood.
+These were carried down by the glaciers from higher elevations, and
+deposited, when the ice melted, in the lower valleys. Hence in this
+glacial period the condition of the country was very different from what
+it is now.</p>
+
+<p>Then a remarkable change took place. The land began to sink, and its
+elevation so much decreased that the central part of the country became
+a huge lake, and the peak of Snowdon was an island surrounded by the sea
+which washed with its waves the lofty shoulder of the mountain. This is
+the reason why shells and shingle are found in high elevations. The Ice
+Age passed away and the climate became warmer. The Gulf Stream found its
+way to our shores, and the country was covered by a warm ocean having
+islands raising their heads above the surface. Sharks swam around, whose
+teeth we find now buried in beds of clay. The land continued to rise,
+and attracted by the sunshine and the more genial clime animals from the
+Continent wandered northwards, and with them came man. Caves, now high
+amongst the hills, but then on a level with the rivers, were his first
+abode, and contain many relics of his occupancy, together with the bones
+of extinct animals. The land appears to have risen, and the climate
+became colder. The sea worked its relentless way through the chalk hills
+on the south and gradually met the waves of the North Sea which flowed
+over the old Rhine valley. It widened also the narrow strait that
+severed the country from Ireland, and the outline and contour of the
+island began more nearly to resemble that with which we are now
+familiar.</p>
+
+<p>A vast period of time was necessary to accomplish all these immense
+changes; and it is impossible to speculate with any degree of certainty
+how long that period was, which transformed the icebound surface of
+our island to a land of verdure and wild forests. We must leave such
+conjectures and the more detailed accounts of the glacial and
+post-glacial periods to the geologists, as our present concern is
+limited to the study of the habits and condition of the men who roamed
+our fields and forests in prehistoric times. Although no page of history
+gives us any information concerning them, we can find out from the
+relics of arms and implements which the earth has preserved for us, what
+manner of men lived in the old cave dwellings, or constructed their rude
+huts, and lie buried beneath the vast barrows.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest race of men who inhabited our island was called the
+Palaeolithic race, from the fact that they used the most ancient form
+of stone implements. Traces of a still earlier race are said to have
+been discovered a few years ago on the chalk plateau of the North Down,
+near Sevenoaks. The flints have some slight hollows in them, as if
+caused by scraping, and denote that the users must have been of a very
+low condition of intelligence&mdash;able to use a tool but scarcely able to
+make one. This race has been called the Eolithic; but some antiquaries
+have thrown doubts upon their existence, and the discovery of these
+flints is too recent to allow us to speak of them with any degree of
+certainty.</p>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="026"></a>
+<center>
+<a href="026.jpg"><img alt="026h.jpg (39K)" src="026h.jpg" height="373" width="561"></a>
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+<p>The traces of Palaeolithic man are very numerous, and he evidently
+exercised great skill in bringing his implements to a symmetrical shape
+by chipping. The use of metals for cutting purposes was entirely
+unknown; and stone, wood, and bone were the only materials of which
+these primitive beings availed themselves for the making of weapons or
+domestic implements. Palaeolithic man lived here during that distant
+period when this country was united with the Continent, and when the
+huge mammoth roamed in the wild forests, and powerful and fierce animals
+struggled for existence in the hills and vales of a cold and inclement
+country. His weapons and tools were of the rudest description, and made
+of chipped flint. Many of these have been found in the valley gravels,
+which had probably been dropped from canoes into the lakes or rivers, or
+washed down by floods from stations on the shore. Eighty or ninety feet
+above the present level of the Thames in the higher gravels are these
+relics found; and they are so abundant that the early inhabitants who
+used them must have been fairly numerous. Their shape is usually oval,
+and often pointed into a rude resemblance of the shape of a spear-head.
+Some flint-flakes are of the knifelike character; others resemble awls,
+or borers, with sharp points evidently for making holes in skins for the
+purpose of constructing a garment. Hammer-stones for crushing bones,
+tools with well-wrought flat edges, scrapers, and other implements, were
+the stock-in-trade of the earliest inhabitant of our country, and are
+distinguishable from those used by Neolithic man by their larger and
+rougher work. The maker of the old stone tools never polished his
+implements; nor did he fashion any of those finely wrought arrowheads
+and javelin points, upon which his successor prided himself. The latter
+discovered that the flints which were dug up were more easily fashioned
+into various shapes; whereas Palaeolithic man picked up the flints that
+lay about on the surface of the ground, and chipped them into the form
+of his rude tools. However, the elder man was acquainted with the use
+of fire, which he probably obtained by striking flints on blocks of
+iron pyrites. Wandering about the country in families and tribes, he
+contrived to exist by hunting the numerous animals that inhabited the
+primeval forests, and has left us his weapons and tools to tell us what
+kind of man he was. His implements are found in the drift gravels by
+the riversides; and from this cause his race are known as drift men,
+in order to distinguish them from the <i>cave men</i>, who seem to have
+belonged to a little later period.</p>
+
+<p>The first dwellings of man were the caves on the hillsides, before he
+found out the art of building pile huts. In Palaeolithic times these
+caves were inhabited by a rude race of feral nomads who lived by the
+chase, and fashioned the rude tools which we have already described.
+They were, however, superior to the drift men, and had some notion of
+art. The principal caves in the British islands containing the relics of
+the cave folk are the following: Perthichoaren, Denbighshire, wherein
+were found the remains of Platycnemic man&mdash;so named from his having
+sharp shin-bones; Cefn, St. Asaph; Uphill, Somerset; King's Scar and the
+Victoria Cave, Settle; Robin Hood's Cave and Pinhole Cave, Derbyshire;
+Black Rock, Caldy Island, Coygan Caves, Pembrokeshire; King Arthur's
+Cave, Monmouth; Durdham Downs, Bristol; and sundry others, near Oban, in
+the valleys of the Trent, Dove, and Nore, and of the Irish Blackwater,
+and in Caithness.</p>
+
+<p>In these abodes the bones of both men and animals have been found; but
+these do not all belong to the same period, as the Neolithic people,
+and those of the Bronze and Iron Ages, followed the occupation of the
+earlier race. The remains of the different races, however, lie at
+various depths, those of the earlier race naturally lying the lowest. An
+examination of the Victoria Cave, Settle, clearly shows this. Outside
+the entrance there was found a layer of charcoal and burnt bones, and
+the burnt stones of fireplaces, pottery, coins of the Emperors Trajan
+and Constantine, and ornaments in bone, ivory, bronze and enamel. The
+animal remains were those of the <i>bos longifrons</i> (Celtic ox), pig,
+horse, roe, stag, fowl (wild), and grouse. This layer was evidently
+composed of the relics of a Romano-British people. Below this were found
+chipped flints, an adze of melaphyre, and a layer of boulders, sand, and
+clay, brought down by the ice from the higher valley.</p>
+
+<p>Inside the cave in the upper cave earth were found the bones of fox,
+badger, brown bear, grizzly bear, reindeer, red deer, horse, pig, and
+goat, and some bones evidently hacked by man. In the lower cave earth
+there were the remains of the hyena, fox, brown and grizzly bears,
+elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, urus, bison, and red deer, the
+hacked bones of a goat, and a small leg-bone of a man.</p>
+
+<p>Some idea of the time which has elapsed since primitive man inhabited
+this rude dwelling may be formed from these excavations. Two feet below
+the surface lay the Romano-British layer, and we know therefore that
+about 1,600 years was required for the earth to accumulate to that
+depth. The Neolithic layer was six feet below this; hence 4,800 years
+would be necessary to form this depth of earth. So we may conclude that
+at least 6,400 years ago Neolithic man used the cave. A long time
+previous to this lived the creatures of the lower cave earth, the bison,
+elephant, and the hyena with the solitary human bone, which belonged to
+the sharp-shinned race (Platycnemic) of beings, the earliest dwellers in
+our country.</p>
+
+<p>It is doubtful whether Palaeolithic man has left any descendants. The
+Esquimaux appear to somewhat resemble them. Professor Boyd Dawkins, in
+his remarkable book, <i>Cave Hunting</i>, traces this relationship in the
+character of implements, methods of obtaining food and cooking it, modes
+of preparing skins for clothing, and particularly in the remarkable
+skill of depicting figures on bone which both races display. In carving
+figures on bone and teeth early man in Britain was certainly more
+skilful than his successor; but he was a very inferior type of the human
+race, yet his intelligence and mode of life have been deemed not lower
+than those of the Australian aborigines.</p>
+
+<p>The animals which roamed through the country in this Pleistocene period
+were the elk and reindeer, which link us on to the older and colder
+period when Arctic conditions prevailed; the Irish deer, a creature of
+great size whose head weighed about eighty pounds; bison, elephant,
+rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lion, wolf, otter, bear, horse, red deer, roe,
+urus or gigantic ox, the short-horned ox (<i>bos longifrons</i>), boar,
+badger and many others which survive to the present day, and have
+therefore a very long line of ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>The successor of the old stone implement maker was Neolithic man, to
+whom we have already had occasion to refer. Some lengthy period of
+geological change separates him from his predecessor of the Old Stone
+Age. Specimens of his handiwork show that he was a much more civilised
+person than his predecessor, and presented a much higher type of
+humanity. He had a peculiarly shaped head, the back part of the skull
+being strangely prolonged; and from this feature he is called
+<i>dolichocephalic</i>. He was small in stature, about 5 feet 6 inches in
+height, having a dark complexion, and his descendants are the Iberian or
+Basque races in the Western Pyrenees and may still be traced in parts of
+Ireland and Wales. The long barrows or mounds, the length of which is
+greater than the breadth, contain his remains, and we find traces of his
+existence in all the western countries of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>He had made many discoveries which were unknown to his Old Stone
+predecessor. Instead of always hunting for his food, like an animal, he
+found out that the earth would give him corn with which he could make
+bread, if only he took the trouble to cultivate it. Instead of always
+slaying animals, he found that some were quite ready to be his servants,
+and give him milk and wool and food. He brought with him to our shores
+cows and sheep and goats, horses and dogs. Moreover he made pottery,
+moulding the clay with his hand, and baking it in a fire. He had not
+discovered the advantages of a kiln. He could spin thread, and weave
+stuffs, though he usually wore garments of skins.</p>
+
+<p>His dwellings were no longer the caves and forests, for he made for
+himself rude pit huts, and surrounded himself, his tribe, and cattle
+with a circular camp. Traces of his agricultural operations may still be
+found in the "terraces," or strips of ground on hillsides, which
+preserve the marks of our early Neolithic farmers.</p>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="032"></a>
+<center>
+<img alt="032.jpg (37K)" src="032.jpg" height="411" width="692">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+<p>Their implements are far superior to those of the Old Stone men, and are
+found on the surface of our fields, or on hillsides, where they tended
+their flocks, or dug their rude pit shelters. Their weapons and tools
+are highly polished, and have evidently been ground on a grindstone.
+They are adapted for an endless variety of uses, and are most skilfully
+and beautifully fashioned. There are finely wrought arrowheads, of three
+shapes&mdash;barbed, tanged and barbed, and leaf-shaped; axes, scrapers for
+cleansing and preparing skins for clothing, hammer stones, wedges,
+drills, borers, knives, and many other tools. In the Reading Museum may
+be seen a heavy quartzite axe and chipped flint hatchet, which were
+found with some charred timber on an island in the Thames, and were
+evidently used for scooping out the interior of a boat from a tree with
+the aid of fire. So this New Stone man knew how to make boats as well as
+a vast number of other things of which we shall presently speak more
+particularly. His descendants linger on in South Wales and Ireland, and
+are short in stature, dark in complexion, and narrow-skulled, like their
+forefathers a few thousand years ago.</p>
+
+<a name="033"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="033.jpg"><img alt="033h.jpg (35K)" src="033h.jpg" height="532" width="380"></a>
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+<p>Another wave of invaders swept over our land, and overcame the
+long-headed Neolithic race. These were the Celtic people, taller and
+stronger than their predecessors, and distinguished by their fair hair
+and rounded skulls. From the shape of their heads they are called
+Brachycephalic, and are believed to have belonged to the original Aryan
+race, whose birthplace was Southern Asia. At some remote period this
+wave of invaders poured over Europe and Asia, and has left traces behind
+it in the languages of all Indo-European nations.</p>
+
+<p>Their weapons were made of bronze, although they still used polished
+stone implements also. We find chisels, daggers, rings, buttons, and
+spear-heads, all made of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, and
+fashioned by the skilled hands of these early Celtic folk. As they
+became more civilised, being of an inventive mind, they discovered the
+use of iron and found it a more convenient metal for fashioning axes to
+cut down trees.</p>
+
+<p>When Caesar came to Britain he found that the inhabitants knew the use
+of iron, even the less civilised early Celtic settlers driven northwards
+and westwards by the Belgae, had iron weapons, and the wild Caledonians
+in the time of Severus, although they were naked, woad-dyed savages,
+wore iron collars and girdles and were armed with metal weapons.</p>
+
+<p>Such are some of the relics of antiquity which the soil of our native
+land retains, as a memorial of the primitive people who first trod upon
+it. Concerning their lives and records history is silent, until the
+Conqueror tells us something of our Celtic forefathers. From the scanty
+remains of prehistoric races, their weapons and tools, we can gather
+something of the earliest inhabitants of our island, and try to realise
+their habits and mode of life.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="3"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>TUMULI OR BARROWS</h3>
+
+<p>Barrows near churchyards&mdash;Their universality&mdash;Contents&mdash;Food in
+barrows&mdash;Curious burial customs&mdash;Belief in future life&mdash;Long and
+round barrows&mdash;Interior of barrow&mdash;Position of bodies&mdash;Cremation&mdash;
+Burial urns&mdash;Articles of dress and ornament&mdash;Artistic workmanship&mdash;
+Pottery&mdash;Remains of agriculture&mdash;Organised condition of society
+among prehistoric people.</p>
+
+<p>
+Throughout the country we find many artificial mounds which are called
+<i>tumuli</i> or barrows, or in the neighbourhood of Wales, "tumps." These
+are the ancient burial-places of the early inhabitants of our island,
+the word "barrow" being derived from the Anglo-Saxon <i>beorh</i>, a hill or
+grave-mound. It is not unusual to see a barrow in the centre, or near,
+an old churchyard, as at Taplow, Bucks. The church was built, of course,
+much later than the erection of the mound; but doubtless the early
+preachers of the gospel took advantage of the reverence which was paid
+to these ancient tombs, proclaimed there the story of the cross, and on
+the spots so consecrated churches were ultimately built.</p>
+
+<p>These mounds have much to tell us of the early inhabitants. To cover the
+dead with a mound of earth was a custom common to all nations. All over
+Europe, in Northern Asia, India, and in the new world of America, we
+find burial-mounds. The pyramids of Egypt are only glorified mounds; and
+our islands can boast of an endless variety, sometimes consisting of
+cairns, or heaps of stones, sometimes of huge hills of earth, 130 feet
+in height, as at Silbury, Wilts, and covering five acres; while others
+are only small heaps of soil a few feet high.</p>
+
+<p>The contents of the tumuli differ also. Sometimes the bodies were burnt
+and the ashes preserved in rude urns; sometimes they were not cremated.
+Sometimes they were buried in stone cists, or in the hollowed trunk of
+trees; sometimes without any covering save that of the earth. In nearly
+all cases we find numerous articles buried with the dead, such as
+personal ornaments, weapons, pottery, and food.</p>
+
+<p>The presence of food in the tumuli testifies to the natural instinct
+implanted by the Creator in the human heart with regard to a future
+existence. The idea that the soul of the departed is about to take a
+long journey is constant and deeply rooted; the rainbow and the milky
+way have often been supposed to be the paths trod by the departed, who
+require sustenance for so long a journey. The Aztecs laid a water-bottle
+beside the bodies to be used on the way to Mictlan, the land of the
+dead. Bow and arrows, a pair of mocassins with a spare piece of deerskin
+to patch them if they wear out, and sinews of deer to sew on the patches
+with, together with a kettle and provisions, are still placed in the
+graves by the North American Indians. The Laplanders lay beside the
+corpse flint, steel, and tinder, to supply light for the dark journey. A
+coin was placed in the mouth of the dead by the Greeks to pay Charon,
+the ferryman of the Styx, and for a similar purpose in the hand of a
+deceased Irishman. The Greenlanders bury with a child a dog, for they
+say a dog will find his way anywhere. In the grave of the Viking warrior
+were buried his horn and armour in order that he might enter the halls
+of Valhalla fully equipped.</p>
+
+<p>These and many other examples might be quoted showing the universality
+of the belief in a future life, a belief that was evidently shared with
+other nations by the primeval races who inhabited our islands in
+prehistoric times.</p>
+
+<p>The presence of food and drinking vessels in the tumuli clearly shows
+this, and also the store of weapons and implements, adzes, hammers,
+scrapers, and other tools which the barrows have preserved through so
+many ages.</p>
+
+<p>These barrows are not confined to one period or one race, as their shape
+denotes. Some are long, measuring 200 to 400 feet in length by 60 or 80
+feet wide; others are circular. The former were made by the long-headed
+(dolichocephalic) race of whom we have already spoken; the latter by the
+round-headed (brachycephalic), conquerors of their feebler long-skulled
+forerunners. When we consider the poor tools used by these primitive
+peoples, we may wonder at the amount of labour they must have expended
+on the construction of these giant mounds. Picks made of deer's horns
+and pointed staves enabled them to loosen the earth which was then
+collected in baskets and thrown on the rising heap. Countless toilers
+and many years must have been needed to produce such wonderful memorials
+of their industry.</p>
+
+<a name="039"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="039.jpg (64K)" src="039.jpg" height="592" width="852">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>With better tools we will proceed to dig into these mounds and discover
+what they contain. First we notice an encircling trench and mound
+surrounding the barrow, the purpose of which is supposed to have been to
+keep the dead person in the tomb, and prevent it from injuring the
+living. After much digging in the centre of the barrow we find a single
+stone chamber, entered by a passage underneath the higher and wider end
+of the mound. Sometimes the chamber is divided into three parts, the
+centre one being covered by a dome, formed by the overlapping of the
+stones in the upper parts of the walls. The passage leading to the
+centre chamber is also built with large stones erected with much care
+and skill. The contents of these long barrows are not so interesting, or
+numerous, as those contained in the round barrows. The skeletons are
+usually found in irregular positions, and few weapons or ornaments
+accompany the buried bones. Derbyshire possesses many barrows; wherever
+in a place-name the suffix <i>low</i> occurs, derived from the Anglo-Saxon
+<i>hlow</i>, signifying a small hill or mound, a barrow is generally to be
+found. The long barrow is usually about 200 feet in length, 40 feet
+wide, and 8 to 12 feet high. They run east and west, frequently
+north-east by south-west, the principal interment being usually at the
+eastern and higher end. The bodies are often found in a cist or box made
+of large stones, and several were buried in one mound, generally on the
+south and east sides, so that they might lie in the sun. This practice
+may have been connected with sun-worship; and the same idea prevailed in
+modern times, when the south side of the churchyard was considered the
+favoured portion, and criminals and suicides were relegated to the
+colder north side.</p>
+
+<a name="040"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="040.jpg (26K)" src="040.jpg" height="330" width="470">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The position of the bodies varied, but usually they were buried in a
+crouching position, with knees bent and head drawn towards the knees.
+This was probably the natural position which a man would assume when he
+slept without a luxurious bed to lie upon, and with little to cover him,
+in order to keep himself as warm as possible. Hence when he sank into
+his last long sleep, his mourning relatives would place him in the same
+posture. In the Channel Islands bodies were often placed in a kneeling
+position.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of burning the body seems to have been adopted later by the
+same long-headed race who used the long barrows, and prevailed more in
+the north of England, in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Scotland, than in
+the south. The cremation was sometimes not very thoroughly performed.
+The bodies were placed together, wood being piled about them, and over
+the heap the mound was raised. Then the fire was lighted, which
+naturally only partly consumed the bodies. We find also, mingled with
+bones of men and women, the bones of animals, which were probably the
+remains of funeral feasts.</p>
+
+<p>As we have said the round-headed race introduced the circular barrow,
+and cremation was their usual, though not exclusive, practice. These
+people were much stronger and bigger men than their predecessors, their
+powerful jaws and projecting chins showing much more power of will than
+the softer narrow-faced dolichocephalic race. However, in the round
+barrows we also find the bodies of the latter, and we gather that they
+were not exterminated or driven out by their conquerors, but mingled
+with them, intermarried, until at length the type of the long-skulled
+race prevailed, and the Celt of later times possessed the features of
+the race he had formerly subdued. At least such seems to be the teaching
+of the barrows.</p>
+
+<p>The Celt became acquainted with the use of bronze, and his tomb was
+enriched with a store of the relics of the life and art of the
+workmanship of the time. As cremation was the usual practice, it was no
+longer necessary to have a chamber which the dead might inhabit; the
+size of the sleeping-place of the dead was reduced, and a cist was
+constructed for the receptacle of the urn in which the remains were
+placed. The mound also was reduced in size and looked much less imposing
+than the huge barrows of the Stone Age; but its contents were much more
+important.</p>
+
+<p>The ashes we find frequently contained in a rude urn of black pottery
+with some ornamentation. Then we discover pins made of bones, which were
+evidently used to fasten the dress. The people therefore were evidently
+not naked, woad-dyed savages; moreover we find bits of woollen fabric
+and charred cloth, and in Denmark people belonging to this same early
+race were buried in a cap, shirt, leggings, and boots, a fairly complete
+wardrobe. They also loved to adorn themselves, and had buttons of jet,
+and stone and bone ornaments. Besides flint implements we find adzes and
+hatchets and chisels, axe-hammers constructed with a hole in them for
+the insertion of a handle, grain rubbers, wheat stones, and hammer
+stones. The mounds also disclose a great variety of flint implements,
+hatchets, scrapers, both round and long, knife-daggers, knives, saws,
+drills, fabricators or flaking tools, sling stones, hammer stones,
+polishers, arrow-points, either leaf-shaped, triangular, or barbed, and
+heads of darts and javelins. A very curious object is sometimes found, a
+stone wrist guard, for the purpose of protecting the wrist from the bow
+string.</p>
+
+<p>These barrows and their contents bear evidences to the artistic
+workmanship of the prehistoric dwellers in our villages. Their tombs
+show that these people did not confine themselves to the fabrication of
+objects of utility, but that they loved to adorn themselves with
+personal ornaments, which required much art and skill in the
+manufacture. Necklaces of beads pleased their fancy, and these they made
+of jet, or shells, the teeth of deer, and the vertebrae of fish.
+Moreover they loved ear-rings, which were sometimes made of the teeth of
+pigs. Objects of gold, bronze, glass, ivory, amber, clay, and bone were
+also used as ornaments.</p>
+
+<a name="043"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="043.jpg (53K)" src="043.jpg" height="506" width="515">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+<p>If we examine the pottery in the barrows we find that a vessel of
+earthenware was usually placed at the back of the head of the body when
+it was not cremated. There were also cinerary urns, cups, usually called
+incense cups, which were certainly not used for incense, whatever may
+have been their purpose, food and drinking vessels. This pottery was not
+sun-dried, but burnt in a fire, though not made in a kiln, and the form
+of the vessels shows that the makers were ignorant of the use of a
+potter's wheel. The ornamentation consisted of a series of straight
+lines made by a sharp-pointed instrument and by impressions of the
+finger nails or string, often revealing much skill and artistic
+workmanship.</p>
+
+<p>From a study of the barrows we may learn much about the early inhabitants
+of our island, who lived and worked and died on the same spots where we
+now are spending our days. We can see them hunting in the wild woodlands,
+rearing cows and sheep and goats, and cultivating their crops of corn.
+We can still trace on the hillsides some curious terraces fashioned by
+them for the growing of their grain, and discover querns, or hand
+millstones, and stones for bruising the corn. The bones of young
+oxen a few days old, discovered in the mounds, show that they knew the
+use of milk, and how to get a good supply. A rude spindle-whorl shows
+that they knew how to weave stuffs for their clothing, and the numerous
+buttons, fasteners, and belts prove that the clothes were fitted to the
+wearer, and not mere shapeless sacks.</p>
+
+<p>The barrows also bear evidence to the existence of some organised
+condition of society. In the early savage state of human existence
+the family is the only community; but as man progressed towards
+civilisation, he learnt how to combine with his fellows for mutual
+defence and support. We gather from our examination of the tombs of
+these early races that they had attained to this degree of progress.
+There were chiefs of tribes and families who were buried with more
+honour than that bestowed upon the humbler folk. Many families were
+buried in one mound, showing that the tribal state had been reached,
+while the many humbler graves denote the condition of servitude and
+dependence in which a large number of the race lived. All this, and
+much more, may be learnt from a careful study of the tombs of these
+prehistoric people.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="4"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS</h3>
+
+<p>Pit dwelling earliest form of house-building&mdash;Discoveries at
+Bright-hampton, Worlebury&mdash;British oppida&mdash;Hurstbourne&mdash;Contents of
+pit dwelling&mdash;Pot-boilers&mdash;Condition of civilisation&mdash;Pile dwellings&mdash;
+Switzerland&mdash;Glastonbury&mdash;Hedsor&mdash;Crannogs&mdash;Modern use of pile
+dwellings&mdash;Description of a lake dwelling&mdash;Contents&mdash;Bronze Age&mdash;
+Recent discoveries at Glastonbury.</p>
+
+<p>
+We have examined in our last chapter the abodes of the dead; we will
+now investigate the abodes of the living which the earth has preserved
+for us for so many centuries. The age of the cave dwellers had long
+passed; and the prehistoric folk, having attained to some degree of
+civilisation, began to devise for themselves some secure retreats from
+inclement rains and cold winds. Perhaps the burrowing rabbit gave them
+an idea for providing some dwelling-place. At any rate the earliest and
+simplest notion for constructing a habitation was that of digging holes
+in the ground and roofing them over with a light thatch. Hence we have
+the pit dwellings of our rude forefathers.</p>
+
+<p>Many examples of pit dwellings have been found by industrious explorers.
+Some labourers when digging gravel at Brighthampton, near Oxford, came
+across several such excavations. They were simply pits dug in the earth,
+large enough to hold one or two persons, and from the sides of these
+pits a certain quantity of earth had been removed so as to form a seat.
+At the bottom of these a few rude flint arrow-heads were found. In the
+remarkable British oppidum at Worlebury, near Weston-super-Mare, several
+circular, well-like pits may be seen, fairly preserved in shape owing to
+the rocky nature of the ground in which they have been excavated. One in
+particular is very perfect, and about two feet from the bottom is a seat
+formed of the rock extending all round the pit.</p>
+
+<p>These ancient pit dwellings are usually surrounded by an earthen
+rampart. Caesar says that "the Britons called that a town where they
+used to assemble for the sake of avoiding an incursion of enemies, when
+they had fortified the entangled woods with a rampart and ditch." The
+remains of many of these oppida may still be seen in almost all parts of
+the country; and in most of these hollows are plainly distinguishable,
+which doubtless were pit dwellings; but owing to the sides having fallen
+in, they have now the appearance of natural hollows in the earth.</p>
+
+<p>At Hurstbourne, Hants, nine of these early habitations were discovered
+by the late Dr. Stevens, some of which were rudely pitched with flint
+stones, and had passages leading into the pit. A few flints irregularly
+placed together with wood ashes showed the position of the hearths,
+where cooking operations had been carried on. The sloping
+entrance-passages are peculiar and almost unique in England, though
+several have been met with in France. A rude ladder was the usual mode
+of entrance into these underground dwellings. Fragments of hand-made
+British pottery and the commoner kinds of Romano-British ware were
+found, and portions of mealing stones and also a saddle-quern, or
+grain-crusher, which instruments for hand-mealing must have been in
+common use among the pit dwellers. The grain was probably prepared by
+parching it before crushing; the hollow understone prevented the grain
+from escaping; and the muller was so shaped as to render it easily
+grasped, while it was pushed backwards and forwards by the hands.
+Similar stones are used at the present time by the African natives, as
+travellers testify.</p>
+
+<a name="048"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="048.jpg (25K)" src="048.jpg" height="259" width="449">
+</center>
+
+
+<p>One of the pits at Hurstbourne was evidently a cooking-hole, where the
+pit dwellers prepared their feasts, and bones of the Celtic ox (<i>bos
+longifrons</i>), pig, red deer, goat, dog, and hare or rabbit were found
+near it. One of the bones had evidently been bitten by teeth. The pit
+dwellers also practised some domestic industries, as Dr. Stevens found a
+needle, an awl or bodkin, and fragments of pointed bone, probably used
+for sewing skins together. A rude spindle-whorl shows that they knew
+something of weaving, and two bored stones were evidently buttons or
+dress-fasteners. A large supply of flint implements, scrapers, and
+arrow-heads, proves that the dwellings were inhabited by the Neolithic
+people before the Britons came to occupy them. I must not omit to notice
+the heating stones, or "pot-boilers." These were heated in the fire, and
+then placed among the meat intended to be cooked, in a hole in the
+ground which served the purpose of a cooking pot. I have found many such
+stones in Berkshire, notably from the neighbourhood of Wallingford and
+Long Wittenham. The writer of the <i>Early History of Mankind</i> states that
+the Assineboins, or stone-boilers, dig a hole in the ground, take a
+piece of raw hide, and press it down to the sides of the hole, and fill
+it with water; this is called a "paunch-kettle"; then they make a number
+of stones red-hot in a fire close by, the meat is put into the water,
+and the hot stones dropped in until it is cooked. The South Sea
+Islanders have similar primitive methods of cooking. The Highlanders
+used to prepare the feasts of their clans in much the same way; and the
+modern gipsies adopt a not very dissimilar mode of cooking their stolen
+fowls and hedgehogs.</p>
+
+<p>We can now people these cheerless primitive pit dwellings with their
+ancient inhabitants, and understand something of their manners of life
+and customs. Their rude abodes had probably cone-shaped roofs made of
+rafters lashed together at the centre, protected by an outside coat of
+peat, sods of turf, or rushes. The spindle-whorl is evidence that they
+could spin thread; the mealing stones show that they knew how to
+cultivate corn; and the bones of the animals found in their dwellings
+testify to the fact that they were not in the wild state of primitive
+hunters, but possessed herds of cows and goats and other domestic
+animals.</p>
+
+<p>Who were these people? Mr. Boyd Dawkins is of opinion that the early pit
+dwellers belonged to the Neolithic folk of whom I have already told you,
+as the flint implements testify. But these dwellings were evidently
+occupied by a later people. The querns and spindle-whorl probably
+belonged to the Celts, or Britons, before the advent of the Roman
+legions; and that these people were the inhabitants of the Hampshire pit
+dwellings is proved by the presence of a British gold coin which is
+recognised by numismatists as an imitation of the Greek stater of Philip
+II. of Macedon. According to Sir John Evans, the native British coinage
+was in existence as early as 150 years before Christ. Hence to this
+period we may assign the date of the existence of these Celtic primitive
+habitations.</p>
+
+<p>Pit dwellings were not the only kind of habitations which the early
+inhabitants of our country used, and some of our villages possess
+constructions of remarkable interest, which recent industrious digging
+has disclosed. These are none other than lake dwellings, similar to
+those first discovered in Switzerland about fifty years ago. Few of our
+villages can boast of such relics of antiquity. Near Glastonbury, in
+1892, in a dried-up ancient mere a lake village was discovered, which I
+will describe presently; and recently at Hedsor in Buckinghamshire a
+pile dwelling has been found which some learned antiquaries are now
+examining. In Ireland and Scotland there are found the remains of
+fortified dwellings called Crannogs in some of the lakes, as in Dowalton
+Loch, Wigtownshire, and Cloonfinlough in Connaught, but these belong to
+later times and were used in the Middle Ages.</p>
+
+
+<a name="051"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="051.jpg (18K)" src="051.jpg" height="181" width="486">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>In primitive times, when tribe warred with tribe, and every man's hand
+was against his fellow-man, and when wild and savage beasts roamed o'er
+moor and woodland, security was the one thing most desired by the early
+inhabitants of Europe. Hence they conceived the brilliant notion of
+constructing dwellings built on piles in the midst of lakes or rivers,
+where they might live in peace and safety, and secure themselves from
+the sudden attack of their enemies, or the ravages of beasts of prey.
+Switzerland is famous for its numerous clusters, or villages, of ancient
+lake dwellings, which were of considerable size. At Morges, on the Lake
+of Geneva, the settlement of huts extends 1,200 feet long by 150 in
+breadth; and that at Sutz on the Lake of Bienne covers six acres, and is
+connected with the shore by a gangway 100 feet long and 40 feet wide.
+Nor is the use of these habitations entirely abandoned at the present
+time. Venezuela, which means "little Venice," derives its name from the
+Indian village composed of pile dwellings on the shores of the Gulf of
+Maracaibo, as its original explorer Alonzo de Ojeda in 1499 chose to
+compare the sea-protected huts with the queen city of the Adriatic; and
+in many parts of South America, in the estuaries of the Orinoco and
+Amazon, such dwellings are still found, also among the Dyaks of Borneo,
+in the Caroline Islands, and on the Gold Coast of Africa. Herodotus
+describes similar dwellings on the Lake Prasias, existing in the fifth
+century B.C., and Lord Avebury states that now the Roumelian fishermen
+on the same lake "inhabit wooden cottages built over the water as in the
+time of Herodotus."</p>
+
+<p>These habitations of primitive man were built on piles driven into the
+bed of the lake or river. These piles were stems, or trunks of trees,
+sharpened with stone or bronze tools. A rude platform was erected on
+these piles, and on this a wooden hut constructed with walls of wattle
+and daub, and thatched with reeds or rushes. A bridge built on piles
+connected the lake village with the shore whither the dwellers used to
+go to cultivate their wheat, barley, and flax, and feed their kine and
+sheep and goats. They made canoes out of hollow trunks of trees. One of
+these canoes which have been discovered is 43 feet in length and over 4
+feet wide. The beams supporting the platform, on which the huts were
+erected, were fastened by wooden pins. Much ingenuity was exercised in
+the making of these dwellings. Sometimes they found that the mud of the
+lake was too soft to hold the piles; so they fashioned a framework of
+trunks of trees, which they let down to the bottom of the lake, and
+fastened the upright piles to it. Sometimes the rocky bed of the lake
+prevented the piles from being driven into it; so they heaped stones
+around the piles, and thus made them secure. The lake dwellers were very
+sociable, and had only one common platform for all the huts, which were
+clustered together. As all the actual dwellings have been destroyed by
+time's rude action, it is impossible to describe them accurately; but
+their usual size was about 20 feet by 12 feet. The floor was of clay,
+and in the centre of the building there was a hearth made of slabs of
+stone.</p>
+
+<p>The people who inhabited these structures belonged either to the later
+Stone Age, or the Bronze Age, as we learn from the relics which their
+huts disclose. In the earlier ones are found celts, flint flakes,
+arrow-heads, harpoons of stag's horn with barbs, awls, needles, chisels,
+and fish-hooks made of bone, and sometimes wooden combs, and skates made
+out of the leg-bone of a horse. Besides the remains of the usual
+domestic animals we find bones of the beaver, bear, elk, and bison.</p>
+
+<p>When the use of bronze was discovered the people still lived on in their
+lake dwellings. Fire often played havoc with the wooden wattle walls;
+hence we frequently find a succession of platforms. The first dwelling
+having been destroyed by flames, a second one was subsequently
+constructed; and this having shared the same fate, another platform with
+improved huts was raised upon the ruins of its predecessors. The relics
+of each habitation show that, as time went on, the pit dwellers advanced
+in civilisation, and increased the comforts and conveniences of life.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the dwellings of these early peoples belong to the Bronze Age,
+as do those of the Auvernier settlement in the Lake of Neuchatel; and
+these huts are rich in the relics of their former inhabitants. At Marin
+on the same lake the lake dwellers were evidently workers in iron; and
+the relics, which contain large spear-heads, shields, horse furniture,
+fibulas, and other ornaments, together with Roman coins, prove that they
+belonged to the period of which history tells us.</p>
+
+<p>I have described at length these Swiss lake dwellings, although they do
+not belong to the antiquities of our villages in England, because much
+the same kind of habitations existed in our country, though few have
+as yet been unearthed. Possibly under the peaty soil of some ancient
+river-bed, or old mere, long ago drained, you may be fortunate enough
+to meet with the remains of similar structures here in England. At
+Glastonbury a few years ago a lake village was discovered, which has
+created no small stir in the antiquarian world, and merits a brief
+description. Nothing was known of its existence previously; and this is
+an instance of the delightful surprises which explorers have in store
+for them, when they ransack the buried treasure-house of the earth,
+and reveal the relics which have been so long stored there.</p>
+
+<p>All that met the eyes of the diggers was a series of circular low
+mounds, about sixty in number, extending over an area of three acres.
+Imagine the delight of the gentlemen when they discovered that each of
+these mounds contained the remains of a lake dwelling which was
+constructed more than two thousand years ago.</p>
+
+<p>First they found above the soft peat, the remains of a lake long dried
+up, a platform formed of timber and brushwood, somewhat similar to the
+structures which we have seen in the Swiss lakes. Rows of small piles
+support this platform, and on it a floor of clay, or rather several
+floors. The clay is composed of several horizontal layers with
+intervening thin layers of decayed wood and charcoal, each layer
+representing a distinct floor of a dwelling. In the centre of each mound
+are the remains of rude hearths. The dwellings, of which no walls
+remain, were evidently built of timber, the crevices between the wood
+being filled with wattle and daub. In one of the mounds were found
+several small crucibles which show that the inhabitants knew how to work
+in metals. Querns, whetstones, spindle whorls, fibulae, and finger-rings
+of bronze, a horse's bit, a small saw, numerous implements of horn and
+bone, combs, needles, a jet ring and amber bead, all tell the tale of
+the degree of civilisation attained by these early folk. They worked in
+metals, made pottery and cloth, tilled and farmed the adjoining lands,
+and probably belonged to the late Celtic race before the advent of the
+Romans. These lake dwellers used a canoe in order to reach the mainland,
+and this primitive boat has been discovered. It is evidently cut out of
+the stem of an oak, is flat-bottomed, and its dimensions are 17 feet
+long, 2 feet wide, and 1 foot deep. The prow is pointed, and has a hole,
+through which doubtless a rope was passed, in order to fasten it to the
+little harbour of the lake village.</p>
+
+<p>It will be gathered that these people, whether dwelling in their pit or
+lake villages, showed so much capacity, industry, and social
+organisation, that even in the Neolithic Age they were far removed from
+a savage state, and a low condition of culture and civilisation. They
+showed great ingenuity in the making of their tools, their vessels of
+pottery, their ornaments, and clothing. They were not naked, woad-dyed
+savages. They could spin and weave, grow corn, and make bread, and had
+brought into subjection for their use domestic animals, horses and
+cattle, sheep and goats, and swine. They lived in security and comfort,
+and were industrious and intelligent; and it is interesting to record,
+from the relics which the earth has preserved of their civilisation, the
+kind of life which they must have lived in the ages which existed before
+the dawn of history.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="5"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS</h3>
+
+<p>Stone monuments&mdash;Traditions relating to them&mdash;Menhirs or hoar-stones&mdash;
+<i>Alignements</i>&mdash;Cromlechs&mdash;Stonehenge&mdash;Avebury&mdash;Rollright stones&mdash;Origin
+of stone circles&mdash;Dolmens&mdash;Earthworks&mdash;Chun Castle&mdash;Whittenham clumps&mdash;
+Uffington&mdash;Tribal boundaries&mdash;Roman rig&mdash;Grims-dike&mdash;Legends&mdash;Celtic
+words.</p>
+
+<p>
+Among the antiquities which some of our English villages possess, none
+are more curious and remarkable than the grand megalithic monuments of
+the ancient races which peopled our island. Marvellous memorials are
+these of their skill and labour. How did they contrive to erect such
+mighty monuments? How did they move such huge masses of stone? How did
+they raise with the very slender appliances at their disposal such
+gigantic stones? For what purpose did they erect them? The solution of
+these and many such-like problems we can only guess, and no one has as
+yet been bold enough to answer all the interesting questions which these
+rude stone monuments raise.</p>
+
+<p>Superstition has attempted to account for their existence. Just as the
+flint arrow-heads are supposed by the vulgar to be darts shot by fairies
+or witches which cause sickness and death in cattle and men, and are
+worn as amulets to ward off disease; just as the stone axes of early
+man are regarded as thunder bolts, and when boiled are esteemed as a
+sure cure for rheumatism, or a useful cattle medicine&mdash;so these stones
+are said to be the work of the devil. A friend tells me that in his
+childhood his nurse used to frighten him by saying that the devil lurked
+in a dolmen which stands near his father's house in Oxfordshire; and
+many weird traditions cluster round these old monuments.</p>
+
+
+<a name="058"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="058.jpg (24K)" src="058.jpg" height="417" width="348">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>In addition to the subterranean sepulchral chambers and cairns which we
+have already examined, there are four classes of megalithic structures.
+The first consists of single stones, called in Wales, Cornwall, and
+Brittany, <i>menhirs</i>, a name derived from the Celtic word <i>maen</i> or
+<i>men</i> signifying a stone, and <i>hir</i> meaning tall. In England they are
+known as "hoar-stones," <i>hoar</i> meaning a boundary, inasmuch as they
+are frequently used in later times to mark the boundary of an estate,
+parish, or manor. There is one at Enstone, Oxfordshire, and at
+Wardington, Warwickshire. Possibly they were intended to mark the graves
+of deceased chieftains.</p>
+
+<p>The second class consists of lines of stones, which the French call
+<i>alignements</i>. Frequently they occur in groups of lines from two to
+fourteen in number, Carnac, in Brittany, possesses the best specimen
+in Europe of this curious arrangement of giant stones.</p>
+
+<p>The third class of megalithic monuments is the circular arrangement,
+such as we find at Avebury and Stonehenge. These are now usually called
+cromlechs, in accordance with the term used by French antiquaries,
+though formerly this name was applied in England to the dolmens, or
+chambered structures, of which we shall speak presently. According to
+the notions of the old curator of Stonehenge the mighty stones stood
+before the Deluge, and he used to point out (to his own satisfaction)
+signs of the action of water upon the stones, even showing the direction
+in which the Flood "came rushing in." The Welsh bards say that they were
+erected by King Merlin, the successor of Vortigern; and Nennius states
+that they were erected in memory of four hundred nobles, who were
+treacherously slain by Hengist, when the savage Saxons came. There is
+no need to describe these grand circles of huge stones which all
+antiquaries have visited.</p>
+
+<p>The cromlech at Avebury covers a larger area than that of Stonehenge,
+the circle being about 1,300 feet in diameter. There is a fine circle
+at Rollright, in Oxfordshire, which is the third largest in England.
+The diameter of the circle is about 107 feet, and the stones numbered
+originally about sixty. Near the circle stand the Five Whispering
+Knights, five large stones leaning together, probably the remains of
+a dolmen, and a large solitary stone, or menhir. Popular tradition has
+woven a strange legend about these curious relics of bygone ages. A
+mighty chieftain once ruled over the surrounding country; but he was
+ambitious, and wished to extend his sway, and become King of England.
+So he mustered his army, and the oracle proclaimed that if he could
+once see Long Compton, he would obtain his desire. Having proceeded
+as far as Rollright, he was repeating the words of the oracle&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"If Long Compton I can see,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;King of England I shall be"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>when Mother Shipton, who had doubtless ridden on her broomstick from
+her Norfolk home, appeared and pronounced the fatal spell&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Move no more; stand fast, stone;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;King of England thou shall none."</p>
+
+<a name="060"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="060.jpg (102K)" src="060.jpg" height="624" width="871">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Immediately the king and his army were changed into stone, as if the
+head of Medusa had gazed upon them. The solitary stone, still called the
+King Stone, is the ambitious monarch; the circle is his army; and the
+Five Whispering Knights are five of his chieftains, who were hatching a
+plot against him when the magic spell was uttered. The farmers around
+Rollright say that if the stones are removed from the spot, they will
+never rest, but make mischief till they are restored. Stanton Drew, in
+Somersetshire, has a cromlech, and there are several in Scotland, the
+Channel Islands, and Brittany. Some sacrilegious persons transported a
+cromlech bodily from the Channel Islands, and set it up at Park Place,
+Henley-on-Thames. Such an act of antiquarian barbarism happily has few
+imitators.</p>
+
+<p>For what purpose were these massive stones erected at the cost of such
+infinite labour? Tradition and popular belief associate them with the
+Druids. Some years ago all mysterious antiquarian problems were solved
+by reference to the Druids. But these priests of ancient days are now
+out of fashion, and it is certainly not very safe to attribute the
+founding of the great stone circles to their agency. The Druidical
+worship paid its homage to the powers of Nature, to the nymphs and genii
+of the woods and streams, whereas the great stone circles were evidently
+constructed by sun-worshippers. There is no doubt among antiquaries that
+they are connected with the burial of the dead. Small barrows have been
+found in the centre of them. Dr. Anderson is of opinion that the stone
+circles were developed out of the hedge, or setting of stone, which
+frequently surrounds the base of a barrow, and was intended to keep the
+ghost in, and prevent it from injuring the living. By degrees the wall
+was increased in size while the barrow or cairn decreased; until at last
+a small mound of earth, or heap of stones, only marked the place of
+burial, and the huge circle of stones surrounded it. Stonehenge, with
+its well-wrought stones and gigantic trilitha, is much later than the
+circles of Avebury and Rollright, and was doubtless constructed by the
+people who used iron, about two hundred years before our era. The
+earlier circles have been assigned to a period eight or ten centuries
+before Christ.</p>
+
+<a name="062"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="062.jpg (60K)" src="062.jpg" height="411" width="629">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Many conjectures have been made as to how the huge capstones of the
+circle at Stonehenge were placed on the erect stones. Sir Henry Dryden
+thought that when the upright stones were set on end, earth or small
+stones were piled around them until a large inclined plane was formed,
+on which "skids" or sliding-pieces were placed. Then the caps were
+placed on rollers, and hauled up by gangs of men. Probably in some such
+way these wonderful monuments were formed.</p>
+
+<p>The last class of rude stone monuments is composed of dolmens, or
+chambered tombs, so named from the Welsh word <i>dol</i>, a table, and <i>maen</i>
+or <i>men</i>, a stone. They are in fact stone tables. Antiquaries of former
+days, and the unlearned folk of to-day, call them "Druids' altars," and
+say that sacrifices were offered upon them. The typical form is a
+structure of four or more large upright stones, supporting a large flat
+stone, as a roof. Sometimes they are covered with earth or stones,
+sometimes entirely uncovered. Some antiquaries maintain that they were
+always uncovered, as we see them now; others assert that they have been
+stripped by the action of wind and rain, and snow, frost, and thaw,
+until all the earth placed around them has been removed. Possibly
+fashions changed then as now; and it may console some of us that there
+was no uniformity of ritual even in prehistoric Britain. Dolmens contain
+no bronze or iron implements, or carvings of the same, and evidently
+belong to the time of the Neolithic folk.</p>
+
+<p>Among prehistoric remains none are more striking than the great camps
+and earthworks, which hold commanding positions on our hills and downs,
+and have survived during the countless years which have elapsed since
+their construction. Caesar's camps abound throughout England; it is
+needless to say that they had nothing to do with Caesar, but were made
+long years before the Conqueror ever set foot on British land. These
+early camps are usually circular in shape, or follow the natural curve
+of the hill on which they stand. Roman camps are nearly always square
+or rectangular. They consist of a high vallum, or rampart of earth,
+surrounded by a deep ditch, and on the <i>counterscarp</i>, or outside edge
+of the ditch, there is often another bank or rampart. The entrance to
+these strongholds was often ingeniously contrived, in order that an
+enemy endeavouring to attack the fortress might be effectually resisted.</p>
+
+<p>Chun Castle, in Cornwall, is an interesting specimen of ancient Celtic
+fortress. It consists of two circular walls separated by a terrace. The
+walls are built of rough masses of granite, some 5 or 6 feet long. The
+outer wall is protected by a ditch. Part of the wall is still about 10
+feet high. Great skill and military knowledge are displayed in the plan
+of the entrance, which is 6 feet wide in the narrowest part, and 16 in
+the widest, where the walls diverge and are rounded off on either side.
+The space within the fortress is about 175 feet in diameter. The
+Herefordshire Beacon on the Malvern Hills is a fine example of a
+triple-ramparted Celtic camp.</p>
+
+<a name="064"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="064.jpg (60K)" src="064.jpg" height="522" width="483">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>In Berkshire we have the well-known Whittenham Clumps, the Sinodun
+of the Celts, on the summit of which there is a famous camp, with a
+triple line of entrenchment, the mound and ditch being complete. The
+circumference of the fortress is over a mile. Berkshire and Oxfordshire
+are very rich in these camps and earthworks, which guard the course of
+the old British road called the Iknield Way. Hill-forts crown the tops
+of the hills; and the camps of Blewberry, Scutchamore Knob (a corruption
+of Cwichelm's law), Letcombe, Uffington, and Liddington, command the
+ancient trackway and bid defiance to approaching foes.</p>
+
+<p>The object of these camps was to provide places of refuge, whither the
+tribe could retire when threatened by the advent of its enemy. The Celts
+were a pastoral people; and their flocks grazed on the downs and
+hillsides. When their scouts brought news of the approach of a hostile
+force, some signal would be given by the blowing of a horn, and the
+people would at once flee to their fortress driving their cattle before
+them, and awaiting there the advent of their foes.</p>
+
+<p>At Uffington there is a remarkable relic of British times called the
+Blowing Stone, or King Alfred's Bugle-horn, which was doubtless used by
+the Celtic tribes for signalling purposes; and when its deep low note
+was heard on the hillside the tribe would rush to the protecting shelter
+of Uffington Castle. There, armed with missiles, they were ready to hurl
+them at the invading hosts, and protect their lives and cattle until all
+danger was past. Those who are skilled at the art can still make the
+Blowing Stone sound. The name, King Alfred's Bugle-horn, is a misnomer,
+and arose from the association of the White Horse Hill with the battle
+which Alfred fought against the Danes at Aescendune, which may, or may
+not, have taken place near the old British camp at Uffington. There are
+several White Horses cut out in the turf on the hillsides in Wiltshire,
+besides the famous Berkshire one at Uffington, celebrated by Mr. Thomas
+Hughes in his <i>Scouring of the White Horse</i>. We have also some turf-cut
+crosses at White-leaf and Bledlow, in Buckinghamshire. The origin of
+these turf monuments is still a matter of controversy. It is possible
+that they may be Saxon, and may be the records of Alfred's victories;
+but antiquaries are inclined to assign them to an earlier date, and
+connect them with the builders of cromlechs and dolmens. It is certainly
+improbable that, when he was busily engaged fighting the Danes, Alfred
+and his men would have found time to construct this huge White Horse.</p>
+
+<a name="066"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="066.jpg (19K)" src="066.jpg" height="340" width="506">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>In addition to the earthen mounds and deep ditch, which usually formed
+the fortifications of these ancient strongholds, there were wicker-work
+stockades, or palisading, arranged on the top of the vallum. Such
+defences have been found at Uffington; and during the present year on
+the ancient fortifications of the old Calleva Atrebatum, afterwards the
+Roman Silchester, a friend of the writer has found the remains of
+similar wattle-work stockades. Evidently tribal wars and jealousies were
+not unknown in Celtic times, and the people knew how to protect
+themselves from their foes.</p>
+
+<p>Another important class of earthen ramparts are the long lines of
+fortifications, which extend for miles across the country, and must have
+entailed vast labour in their construction. These ramparts were
+doubtless tribal boundaries, or fortifications used by one tribe against
+another. There is the Roman rig, which, as Mrs. Armitage tells us in her
+<i>Key to English Antiquities</i>, coasts the face of the hills all the way
+from Sheffield to Mexborough, a distance of eleven miles. A Grims-dike
+(or Grims-bank, as it is popularly called) runs across the southern
+extremity of Oxfordshire from Henley to Mongewell, ten miles in length;
+and near it, and parallel to it, there is a Medlers-bank, another
+earthen rampart, exceeding it in length by nearly a third. Near
+Salisbury there is also a Grims-dike, and in Cambridgeshire and
+Cheshire. Danes' Dike, near Flamborough Head, Wans-dike, and Brokerley
+Dike are other famous lines of fortifications.</p>
+
+<p>There are twenty-two Grims-dikes in England. The name was probably
+derived from Grim, the Saxon devil, or evil spirit; and was bestowed
+upon these mysterious monuments of an ancient race which the Saxons
+found in various parts of their conquered country. Unable to account for
+the existence of these vast mounds and fortresses, they attributed them
+to satanic agency.</p>
+
+<p>There is much work still to be done in exploring these relics of the
+prehistoric races; and if there should be any such in your own
+neighbourhood, some careful digging might produce valuable results.
+Perhaps something which you may find may throw light upon some disputed
+or unexplained question, which has perplexed the minds of antiquaries
+for some time. I do not imagine that the following legend will deter you
+from your search. It is gravely stated that years ago an avaricious
+person dug into a tumulus for some treasure which it was supposed to
+contain. At length after much labour he came to an immense chest, but
+the lid was no sooner uncovered than it lifted itself up a little and
+out sprang an enormous black cat, which seated itself upon the chest,
+and glowed with eyes of passion upon the intruder. Nothing daunted, the
+man proceeded to try to move the chest, but without avail; so he fixed a
+strong chain to it and attached a powerful team of horses. But when the
+horses began to pull, the chain broke in a hundred places, and the chest
+of treasure disappeared for ever.</p>
+
+<p>Some rustics assert that if you run nine times round a tumulus, and then
+put your ear against it, you will hear the fairies dancing and singing
+in the interior. Indeed it is a common superstition that good fairies
+lived in these old mounds, and a story is told of a ploughman who
+unfortunately broke his ploughshare. However he left it at the foot of a
+tumulus, and the next day, to his surprise, he found it perfectly whole.
+Evidently the good fairies had mended it during the night. But these
+bright little beings, who used to be much respected by our ancestors,
+have quite deserted our shores. They found that English people did not
+believe in them; so they left us in disgust, and have never been heard
+of since.</p>
+
+<p>If you have no other Celtic remains in your neighbourhood, at least you
+have the enduring possession of the words which they have bequeathed to
+us, such as <i>coat, basket, crook, cart, kiln, pitcher, comb, ridge</i>, and
+many others, which have all been handed down to us from our British
+ancestors. Their language also lives in Wales and Brittany, in parts of
+Ireland and Scotland, and in the Isle of Man, where dwell the modern
+representatives of that ancient race, which was once so powerful, and
+has left its trace in most of the countries of Europe.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="6"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>ROMAN RELICS</h3>
+
+<p>Roman remains numerous&mdash;Chedworth villa&mdash;Roads&mdash;Names derived from
+roads&mdash;<i>Itinerary</i> of Antoninus&mdash;British roads&mdash;Watling Street&mdash;Iknield
+Street&mdash;Ryknield Street&mdash;Ermyn Street&mdash;Akeman Street&mdash;Saltways&mdash;
+Milestones&mdash;Silchester&mdash;Its walls&mdash;Calleva&mdash;Its gardens and villas&mdash;
+Hypocausts&mdash;Pavements&mdash;Description of old city&mdash;Forum&mdash;Temple&mdash;Baths&mdash;
+Amphitheatre&mdash;Church&mdash;Roman villa.</p>
+
+<p>
+"The world's a scene of change," sings Poet Cowley; but in spite of all
+the changes that have transformed our England, the coming and going of
+conquerors and invaders, the lapse of centuries, the ceaseless working
+of the ploughshare on our fields and downs, traces of the old Roman life
+in Britain have remained indelible. Our English villages are rich in the
+relics of the old Romans; and each year adds to our knowledge of the
+life they lived in the land of their adoption, and reveals the treasures
+which the earth has tenderly preserved for so many years.</p>
+
+<p>If your village lies near the track of some Roman road, many pleasing
+surprises may be in store for you. Oftentimes labourers unexpectedly
+meet with the buried walls and beautiful tesselated pavements of an
+ancient Roman dwelling-place. A few years ago at Chedworth, near
+Cirencester, a ferret was lost, and had to be dug out of the rabbit
+burrow. In doing this some Roman <i>tesserae</i> were dug up; and when
+further excavations were made a noble Roman villa with numerous rooms,
+artistic pavements, hypocausts, baths, carvings, and many beautiful
+relics of Roman art were brought to light. Possibly you may be equally
+successful in your own village and neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>If you have the good fortune to live near a Roman station, you will
+have the pleasing excitement of discovering Roman coins and other
+treasures, when you watch your labourers draining the land or digging
+wells. Everyone knows that the names of many of the Roman stations
+are &nbsp;distinguished by the termination <i>Chester, caster</i>, or <i>caer</i>,
+derived from the Latin <i>castra</i>, a camp; and whenever we are in the
+neighbourhood of such places, imagination pictures to us the
+well-drilled Roman legionaries who used to astonish the natives with
+their strange language and customs; and we know that there are coins
+and pottery, <i>tesserae</i> and Roman ornaments galore, stored up beneath
+our feet, awaiting the search of the persevering digger. Few are the
+records relating to Roman Britain contained in the pages of the
+historians, as compared with the evidences of roads and houses, gates
+and walls and towns, which the earth has preserved for us.</p>
+
+<p>Near your village perhaps a Roman road runs. The Romans were famous for
+their wonderful roads, which extended from camp to camp, from city to
+city, all over the country. These roads remain, and are evidences of
+the &nbsp;great engineering skill which their makers possessed. They liked
+their roads well drained, and raised high above the marshes; they liked
+them to go straight ahead, like their victorious legions, and never swerve
+to right or left for any obstacle. They cut through the hills, and
+filled up the valleys; and there were plenty of idle Britons about,
+who could be forced to do the work. They called their roads <i>strata</i> or
+streets; and all names of places containing the word <i>street</i>, such as
+<i>Streatley</i>, or <i>Stretford</i>, denote that they were situated on one of
+these Roman roads.</p>
+
+<p>You may see these roads wending their way straight as a die, over hill
+and dale, staying not for marsh or swamp. Along the ridge of hills they
+go, as does the High Street on the Westmoreland hills, where a few
+inches below the grass you can find the stony way; or on the moors
+between Redmire and Stanedge, in Yorkshire, the large paving stones, of
+which the road was made, in many parts still remain. In central places,
+as at Blackrod, in Lancashire, the roads extend like spokes from the
+centre of a wheel, although nearly eighteen hundred years have elapsed
+since their construction. The name of Devizes, Wilts, is a corruption of
+the Latin word <i>divisae</i>, which marks the spot where the old Roman road
+from London to Bath was <i>divided</i> by the boundary line between the Roman
+and the Celtic districts.</p>
+
+<p>In order to acquire a knowledge of the great roads of the Romans we must
+study the <i>Itinerary</i> of Antoninus, written by an officer of the
+imperial Court about 150 A.D. This valuable road-book tells us the names
+of the towns and stations, the distances, halting-places, and other
+particulars. Ptolemy's <i>Geographia</i> also affords help in understanding
+the details of the <i>Itinerary</i>, and many of the roads have been very
+satisfactorily traced. The Romans made use of the ancient British ways,
+whenever they found them suitable for their purpose. The British roads
+resembled the trackways on Salisbury Plain, wide grass rides, neither
+raised nor paved, and not always straight, but winding along the sides
+of the hills which lie in their course. There were seven chief British
+ways: Watling Street, which was the great north road, starting from
+Richborough on the coast of Kent, passing through Canterbury and
+Rochester it crossed the Thames near London, and went on through
+Verulam, Dunstable, and Towcester, Wellington, and Wroxeter, and thence
+into Wales to Tommen-y-Mawr, where it divided into two branches. One
+ran by Beth Gellert to Caernarvon and Holy Head, and the other through
+the mountains to the Manai banks and thence to Chester, Northwich,
+Manchester, Ilkley, until it finally ended in Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>The second great British road was the way of the Iceni, or Iknield
+Street, proceeding from Great Yarmouth, running through Cambridgeshire,
+Bedfordshire, Bucks, and Oxon, to Old Sarum, and finishing its course at
+Land's End. We have in Berkshire a branch of this road called the
+Ridgeway.</p>
+
+<p>The Ryknield Street beginning at the mouth of the Tyne ran through
+Chester-le-Street, followed the course of the Watling Street to
+Catterick, thence through Birmingham, Tewkesbury, and Gloucester, to
+Caermarthen and St. David's.</p>
+
+<p>The Ermyn Street led from the coast of Sussex to the south-east part of
+Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>The Akeman Street ran between the Iknield and Ryknield Streets, and
+led from what the Saxons called East Anglia, through Bedford, Newport
+Pagnel, and Buckingham to Alcester and Cirencester, across the Severn,
+and ending at St. David's.</p>
+
+<p>The Upper Saltway was the communication between the sea-coast of
+Lincolnshire and the salt mines at Droitwich; and the Lower Saltway led
+from Droitwich, then, as now, a great centre of the salt trade, to the
+sea-coast of Hampshire. Traces of another great road to the north are
+found, which seems to have run through the western parts of England
+extending from Devon to Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the old British roads which existed when the Romans came. The
+conquerors made use of these ways, wherever they found them useful,
+trenching them, paving them, and making them fit for military purposes.
+They constructed many new ones which would require a volume for their
+full elucidation. Many of them are still in use, wonderful records of
+the engineering skill of their makers, and oftentimes beneath the
+surface of some grassy ride a few inches below the turf you may find
+the hard concreted road laid down by the Romans nearly eighteen hundred
+years ago. Roman milestones we sometimes find. There is one near
+Silchester, commonly called the Imp Stone, probably from the first three
+letters of the Latin word <i>Imperator</i>, carved upon it. Curious legends
+often cluster round these relics of ancient times. Just as the
+superstitious Saxons, when they saw the great Roman roads, made by a
+people who had long vanished from the land, often attributed these great
+works to evil spirits, and called parts of these well-made streets the
+Devil's Highway, so they invented a strange legend to account for the
+Imp Stone, and said that some giant had thrown it from the city, and
+left on it the marks of his finger and thumb.</p>
+
+<p>Our English villages contain many examples of Roman buildings. Where
+now rustics pursue their calling, and sow their crops and reap their
+harvests, formerly stood the beautiful houses of the Roman nobles, or
+the flourishing towns of Roman citizens. Upon the sites of most of these
+old-world places new towns have been constructed; hence it is difficult
+often to trace the foundations of Roman cities in the midst of the
+masses of modern bricks and mortar. Hence we fly to the villages; and
+sometimes, as at Silchester, near a little English village, we find the
+remains of a large, important, and flourishing town, where the earth has
+kept safely for us during many centuries the treasures and memories of a
+bygone age.</p>
+
+<p>Every student of Roman Britain must visit Silchester, and examine the
+collections preserved in the Reading Museum, which have been amassed by
+the antiquaries who have for several years been excavating the ruins.
+The city contained a forum, or marketplace, having on one side a
+basilica, or municipal hall, in which prisoners were tried, business
+transactions executed, and the general affairs of the city carried on.
+On the other side of the square were the shops, where the butchers,
+bakers, or fishmongers plied their trade. You can find plenty of oyster
+shells, the contents of which furnished many a feast to the Romans who
+lived there seventeen hundred years ago. The objects which have been
+found tell us how the dwellers in the old city employed themselves,
+and how skilful they were in craftsmanship. Amongst other things we
+find axes, chisels, files for setting saws, hammers, a large plane, and
+other carpenters' tools; an anvil, a pair of tongs, and blacksmiths'
+implements; shoemakers' anvils, very similar to those used in our day,
+a large gridiron, a standing lamp, safety-pins, such as ladies use now,
+and many other useful and necessary objects.</p>
+
+<p>In order to protect the city it was surrounded by high walls, which seem
+to defy all the attacks of time. They are nine feet in thickness, and
+are still in many places twenty feet high. Outside the wall a wide ditch
+added to the strength of the fortifications. Watch-towers were placed at
+intervals along the walls; and on the north, south, east, and west sides
+were strongly fortified gates, with guard chambers on each side, and
+arched entrances through which the Roman chariots were driven.</p>
+
+<p>These walls inclose a space of irregular shape, and were built on the
+site of old British fortifications. Silchester was originally a British
+stronghold, and was called by them Calleva. The Celtic tribe which
+inhabited the northern parts of Hampshire was the Atrebates, who after a
+great many fights were subdued by the Romans about 78 A.D. Then within
+the rude fortifications of Calleva arose the city of Silchester, with
+its fine houses, temples, and baths, its strong walls, and gates, and
+streets, the great centre of civilisation, and the chief city of that
+part of the country.</p>
+
+<p>It is often possible to detect the course of Roman streets where now the
+golden corn is growing. On the surface of the roads where the ground is
+thin, the corn is scanty. Observation of this kind a few years ago led
+to the discovery of a Romano-British village at Long Whittenham, in
+Berks. In Silchester it is quite easy to trace the course of the streets
+by the thinness of the corn, as Leland observed as long ago as 1536. One
+is inclined to wonder where all the earth comes from, which buries old
+buildings and hides them so carefully; but any student of natural
+history, who has read Darwin's book on <i>Worms</i>, will cease to be
+astonished. It is chiefly through the action of these useful creatures
+that soil accumulates so greatly on the sites of ancient buildings.</p>
+
+<a name="077"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="077.jpg (48K)" src="077.jpg" height="440" width="412">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+<p>Within the walls of Silchester were gardens and villas replete with all
+the contrivances of Roman luxury. The houses were built on three sides
+of a square court. A cloister ran round the court, supported by pillars.
+The open space was used as a garden. At the back of the house were the
+kitchens and apartments for the slaves and domestics. The Romans adapted
+their dwellings to the climate in which they lived. In the sunny south,
+at Pompeii, the houses were more open, and would be little suited to our
+more rigorous climate. They knew how to make themselves comfortable,
+built rooms well protected from the weather, and heated with hypocausts.
+These were furnaces made beneath the house, which generated hot air; and
+this was admitted into the rooms by earthenware flue-tiles. The dwellers
+had both summer and winter apartments; and when the cold weather arrived
+the hypocaust furnaces were lighted, and the family adjourned to their
+winter quarters.</p>
+
+<p>The floors were made of <i>tesserae</i>, or small cubes of different
+materials and various colours, which were arranged in beautiful
+patterns. Some of these pavements were of most elegant and elaborate
+designs, having figures in them representing the seasons, or some
+mythological characters.</p>
+
+<p>The walls were painted with decorations of very beautiful designs,
+representing the cornfields, just as the Roman artists in Italy loved to
+depict the vine in their mural paintings. The mortar used by the Romans
+is very hard and tenacious, and their bricks were small and thin,
+varying from 8 inches square to 18 inches by 12, and were about 2 inches
+in thickness. Frequently we find the impression of an animal's foot on
+these bricks and tiles, formed when they were in a soft state before
+they were baked, and one tile recently found had the impression of a
+Roman baby's foot. Roman bricks have often been used by subsequent
+builders, and are found built up in the masonry of much later periods.</p>
+
+<a name="079"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="079.jpg (8K)" src="079.jpg" height="214" width="274">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>It is quite possible to build up in imagination the old Roman city, and
+to depict before our mind's eye the scenes that once took place where
+now the rustics toil and till the ground. We enter the forum, the great
+centre of the city, the common resort and lounging-place of the
+citizens, who met together to discuss the latest news from Rome, to
+transact their business, and exchange gossip. On the west side stood the
+noble basilica, or hall of justice&mdash;a splendid building, its entrance
+being adorned with fine Corinthian columns; and slabs of polished
+Purbeck marble, and even of green and white marble from the Pyrenees,
+covered the walls. It was a long rectangular hall, 233 feet in length by
+58 feet in width, and at each side was a semicircular apse, which was
+called the Tribune. Here the magistrate sat to administer justice, or an
+orator stood to address the citizens. In the centre of the western wall
+was another apse, where the <i>curia</i> met for the government of the city.
+Two rows of columns ran down the hall, dividing it into a nave with two
+aisles, like many of our churches. Indeed the form of the construction
+of our churches was taken from these Roman basilica. Several chambers
+stood on the west of the hall, one of which was another fine hall,
+probably used as a corn exchange. The height of this noble edifice, the
+roof of which was probably hidden by a coffered ceiling, must have been
+about fifty-seven feet.</p>
+
+<p>Passing along the main street towards the south gate we come to the
+foundations of a nearly circular temple. Two square-shaped buildings
+stood on the east of the city, which were probably temples for some
+Gaulish form of religion, as similar sacred buildings have been
+discovered in France. A quadrangle of buildings near the south gate,
+having various chambers, contained the public baths, whither the Romans
+daily resorted for gossip and discussion as well as for bathing. There
+is an ingenious arrangement for using the waste water for the purpose of
+flushing the drains and sewers. Nor were they ignorant of the invention
+of a force-pump, as the accompanying illustration on the next page
+shows.</p>
+
+<a name="081"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="081.jpg (100K)" src="081.jpg" height="1000" width="650">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+<p>The amphitheatre stands outside the gate, whither the citizens flocked
+to see gladiatorial displays or contests between wild beasts. With the
+exception of one at Dorchester, it is the largest in Britain. It is made
+of lofty banks of earth, which surround the arena, and must have been an
+imposing structure in the days of its glory, with its tiers of seats
+rising above the level arena. It is difficult to imagine this
+grass-covered slope occupied by a gay crowd of Romans and wondering
+Britons, all eagerly witnessing some fierce fight of man with man, or
+beast with beast, and enthusiastically revelling in the sanguinary
+sport. The modern rustics, who have no knowledge of what was the
+original purpose of "the Mount," as they name the amphitheatre, still
+call the arena "the lions' den."</p>
+
+<p>Silchester was a very busy place. There were dye works there, as the
+excavations show; hence there must have been some weaving, and therefore
+a large resident population. Throngs of travellers used to pass through
+it, and carts and baggage animals bore through its streets the
+merchandise from London, which passed to the cities and villas so
+plentifully scattered in western Britain.</p>
+
+<p>By far the most important of the discoveries made in Roman Britain is
+the little church which stood just outside the forum. It is very similar
+in form to the early churches in Italy and other parts of the Roman
+Empire, and is of the basilican type. The orientation is different from
+that used after the reign of Constantine, the altar being at the west
+end. The churches of S. Peter and S. Paul at Rome had the same
+arrangement; and the priest evidently stood behind the altar facing the
+congregation and looking towards the east at the time of the celebration
+of the Holy Communion. There is an apse at the west end, and the
+building is divided by two rows of columns into a nave and two aisles.
+The nave had probably an ambon, or reading-desk, and was mainly used by
+the clergy, the aisles being for the use of the men and women
+separately. A vestry stood at the western end of the north aisle. Across
+the eastern end was the narthex, or porch, where the catechumens stood
+and watched the service through the three open doors. Outside the
+narthex was the atrium, an open court, having in the centre the remains
+of the labrum, or laver, where the people washed their hands and faces
+before entering the church. We are reminded of a sermon by S.
+Chrysostom, who upbraided his congregation, asking them what was the use
+of their washing their hands if they did not at the same time cleanse
+their hearts by repentance. This interesting memorial of early
+Christianity was probably erected soon after the Emperor Constantine's
+Edict of Toleration issued in 313 A.D.</p>
+
+<p>But not only at Silchester and at other places, once the great centres
+of the Roman population, do we find Roman remains. In addition to the
+stations, camps, and towns, there were the villas of the rich Roman
+citizens or Gaulish merchants on the sunny slopes of many a hillside.
+Although hundreds of the remains of these noble houses have been
+discovered, there are still many to be explored.</p>
+
+<p>The villa consisted of the house of the proprietor, which occupied the
+centre of the little colony, together with the smaller houses of the
+servants and slaves, stables, cowsheds, mills, and granaries, and all
+the other usual outbuildings connected with a large estate. The main
+house was built around a central court, like an Oxford college; and
+resembled in architectural style the buildings which the excavations at
+Pompeii have disclosed. A corridor ran round the court supported by
+pillars, from which the rooms opened. In a well-defended town like
+Silchester the houses were usually built on three sides of the court;
+but the country villas, which had occasionally to be fortified against
+the attacks of wandering bands of outlaws and wild Britons, and the
+inroads of savage beasts, were usually built on all the four sides of
+the square court. They were usually of one story, although the existence
+of a force-pump in Silchester shows that water was laid on upstairs in
+one house at least. As the wells were less than thirty feet deep, a
+force-pump would not be needed to lift the water to the earth-level.
+Hence in some houses there must have been some upper chambers, a
+conclusion that is supported by the thickness of the foundations, which
+are far more substantial than would be required for houses of one story.
+The rooms were very numerous, often as many as sixty or seventy, and
+very bright they must have looked decorated with beautiful marbles and
+stuccoes of gorgeous hues, and magnificent pavements, statues and
+shrines, baths and fountains, and the many other objects of Roman luxury
+and comfort. The floors were made of <i>opus signinum</i>, such as the
+Italians use at the present day, a material composed of cement in which
+are embedded fragments of stone or brick, the whole being rubbed down to
+a smooth surface, or paved with mosaic composed of <i>tesserae</i>. In
+whatever land the Roman dwelt, there he made his beautiful tesselated
+pavement, rich with graceful designs and ever-enduring colours,
+representing the stories of the gods, the poetry of nature, and the
+legends of the heroes of his beloved native land. Here we see Perseus
+freeing Andromeda, Medusa's locks, Bacchus and his band of revellers,
+Orpheus with his lyre, by which he is attracting a monkey, a fox, a
+peacock, and other animals, Apollo singing to his lyre, Venus being
+loved by Mars, Neptune with his trident, attended by hosts of seamen.
+The seasons form an accustomed group, "Winter" being represented, as at
+Brading, by a female figure, closely wrapped, holding a lifeless bough
+and a dead bird. Satyrs and fauns, flowers, Graces and wood-nymphs,
+horns of plenty, gladiators fighting, one with a trident, the other with
+a net&mdash;all these and countless other fanciful representations look at us
+from these old Roman pavements. The Roman villa at Brading is an
+excellent type of such a dwelling, with its magnificent suites of rooms,
+colonnades, halls, and splendid mosaic pavements. As at Silchester, we
+see there fine examples of hypocausts. The floor of the room, called a
+<i>suspensura</i>, is supported by fifty-four small pillars made of tiles.
+Another good example of a similar floor exists at Cirencester, and many
+more at Silchester.</p>
+
+
+<a name="085"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="085.jpg (104K)" src="085.jpg" height="497" width="470">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Here is a description of a Roman gentleman's house, as drawn by the
+writer of <i>The History of Oxfordshire</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"His villa lay sheltered from wild winds partly by the rising brow of
+the hill, and partly by belts of trees; it was turned towards the south,
+and caught the full sun. In the spring the breath of his violet beds
+would be as soft and sweet as in Oxfordshire woods to-day; in the summer
+his quadrangle would be gay with calthae, and his colonnade festooned
+with roses and helichryse. If we are to believe in the <i>triclinium
+aestivum</i> of Hakewill, it says much for the warmth of those far-away
+summers that he was driven to build a summer dining-room with a north
+aspect, and without heating flues. And when the long nights fell, and
+winter cold set in, the slaves heaped higher the charcoal fires in the
+<i>praefurnium</i>; the master sat in rooms far better warmed than Oxford
+country houses now, or sunned himself at midday in the sheltered
+quadrangle, taking his exercise in the warm side of the colonnade among
+his gay stuccoes and fluted columns. Could we for a moment raise the
+veil, we should probably find that the country life of 400 A.D. in
+Oxfordshire was not so very dissimilar to that of to-day, ... and that
+the well-to-do Roman of rustic Middle England was ... a useful,
+peaceful, and a happy person."</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="7"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES</h3>
+
+<p>Departure of Romans&mdash;Coming of Saxons&mdash;Bede&mdash;Saxon names of places&mdash;
+Saxon village&mdash;Common-field system&mdash;<i>Eorl</i> and <i>ceorl</i>&mdash;Thanes,
+<i>geburs</i>, and <i>cottiers</i>&mdash;Description of village life&mdash;Thane's
+house&mdash;<i>Socmen</i>&mdash;Ploughman's lament&mdash;Village tradesmen&mdash;Parish
+council&mdash;Hundreds&mdash;Shires.</p>
+
+<p>
+The scene changes. The Roman legions have left our shores, and are
+trying to prop the tottering state of the falling empire. The groans
+of the Britons have fallen on listless or distracted ears, and no one
+has come to their succour. The rule of the all-swaying Roman power has
+passed away, and the Saxon hordes have poured over the hills and vales
+of rural Britain, and made it the Angles' land&mdash;our England.</p>
+
+<p>The coming of the Saxons was a very gradual movement. They did not
+attack our shores in large armies on one or two occasions; they came
+in clans or families. The head of the clan built a ship, and taking
+with him his family and relations, founded a settlement in wild Britain,
+or wherever the winds happened to carry them. They were very fierce
+and relentless in war, and committed terrible ravages on the helpless
+Britons, sparing neither men, women, nor children, burning buildings,
+destroying and conquering wherever they went.</p>
+
+<p>Bede tells the story of doings of the ruthless Saxons:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The barbarous conquerors ... plundered all the neighbouring cities and
+country, spread the conflagration from the eastern to the western sea
+without any opposition, and covered almost every part of the devoted
+island. Public as well as private structures were overturned; the
+priests were everywhere slain before the altars; the prelates and
+the people, without any respect of persons, were destroyed with fire
+and sword; nor was there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly
+slaughtered. Some of the miserable remainder, being taken in the
+mountains, were butchered in heaps. Others, spent with hunger, came
+forth and submitted themselves to the enemy for food, being destined
+to undergo perpetual servitude, if they were not killed even upon the
+spot. Some, with sorrowful hearts, fled beyond the seas; others,
+continuing in their own country, led a miserable life among the woods,
+rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food to support life, and
+expecting every moment to be their last."</p>
+
+<p>Many antiquaries believe that the extirpation of the Britons was not so
+complete as Bede asserts, and that a large number of them remained in
+England in a condition of servitude. At any rate, the almost entire
+extinction of the language, except as regards the names of a few rivers
+and mountains, and of a few household words, seems to point to a fairly
+complete expulsion of the Britons rather than to a mingling of them with
+the conquering race.</p>
+
+<p>What remains have we in our English villages of our Saxon forefathers,
+the makers of England? In the first place we notice that many of the
+names of our villages retain the memory of their founders. When the
+family, or group of families, formed their settlements, they avoided the
+buildings and walled towns, relics of Roman civilisation, made clearings
+for themselves in the primeval forests, and established themselves in
+village communities. In the names of places the suffix <i>ing</i>, meaning
+<i>sons of</i>, denotes that the village was first occupied by the clan of
+some chief, whose name is compounded with this syllable <i>ing</i>. Thus the
+Uffingas, the children of Offa, formed a settlement at Uffinggaston, or
+Uffington; the Redingas, or sons of Rede, settled at Reading; the
+Billings at Billinge and Billingham; the Wokings or Hocings, sons of
+Hoc, at Woking and Wokingham. The Billings and Wokings first settled at
+Billinge and Woking; and then like bees they swarmed, and started
+another hive of industry at Billingham and Wokingham.</p>
+
+<p>These family settlements, revealed to us by the patronymic <i>ing</i>, are
+very numerous. At Ardington, in Berkshire, the Ardings, the royal race
+of the Vandals, settled; the Frankish Walsings at Wolsingham; the
+Halsings at Helsington; the Brentings at Brentingley; the Danish
+Scyldings at Skelding; the Thurings at Thorington; and many other
+examples might be quoted.</p>
+
+<p>Many Saxon names of places end in <i>field</i>, which denotes a forest
+clearing, or <i>feld</i>, made by the axes of the settlers in the primeval
+woods, where the trees were <i>felled</i>. These villages were rudely
+fortified, or inclosed by a hedge, wall, or palisade, denoted by the
+suffix <i>ton</i>, derived from the Anglo-Saxon <i>tynan</i>, to hedge; and all
+names ending with this syllable point to the existence of a Saxon
+settlement hedged in and protected from all intruders. Thus we have
+Barton, Preston, Bolton, and many others. The terminations <i>yard</i>,
+<i>stoke</i>, or stockaded place, as in Basingstoke, <i>worth</i> (Anglo-Saxon
+<i>weorthig</i>), as in Kenilworth, Tamworth, Walworth, have much the same
+meaning.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most common of all the terminations of names denoting the
+presence of Anglo-Saxon settlers is the suffix <i>ham</i>. When the <i>a</i> is
+pronounced short the syllable denotes an inclosure, like <i>stoke</i> or
+<i>ton</i>; but when the <i>a</i> is long, it means home, and expresses the
+reverence with which the Anglo-Saxon regarded his own dwelling. England
+is the land of homes, and the natural affection with which we Englishmen
+regard our homes is to a great extent peculiar to our race. The
+Frenchman, the Spaniard, the Italian, do not have the same respect for
+home. Our Saxon forefathers were a very home-loving people, and it is
+from them doubtless that we inherit our love for our homes.</p>
+
+<p>We find, then, the Saxon holding the lands. The clan formed settlements;
+sections of each clan formed branch settlements; and several members of
+each section cut their way through the thick forests, felled the trees,
+built homesteads, where they tilled the land and reared their cattle.</p>
+
+<p>In early Saxon times the settlement consisted of a number of families
+holding a district, and the land was regularly divided into three
+portions. There was the village itself, in which the people lived in
+houses built of wood or rude stonework. Around the village were a few
+small inclosures, or grass yards, for rearing calves and baiting farm
+stock; this was the common farmstead. Around this was the arable land,
+where the villagers grew their corn and other vegetables; and around
+this lay the common meadows, or pasture land, held by the whole
+community, so that each family could turn their cattle into it, subject
+to the regulations of an officer elected by the people, whose duty it
+was to see that no one trespassed on the rights of his neighbour, or
+turned too many cattle into the common pasture.</p>
+
+
+<a name="091"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="091.jpg (34K)" src="091.jpg" height="424" width="290">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Around the whole colony lay the woods and uncultivated land, which
+was left in its natural wild state, where the people cut their timber
+and fuel, and pastured their pigs in the glades of the forest. The
+cultivated land was divided into three large fields, in which the
+rotation of crops was strictly enforced, each field lying fallow once
+in three years. To each freeman was assigned his own family lot, which
+was cultivated by the members of his household. But he was obliged to
+sow the same crop as his neighbour, and compelled by law to allow his
+lot to lie fallow with the rest every third year. The remains of this
+common-field system are still evident in many parts of the country, the
+fields being termed "lot meadows," or "Lammas lands." Our commons, too,
+many of which remain in spite of numerous inclosures, are evidences of
+the communal life of our village forefathers.</p>
+
+<p>How long the Saxon villages remained free democratic institutions, we do
+not know. Gradually a change came over them, and we find the manorial
+system in vogue. Manors existed in England long before the Normans came,
+although "manor" is a Norman word; and in the time of Canute the system
+was in full force. The existence of a manor implies a lord of the manor,
+who exercised authority over all the villagers, owned the home farm, and
+had certain rights over the rest of the land. How all this came about,
+we scarcely know. Owing to the Danish invasions, when the rude barbarous
+warriors carried fire and sword into many a peaceful town and village,
+the villagers found themselves at the mercy of these savage hordes.
+Probably they sought the protection of some thane, or <i>eorl</i>, with his
+band of warriors, who could save their lands from pillage. In return for
+their services they acknowledged him as the lord of their village, and
+gave him rent, which was paid either in the produce of these fields or
+by the work of their hands. Thus the lords of the manor became the
+masters of the villagers, although they too were governed by law, and
+were obliged to respect the rights of their tenants and servants.</p>
+
+<p>Saxon society was divided into two main divisions, the <i>eorl</i> and the
+<i>ceorl</i>, the men of noble birth, and those of ignoble origin. The chief
+man in the village was the manorial lord, a <i>thane</i>, who had his demesne
+land, and his <i>gafol</i> land, or <i>geneat</i> land, which was land held in
+villeinage, and cultivated by <i>geneats</i>, or persons holding by service.
+These villein tenants were in two classes, the <i>geburs</i>, or villeins
+proper, who held the yardlands, and the <i>cottiers</i>, who had smaller
+holdings. Beneath these two classes there were the <i>theows</i>, or slaves,
+made up partly of the conquered Britons, partly of captives taken in
+war, and partly of freemen who had been condemned to this penalty for
+their crimes, or had incurred it by poverty.</p>
+
+<p>There were degrees of rank among Saxon gentlemen, as among those of
+to-day. The thanes were divided into three classes: (i.) those of royal
+rank (<i>thani regis</i>), who served the king in Court or in the management
+of State affairs; (ii.) <i>thani mediocres</i>, who held the title by
+inheritance, and corresponded to the lords of the manor in the later
+times; (iii.) <i>thani minores</i>, or inferior thanes, to which rank
+<i>ceorls</i> or merchants could attain by the acquisition of sufficient
+landed property.</p>
+
+<p>We can picture to ourselves the ordinary village life which existed in
+Saxon times. The thane's house stood in the centre of the village, not a
+very lordly structure, and very unlike the stately Norman castles which
+were erected in later times. It was commonly built of wood, which the
+neighbouring forests supplied in plenty, and had stone or mud
+foundations. The house consisted of an irregular group of low buildings,
+almost all of one story. In the centre of the group was the hall, with
+doors opening into the court. On one side stood the kitchen; on the
+other the chapel when the thane became a Christian and required the
+services of the Church for himself and his household. Numerous other
+rooms with lean-to roofs were joined on to the hall, and a tower for
+purposes of defence in case of an attack. Stables and barns were
+scattered about outside the house, and with the cattle and horses lived
+the grooms and herdsmen, while villeins and <i>cottiers</i> dwelt in the
+humble, low, shedlike buildings, which clustered round the Saxon thane's
+dwelling-place. An illustration of such a house appears in an ancient
+illumination preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 603. The lord and lady
+of the house are represented as engaged in almsgiving; the lady is thus
+earning her true title, that of "loaf-giver," from which her name "lady"
+is derived.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="094"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="094.jpg (76K)" src="094.jpg" height="427" width="509">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The interior of the hall was the common living-room for both men and
+women, who slept on the reed-strewn floor, the ladies' sleeping-place
+being separated from the men's by the arras. The walls were hung with
+tapestry, woven by the skilled fingers of the ladies of the household. A
+peat or log fire burned in the centre of the hall, and the smoke hid the
+ceiling and finally found its way out through a hole in the roof. Arms
+and armour hung on the walls, and the seats consisted of benches called
+"mead-settles," arranged along the sides of the hall, where the Saxon
+chiefs sat drinking their favourite beverage, mead, or sweetened beer,
+out of the horns presented to them by the waiting damsels. When the hour
+for dinner approached, rude tables were laid on trestles, and forthwith
+groaned beneath the weight of joints of meat and fat capons which the
+Saxon loved dearly. The door of the hall was usually open, and thither
+came the bards and gleemen, who used to delight the company with their
+songs and stories of the gallant deeds of their ancestors, the weird
+legends of their gods Woden and Thor, their Viking lays and Norse sagas,
+and the acrobats and dancers astonished them with their strange
+postures.</p>
+
+<p>Next to the thane ranked the <i>geburs</i>, who held land granted to them by
+the thane for their own use, sometimes as much as one hundred and twenty
+acres, and were required to work for the lord on the home farm two or
+three days a week, or pay rent for their holdings. This payment
+consisted of the produce of the land. They were also obliged to provide
+one or more oxen for the manorial plough team, which consisted of eight
+oxen.</p>
+
+<p>There was also a strong independent body of men called <i>socmen</i>, who
+were none other than our English yeomen. They were free tenants, who
+have by their independence stamped with peculiar features both our
+constitution and our national character. Their good name remains;
+English yeomen have done good service to their country, and let us hope
+that they will long continue to exist amongst us, in spite of the
+changed condition of English agriculture and the prolonged depression in
+farming affairs, which has tried them severely.</p>
+
+
+<a name="096"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="096.jpg (57K)" src="096.jpg" height="347" width="910">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Besides the <i>geburs</i> and <i>socmen</i> there were the <i>cottiers</i>, who had
+small allotments of about five acres, kept no oxen, and were required to
+work for the thane some days in each week. Below them were the <i>theows</i>,
+serfs, or slaves, who could be bought and sold in the market, and were
+compelled to work on the lord's farm.</p>
+
+<p>Listen to the sad lament of one of this class, recorded in a dialogue of
+AElfric of the tenth century:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What sayest thou, ploughman? How dost thou do thy work?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my lord, hard do I work. I go out at daybreak, driving the oxen to
+field, and I yoke them to the plough. Nor is it ever so hard winter that
+I dare loiter at home, for fear of my lord, but the oxen yoked, and the
+ploughshare and the coulter fastened to the plough, every day must I
+plough a full acre, or more."</p>
+
+<p>"Hast thou any comrade?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have a boy driving the oxen with an iron goad, who also is hoarse
+with cold and shouting."</p>
+
+<p>"What more dost thou in the day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Verily then I do more. I must fill the bin of the oxen with hay, and
+water them, and carry out the dung. Ha! Ha! hard work it is, hard work
+it is! because <i>I am not free.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Evidently the ploughman's want of freedom was his great hardship; his
+work in ploughing, feeding, and watering his cattle, and in cleansing
+their stable, was not harder than that of an ordinary carter in the
+present day; but servitude galled his spirit, and made the work
+intolerable. Let us hope that his lord was a kind-hearted man, and gave
+him some cattle for his own, as well as some land to cultivate, and then
+he would not feel the work so hard, or the winter so cold.</p>
+
+<p>Frequently men were thus released from slavery; sometimes also freemen
+sold themselves into slavery under the pressure of extreme want. A man
+so reduced was required to lay aside his sword and lance, the symbols
+of the free, and to take up the bill and the goad, the implements of
+slavery, to fall on his knees and place his head, in token of submission,
+under the hands of his master.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="098"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="098.jpg (42K)" src="098.jpg" height="515" width="380">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Each trade was represented in the village community. There were the
+<i>faber</i>, or smith, and the carpenter, who repaired the ironwork and
+woodwork of the ploughs and other agricultural implements, and in return
+for their work had small holdings among the tenants free from ordinary
+services. There was the <i>punder</i>, or pound-man, who looked after the
+repair of the fences and impounded stray cattle; the <i>cementarius</i>, or
+stonemason; the <i>custos apium</i>, or bee-keeper, an important person, as
+much honey was needed to make the sweetened ale, or mead, which the
+villagers and their chiefs loved to imbibe; and the steward, or
+<i>prepositus</i>, who acted on behalf of the lord, looked after the
+interests of the tenants, and took care that they rendered their legal
+services. The surnames Smith, Baker, Butcher, Carter, and many others,
+preserve the remembrance of the various trades which were carried on in
+every village, and of the complete self-dependence of the community.</p>
+
+<p>We have inherited many customs and institutions from our Saxon
+forefathers, which connect our own age with theirs. In recent years we
+have established parish councils in our villages. Formerly the pet
+theory of politicians was centralisation; everything had to be done at
+one centre, at one central office, and London became the head and centre
+of all government. But recently politicians thought that they had
+discovered a new plan for carrying on the internal affairs of the
+country, and the idea was to leave each district to manage its own
+affairs. This is only a return to the original Saxon plan. In every
+village there was a moot-hill, or sacred tree, where the freemen met to
+make their own laws and arrange their agricultural affairs. Here
+disputes were settled, plough lands and meadow lands shared in due lot
+among the villagers, and everything arranged according to the custom of
+the village.</p>
+
+<p>Our county maps show that the shires are divided into hundreds. This we
+have inherited from our Saxon forefathers. In order to protect
+themselves from their neighbours, the Saxon colonists arranged
+themselves in hundreds of warriors. This little army was composed of
+picked champions, the representatives of a hundred families; men who
+were ready in case of war to uphold the honour of their house, and to
+fight for their hearths and homes. These hundred families recognised a
+bond of union with each other and a common inheritance, and ranged
+themselves under one name for general purposes, whether for defence,
+administration of justice, or other objects.</p>
+
+<p>On a fixed day, three times a year, in some place where they were
+accustomed to assemble&mdash;under a particular tree,[<a href="#b1">1</a>] or near some
+river-bank&mdash;these hundred champions used to meet their chieftain, and
+gather around him when he dismounted from his horse. He then placed his
+spear in the ground, and each warrior touched it with his own spear in
+token of their compact, and pledged himself to mutual support. At this
+assembly criminals were tried, disputes settled, bargains of sale
+concluded; and in later times many of these transactions were inserted
+in the chartularies of abbeys or the registers of bishops, which thus
+became a kind of register too sacred to be falsified. A large number of
+the hundreds bear the name of some chieftain who once used to call
+together his band of bearded, light-haired warriors and administer rude
+justice beneath a broad oak's shade.[<a href="#b2">2</a>] Others are named after some
+particular spot, some tree, or ford, or stone, or tumulus, where the
+hundred court met.</p>
+
+<p>Our counties or shires were not formed, as is popularly supposed, by
+King Alfred or other royal person by the dividing up of the country into
+portions, but were the areas occupied by the original Saxon tribes or
+kingdoms. Most of our counties retain to this day the boundaries which
+were originally formed by the early Saxon settlers. Some of our counties
+were old Saxon kingdoms&mdash;such as Sussex, Essex, Middlesex&mdash;the kingdoms
+of the South, East, and Middle Saxons. Surrey is the Sothe-reye, or
+south realm; Kent is the land of the Cantii, a Belgic tribe; Devon is
+the land of the Damnonii, a Celtic tribe; Cornwall, or Corn-wales, is
+the land of the Welsh of the Horn; Worcestershire is the shire of the
+Huiccii; Cumberland is the land of the Cymry; Northumberland is the land
+north of the Humber, and therefore, as its name implies, used to extend
+over all the North of England. Evidently the southern tribes and
+kingdoms by conquest reduced the size of this large county and confined
+it to its present smaller dimensions. In several cases the name of the
+county is derived from that of its chief town, <i>e.g.</i> Oxfordshire,
+Warwickshire; these were districts which were conquered by some powerful
+earl or chieftain, who held his court in the town, and called his newly
+acquired property after its name.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen the picture of an ordinary English village in early Saxon
+times, the villeins and slaves working in the fields and driving their
+oxen, and the thane dressed in his linen tunic and short cloak, his hose
+bandaged to the knee with strips of cloth, superintending the farming
+operations. We have seen the freemen and thanes taking an active part in
+public life, attending the courts of the hundred and shire, as well as
+the folk moot or parish council of those times, and the slave mourning
+over his lack of freedom. But many other relics of Saxon times remain,
+and these will require another chapter for their examination.</p>
+<a name="b1"></a>
+<p>
+[1] Until the eighteenth century there stood a pollard oak in the parish
+of Shelford, Berks, where the hundred court used to be held.</p>
+
+
+<a name="b2"></a>
+<p>[2] Other theories with regard to the origin of the hundred have been
+suggested. Some writers maintain that the hundred was a district whence
+the hundred warriors were derived, or a group of townships. But the
+Bishop of Oxford in his <i>Constitutional History</i> states: "It is very
+probable that the colonists of Britain arranged themselves in hundreds
+of warriors; it is not probable that the country was carved into equal
+districts. The only conclusion that seems reasonable is that under the
+name of geographical hundreds we have the variously sized <i>pagi</i>, or
+districts, in which the hundred warriors settled, the boundaries of
+these being determined by other causes."</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="8"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>SAXON RELICS</h3>
+
+<p>Peculiarities of Saxon barrows&mdash;Their contents&mdash;Weapons&mdash;Articles
+of personal adornment&mdash;Cremation&mdash;Saxon Cemeteries&mdash;Jutes&mdash;Saxons&mdash;
+Angles&mdash;Religion of Saxons&mdash;British Church in Wales&mdash;Conversion
+of Saxons&mdash;Saxon crosses&mdash;Whalley&mdash;St. Wilfrid&mdash;Ruthwell cross&mdash;
+Bewcastle cross&mdash;Eyam cross&mdash;Ilkley cross&mdash;Hexham cross&mdash;Cross at
+St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland&mdash;Cheeping crosses&mdash;Pilgrim crosses.</p>
+
+<p>
+The earth has preserved a vast store of relics of the Saxons, and for
+these we must search in the barrows which contain their dead. There are
+certain peculiarities which characterise these memorials of the race.
+The larger tumuli, whether belonging to Celt or Roman, usually stand
+alone, or in groups of not more than two or three, and were the
+monuments of distinguished people; whereas the Saxon barrows form a
+regular cemetery, each group being the common burying-place of the
+people in the district. Another characteristic is the large number of
+articles which they contain. Moreover it was the practice of the other
+races to lay the body on the ground, and build up the chamber and mound
+above it. The Saxons on the other hand laid the body in a deep grave
+before they began to construct the barrow.</p>
+
+<p>The body was usually stretched out on its back, but is sometimes found
+in a sitting position, as in graves recently discovered on Lord
+Wantage's estate, Berks. Coffins of hollowed trunks of trees were
+occasionally used, but these were not common. If the dead man was a
+warrior, his weapons were buried with him, and we find the head and
+spike of his spear, heads of javelins, a long iron broad-sword, a long
+knife, occasionally an axe, and over his breast the iron boss of his
+shield, the wooden part of which has of course decayed away.</p>
+<br>
+
+
+<a name="104"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="104.jpg (31K)" src="104.jpg" height="409" width="418">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The articles of personal adornment are very numerous. Fibulae, or
+brooches, and buckles, made of bronze, are very beautifully ornamented.
+Gold fibulae of circular form are found in the Kentish barrows,
+frequently ornamented with real or fictitious gems. Rings, bracelets,
+necklaces of beads, pendants for the neck and ears, are very common. The
+beads are of glass, or amber, or variegated clay. Hairpins with which
+the Saxon ladies bound up their tresses, chatelaines with tweezers for
+removing superfluous hairs, toothpicks, scissors, and small knives, are
+very frequent, and combs made of bone.</p>
+
+<p>When cremation was used the ashes were deposited in an urn made of rude
+earthenware without the help of a lathe. Drinking-vessels of glass of
+fine and delicate workmanship, pointed or rounded at the bottom, are
+common. From the construction of these cups it is evident that the Saxon
+allowed no "heel-taps." Bronze bowls, dishes, and basins are found in
+Saxon barrows, and occasionally buckets.</p>
+
+<p>A pair of dice was found in a grave at Kingston Down, which indicates a
+favourite pastime of the Saxons. The presence of a large number of Roman
+coins shows that they used Roman money long after the legions had left
+our shores. Sceattas, or Saxon silver coins, are also frequently
+discovered.</p>
+
+<p>Many Saxon cemeteries have been discovered in various parts of England,
+but a vast number have never been examined; and the careful inspection
+of the contents of barrows must throw much light upon Saxon settlements
+in England. Bede tells us that there were three different branches of
+this race. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons
+settled in Essex, the country of the East Saxons, Sussex, that of the
+South Saxons, and Wessex, of the West Saxons. The Angles settled in East
+Anglia. Now an examination of barrows shows that the Angles practised
+cremation and urn burial, which was not so common amongst the Jutes and
+Saxons, and the fibulae found in the tombs of these tribes differ
+considerably in shape and size. The contents of these graves throw much
+light on the history of the people, their customs and habits. The action
+of the plough has often obliterated the traces of ancient barrows. It is
+advisable that the position of all such mounds should be carefully noted
+and recorded, and where possible excavations made which may help in
+settling many vexed questions, and enable us to understand more fully
+the condition of the pagan Saxon, ere the light of Christianity had
+dawned upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Our names for the days of the week tell us of the gods of our Saxon
+forefathers, whom they worshipped in their pagan and unregenerate state.
+Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuisco's-day, Woden's-day, Thor's-day, Frya's-day,
+Saeter's-day, link us on to the times when these "whelps from the
+kennels of barbarism," as the Britons loved to call their conquerors,
+swept away the old British Church, and established their heathen rites
+and customs. Their religion resembled that of their Scandinavian
+neighbours. Each village had its sacred spot, some clearing in the
+forest, a tree, or well, whither the people resorted to pray to their
+gods, and practise superstitious rites and customs which lingered long
+after the introduction of Christianity, and even still survive. They had
+also a few temples whither the freemen came three times a year.</p>
+
+<p>Driven out of England the ancient British Church found a refuge in the
+wilds of Wales and Cornwall, where it lived on and flourished
+vigorously, allied to the Churches of Ireland and Scotland, sending out
+missionaries to the Continent of Europe, having schools and colleges,
+monasteries, and numerous churches. Llancarvan, in Glamorganshire, was a
+celebrated seat of learning; and all places named Bangor, such as
+Bangor-Iscaed, St. Asaph, and many others, possessed schools and
+colleges. The village names of numerous places in Wales and Cornwall
+record the labours of many earnest, saintly men, who brought
+Christianity to the savage folk in these wild regions. There are nearly
+five hundred names of these holy men in Wales alone, whose memory is
+retained by this simple record; and Cornwall is dotted over with
+churches dedicated to men and women whose names are strange, and of whom
+we know nothing. History tells us of some of these early saints and
+martyrs, of St. Alban, the first British martyr, who was slain 303 A.D.
+during the Diocletian persecution in the city which bears his name; of
+St. David, a Welsh prince, who followed the active life of John the
+Baptist, and preached like him. The memory of early saints is enshrined
+in the names, St. Ives, St. Neots, St. Bees, and in St. Edmund's Bury,
+named after St. Edmund, who was taken prisoner by Ingvar the Viking, and
+having been bound to a tree, was scourged, and served as a target for
+the arrows of the Danes, being afterwards beheaded. All these record the
+bravery and zeal of the holy men of old who loved their God, and for His
+sake feared not to die.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing need be said of the conversion of the English. That is a story
+which has been often told. The scene is again changed. The temples of
+Woden and Thor at Canterbury and Godmundingham and elsewhere, with their
+heathen altars and shrines and idols, have been changed into Christian
+churches, and other houses of God have been raised in the various
+kingdoms; while Paulinus, Berinus, Aidan, Winfrid, and other preachers,
+travelled through the country, exhorting the people to accept the
+Christian faith.</p>
+
+<p>Memorials of these early Christian missionaries remain in many a village
+churchyard. Often there stands near the village church an old stone
+cross, its steps worn away by the rains and frosts of thirteen
+centuries; its head has doubtless gone, broken off by the force of the
+gales, or by the wild rage of human passion and Puritanical iconoclastic
+zeal; but it preserves the memory of the first conversion of the Saxon
+villagers to Christianity, and was erected to mark the spot where the
+people assembled to hear the new preacher, and to consecrate it for this
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>In the life of St. Willibald we read that it was the custom of the Saxon
+nation, on the estates of some of their nobles or great men, to erect,
+not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God,
+beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common
+use of daily prayer. It is recorded also that St. Kentigern used to
+erect a cross in any place where he had converted the people, and where
+he had been staying for some time. Very probably the Saxon preacher
+would make use of the old open-air meeting-place, where the pagan
+villagers used to worship Woden; and thus the spots still used for
+public worship are in many cases the same which used to echo with the
+songs of Thor and the prayers of pagan Saxons.</p>
+
+<p>These crosses were the rallying-points for Christian congregations
+before churches arose, and the bells in their turrets summoned the
+people to the service of God. In Somersetshire alone there are two
+hundred relics of the piety of our forefathers; and the North of England
+and Scotland are especially rich in crosses. No two are ever quite
+similar. Some are of simple design or character; but many have such
+beautiful carving and scrollwork that we are astonished at the skill of
+the workmen who, with very simple and rude tools, could produce such
+wonderful specimens of art.</p>
+
+<p>The pagan Saxons worshipped stone pillars; so in order to wean them from
+their ignorant superstition, the Christian missionaries, such as St.
+Wilfrid, erected these stone crosses, and carved upon them the figures
+of the Saviour and His Apostles, displaying before the eyes of their
+hearers the story of the cross written in stone.</p>
+
+<p>The North of England has very many examples of the zeal of these early
+preachers of the faith, and probably most of them were fashioned by the
+monks and followers of St. Wilfrid, who was Archbishop of York at the
+beginning of the eighth century.</p>
+
+<p>When he travelled about his diocese a large body of monks and workmen
+attended him; and amongst these were the cutters in stone who made the
+crosses and erected them on the spots which Wilfrid consecrated to the
+worship of God.</p>
+
+<p>The Whalley cross is earlier than the time of Wilfrid. It is one of the
+crosses of Paulinus, who was one of the priests sent by Pope Gregory to
+help Augustine in the work of converting the Saxons, and who became
+Archbishop of York. Under the shadow of this very cross Paulinus, who
+came to England in 601 A.D., preached nearly thirteen hundred years ago.
+Indeed an old monkish writer wished to represent that Augustine himself
+came to Whalley and erected the cross, which he calls "St. Augustine's
+Cross"; but there is little doubt that Paulinus was the founder. In
+Puritan times this and other relics of early faith suffered badly, and
+was removed with two others from the churchyard, and used as a gatepost;
+but the spoiler repented, and restored it once more to its old
+resting-place.</p>
+
+<p>But how did the founders learn to make such beautiful patterns and
+designs? St. Wilfrid had travelled much; he had been to Rome and seen
+the wonderful examples of Roman skill in the great city. The Romans had
+left behind them in England their beautiful pavements, rich in designs,
+with splendid borders of fine workmanship. These, doubtless, the monks
+copied on parchment in the writing-rooms of their monasteries, and gave
+their drawings to the monks in the stone-shed, who reproduced them in
+stone. The only tool they had to produce all this fine and delicate work
+was the pick, and this increases our wonder at the marvels they were
+able to accomplish.</p>
+
+<p>There is a famous cross at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire, which for a short
+time formed part of the kingdom of Northumbria. Scenes from early
+Christian history are portrayed, and these are surrounded by bands with
+sentences in Latin describing them. The lowest panel is too defaced for
+us to determine the subjects; on the second we see the flight into
+Egypt; on the third figures of Paul, the first hermit, and Anthony, the
+first monk, are carved; on the fourth is a representation of our Lord
+treading under foot the heads of swine; and on the highest there is the
+figure of John the Baptist with the Lamb. On the opposite side are the
+Annunciation, the Salutation, and other scenes of gospel history. On the
+side of the cross is some beautiful scrollwork, which shows a wonderful
+development of skill and art.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to the Latin sentences there are five stanzas of an
+Anglo-Saxon poem of singular beauty. It is the story of the crucifixion
+told in touching words by the cross itself, which narrates its own sad
+tale from the time when it was a growing tree by the woodside, until at
+length, after the body of the Lord had been taken down&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"The warriors left me there,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Standing defiled with blood."</p>
+
+<p>On the head of the cross are inscribed the words, "Caedmon made me."
+This Caedmon was the holy monk, on whom the gift of writing verses was
+bestowed by Heaven, who in the year 680 A.D. began to pour forth his
+songs in praise of Almighty God, and told in Anglo-Saxon poetry the
+story of the creation and the life of our Lord. The Bewcastle cross is
+somewhat similar to that at Ruthwell. We see again the figure of our
+Lord standing on the heads of swine, but the lower figure is represented
+with a hawk, the sign of nobility, and is probably that of a person to
+whom the cross is a memorial. The ornamentation on this cross is very
+perfect and beautifully executed. The very beautiful cross at Eyam, in
+Derbyshire, differs both in style and workmanship from almost any other.
+The shaft has evidently been broken. In the panels of the head of the
+cross are figures of angels.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes we find some very strange beasts carved on the old crosses. On
+the cross at Ilkley we observe some of these curious animals with their
+long tails interlacing. Sometimes the tail is wound round the creature's
+body, and the idea of the artist was to represent the animal reduced to
+a state of powerlessness. One forepaw is held up in sign of submission.
+Above is a figure of our Lord triumphing over the powers of evil, and
+these animals represent probably man's lower nature owning the supremacy
+of the King of Heaven. On the other side of the cross are figures of the
+four evangelists. The upper half of the figures alone appears dressed in
+flowing garments; each is carrying a book; circles of glory surround
+their heads, which are the symbols of the evangelists. St. Matthew has a
+man's head; St. Mark a leopard's; St. Luke's a calf's; and St. John an
+eagle's head.</p>
+
+<p>The crosses at Hexham, where Archbishop Wilfrid founded a monastery, are
+very ancient. We are able to tell the date of these stones, for they
+were placed at the head and feet of the grave of Bishop Acca, who was a
+follower of St. Wilfrid, and accompanied him on his missionary journeys.
+Acca succeeded Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham, and according to the old
+chronicler Bede, "being a most active man and great in the sight of God
+and man, he much adorned and added to his church." Acca died in 738
+A.D., and as the monastery of Hexham was soon destroyed, these crosses
+must have been erected eleven hundred and sixty-three years ago.</p>
+
+<p>The cross at St. Andrew's, Bishop Auckland, is of much later date, and
+the workmanship is not nearly so fine and delicate as in the earlier
+crosses. The Saxons had deteriorated as a race just before the Normans
+came, and although the cross still appears on the flat stone, the design
+on the shaft of the cross merely represents a hunting scene; and a Saxon
+bowman is shown shooting at some animals. The religious conceptions of
+an earlier and purer time have disappeared. The moustache of the
+sportsman also shows that the stone belonged to a period very near the
+Norman Conquest, when that fashion of wearing the hair was in vogue.</p>
+
+<p>England is remarkable for these specimens of ancient art. On the
+Continent there are very few of these elaborately carved crosses; but
+it is noteworthy that wherever the English or Irish missionaries went,
+they erected these memorials of their faith. In Switzerland, where
+they founded some monasteries, there are some very similar to those
+in England.</p>
+
+<p>There are several other kinds of crosses besides those in churchyards.
+There are market crosses, called "cheeping" crosses after the
+Anglo-Saxon <i>cheap</i>, to buy, from which Cheapside, in London, Chippenham
+and Chipping Norton derive their names. Some crosses are "pilgrim"
+crosses, and were erected along the roads leading to shrines where
+pilgrimages were wont to be made, such as the shrine of St. Thomas
+a Becket at Canterbury, Glastonbury, Our Lady of Walsingham. Sometimes
+they were erected at the places where the corpse rested on its way to
+burial, as the Eleanor crosses at Waltham and Charing, in order that
+people might pray for the soul of the deceased. Monks also erected
+crosses to mark the boundaries of the property of their monastery.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="114"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="114.jpg"><img alt="114h.jpg (26K)" src="114h.jpg" height="450" width="347"></a>
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Time has dealt hardly with the old crosses of England. Many of them
+were destroyed by the Puritans, who by the Parliamentary decree of
+1643, ordered that all altars and tables of stones, all crucifixes,
+images and pictures of God and the saints, with all superstitious
+inscriptions, should be obliterated and destroyed. In London, St.
+Paul's Cross, Charing Cross, and that in Cheapside, were levelled
+with the ground, and throughout the country many a beautiful work
+of art which had existed hundreds of years shared the same fate.
+Place-names sometimes preserve their memory, such as Gerard's Cross,
+in Buckinghamshire, Crosby, Crossens, Cross Inn, Croston; these and
+many others record the existence in ancient times of a cross, and
+probably beneath its shade the first preachers of the gospel stood,
+when they turned the hearts of our heathen ancestors, and taught them
+the holy lessons of the Cross.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="9"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE</h3>
+
+<p>Saxon monasteries&mdash;Parish churches&mdash;Benedict Biscop&mdash;Aldhelm&mdash;St.
+Andrew's, Hexham&mdash;Brixworth Church&mdash;Saxon architecture&mdash;Norman
+architecture&mdash;Characteristics of the style&mdash;Transition Norman&mdash;
+Early English style&mdash;Decorated style&mdash;Perpendicular style.</p>
+
+<p>
+The early Saxon clergy lived in monasteries, where they had a church
+and a school for the education of the sons of thanes. Monastic houses,
+centres of piety and evangelistic zeal, sprang up, the abodes of
+religion, civilisation, peace, and learning. They were the schools of
+culture, sacred and profane, of industry and agriculture; the monks were
+the architects, the painters, the sculptors, the goldsmiths of their
+time. They formed the first libraries; they taught the young; they
+educated women in convents, and by degrees dispersed the shades of
+ignorance, idolatry, and barbarism, and reformed England.</p>
+
+<p>To record the number of these monastic houses which were erected in the
+seventh and eighth centuries would require much space; and as our chief
+concern is with the vestiges that remain in our English villages, and
+as most of these Saxon monasteries were plundered and destroyed by the
+Danes, or rebuilt on a grander scale by the Normans, we will not now
+enumerate them.</p>
+
+<p>After the country had been evangelised by the itinerant monks and
+preachers, the next process was to establish a church in every village,
+and to provide a pastor to minister therein. Archbishop Theodore
+encouraged the thanes to build and endow churches on their estates, and
+introduced to this country the parochial system, by means of which all
+villages could have the services of a resident pastor.</p>
+
+<p>Then the thane's house was not considered complete without its chapel;
+and in the scattered hamlets and village communities churches arose,
+rudely built of wood and roofed with thatch, wherein the Saxon <i>ceorls</i>
+and <i>cottiers</i> loved to worship.</p>
+
+<p>The great Churchmen of the day were not content with such humble
+structures. They had travelled to Rome, and seen there some of the fine
+buildings dedicated for divine service; so they determined to have the
+like in their own country. One of these noble builders was Benedict
+Biscop, founder of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. When he
+built the former, he imported foreign artists from Gaul, who constructed
+the monastery after the Roman style, and amongst other things introduced
+glazed windows, which had never been seen in England before. Nor was his
+new house bare and unadorned. He brought from Rome vast stores of church
+furniture, many books, and the "arch-chanter" John, to teach his monks
+the music and ritual of Rome.</p>
+
+<p>Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, and first Bishop of Sherborne, was one of
+the foremost church-builders of the time, and the beautiful churches at
+Malmesbury, Sherborne, Bradford-on-Avon, Frome, and Wareham, owe their
+erection to his instrumentality. Wilfrid also was one of the saintly
+architects of the period. Here is a description of the church of St.
+Andrew, at Hexham, taken from the writings of Richard, prior of the
+monastery there:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The foundations of this church St. Wilfrid laid deep in the earth for
+the crypts and oratories, and the passages leading to them, which were
+then with great exactness contrived and built under ground. The walls,
+which were of great length, and raised to an immense height, and divided
+into three several stones or tiers, he supported by square and other
+kinds of well-polished columns. Also, the walls, the capitals of the
+columns which supported them, and the arch of the sanctuary, he
+decorated with historical representations, imagery, and various figures
+of relief, carved in stone, and painted with a most agreeable variety of
+colour. The body of the church he compassed about with pentices and
+porticoes, which, both above and below, he divided with great and
+inexpressible art, by partition walls and winding stairs. Within the
+staircases, and above them, he caused flights of steps and galleries of
+stone, and several passages leading from them both ascending and
+descending, to be so artfully disposed, that multitudes of people might
+be there, and go quite round the church, without being seen by anyone
+below in the nave. Moreover in the several divisions of the porticoes or
+aisles, he erected many most beautiful and private oratories of
+exquisite workmanship; and in them he caused to be placed altars in
+honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Michael, St. John the Baptist,
+and the holy Apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, with all decent
+and proper furniture to each of them, some of which, remaining at this
+day, appear like so many turrets and fortified places."</p>
+
+
+<a name="118"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="118.jpg (69K)" src="118.jpg" height="540" width="472">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+<p>The Danish wars had a disastrous effect on such noble structures raised
+by these monastic architects, as well as on many a rustic village
+church, which fell a prey to the ruthless invading bands of pagan
+warriors. But frequently, as we study the history written in the
+stonework of our churches, we find amid the massive Norman walls traces
+of the work of Saxon builders, an arch here, a column there, which link
+our own times with the distant past when England was divided into eight
+kingdoms, or when Danegeld was levied to buy off the marauding
+strangers.</p>
+
+<p>Roman buildings served as a model for our Saxon architects, and Roman
+bricks were much used by them. Brixworth Church is perhaps the finest
+specimen of our early Saxon churches. It has semicircular arches, made
+of Roman bricks, springing from square massive piers with single abaci.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="120"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="120.jpg (54K)" src="120.jpg" height="517" width="407">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>We will try to point out the distinguishing features of Saxon work, in
+order that you may be able to detect the evidence of its existence in
+your own village and neighbourhood. The walls are chiefly formed of
+rubble or rag stone, having "long and short work," <i>i.e.</i> long block of
+cut stone laid alternately horizontally and vertically, at the corners
+of the building and in the jambs of the doors. Often narrow ribs of
+masonry run vertically up the walls, and a string-course runs
+horizontally. The churches of Barnack and Wittering in Northamptonshire,
+St. Michael's, Oxford, and the towers of Earl's Barton are good examples
+of this.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="121"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="121.jpg (41K)" src="121.jpg" height="377" width="352">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Saxon doorways have semicircular arches, and sometimes the head is
+shaped in the form of a triangle. The jambs are square-edged, the stone
+of the arch is plain, and a hood or arch of ribwork projecting from the
+surface of the wall surrounds the doorway. Belfry windows have two
+semicircular-headed lights divided by a <i>baluster</i> shaft, <i>i.e.</i> a
+column resembling a turned-wood pillar. This feature is quite peculiar
+to Saxon architecture.</p>
+
+<p>Anglo-Saxon single-light windows have two splays, increasing in width
+from the centre of the wall in which the window is placed. Norman
+windows have only one splay on the internal side of the building. Saxon
+arches separating the nave from the aisles and chancel are plain. There
+is no sub-arch as in Norman buildings. They are often very small,
+sometimes only five or six feet wide, and stand on square piers.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="122"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="122.jpg (38K)" src="122.jpg" height="352" width="352">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Some Saxon churches have crypts, but few of them remain. The crypt made
+by St. Wilfrid at Hexham, mentioned above, still exists, and also one at
+Ripon Cathedral, in which there is a small window called "Wilfrid's
+needle." There is a legend about this which states that if a maid goes
+through the "needle," she will be married within the year. Repton Church
+has a very perfect specimen of Saxon crypt.</p>
+
+<p>The ground plan of Saxon churches differed. Many were cruciform, and
+consisted of nave, transepts, and chancel. The east wall of the chancel
+was often semicircular or polygonal, sometimes rectangular. The church
+of St. Lawrence, at Bradford-on-Avon, mentioned by William of
+Malmesbury, is a fine specimen of a Saxon church, and also the little
+church at Escombe, Durham, and that of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire,
+recently rescued from being used as a farmstead.</p>
+
+<p>After the close of the thousandth year after the birth of Christ a new
+impulse was given to church-building. People imagined that with that
+year the millennium would arrive and the Second Advent take place. It
+would be vain to build beautiful churches, if they were so soon to
+perish in the general destruction of the world, as vain as to heap up
+treasure by means of trade. Hence people's minds were unsettled, and the
+churches left in ruins. But when the millenary had safely passed away,
+they began to restore the fallen shrines, and build new churches, and
+the late Saxon or early Norman style came into vogue. Canute was a great
+church-builder, and Edward the Confessor rebuilt Westminster Abbey after
+the new fashion. Then came William the Conqueror with his Norman
+builders, and soon nearly every village had its church, which was
+constructed, according to William of Malmesbury, <i>novo aedificandi
+genere</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We will now notice the characteristics of early Norman work, traces of
+which you may be able to recognise in your own church. The doorways are
+very remarkable, profusely adorned with richly carved ornamental
+mouldings and sculpture. The archways are round, and are composed of a
+succession of receding arches, all elaborately carved. The doorway of
+Malmesbury Church has eight arches, recessed one within the other. These
+arches are supported by one or more shafts, which are sometimes carved.
+Above the door and below the arch is the tympanum, covered with
+sculpture, representing scriptural subjects, such as the figure of the
+Saviour in allusion to His saying, "I am the door," or the <i>Agnus Dei</i>,
+or Adam and Eve, or such legendary or symbolical subjects as St. George
+and the Dragon, or the Tree of Life.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="124"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="124.jpg (77K)" src="124.jpg" height="412" width="538">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Porches are not very common in early Norman structures, but several
+still exist, notably at Malmesbury, Balderton, and Brixworth. The
+windows are usually small and narrow, the jambs being splayed only on
+the inside of the church. Three such windows placed together usually
+give light over the altar. The walls of Norman buildings are thick and
+massive, and are often faced with cut stone. String-courses or mouldings
+projecting from the walls, run horizontally along them, and are often
+adorned with the zigzag or other Norman patterns of ornament. The tower
+often stands between the nave and the chancel, and is usually low and
+massive. In the eastern counties are found many round towers made of
+flint masonry. Flat buttresses are a sure sign of Norman work, as they
+were not used in any of the subsequent styles of architecture.</p>
+
+
+<a name="125"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="125.jpg (26K)" src="125.jpg" height="260" width="419">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The arches of the Norman builders are easily recognised. The piers in
+country churches are nearly always cylindrical; but there are several
+examples of massive square or octagonal piers, and also a number
+of round columns attached, so as to form one pier. The <i>cushion</i>
+capital is the most common form used in the Norman style. It is easily
+recognisable, but difficult to be described; and perhaps the
+accompanying sketch will enable the reader to discover a cushion
+capital when he sees it. The early Norman builders loved to bestow
+much labour on their capitals; and while preserving the usual cushion
+form, enriched them with much elaboration. The <i>scallop</i> frequently
+occurs, and also the <i>volute</i>, which was copied from the work of Roman
+builders, who themselves imitated the Greek sculptures. Sometimes the
+capitals are elaborately carved with figures of men, or animals, or
+foliage.</p>
+<br>
+
+
+<a name="126"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="126.jpg (99K)" src="126.jpg" height="565" width="507">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Norman arches resemble the doorways in having sub-arches recessed within
+an outer arch, the intrados often being decorated with mouldings such as
+the zigzag or the lozenge. The chancel arch is usually very elaborately
+ornamented with various mouldings, which are very numerous and peculiar.
+Those illustrated on the previous page are the most common.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<a name="127"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="127.jpg (52K)" src="127.jpg" height="482" width="329">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The Normans were also much skilled in vaulting with stone, as the crypts
+in our churches testify. Over the vaulted roof of the aisles was the
+<i>triforium</i>, a kind of gallery between this roof and the external roof
+of the church. Very few of the wooden roofs of Norman churches remain.
+The fonts are large, square or cylindrical in shape, and are decorated
+with mouldings or sculpture, often very elaborate but rudely executed.
+At Winchester Cathedral the font is carved with a representation of the
+baptism of King Cynigils at Dorchester. Other favourite subjects were
+the creation of man, the formation of Eve, the expulsion from Paradise,
+Christ upon the cross, the Four Evangelists, the baptism of our Lord,
+and legendary or symbolical representations.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="128"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="128.jpg (16K)" src="128.jpg" height="289" width="362">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>This style of architecture prevailed until about the middle of the
+twelfth century, when the <i>Transition Norman</i> became in vogue. It is
+characterised by the introduction of the pointed arch. Many conjectures
+as regards its origin have been made. Some suppose that the idea of
+making the arch pointed was suggested by the intersection of
+semicircular arches in ornamental arcades. Others say that the Crusaders
+introduced it on their return from the East, or that it was suggested by
+the Norman vaulting, or from the form of the <i>vesica piscis</i>, the most
+ancient of Christian symbols. The Cistercian monks were the first to
+introduce it to this country, and the Cistercian abbeys of Fountains,
+Kirkstall, Furness, and Tintern are noble specimens of Transition Norman
+work. Religious zeal and enthusiasm are often reflected in the improved
+condition of our churches, and the grand buildings of this period are
+outward and visible signs of a great religious revival. Semicircular
+arches, however, continued to be used for windows and for the triforium;
+the capitals of the piers were decorated with foliage somewhat similar
+to that used in a subsequent period.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="129"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="129.jpg (37K)" src="129.jpg" height="414" width="401">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Then arose the Early English style of architecture which flourished
+from about the year 1175 to 1275, and is characterised by a gradual
+abandonment of the heavy and massive features of the Norman style, and
+the adoption of lighter and more elegant forms of construction and
+decoration. Salisbury Cathedral, erected 1220-1260 A.D., is the most
+perfect example of this period. The arches are pointed, and the piers
+supporting them are often composed of an insulated cylindrical column
+surrounded by slender detached shafts, all uniting together under one
+capital, and divided into parts by horizontal bands. In small churches
+plain octagonal or circular piers are frequently used, as in the
+succeeding style, from which they can only be distinguished by the
+mouldings. Mouldings are often the surest guides in helping us to
+ascertain the date of a building. We have already studied the Norman
+mouldings. In this style they are composed of bold rounds and deep
+hollows, usually plain, or ornamented with the dog-tooth.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="130"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="130.jpg (11K)" src="130.jpg" height="134" width="300">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The lancet window is now introduced, at first of only one light, very
+narrow and long, and differing from the Norman window in having a
+pointed arch. At the east end of the chancel there are often three
+lancet windows, the centre one higher than the rest, with one dripstone
+over them. The first idea of window-tracery was the introduction of a
+plain lozenge-shaped opening over a double lancet window, the whole
+being covered by a single dripstone. From this simple arrangement it
+was not difficult to develop the beautiful bar-tracery which came into
+vogue in the subsequent period of English architecture. The capitals
+of the Early English style are bell-shaped, at first quite plain, but
+subsequently these are often covered with beautifully sculptured foliage
+of a very graceful character. Circular windows at this period came
+into vogue in the gables of churches. They were either plain or
+quatre-foiled. Norman towers were sometimes capped with spires in the
+thirteenth century. The walls are not so thick or massive as in the
+Norman period, and the buttresses are stouter and more numerous, and
+project further from the wall. Flying buttresses were also introduced at
+this period. We can generally distinguish Early English work from that
+of the Norman style by its lightness and elegance, as compared with the
+roughness and massiveness of the latter; and its plainness and
+simplicity sufficiently distinguish it from that of the Decorated
+period.</p>
+
+
+<a name="131"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="131.jpg (32K)" src="131.jpg" height="379" width="316">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The Decorated style (1275-1375) which prevailed during the reigns of
+the three Edwards was ushered in by a period of Transition, during which
+there was gradually developed the most perfect style which English
+architectural skill has ever attained. In the thirteenth century our
+builders were striving to attain the highest forms of graceful design
+and artistic workmanship. In the fourteenth their work reached
+perfection, while in the fifteenth there was a marked decline in their
+art, which in spite of its elaborate details lacked the beauty of the
+Decorated style.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="132"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="132.jpg (93K)" src="132.jpg" height="683" width="530">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The arches of this period are usually wider, and are distinguished from
+those of the Early English by the character of the mouldings. The
+ball-flower, consisting of a ball inclosed by three or four leaves,
+somewhat resembling a rosebud, is the favourite ornament, and a
+four-leaved flower is often used. Roll mouldings, quarter, half, or
+three-quarters round, frequently occur, and produce a very pleasing
+effect. The form of the arch is in many instances changed, and the
+graceful <i>ogee</i> arch is introduced. The piers are round or octagonal in
+village churches, and in large churches are formed by a cluster of
+cylindrical shafts, not detached as in the preceding period, but closely
+united. The capitals are bell-shaped, and in large churches richly
+sculptured. Few of the wooden roofs remain, as they have been superseded
+in later times; but the marks of the old roofs may often be seen on the
+eastern wall of the tower. The windows are larger than those of the
+earlier style, and are filled with geometrical and flowing tracery of
+great variety and beauty. Small windows have heads shaped in the ogee or
+trefoil forms. Square-headed windows are not uncommon, especially in the
+clerestory, and in monastic churches circular windows are frequently met
+with. It is characteristic of this style that the carving is not so deep
+as in the previous work. We find groups of shallow mouldings separated
+by one cut deeper than the others.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="133a"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="133a.jpg (30K)" src="133a.jpg" height="413" width="360">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+<a name="133b"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="133b.jpg (38K)" src="133b.jpg" height="277" width="451">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+<a name="134"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="134.jpg (35K)" src="134.jpg" height="257" width="428">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>At length the glories of the Decorated period pass away and are merged
+and lost in the <i>Perpendicular</i> which held sway from 1375 to 1540. The
+work is now more elaborate and richer, but lacks the majestic beauty of
+the Decorated style. It is easy to distinguish Perpendicular windows.
+They are larger than any which we have seen before; the mullions are
+carried straight up through the head of the window; smaller mullions
+spring from the heads of the principal lights, and thus the windows
+are broken up into panel-like compartments, very different from the
+beautiful curves of the Decorated style. Simple pointed arches are still
+in use, but gradually they become flattened; and the arch, commonly
+known as the Tudor arch, is a peculiar feature of this style. In village
+churches the mouldings of the arch are often continued down the piers
+without any capital or shaft.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="135"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="135.jpg (42K)" src="135.jpg" height="437" width="297">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Piers are commonly formed from a square or parallelogram with the angles
+fluted, having on the flat face of each side a semicyclindrical shaft.
+The base mouldings are polygonal. The most common doorway is the Tudor
+arch having a square head over it. The doors are often richly
+ornamented. There are a large number of square-headed windows, and so
+proud were these builders of their new style of window that they
+frequently inserted Perpendicular windows in walls of a much earlier
+date. Hence it is not always safe to determine the age of a church by an
+examination of the windows alone. Panel-work tracery on the upper part
+of the interior walls is a distinctive feature of this style.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="136a"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="136a.jpg (37K)" src="136a.jpg" height="369" width="332">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+<a name="136b"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="136b.jpg (16K)" src="136b.jpg" height="181" width="367">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The slope of the roof is much lower than before, and often the former
+high-pitched roofs were at this period replaced by the almost flat roofs
+prevalent in the fifteenth century. The parapets are often embattled.</p>
+
+<p>The rose, the badge of the houses of York and Lancaster, is often used
+as an ornamental detail, and also rows of the Tudor flower, composed of
+four petals, frequently occur. One of the most distinctive mouldings is
+the <i>cavetto</i>, a wide shallow hollow in the centre of a group of
+mouldings. Also we find a peculiar wave, and a kind of double ogee
+moulding which are characteristic of the style.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="137"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="137.jpg (15K)" src="137.jpg" height="249" width="320">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Spires of this period are not very common, and usually spring from
+within the parapet. The interiors of our churches were enriched at this
+time with much elaborate decoration. Richly carved woodwork in screens,
+rood-lofts, pulpits, and pews, sculptured sedilia and a noble reredos,
+and much exuberance of decorative imagery and panel-work, adorned our
+churches at this time, much of which was obliterated or destroyed by
+spoliators of the Reformation period, the iconoclastic Puritans of the
+seventeenth century, or the "restorers" of the nineteenth. However, we
+may be thankful that so much remains to the present day of the work of
+our great English church-builders, while we endeavour to trace the
+history of each church written in stone, and to appreciate these relics
+of antiquity which most of our villages possess.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="10"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE <i>DOMESDAY BOOK</i></h3>
+
+<p>The coming of the Normans&mdash;<i>Domesday Book</i>&mdash;Its objects&mdash;Its contents&mdash;
+Barkham in <i>Domesday</i>&mdash;Saxon families&mdash;Saxons who retained their
+estates&mdash;Despoiled landowners&mdash;Village officers and artisans&mdash;
+Villeins&mdash;<i>Bordarii</i>&mdash;<i>Cottarii</i>&mdash;<i>Servi</i>&mdash;Socmen&mdash;Presbyter&mdash;Names
+of Normans&mdash;The teaching of <i>Domesday</i>.</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a great stir in our English villages when the news was brought
+to them that William of Normandy had landed in England, and intended to
+fight for the English Crown. News travelled very slowly in those days.
+First the villeins and the cottiers who were not fighting with their
+lord heard that a great battle had been fought at Stamford Bridge, in
+Yorkshire, in which their gallant King Harold had defeated his own
+brother Tostig, aided by the King of Norway, Hardrada, and a large army.
+Then the news reached them that William of Normandy had arrived, and
+that Harold was marching night and day to meet him. Then they heard of
+the fatal battle of Hastings; and when it was told them that their brave
+King Harold was slain, and that William, the Norman, was the conqueror
+of England and the acknowledged king of the country, all England groaned
+to hear the fatal news. And then, after a few years, they found that
+their old lord had been deprived of his estates, and a new, haughty,
+proud Norman, who talked like a Frenchman, and laughed at their dear old
+Saxon language, came and ruled over them. He brought Norman servants
+with him, who took the best of the land, and made the Saxons do all the
+hard work on the farm, treating them like slaves.</p>
+
+<p>And now we must examine a most valuable document which throws a
+wonderfully clear light on the condition of England just before and
+after the Conquest. I refer to the <i>Domesday Book</i>, or survey of the
+country which William caused to be made. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler
+tells us that after a great Council at Gloucester the king "sent his men
+over all England, into every shire, and caused to be ascertained how
+many hundred hides were in the shire, or what land the king himself had,
+and cattle within the land, or what dues he ought to have in twelve
+months from the shire. Also he caused to be written how much land his
+archbishops had, and his suffragan bishops, and abbots, and earls; and
+though I may narrate somewhat prolixly, what or how much each man had
+who was a holder of land in England, in land, or in cattle, and how much
+money it might be worth. So very narrowly he caused it to be traced out,
+that there was not one single hide, nor one yard of land, nor even, it
+is shame to tell, though it seemed to him no shame to do, an ox, nor a
+cow, nor a swine was left that was not set down in his writ. And all the
+writings were brought to him afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>The commissioners appointed by the king, among whom were Remigius,
+Bishop of Lincoln, and Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, were to
+inquire the following details concerning each parish:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Its name. Who held it in the time of King Edward the Confessor. The
+present possessor. Number of hides in the manor, number of ploughs, of
+homagers, villeins, cottars, free tenants, tenants in socage; how much
+wood, meadow, and pasture; number of mills and fishponds; the value in
+the time of the last king; and its present value.</p>
+
+<p>Such a survey was of immense value. Its object, according to the king,
+was that every man might know and be satisfied with his rightful
+possessions, and not with impunity usurp the property of others. But it
+was also of great service to the king, so that he might know who were
+his vassals, the amount of taxation which he could draw from them, and
+the actual strength of his new kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>The commissioners performed their work with much care and exactness. The
+survey is wonderfully complete, and was compiled in a very short time.
+It is of great value to the historians of subsequent ages. The writing
+of the book is very clear and beautiful, the abbreviations alone
+presenting some difficulty to an unaccustomed reader. No illuminations
+adorn the text. At the head of each page the name of the county is
+written in red ink. The book is preserved in an ancient chest in the
+Public Record Office, where it was removed from the Chapter House at
+Westminster.</p>
+
+<p>As an example we may take the <i>Domesday</i> description of the parish of
+Barkham, which runs as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"IN CERLEDONE HD.</p>
+
+<p>"Rex ten in dnio Bercheha. AElmer Tenuit de rege. E. Te 7 m &nbsp;iii hid.
+Tra e iii car. In dnio e una, 7 vi uilli 7 iiii bord cu iii car. Ibi
+v. ac pti. Silua de XL pore. Valuit iiii lib. T.R.E. 7 m: iii. lib."</p>
+
+<p>TRANSLATION.</p>
+
+<p>"In the hundred of Charlton.</p>
+
+<p>"The king holds Barkham in demesne. AElmer held it of King Edward. Then,
+as now, it was rated for three hides. The land is three ploughlands. In
+demesne there is one ploughland. There are six villeins, four borderers
+with three ploughs. There are five acres of pasture. Wood for the
+pasturage of forty hogs. It was worth 4l. in the time of King Edward,
+afterwards, and now, 3l."</p>
+
+<p>King Edward here mentioned was Edward the Confessor. A hide, when it is
+used as a measure of land, may be taken at about one hundred and twenty
+acres. A ploughland was as much land as one plough with oxen could
+plough in a year. The villeins were men who tilled their lord's land,
+and in return for certain services had holdings under him. The borderers
+were cottagers who also worked for their lord and held smaller holdings,
+from one to ten acres. In other entries we find the number of serfs
+recorded, and also mention of the hall of the lord of the manor, where
+the manorial courts were held, the church, the priest's house, the names
+of landowners and tenants, the mill, and of the various officers and
+artisans who made up the village community.</p>
+
+<p><i>Domesday</i> tells us of the old Saxon families, many of whom lost their
+estates when the Conqueror came, and were supplanted by the favourites
+of the new king. Some of them contrived to weather the storm and retain
+their lands. Almer, or Almar, the lord of Barkham, who succeeded his
+brother Stigand as Bishop of Elmham in 1047, when the latter became
+archbishop, was among the number of the dispossessed, and probably found
+shelter with many of his compatriots in the cloister. Several of
+William's Norman adventurers married the heiresses of the old Saxon
+gentry, and thus became possessed of great estates. Thus Robert D'Oili
+married the daughter of Wigod, lord of Wallingford, and soon gained
+possession of his father-in-law's property.</p>
+
+<p>However, the names of the fortunate Saxons who retained their estates
+are few in comparison with those who were dispossessed. We find Edgar
+Atheling, real heir to the throne, retaining a small estate; but he was
+a feeble prince, and therefore not to be feared by William. His sister
+Cristina had also land in Oxfordshire. Bishop Osbern, of Exeter, a
+kinsman of the late king, also held his estates; and amongst the list we
+find Seward the huntsman, of Oxfordshire; Theodric the goldsmith; Wlwi
+the huntsman, of Surrey; Uluric the huntsman, of Hampshire, who were not
+deprived of their lands, their occupations being useful to the king.</p>
+
+<p>The list of despoiled landowners is a long one, and need not here be
+recorded. One Brictric was very unfortunate. When ambassador to Baldwin
+of Flanders he refused to marry the count's daughter Maud. The slighted
+lady became the Conqueror's consort, and in revenge for her despised
+love caused Brictric to be imprisoned and his estates confiscated, some
+of which were given to the queen. The luckless relations and connections
+of the late royal house were consistently despoiled, amongst them
+Editha, the beautiful queen of King Edward, and daughter of Earl Godwin,
+of whom it was written: "<i>Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwynus Editham</i>";
+and Gida, the mother of Harold; Godric, his son; and Gwith, his brother.
+Harold himself&mdash;the earl, as he is called, and not the king, who fought
+and died at Senlac, if he did not, as the romance states, end his life
+as a holy hermit at Chester&mdash;had vast estates all over England, which
+went to enrich William's hungry followers. Hereward the Wake, the
+English hero, also held in pre-Norman days many fat manors. Few of the
+Saxon landowners were spared, and it is unnecessary here to record the
+names of the Uchtreds, Turgots, Turchils, Siwards, Leurics, who held
+lands "in the time of King Edward," but whose place after Domesday knows
+them no more.</p>
+
+<p><i>Domesday</i> tells us also the names of the officers and artisans who
+played important parts in the old village communities. The <i>villani</i>, or
+villeins, corresponding to the Saxon <i>ceorls</i>, were the most important
+class of tenants in villeinage, and each held about thirty acres in
+scattered acre or half-acre strips, each a furlong in length and a perch
+or two in breadth, separated by turf balks. The villein thus supported
+himself and his family, and in return was bound to render certain
+services to the lord of the manor, to work on the home farm, and provide
+two or more oxen for the manorial plough-team. He was not a free tenant,
+could acquire no property, and his lord's consent was needed for the
+marriage of his daughters. But the law protected him from unjust usage;
+his holdings were usually regranted to his son. He could obtain freedom
+in several ways, and by degrees acquired the rights and privileges of a
+free tenant.</p>
+
+<p>Next to the villeins were the <i>bordarii</i>, who lived in <i>bords</i> or
+cottages, <i>i.e.</i> boarded or wooden huts, and ranked as a lower grade of
+villeins. They held about five acres, but provided no oxen for the
+manorial plough-team. Below them were the <i>cottarii</i>, or cottiers, who
+were bound to do domestic work and supply the lord's table. They
+corresponded to the modern labourer, but lacked his freedom. The lowest
+class of all were the <i>servi</i>, or serfs, who corresponded to the Saxon
+<i>theows</i>. In Norman times their condition was greatly improved; they
+mingled with the cottiers and household servants, and gradually were
+merged with them.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>sochemanni</i>, or socmen, our yeomen, who abounded chiefly in the
+Danish district of England, were inferior landowners who had special
+privileges, and could not be turned out of their holdings, though they
+rendered certain services to the lord of the manor, and in this respect
+differed little from the villeins. <i>Domesday Book</i> also mentions a class
+of men called <i>burs</i> or <i>geburs</i>, who were the same as <i>coliberti</i>; also
+the <i>commendati</i>, who received privileges in return for services
+rendered to the lord of the manor.</p>
+
+<p>Each village community was self-contained, and had its own officers.
+Although <i>Domesday Book</i> was not compiled in order to ascertain the
+condition of the Church and its ministers, and frequently the mention of
+a parish church is omitted where we know one existed, the <i>presbyter</i>,
+or priest, is often recorded. Archbishop Egbert's <i>Excerptiones</i>
+ordained that "to every church shall be allotted one complete holding
+(mansa), and that this shall be free from all but ecclesiastical
+services." According to the Saxon laws every tenth strip of land was
+set aside for the Church, and <i>Domesday</i> shows that in many villages
+there was a priest with his portion of land set apart for his support.</p>
+
+<p>Then there was a <i>prepositus</i>, bailiff or reeve, who collected the lord's
+rents, assisted by a <i>bedellus</i>, beadle or under-bailiff. <i>Bovarii</i>, or
+oxherds, looked after the plough-teams. The <i>carpentarius</i>, or carpenter;
+the <i>cementarius</i>, or bricklayer; the <i>custos apium</i>, or beekeeper; the
+<i>faber</i>, or smith; the <i>molinarius</i>, or miller&mdash;were all important
+officers in the Norman village; and we have mention also of the
+<i>piscatores</i> (fishermen), <i>pistores</i> (bakers), <i>porcarii</i> (swineherds),
+<i>viccarii</i> (cowmen), who were all employed in the work of the village
+community.</p>
+
+<p><i>Domesday Book</i> enables us to form a fairly complete picture of our
+villages in Norman and late Saxon times. It tells us of the various
+classes who peopled the village and farmed its fields. It gives us a
+complete list of the old Saxon gentry and of the Norman nobles and
+adventurers who seized the fair acres of the despoiled Englishmen. Many
+of them gave their names to their new possessions. The Mandevilles
+settled at Stoke, and called it Stoke-Mandeville; the Vernons at
+Minshall, and called it Minshall-Vernon. Hurst-Pierpont, Neville-Holt,
+Kingston-Lysle, Hampstead-Norris, and many other names of places
+compounded of Saxon and Norman words, record the names of William's
+followers, who received the reward of their services at the expense of
+the former Saxon owners. <i>Domesday Book</i> tells us how land was measured
+in those days, the various tenures and services rendered by the tenants,
+the condition of the towns, the numerous foreign monasteries which
+thrived on our English lands, and throws much light on the manners and
+customs of the people of this country at the time of its compilation.
+<i>Domesday Book</i> is a perfect storehouse of knowledge for the historian,
+and requires a lifetime to be spent for its full investigation.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="147"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="147.jpg (76K)" src="147.jpg" height="626" width="601">
+</center>
+
+
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="11"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>NORMAN CASTLES</h3>
+
+<p>Castle-building&mdash;Description of Norman castle&mdash;A Norman household&mdash;
+Edwardian castles&mdash;Border castles&mdash;Chepstow&mdash;Grosmont&mdash;Raglan&mdash;Central
+feature of feudalism&mdash;Fourteenth-century castle&mdash;Homes of chivalry&mdash;
+Schools of arms&mdash;The making of a knight&mdash;Tournaments&mdash;Jousts&mdash;Tilting
+at a ring&mdash;Pageants&mdash;"Apollo and Daphne"&mdash;Pageants at Sudeley Castle
+and Kenilworth&mdash;Destruction of castles&mdash;Castles during Civil War period.</p>
+
+<p>
+Many an English village can boast of the possession of the ruins of an
+ancient castle, a gaunt rectangular or circular keep or donjon, looking
+very stern and threatening even in decay, and mightily convincing of the
+power of its first occupants. The new masters did not feel very safe in
+the midst of a discontented and enraged people; so they built these huge
+fortresses with strong walls and gates and moats. Indeed before the
+Conquest the Norman knights, to whom the weak King Edward the Confessor
+granted many an English estate, brought with them the fashion of
+building castles, and many a strong square tower began to crown the
+fortified mounds. Thence they could oppress the people in many ways, and
+the writers of the time always speak of the building of castles with a
+kind of shudder. After the Conquest, especially during the regency of
+William's two lieutenants, Bishop Odo and Earl William Fitz-osbern, the
+Norman adventurers who were rewarded for their services by the gift of
+many an English manor, built castles everywhere. The wretched men of
+the land were cruelly oppressed by forced labour in erecting these
+strongholds, which were filled "with devils and evil men." Over a
+thousand castles were built in nineteen years, and in his own castle
+each earl or lord reigned as a small king, coining his own money, making
+his own laws, having power of life and death over his dependants, and
+often using his power most violently and oppressively.</p>
+
+
+<a name="150"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="150.jpg (66K)" src="150.jpg" height="489" width="400">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The original Norman castle consisted of a keep, "four-square to every
+wind that blew," standing in a bailey court. It was a mighty place with
+walls of great thickness about one hundred and fifty feet high. It
+contained several rooms, one above the other. A deep well supplied the
+inhabitants with water. Spiral stone steps laid in the thickness of the
+wall led to the first floor where the soldiers of the garrison resided.
+Above this was the hall, with a chimney and fireplace, where the lord
+of the castle and his guests had their meals, and in the thickness of
+the wall there were numerous chambers used as sleeping-apartments and
+garderobes, and the existence of a piscina in one of these shows that it
+was a small chapel or oratory. The upper story was divided by wooden
+partitions into small sleeping-rooms; and unlike our modern houses, the
+kitchen was at the top of the keep, and opened on the roof.</p>
+
+<p>Descending some stone steps which led from the ground floor in ancient
+time we should visit the dungeons, dark, gloomy, and dreadful places,
+where deep silence reigns, only broken by the groans of despairing
+captives in the miserable cells. In one of these toads and adders were
+the companions of the captive. Another poor wretch reposed on a bed of
+sharp flints, while the torture-chamber echoed with the cries of the
+victims of mediaeval cruelty, who were hanged by their feet and smoked
+with foul smoke, or hung up by their thumbs, while burning rings were
+placed on their feet. In Peak Castle, Derbyshire, a poor, simple squire,
+one Godfrey Rowland, was confined for six days without either food or
+drink, and then released from the dungeon with his right hand cut off.
+In order to extract a heavy ransom, to obtain lands and estates, to
+learn the secrets of hidden treasure, the most ingenious and devilish
+tortures were inflicted in these terrible abodes.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="152"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="152.jpg (97K)" src="152.jpg" height="695" width="511">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The same style of castle-building continued for a century and a half
+after the Norman Conquest. It is possible to distinguish the later keeps
+by the improved and fine-jointed ashlar stonework, by the more frequent
+use of the stone of the district, instead of that brought from Caen, by
+the ribs upon the groins of the vaulting of the galleries and chambers
+in the walls, and by the more extensive use of ornaments in the bosses,
+windows, doors, and fireplaces. The style of the decoration approaches
+the Early English character.</p>
+
+<p>The walls of the keep were not the only protection of the fortress. A
+moat surrounds the whole castle, crossed by a drawbridge, protected
+on the side remote from the castle by a barbican. High walls with an
+embattled parapet surround the lower court, or ballium, which we enter
+by a gate defended by strong towers. A portcullis has to be raised, and
+a heavy door thrown back, before we can enter; while above in the stone
+roof of the archway there are holes through which melted lead and pitch
+can be poured upon our heads, if we attempt to enter the castle as
+assailants. In the lower court are the stables, and the mound where the
+lord dispenses justice, and where criminals and traitors are executed.
+Another strong gateway flanked by towers protects the inner court, on
+the edge of which stands the keep which frowns down upon us as we enter.</p>
+
+<p>An immense household was supported in every castle. Not only were there
+men-at-arms, but also cooks and bakers, brewers and tailors, carpenters,
+smiths, masons, and all kinds of craftsmen; and all the crowd of workers
+had to be provided with accommodation by the lord of the castle. Hence
+a building, in the form of a large hall, was erected sometimes of stone,
+usually of wood, in the lower or upper court for these soldiers and
+artisans, where they slept and had their meals.</p>
+
+<p>A new type of castle was introduced during the reigns of the three
+Edwards. The stern, massive, and high-towering keep was abandoned, and
+the fortifications arranged in a concentric fashion. A fine hall with
+kitchens occupied the centre of the fortress; a large number of chambers
+was added, and the inner and outer courts both defended by walls, as we
+have already described, were introduced. The Edwardian castles of
+Caernarvon and Beaumaris belong to this type of fortress.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="155"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="155.jpg"><img alt="155h.jpg (34K)" src="155h.jpg" height="345" width="527"></a>
+<br>BROUGHTON CASTLE
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+<p>The border counties of Wales are remarkable for the number and beauty
+of their ancient castles. On the site of British earthworks the Romans
+established their camps. The Saxons were obliged to erect their rude
+earthen strongholds in order to keep back the rebellious Welsh, and
+these were succeeded by Norman keeps. Monmouthshire is famous for its
+castles; out of the eleven hundred erected in Norman times twenty-five
+were built in that county. There is Chepstow Castle, with its early
+Norman gateway spanned by a circular arch flanked by round towers. In
+the inner court there are the gardens and ruins of a grand hall, and in
+the outer the ruins of a chapel with evidences of beautifully groined
+vaulting, and also a winding staircase leading to the battlements. In
+the dungeon of the old keep at the south-east corner of the inner court
+Roger de Britolio, Earl of Hereford, was imprisoned for rebellion
+against the Conqueror, and in later times Henry Martin, the regicide,
+lingered as a prisoner for thirty years, employing his enforced leisure
+in writing a book in order to prove that it is not right for a man to be
+governed by one wife. Then there is Grosmont Castle, the fortified
+residence of the Earl of Lancaster; Skenfrith Castle; White Castle, the
+<i>Album Castrum</i> of the Latin records, the Landreilo of the Welsh, with
+its six towers, portcullis, and drawbridge flanked by massive tower,
+barbican, and other outworks; and Raglan Castle, with its splendid
+gateway, its Elizabethan banqueting-hall ornamented with rich stone
+tracery, its bowling-green, garden terraces, and spacious courts, an
+ideal place for knightly tournaments in ancient days. Raglan is
+associated with the gallant defence of the castle by the Marquis of
+Worcester in the Civil War.</p>
+
+<p>The ancient castles of England were the central feature of feudal
+society. They were the outward and visible sign of that system. M.
+Guizot in his <i>History of Civilisation</i> says, "It was feudalism which
+constructed them; their elevation was, so to speak, the declaration of
+its triumph." On the Continent they were very numerous long before
+castle-building became the fashion in England, and every suzerain saw
+with displeasure his vassal constructing his castle; for the vassal thus
+insured for himself a powerful means of independence. The Norman barons
+in the troublous times of Stephen lived a life of hunting and pillage;
+they were forced to have a fortified retreat where they might shut
+themselves up after an expedition, repel the vengeance of their foes,
+and resist the authorities who attempted to maintain order in the
+country.</p>
+
+<p>Others followed the example of the barons. The townsfolk fortified their
+towns, monks their monasteries; and even within the town-walls many
+houses had their towers and gates and barriers in order to keep back
+troublesome visitors.</p>
+
+<p>Here is a description of a French castle in the fourteenth century:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"First imagine to yourself a superb position, a steep mountain,
+bristling with rocks, furrowed with ravines and precipices; upon the
+declivity is the castle. The small houses which surround it set off its
+grandeur; the river seems to turn aside with respect; it forms a large
+semicircle at its feet. This castle must be seen when, at sunrise, the
+outward galleries glimmer with the armour of the sentinels, and the
+towers are shown all brilliant with their large new gratings. Those high
+buildings must be seen, which fill those who defend them with courage,
+and with fear those who should be tempted to attack them.</p>
+
+<p>"The door presents itself covered with heads of boars or wolves, flanked
+with turrets and crowned with a high guard-house. Enter, there are three
+inclosures, three moats, three drawbridges to pass. You find yourself in
+a large square court, where are cisterns, and on the right and left the
+stables, hen-houses, pigeon-houses, coach-houses; the cellars, vaults,
+and prisons are below; above are the dwelling-apartments; above these
+are the magazines, larders, or salting-rooms, and arsenals. All the
+roofs are bordered with machicolations, parapets, guard-walks, and
+sentry-boxes. In the middle of the court is the donjon, which contains
+the archives and the treasure. It is deeply moated all round, and can
+only be entered by a bridge, almost always raised. Although the walls,
+like those of the castle, are six feet thick, it is surrounded up to
+half its height with a chemise, or second wall, of large cut stones.
+This castle has just been rebuilt. There is something light, fresh,
+laughing about it, not possessed by the heavy massive castles of the
+last century."</p>
+
+<p>One would scarcely expect to hear a castle described as "light, fresh,
+laughing"; yet so a fourteenth-century castle seemed to eyes accustomed
+to the gloomy, stern, and massive structures of the eleventh and twelfth
+centuries. In these no beauty or display of art was attempted. Defence
+and safety were the only objects sought after in the construction of our
+ancient strongholds.</p>
+
+<p>Strange as it may seem, these castles were the birthplaces and homes of
+chivalry. Women were raised to an exalted position, and honoured and
+reverenced by knights and warriors. A prize won in a tournament was
+esteemed of vastly greater value, if it were bestowed upon the
+successful combatant by some lady's hand. "Queens of Beauty" presided at
+these contests of knightly skill and daring. The statutes and ordinances
+for jousts and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, at
+the command of Edward IV., conclude thus: "Reserving always to the
+queenes highness and the ladyes there present, the attributing and gift
+of the prize after the manner and forme accustomed." If a knight was
+guilty of any impropriety of conduct, he was soundly beaten by the other
+knights, in order to teach him to respect the honour of the ladies and
+the rights of chivalry.</p>
+
+<p>In the days of chivalry a knight vowed in somewhat extravagant language
+eternal love to his particular lady fair, wore her glove or her guerdon
+on his helmet, and swore to protect it with his life. Family ties and
+domestic joys were cultivated. The wife of a knight was often herself a
+warrior. Fair ladies have donned armour and followed their lords to the
+Crusades; and often during her lord's absence at the wars in France, or
+Scotland, or the Holy Land, the wife would defend his fief and castle,
+and sometimes was called upon to withstand a siege, when some
+neighbouring lord coveted the fair estates of the absent warrior, and
+sought to obtain them by force of arms.</p>
+
+<p>The castles also were schools, not of learning, but of arms and
+chivalry, where the sons of vassals were trained in all the qualites
+that become a knight. The sons of vassals were sent to the castle of the
+suzerain to be brought up with his sons. Numerous reasons have been
+assigned for the origin of this custom, which we need not now enumerate.
+The practice, however, became general, and concerning it an ancient work
+entitled <i>L'ordre de la Chevalerie</i> records:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is fitting that the son of the knight, while he is a squire, should
+know how to take care of a horse; and it is fitting that he should serve
+before and be subject to his lord; for otherwise he will not know the
+nobleness of his lordship when he shall be a knight; and to this end
+every knight shall put his son in the service of another knight, to the
+end that he may learn to carve at table and to serve, and to arm and
+apparel a knight in his youth. According as to the man who desires to
+learn to be a tailor or a carpenter, it is desirable that he should have
+for a master one who is a tailor or a carpenter; it is suitable that
+every nobleman who loves the order of chivalry, and wishes to become and
+be a good knight, should first have a knight for a master."</p>
+
+<p>When the young squire attained the age of manhood he was admitted to the
+honour of knighthood, which was bestowed upon him with much ceremony and
+dignity. First he was divested of his garments and put in a bath, a
+symbol of purification; then they clothed him in a white tunic, a symbol
+of purity, in a red robe, a symbol of the blood which he was bound to
+shed in the service of the faith; and then in a close black coat, a
+reminder of the death which awaited him. Then he was obliged to observe
+a fast for twenty-four hours, and in the evening entered the church and
+there passed the night in prayer. On the morrow after confession and the
+receiving of Holy Communion, he heard a sermon upon the duties of
+knighthood, and then advancing to the altar presented his sword to the
+priest, who blessed it. Kneeling before his lord he was asked, "With
+what design do you desire to enter into the order? If it is in order to
+become rich, to repose yourself, and to be honoured without doing honour
+to chivalry, you are unworthy of it, and would be to the order of
+chivalry what the simoniacal priest is to the prelacy."</p>
+
+<p>His answers being satisfactory, knights, or ladies, advance and clothe
+him with the equipments of his order, spurs, the hauberk or coat of
+mail, the cuirass, the vambraces and gauntlets, and lastly his sword.
+Then his lord gives him three blows of a sword on his shoulder, saying,
+"In the name of God, of Saint Michael, and Saint George I dub thee
+knight," adding, "Be brave, adventurous, and loyal." He then mounts his
+horse, caracoles about, brandishing his lance, and afterwards in the
+courtyard he repeats the performances before the people ever eager to
+take part in the spectacle.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="161"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="161.jpg (80K)" src="161.jpg" height="435" width="527">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The young knight was now able to take part in the jousts, and all kinds
+of chivalric displays, which were common and frequent. Many castles
+have, like that at Carisbrooke, a tilting-ground within the walls; but
+great and important tournaments were held outside the castle. Richard I.
+appointed five special places for the holding of tournaments, namely
+between Sarum and Wilton, between Stamford and Wallingford, between
+Warwick and Kenilworth, between Brakely and Mixeberg, and between Blie
+and Tykehill. There was much pomp and ceremony attached to these
+knightly exercises. The lists, as the barriers were called which
+inclosed the scene of combat, were superbly decorated, and surrounded by
+pavilions belonging to the champions, ornamented with their arms and
+banners. The seats reserved for the noble ladies and gentlemen who came
+to see the fight were hung with tapestry embroidered with gold and
+silver. Everyone was dressed in the most sumptuous manner; the minstrels
+and heralds were clothed in the costliest garments; the knights who were
+engaged in the sports and their horses were most gorgeously arrayed. The
+whole scene was one of great splendour and magnificence, and, when the
+fight began, the shouts of the heralds who directed the tournament, the
+clashing of arms, the clang of trumpets, the charging of the combatants,
+and the shouts of the spectators, must have produced a wonderfully
+impressive and exciting effect upon all who witnessed the strange
+spectacle.</p>
+
+<p>The regulations and laws of the tournament were very minute. When many
+preliminary arrangements had been made with regard to the examination of
+arms and helmets and the exhibition of banners, etc., at ten o'clock on
+the morning of the appointed day, the champions and their adherents were
+required to be in their places. Two cords divided the combatants, who
+were armed with a pointless sword and a truncheon hanging from their
+saddles. When the word was given by the lord of the tournament, the
+cords were removed, and the champions charged and fought until the
+heralds sounded the signal to retire. It was considered the greatest
+disgrace to be unhorsed. A French earl once tried to unhorse our King
+Edward I., when he was returning from Palestine, wearied by the journey.
+The earl threw away his sword, cast his arms around the king's neck, and
+tried to pull him from his horse. But Edward put spurs to his horse and
+drew the earl from the saddle, and then shaking him violently, threw him
+to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The joust (or just) differed from the tournament, because in the former
+only lances were used, and only two knights could fight at once. It was
+not considered quite so important as the grand feat of arms which I have
+just described, but was often practised when the more serious encounter
+had finished. Lances, or spears without heads of iron, were commonly
+used, and the object of the sport was to ride hard against one's
+adversary and strike him with the spear upon the front of the helmet, so
+as to beat him backwards from his horse, or break the spear. This kind
+of sport was of course rather dangerous, and men sometimes lost their
+lives at these encounters. In order to lessen the risk and danger of the
+two horses running into each other when the knights charged, a boarded
+railing was erected in the midst of the lists, about four or five feet
+high. The combatants rode on separate sides of this barrier, and
+therefore they could not encounter each other except with their lances.
+Sometimes two knights would fight in mortal combat. If one knight
+accused the other of crime or dishonour, the latter might challenge him
+to fight with swords or lances; and, according to the superstition of
+the times, the victor was considered to be the one who spoke the truth.
+But this ordeal combat was far removed from the domain of sport.</p>
+
+<p>When jousts and tournaments were abandoned, tilting on horseback at a
+ring became a favourite courtly amusement. A ring was suspended on a
+level with the eye of the rider; and the sport consisted in riding
+towards the ring, and sending the point of a lance through it, and so
+bearing it away. Great skill was required to accomplish this surely and
+gracefully. Ascham, a writer in the sixteenth century, tells us what
+accomplishments were required from the complete English gentleman of the
+period:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"To ride comely, to run fair at the tilt or ring, to play at all
+weapons, to shoot fair in bow, or surely in gun; to vault lustily, to
+run, to leap, to wrestle, to swim, to dance comely, to sing, and play of
+instruments cunningly; to hawk, to hunt, to play at tennis, and all
+pastimes generally which be joined to labour, containing either some fit
+exercises for war, or some pleasant pastime for peace&mdash;these be not only
+comely and decent, but also very necessary for a courtly gentleman to
+use."</p>
+
+<p>In the days of pageants and royal progresses these old castles were the
+scenes of very lively exhibitions of rustic histrionic talent. The
+stories of Greek and Roman mythology were ransacked to provide scenes
+and subjects for the rural pageant. Shepherds and shepherdesses, gods
+and goddesses, clowns and mummers, all took part in the rural drama
+which kings and queens delighted to honour. When Queen Elizabeth visited
+the ancient and historic castle of Sudeley, great preparations were made
+for the event, and a fine classical pageant was performed in her
+presence, a sketch of which may not be without interest.</p>
+
+<p>The play is founded on the old classical story of Apollo and Daphne. The
+sun-god Apollo was charmed by the beauty of the fair Daphne, the
+daughter of a river-god, and pursued her with base intent. Just as she
+was about to be overtaken, she prayed for aid, and was immediately
+changed into a laurel tree, which became the favourite tree of the
+disappointed lover. The pageant founded on this old classical legend
+commenced with a man who acted the part of Apollo, chasing a woman who
+represented Daphne, followed by a young shepherd bewailing his hard
+fate. He, too, loved the fair and beautiful Daphne, but Apollo wooed her
+with fair words, and threatened him with diverse penalties, saying he
+would change him into a wolf, or a cockatrice, or blind his eyes. The
+shepherd in a long speech tells how Daphne was changed into a tree, and
+then Apollo is seen at the foot of a laurel tree weeping, accompanied by
+two minstrels. The repentant god repeats the verse:&mdash;</p>
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Sing you, play you; but sing and play my truth;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;This tree my lute, these sighs my note of ruth:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The laurel leaf for ever shall be green,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And chastity shall be Apollo's queen.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;If gods may die, here shall my tomb be placed,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And this engraven, 'Fond Phoebus, Daphne chaste.'"</p>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+<p>A song follows, and then, wonderful to relate, the tree opens, and
+Daphne comes forth. Apollo resigns her to the humble shepherd, and then
+she runs to Her Majesty the Queen, and with a great deal of flattery
+wishes her a long and prosperous reign.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the simple play which delighted the minds of our forefathers,
+and helped to raise them from sordid cares and the dull monotony of
+continual toil. In our popular amusements the village folk do not take
+part, except as spectators, and therefore lose half the pleasure;
+whereas in the time of the Virgin Queen the rehearsals, the learning the
+speeches by heart, the dresses, the excitement, all contributed to give
+them fresh ideas and new thoughts. The acting may not have been very
+good; indeed Queen Elizabeth did not always think very highly of the
+performances of her subjects at Coventry, and was heard to exclaim,
+"What fools ye Coventry folk are!" But I think Her Majesty must have
+been pleased at the concluding address of the players at Sudeley. After
+the shepherds had acted a piece in which the election of the King and
+Queen of the Bean formed a part, they knelt before the real queen, and
+said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, dread Sovereign, poor shepherds' pastimes, and bold shepherds'
+presumptions. We call ourselves kings and queens to make mirth; but when
+we see a king or queen we stand amazed. At chess there are kings and
+queens, and they of wood. Shepherds are no more, nor no less, wooden.
+In theatres workmen have played emperors; yet the next day forgotten
+neither their duties nor occupation. For our boldness in borrowing their
+names, and in not seeing Your Majesty for our blindness, we offer these
+shepherds' weeds; which, if Your Majesty vouchsafe at any time to wear,
+it shall bring to our hearts comfort, and happiness to our labours."</p>
+
+<p>When the queen visited Kenilworth Castle, splendid pageants were
+performed in her honour. As she entered the castle the gigantic porter
+recited verses to greet Her Majesty, gods and goddesses offered gifts
+and compliments on bended knee, and the Lady of the Lake, surrounded
+by Tritons and Nereids, came on a floating island to do homage to the
+peerless Elizabeth and to welcome her to all the sport the castle could
+afford. For an account of the strange conduct of Orion and his dolphin
+upon this occasion, we refer our readers to Sir Walter Scott's
+<i>Kenilworth</i>; and the lover of pageants will find much to interest him
+in Gascoigne's <i>Princely Progress</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The glories of our ancient castles have passed away; some indeed are
+preserved, and serve as museums, or barracks, or the country house of
+some noble lord; but most of them are in ruins. All traces of many a
+Norman castle have completely vanished. There was once a castle at
+Reading, but the only relics of it are the names Castle Hill and Castle
+Street. The turbulent barons made such terrible use of their fortresses
+during the troublous times of the civil war in Stephen's reign that in
+the more settled reign of Henry II. they were deprived of this means of
+oppression and their castles destroyed wholesale. The civil war in the
+reign of Charles I. was also another great cause of the destruction of
+these old fortresses. They were of great service during the progress of
+the war to those who were fortunate enough to possess them, and many of
+them in spite of Cromwell's cannon were most gallantly held and stoutly
+defended. Donnington Castle, Berkshire, was bravely held in spite of a
+prolonged siege during all the time that the war lasted by gallant
+Colonel Boys, who beat off the flower of the Parliamentary army; and
+when in obedience to the King's command he yielded up the castle, he and
+his brave garrison marched out with all the honours of war, having
+earned the respect of both friend and foe. Many other castles could tell
+the story of similar sieges in the days when "the gallants of England
+were up for the King."</p>
+
+<p>But these brave sieges were the cause of their destruction. Cromwell
+when in power recognised their strength; they were too dangerous, these
+castles, and must be destroyed. His cannon-balls had rattled against
+their stone walls without much effect during the war; but their fate was
+sealed with that of their King, and the gunpowder of Cromwell's soldiers
+was soon employed in blowing up the walls that resisted him so long, and
+left them battered and smoking ruins.</p>
+
+<p>Since then the ivy has grown over them to hide their nakedness. Forlorn
+and lonely the ruined castle stands. Where once loud clarion rang, the
+night owls hoot; vulgar crowds picnic where once knights fought in all
+the pride and pomp of chivalry. Kine feed in the grass-grown bailey
+court; its glory is departed. We need no castles now to protect us from
+the foes of our own nation. Civil wars have passed away, we trust, for
+ever; and we hope no foreign foeman's foot may ever tread our shores.
+But if an enemy threatened to attack England her sons would fight as
+valiantly as in the brave days of old, though earthen ramparts have
+replaced the ancient castles and iron ships the old wooden walls of
+England.</p>
+
+
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="12"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>MONASTERIES</h3>
+
+
+<p>Beautiful surroundings&mdash;Benefits conferred by monasteries&mdash;Charity&mdash;
+Learning&mdash;Libraries&mdash;Monks not unhappy&mdash;Netley&mdash;Cluny&mdash;Alcuin&mdash;
+Monastic friendships&mdash;St. Bernard&mdash;Anselm&mdash;Monks shed happiness
+around them&mdash;Desecration&mdash;Corruption of monasteries&mdash;Chaucer's
+prior&mdash;Orders of monks&mdash;Plan of a monastery&mdash;<i>Piers Ploughman's</i>
+description of a monastery&mdash;A day in a monastery&mdash;Regulations as
+regards blood-letting&mdash;The infirmary&mdash;Food&mdash;Hospitium&mdash;Chapter-house.</p>
+
+<p>
+In the neighbourhood of many of our villages stand the ruins of an old
+monastery. Who were the builders of these grand and stately edifices?
+What kind of men lived within those walls? What life did they lead? We
+will try to picture to ourselves the condition of these noble abbeys, as
+they were in the days of their glory, before the ruthless hands of
+spoilers and destroyers robbed them of their magnificence.</p>
+
+<p>It has often been remarked that the monks knew well how to choose the
+most beautiful spots for their monastic houses, establishing them by the
+banks of some charming river, surrounded by beautiful scenery and
+fertile fields.</p>
+
+<p>They loved the beauties of nature, and had a keen sense for discovering
+them. They had a delicate and profound appreciation of the delights of
+the country, and loved to describe the beauties that surrounded their
+habitations. Nature in its loveliness and wild picturesqueness was a
+reflection of God's beauty, a temple of His light and goodness. Moreover
+they built their monasteries amidst forests and wild scenery, far from
+the haunts of men, seeking solitude, wherein they could renew their
+souls by the sweetness of a life of contemplation, and consecrate their
+energies to the service of God. In the days of war and bloodshed, of
+oppression and lawlessness, holy men found it very difficult to be "in
+the world and yet not of it." Within the monastic walls they found
+peace, seclusion, solitude; they prayed, they worked, they wrote and
+studied. They were never idle. To worship, to labour, to fight as the
+<i>milites Christi</i> with weapons that were not carnal, these were some of
+the duties of the monks.</p>
+
+<p>The world owes much to these dwellers in monasteries. They rescued the
+people from barbarism, and uplifted the standard of the cross. They
+emerged from their cells to direct councils, to preach and teach at the
+universities, to build churches and cathedrals, and astonish the world
+by their skill and learning. Who can tell what services they rendered to
+their nation and to all mankind by pouring forth that ceaseless stream
+of intercession day and night for the averting of the judgments of
+divine wrath which the crimes and follies of men so richly deserved?
+"What the sword is to the huntsman, prayer is to the monk," says St.
+Chrysostom; and well did they use this weapon for the spiritual and
+material benefit of all.</p>
+
+<p>Another great benefit they conferred upon the world was that of charity.
+They were the true nurses of the poor. There were no poor laws, and
+union workhouses, and hospitals. The monks managed to supply all the
+wants of all who suffered from poverty, privation, and sickness. "The
+friendship of the poor constitutes us the friends of kings," says St.
+Bernard; "but the love of poverty makes kings of us." They welcomed in
+their ranks poor men, who were esteemed as highly as those of noble
+birth on entering the cloister. All men were equal who wore the monk's
+robe.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst other services the monks rendered was the cultivation of
+learning and knowledge. With wonderful assiduity they poured forth
+works of erudition, of history, of criticism, recorded the annals of
+their own times, and stored these priceless records in their libraries,
+which have done such good service to the historians of modern times. The
+monasteries absorbed nearly all the social and intellectual movement of
+the thirteenth century. Men fired with poetical imagination frequently
+betook themselves to the cloister, and consecrated their lives to the
+ornamentation of a single sacred book destined for the monastery which
+gave them in exchange all the necessaries of life. Thus the libraries of
+the monastic houses were rich in treasures of beautifully illuminated
+manuscripts, which were bound by members of the community. The Abbot of
+Spanheim in the fifteenth century gives the following directions to his
+monks:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Let that one fasten the leaves together, and bind the book with boards.
+You, prepare those boards; you, dress the leather; you, the metal
+plates, which are to adorn the binding."</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="172"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="172.jpg"><img alt="172h.jpg (40K)" src="172h.jpg" height="344" width="541"></a>
+<br>NETLEY ABBEY, SOUTH TRANSEPT
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+<p>Terrible is it to think of the dreadful destruction of these libraries
+at the time of the spoliation of monasteries and of the priceless
+treasures which they contained.</p>
+
+<p>We are apt to suppose that the lives of the monks were gloomy, hard,
+severe, and that few rays of the sunshine of happiness could have
+penetrated the stern walls of the cloister. But this does not appear to
+have been the case. The very names of monasteries show that they
+rejoiced in their solitude and labour. Netley Abbey was called the
+Joyous Place, <i>loeto loco</i>; and on the Continent there are many names
+which bear witness to the happiness that reigned in the cloister.
+Moreover the writings of the monks proclaim the same truth. Cluny is
+called by Peter Damien his <i>hortus deliciarum</i> (garden of delights), and
+it is recorded that when Peter de Blois left the Abbey of Croyland to
+return to France he stopped seven times to look back and contemplate
+again the place where he had been so happy. Hear how Alcuin laments on
+leaving the cloister for the Court of Charlemagne:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"O my cell! sweet and well-beloved home, adieu for ever! I shall see no
+more the woods which surround thee with their interlacing branches and
+aromatic herbs, nor thy streams of fish, nor thy orchards, nor thy
+gardens where the lily mingles with the rose. I shall hear no more those
+birds who, like ourselves, sing matins and celebrate their Creator, in
+their fashion&mdash;nor those instructions of sweet and holy wisdom which
+sound in the same breath as the praises of the Most High, from lips and
+hearts always peaceful. Dear cell! I shall weep thee and regret thee
+always."</p>
+
+<p>The life was very peaceful, entirely free from care, and moreover
+lighted by the whole-hearted friendships which existed between the
+brethren. A chapter might be written on the love of the cloister, which
+like that of David for Jonathan, was "wonderful, passing the love of
+women." Thus St. Bernard burst out in bitter grief at the loss of a
+brother monk:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Flow, flow, my tears, so eager to flow! he who prevented your flowing
+is here no more! It is not he who is dead, it is I who now live only to
+die. Why, oh, why have we loved, and why have we lost each other?"</p>
+
+<p>The letters of Anselm to Lanfranc and Gondulph, his dearest friends,
+abound in expressions of the most affectionate regard and deep true
+friendship. He writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How can I forget thee? Can a man forget one who is placed like a seal
+upon his heart? In thy silence I know that thou lovest me; and thou
+also, when I say nothing, thou knowest that I love thee. What can my
+letter tell thee that thou knowest not already, thou who art my second
+soul?"</p>
+
+<p>The monks' lot was not sad and melancholy. They loved God and His
+service, and rejoicing in their mutual regard and affection were happy
+in their love and work. Orderic Vitalis writes, "I have borne for
+forty-two years with happiness the sweet yoke of the Lord." Moreover
+they shed happiness on those who dwelt around them, on the crowds of
+masons and carpenters, traders and workmen, who dwelt under the shadow
+of the monastery or farmed the fields of the monastic estates. No
+institution was ever more popular; no masters more beloved. They took a
+hearty interest in the welfare of all their tenants, and showed an
+active sympathy for all. The extent of their charity was enormous. In a
+French abbey, when food was scarce, they fed 1,500 to 2,000 poor in the
+course of the year, gave monthly pensions to all the families who were
+unable to work, entertained 4,000 guests, and maintained eighty monks&mdash;a
+wonderful record truly.</p>
+
+<p>The influence of the monastery was felt in all the surrounding
+neighbourhood&mdash;the daily services, the solemn and majestic chants, the
+processions, must have created a deep impression on the minds of people.
+Many of the great writers and thinkers of subsequent ages have
+appreciated the wonderful labours of the monks. Dr. Johnson wrote:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I never read of a hermit, but in imagination I kiss his feet; never of
+a monastery, but I fall on my knees and kiss the pavement."</p>
+
+<p>And now these noble buildings, hallowed by a thousand memories, exist
+only as dishonoured ruins. Some have been pulled down entirely, and the
+site used for gaols or barracks. Convicts labour where once monks
+prayed. The renowned abbey of Cluny is a racing stable, and Le Bec, the
+home of Anselm, has suffered a like profanation. Factories have invaded
+some of these consecrated sites. Many have been used as quarries for
+generations. All the carved and wrought stone has been cut off, and used
+for making bridges and roads and private houses. Nature has covered the
+remains with clinging ivy, and creeping plants, and wild flowers, and
+legends cluster round the old stones and tell the story of their
+greatness and their ruin. The country folk of western Ireland show the
+marks on the stones furrowed by the burning tears of the monks when they
+were driven out of their holy home. I am describing the condition of the
+monasteries in the days of their glory, when the spirit of the religious
+orders was bright and pure and enthusiastic. It cannot be denied that
+often the immense wealth which kings and nobles poured into the treasury
+of the monks begat luxury and idleness. Boccaccio in Italy, and even
+Dante, and our own Chaucer, write vigorously against the corruption of
+the monks, their luxury, love of sport, and neglect of their duty. Thus
+Chaucer wrote of a fourteenth-century prior:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Therefore he was a prickasoure a right:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Greihounds he hadde as swift as foul of flight:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Of pricking and of hunting for the hare<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Was all his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;I saw his sleves purfiled at the hond<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;With gris, and that the finest in the loud.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And for to fasten his hood under his chinne,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;He hadde of gold ywrought a curious pinne:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;A love-knotte in the greter end ther was.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;His head was balled, and shone as any glas,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And eke his face, as it had been anoint.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;He was a lord full fat and in good point<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;His eye stepe, and rolling in his bed,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That stemed as a forneis of led.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;His botes souple, his hors in gret estat,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Now certainly he was a fayre prelat.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;He was not pale as a forpined gost.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;A fat swan loved he best of any rost.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;His palfrey was as broune as is a bery."</p>
+
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Many were the efforts to reform the abuses which crept into the monastic
+houses. Holy men grieved over the scandals of the times in which they
+lived. Many monasteries remained until the end homes of zeal and
+religion, and the unscrupulous tools of Henry VIII. could find naught
+to report against them. The only charge they could fabricate against
+one monastery was "that the monks would do evil, if they could."</p>
+
+<p>The foundation of the various orders of monks shows the efforts which
+were from time to time made by earnest men to revive the zeal and
+religious enthusiasm characteristic of the early dwellers in
+monasteries. The followers of St. Benedict and St. Columba were the
+first monks of the western Church who converted the peoples of England,
+Germany, Belgium, and Scandinavia. The Benedictines had many houses in
+England in Saxon times. In the tenth and eleventh centuries flourished
+a branch of the Benedictines, the order of Cluny, who worked a great
+religious revival, which was continued in the twelfth by the order of
+the Cistercians, founded at Citeaux in Burgundy. Some of our most
+beautiful English abbeys&mdash;Fountains, Kirkstall, Rievaulx, Tintern,
+Furness, and Byland&mdash;all belonged to this order. In the thirteenth and
+fourteenth centuries the new orders of preaching friars founded by St.
+Francis and St. Dominic arose, and exercised an immense influence in
+the world. They did not shut themselves up in the cloister, but went
+everywhere, preaching in the market-places, and tending the sick, the
+lepers, and the outcasts. At first they were immensely popular, but
+the orders degenerated like their predecessors, and long before the
+Reformation laid themselves open to the derision and the scoffs of the
+more enlightened men of the age. Since the days of the Friars there
+has been no building of monasteries in England. Wealth, luxury, and
+corruption had destroyed the early piety of the monks, and rich men
+preferred to give their wealth for the purpose of founding colleges
+and hospitals, rather than in increasing the number of religious houses.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="178"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="178.jpg (21K)" src="178.jpg" height="309" width="248">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>We will now visit these monasteries, and try to picture them as they
+stood in the days of their glory, and see the daily life which the monks
+led. The rules of the orders differed somewhat, some being stricter than
+others; and likewise the arrangements of the buildings were not all
+based upon one plan. The Carthusian monasteries differ widely from those
+of the other orders, owing to the rule that each monk should have his
+separate cell, wherein he lived and had his food, and only met his
+brethren in church and in the chapter-house. We will examine the usual
+plan of a monastery, the main buildings of which clustered round the
+cloister-court. This was called the paradise, around which was a covered
+ambulatory. Here the monks read and wrote, and sometimes had little
+spaces partitioned off for studies, with bookstands and cupboards. It
+was the great centre of the monastic life. The earlier ambulatories were
+open, but in the fourteenth century they had windows looking on to the
+cloister-court, filled with stained glass. The monks must have found the
+open cloister a somewhat chilly place for writing, and although their
+fingers were endured to hardness, had sometimes to abandon their tasks.
+Orderic Vitalis tells us that his fingers were so numbed by the cold in
+a hard winter that he was obliged to leave his writing until a more
+congenial season.</p>
+
+<p>On the north of the cloister-court stood the monastic church, the
+grandest and noblest of the monastic buildings, adorned with shrines,
+and tombs, and altars. Several of our cathedrals were monastic churches,
+and afford us some idea of the splendour and magnificence of these
+stately buildings. Many other churches built by the monks, quite as
+large and noble as any of our cathedrals, are now in ruins, with only a
+wall or a buttress remaining to mark the site of the once noble minster.
+The church was usually cruciform, with nave and aisles. East of the
+high altar in the choir stood the lady-chapel, and round the choir a
+retro-choir, or presbytery. There was a door on the south side of the
+church, opposite the eastern ambulatory, for the entrance of the monks.
+The south transept formed part of the eastern side of the cloister. On
+the same side stood the chapter-house, a large chamber richly ornamented
+with much architectural detail, and adorned with mural paintings.
+Between the chapter-house and the church there is a narrow room, which
+was the sacristy, and on the south of the chapter-house a building in
+two stories, the ground floor being the frater-house, where the monks
+retired after meals to converse, the upper room being the dortor, or
+dormitory, where they slept. A passage often separated the chapter-house
+from this building.</p>
+
+<p>On the south side of the cloister-court stood the refectory, a long
+room in which the monks took their meals; and on the west was a range
+of buildings the use of which differed in various monasteries, in some
+for cellars and larders, in others for dormitories. Sometimes this
+western building was the <i>domus conversorum</i>, or house of the lay
+brethren. The abbot's lodging was a fine house, consisting of hall,
+chambers, kitchen, buttery, and cellars, capable of entertaining a
+large number of guests, and frequently stood on the east side of the
+chapter-house quite separate from the other buildings. In small monastic
+houses governed by a prior his residence often formed the western side
+of the cloister-court. The farmery, or infirmary, where sick monks were
+nursed during illness, was a separate building, having its own kitchen,
+refectory, and chapel. The hospitium was also a separate building near
+the outer gate of the abbey, and consisted of a hall, dormitories, and a
+chapel, in which each night a goodly company of guests were entertained
+and courteously welcomed by the hospitaller. A high wall surrounded the
+abbey precincts, in which was the outer gate, consisting of a porter's
+lodge, a prison, and a large room in which the manorial court was held,
+or the abbot met the representatives of the townsfolk in order to direct
+their affairs and choose their chief magistrate or settle their
+differences.</p>
+
+<p>The author of <i>Piers Ploughman</i> gives a description of the appearance of
+a monastery in the fourteenth century. As he approached the monastic
+buildings he was so bewildered by their greatness and beauty that for a
+long time he could distinguish nothing certainly but stately buildings
+of stone, pillars carved and painted, and great windows well wrought. In
+the centre quadrangle he notices the stone cross in the middle of grass
+sward. He enters the minster, and describes the arches as carved and
+gilded, the wide windows full of shields of arms and merchants' marks on
+stained glass, the high tombs under canopies, with armed effigies in
+alabaster, and lovely ladies lying by their sides in many gay garments.
+He passes into the cloister, and sees it pillared and painted, and
+covered with lead, and conduits of white metal pouring water into bronze
+lavatories beautifully wrought. The chapter-house was like a great
+church, carved and painted like a parliament-house. Then he went into
+the refectory, and found it a hall fit for a knight and his household,
+with broad tables and clean benches, and windows wrought as in a church.
+And then he wandered and wondered at "the halls full high and houses
+full noble, chambers with chimneys and chapels gay," and kitchens fit
+for a king in his castle, and their dorter or dormitory with doors full
+strong, their fermerye (infirmary) and frater, and many more houses, and
+strong stone walls, enough to harbour the queen. The author was
+evidently amazed at all the sights which he witnessed in the monastery.</p>
+
+<p>We will now see the monks at work, and spend a day with them in their
+monastic home. It is not easy definitely to map out a monk's day. The
+difficulty arises in a measure from the want of distinct marks of time.
+A monastic day was divided into twelve hours of uncertain length,
+varying according to the season; but the religious observances began at
+midnight, when the brethren rose at the sound of a bell in the dortor
+for the continuous service of Mattins and Lauds. They then retired to
+sleep, until the bell again summoned them at sunrise, when Prime was
+said, followed by the morning Mass, private masses and confessions, and
+the meeting of the Chapter; after this, work; then Tierce; then High
+Mass, followed by Sext. A short time was then devoted to reading, during
+which the <i>ministri</i> and the reader at table dined; and then the monks
+sat down to dinner. This was the first food of the day, though the
+weaker brethren were allowed to sustain themselves with wine and water,
+or bread steeped in wine. Dinner was followed by a brief rest in the
+dormitory. If the monks did not wish to sleep they could read in the
+dorter; but they were to be careful not to disturb their resting
+brethren by any noise, such as that caused by turning over the leaves of
+their books. At one o'clock the bell rang for None, a short service
+consisting of a hymn, two psalms, some collects, the Lord's Prayer, and
+versicles. Then the brethren washed themselves, had a stoup of wine in
+the frater, and worked until Evensong, which was followed by supper.
+After supper they read in the cloister until the bell rang for
+Collation, which consisted of a reading in the chapter-house, whence
+they retired to the fratery for a draught of wine or beer. Then followed
+Compline, and then the monks were ready for bed, and retired to the
+dortor. Even there rules followed them, and directed them how they were
+to take off their shoes, and "to behave with more quiet, self-restraint,
+and devotion than elsewhere."</p>
+
+<p>I have not exhausted all the services which the monks attended. In
+addition to the principal ones there were several minor functions, at
+which devotion to the Blessed Virgin was the chief feature. The life was
+hard and the discipline severe; and lest the animal spirits of the monks
+should rise too high, the course of discipline was supplemented by
+periodical blood-letting. The doctors of the day were firm believers in
+the utility of this practice, and perhaps it had special advantages for
+dwellers in monasteries. According to the mediaeval metrical treatise on
+medicine, <i>Flos Medicinae</i>, or <i>Regimen Sanitatis Salerni</i>&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Spiritus uberior exit per phlebotomaniam."</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"It maketh cleane your braine, releeves your eie,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;It mends your appetite, restoreth sleep,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Correcting humours that do waking keep;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And inward parts and sences also clearing<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;It mends the voyce, touch, smell, taste, hearing."</p>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<p>According to the <i>Observances</i> of the Augustinian Priory at Barnwell,
+Cambridge, each brother was compelled to be bled seven times a year. It
+was probably a welcome duty, as the monks enjoyed a regular holiday, and
+were solaced with unwonted good fare.</p>
+
+<p>Those who wished to be bled asked leave in Chapter, and having received
+a formal licence, attended High Mass. After the gospel they left the
+quire, and were bled in the farmery, where they remained three days.
+During this period they were excused attendance at the daily services,
+except on very special occasions; and minute directions are given for
+their personal comfort. They were allowed fire and lights, with suitable
+food, eggs and vegetables being specially mentioned; and they might take
+exercise within the precincts, and even beyond them, should the prelate
+give them leave. The infirmary seems to have been the most cheerful
+place in the monastery. Its inmates were "to lead a life of joy and
+freedom from care, in comfort and happiness." Conversation was freely
+permitted, though sarcastic and abusive language was strictly forbidden.
+"Games of dice and chess, and other games unsuitable to those who lead a
+religious life, were forbidden"; "because beyond all doubt they are
+offensive to God, and frequently give occasion to strife and contention
+among those who play them." We notice that invalids were allowed to walk
+in the "vineyards"; evidently the monks grew their own grapes, and made
+their own wine. The infirmary must have been well frequented. The
+complaints which are often specially mentioned as likely to compel the
+monks to resort to it are "irksomeness of life in the cloister," "long
+continuance of silence," "fatigue in the quire or extension of fasting,"
+and "sleeplessness and overwork."</p>
+
+<p>With regard to blood-letting the various orders had different customs.
+The Benedictines and Cluniacs had no stated times or seasons for the
+operation. The Cistercians prescribe bleeding four times in the year.
+The Carthusians were bled five times, and the Dominicans four times in
+the year.</p>
+
+<p>The food of the monastery was varied and plentiful. Fish and flesh were
+brought to the table, the former being obtained from the monastic
+stew-ponds. Fruit was supplied, both raw and cooked, and a good supply
+of beer and wine. Wine seems to have been very commonly used, and some
+relaxation was evidently permitted in the matter of drink.</p>
+
+<p>The hospitium, or guest-house, is worthy of a visit. Thither flocked a
+mixed crowd of knights and dames, monks and clerks, palmers, friars,
+traders with their wares, minstrels with their songs, and beggars,
+enjoying to the full the hospitality of the monks, who recognised it as
+one of their duties "to entertain strangers." The religious houses were,
+to a great extent, the inns of the Middle Ages; and when they were
+situated on the high roads, the guests were numerous and their
+entertainment costly. We are reminded, however, by the <i>Observances</i> of
+Barnwell Priory that "by showing hospitality to guests the reputation of
+the monastery is increased, friendships are multiplied, animosities are
+blunted, God is honoured, charity is increased, and a plenteous reward
+in heaven is promised." It was enjoined that the hosteller, or brother
+in charge of the hospitium, should have "facility of expression, elegant
+manners, and a respectable bringing up; and if he have no substance to
+bestow he may at any rate exhibit a cheerful countenance and agreeable
+conversation, for friends are multiplied by agreeable words." He had to
+provide clean cloths and towels, cups without flaws, spoons of silver,
+mattresses, blankets and untorn sheets, pillows, quilts, etc. His duties
+are laid down with much minuteness; every morning he was required to go
+through the inventory, lest anything should be missing.</p>
+
+<p>The meeting in the chapter-house we must not omit to describe. When all
+the brethren had taken their seats, one monk went to the pulpit and read
+aloud the martyrology for the day. Then some psalms and collects were
+read, and a portion of the monastic rule, and briefs announcing the
+deaths of persons in whom the brethren were interested. The <i>tabula</i>, or
+notice-board, recording the names of those who were responsible for
+certain duties, was read; and a sermon followed. After the precentor had
+given minute instructions with regard to the reading and singing of the
+services for the day, the abbot said: "Speak of your own order." This
+was the call to confession; and any brother who was conscious that he
+had transgressed any rule, or neglected his duty, came forward and asked
+pardon for his fault. This was followed by the report of the <i>circator</i>,
+whose duty was to play the spy, and discover the faults of the monks.
+And after this the brethren accused each other. One brother started up
+saying: "I accuse &mdash;&mdash; a brother." The accused came forward and stood
+before the abbot, waiting patiently for the charge. The accuser then
+stated the charge, which was admitted, or denied, by the accused. If the
+abbot judged him to be flogged, the culprit might not be flogged by his
+accuser. He rose from his knees and modestly divested himself of his
+garments, remaining covered from his girdle downwards; and he who
+flogged him might not cease till the abbot bade him. Then he helped the
+brother to put on his clothes, who bowed to the abbot and went back to
+his place. The Chapter, after this exciting interlude, proceeded to
+transact the temporal business of the house, and then adjourned.</p>
+
+<p>The chapter-house was often the scene of great events in the history of
+England. At Reading Abbey in this noble chamber parliaments were held.
+Here Heraclius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, presented to Henry II. the
+keys of the Holy Sepulchre, and invoked his aid in the crusade against
+the Saracens. Here the bishops assembled and excommunicated Longchamp,
+Chancellor and Regent of the country. Here the marriage contract between
+John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster was signed, when there were great
+rejoicings in the ancient town, and tilts and tournaments took place
+daily. These gay scenes must have greatly disturbed the tranquil life of
+the monks, and contrasted strangely with their normal condition.</p>
+
+<p>The picture of monastic life, which a study of the records of a
+monastery brings before us, is strange and alien to our present ideas;
+but it is brightened by a spirit of sincere religion and true charity,
+and helps us to understand the attraction of the convent walls in
+turbulent and troublous times.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="13"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MANOR-HOUSE</h3>
+
+<p>Evolution of a country house&mdash;Saxon house&mdash;Addition of separate
+sleeping-chambers&mdash;Castles&mdash;Tudor houses&mdash;Old manor-houses&mdash;Secret
+chambers&mdash;Rectories and vicarages&mdash;Duty of hospitality&mdash;Kelvedon
+Rectory&mdash;Allington&mdash;Tithe-barns&mdash;Alfriston clergy-house&mdash;Almshouses&mdash;
+Hermitages&mdash;Little Budworth&mdash;Knaresborough&mdash;Reclusorium or anchor-hold&mdash;
+Laindon&mdash;Rattenden&mdash;Female recluses&mdash;Whalley.</p>
+
+<p>
+The two principal houses in an English village are the manor-house and
+the rectory, wherein according to the theories of the modern political
+Socialist and agitator "the two arch-tyrants" of the labourers dwell,
+the squire and the parson. There is much of interest in the growth and
+evolution of the country house, which resulted in the construction of
+these old, pleasant, half-timbered granges and manor-houses, which form
+such beautiful features of our English villages.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="189"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="189.jpg"><img alt="189h.jpg (37K)" src="189h.jpg" height="322" width="530"></a>
+<br>SOUTHCOTE MANOR SHOWING MOAT AND PIGEON-HOUSE
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+<a name="190"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="190.jpg (58K)" src="190.jpg" height="386" width="452">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>In our description of the village in Anglo-Saxon times we gave a picture
+of a house of a Saxon gentleman, which consisted mainly of one large
+hall, wherein the members of the household lived and slept and had their
+meals. There was a chapel, and a kitchen, and a ladies' bower, usually
+separated from the great hall, and generally built of wood. In Norman
+times the same plan and arrangements of a country house continued. The
+fire still burnt in the centre of the hall, the smoke finding its way
+out through a louvre in the roof. Meals were still served on tables laid
+on trestles, which were removed when the meal was finished. The lord and
+lady, their family and guests, dined at the high table placed on the
+dais, as in a college hall, the floor of which was boarded. The
+household and retainers dined in the space below, which was strewn with
+rushes and called "the marsh," which, according to Turner's <i>History of
+Domestic Architecture</i>, "was doubtless dirty and damp enough to deserve
+that name." The timbers of the roof in the better houses were moulded,
+the walls hung with tapestry, and at the lower end of the hall was a
+screen, above which in later times was the minstrels' gallery. The
+screen formed a passage which led into a separate building at right
+angles to the hall, containing the cellar, buttery, and kitchen.
+Parallel with this at the upper end of the hall was a building of two
+stories, one used as a parlour, and the other was called the "great
+chamber," where the lady and her guests retired after dining in the
+hall.</p>
+
+
+<a name="191"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="191.jpg (42K)" src="191.jpg" height="254" width="464">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Later on a greater refinement of domestic customs was introduced. In the
+twelfth century a separate sleeping-chamber for the lord was added. The
+next century saw him and his lady dining in a room apart from his
+servants, a custom which was much satirised by the author of <i>Piers
+Ploughman</i>, who wrote&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Now hath each rich a rule<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;To eaten by themselve,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;In a privy parlour<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;For poor man sake,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Or in a chamber with a chimney;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And leave the chief hall,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That was made for meals<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Men to eaten in."</p>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>Evidently the author did not approve of the new fashion. But the
+advantages of the custom were much appreciated by the squires and ladies
+of the day, and this process of development led to a multiplication of
+rooms, and the diminution of the size of the great hall. The walls were
+raised, and an upper room was formed under the roof for sleeping
+accommodation. There are many old farmhouses throughout the country,
+once manor-houses, which retain in spite of subsequent alterations the
+distinguishing features of this mediaeval style of architecture.</p>
+
+
+<a name="192"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="192.jpg (40K)" src="192.jpg" height="530" width="223">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The nobles built their castles as late as the fourteenth century; but
+under the Tudor monarchs, when the government of the country was strong
+and more settled, fortified dwellings were deemed no longer necessary,
+and the great landowners built splendid country houses. English domestic
+architecture then reached the period of its highest perfection. Instead
+of castles men built palaces, the noblest specimens of our English
+style, before it became corrupted. Hatfield House and Hampton Court are
+its best examples.</p>
+
+<p>During the fifteenth century the common hall had decreased in
+importance; and now in smaller houses it disappeared altogether, and a
+grand entrance hall usually took its place. The number of rooms was
+increased enormously, and corridors were introduced. The principal
+features of an Elizabethan house are the gallery and noble staircase.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="193"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="193.jpg (110K)" src="193.jpg" height="637" width="562">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Early in the seventeenth century Inigo Jones introduced the revived
+classic style of architecture into England, and entirely altered the
+appearance and arrangement of our manor-houses. Palladio was the
+originator of this style. The old English model was declared obsolete,
+and fashion dictated that Italian villas must supersede the old houses.
+These new buildings were very grand with their porticos and colonnades;
+but the architects cared little for comfort and convenience. Indeed a
+witty nobleman suggested to the owner of one of these new houses that
+he had better hire a lodging over the way and look at it.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="194"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="194.jpg"><img alt="194h.jpg (30K)" src="194h.jpg" height="323" width="527"></a>
+<br>OLD MANOR HOUSE, UPTON COURT
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The old manor-houses are often surrounded by a moat, and not unfrequently
+contain secret rooms and underground passages, which were often used as
+places of refuge in troublous times. Those held by recusants usually had
+two or three hiding-places ingeniously contrived, which must have baffled
+all pursuers, and were needed for the concealment of the Roman Catholic
+priest, in the days when his services were proscribed. There are two
+cleverly designed hiding-places at Ufton Court, Berkshire, which was held
+by the Roman Catholic family of Perkins. In a subterranean vault under an
+old house at Hurley, in which the bones of monks were discovered, the
+supporters of William of Orange used to meet to plan his succession to
+the English Crown. The walls of many of the manor-houses and halls in
+Lancashire and Yorkshire could tell of many a plot for the restoration
+of the Stuarts to the throne, and of many a deep health drunk to "Bonnie
+Charlie," while the chorus rang&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"He's over the seas and far awa',<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;He's over the seas and far awa',<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;But of no man we'll stand in awe,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;But drink his health that's far awa'."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>The rectories and vicarages scattered over the country have passed
+through the same transformation as the manor-houses, which they much
+resembled. The rectory was often surrounded by a moat, with an entrance
+protected by a gatehouse. The duty of entertaining strangers and
+travellers was always duly recognised by the clergy, and entailed a
+heavy charge upon their income. Those who lived off the main roads used
+to provide accommodation for an occasional guest, but the rectors in the
+more frequented districts had frequently to entertain many travellers.
+There <i>is</i> a description of the rectory-house of Kelvedon, Essex, in a
+deed dated 1356, which runs as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"One hall situate in the manor of the said abbot and convent
+[Westminster] near the said church, with a soler and chamber at one end
+of the hall, and with a buttery and cellar at the other. Also one other
+house in three parts, namely a kitchen with a convenient chamber in the
+end of the said house <i>for guests</i>, and a bakehouse. Also one other
+house in two parts next the gate at the entrance of the manor for a
+stable and cow-house. He [the vicar] shall also have a convenient
+grange, to be built within a year at the expense of the prior and
+convent. He shall also have the curtilage with the garden adjoining the
+hall on the north side enclosed as it is with hedges and ditches."</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="196"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="196.jpg (60K)" src="196.jpg" height="681" width="383">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Here the house for guests is an important feature of the clergyman's
+house; and about the same date, in 1352, we find the Bishop of
+Winchester ordering the prior and convent of Merton to provide "a
+competent manse for the vicar, viz. a hall with two rooms, one at one
+end of the hall, and the other at the other end, with a drain to each,
+and a suitable kitchen with fireplace and oven, and a <i>stable for six
+horses</i>, all covered with tiles, and completed within one year, such
+place to remain to the use of the said vicar and his successors." Unless
+the vicar was a very sporting parson he would not require a stable for
+six horses, and this was doubtless intended for the accommodation of the
+steeds of his guests.</p>
+
+<p>The descriptions of these old rectory-houses are interesting. The Rector
+of Allington, Kent, possessed a house consisting of "a hall, parlour,
+and chamber over the parlour, stairs-head, beside the parson's
+bedchamber, parson's lodging-chamber, study, chamber behind the chimney,
+chamber next adjoining westward, buttery, priest's chamber, servants'
+chamber, kitchen, mill-house, boulting-house, larder, entries, women's
+chamber; gatehouse, still beside the gate, barn next the gate; cartlage,
+barn next the church, garden-house, court." The barn next the church was
+probably the tithe-barn. Tithe was then paid in kind; hence a barn was
+required to contain the dues of the parishioners. Sometimes these
+tithe-barns are very large and long, especially when the tithe-owner was
+the abbot of some monastery. Near Reading there is still standing the
+barn of the abbey, and at Cholsey, in Berkshire, there is one of the
+finest specimens of the kind in England.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="199"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="199.jpg"><img alt="199h.jpg (35K)" src="199h.jpg" height="344" width="570"></a>
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>There still remain several of these old pre-Reformation parsonages and
+rectories. The most noted is the clergy-house at Alfriston, Sussex,
+which has been carefully preserved. It follows the usual type of
+fourteenth-century house, and consists of a fine hall, the lower part
+divided off by a screen, a soler of two stories at one end, and a
+kitchen at the other. It is built of oak framework, filled in with
+"wattle and daub." There is a large chimney and grate in the hall, and
+huge beams support the thatched roof. Parsonages of mediaeval times
+remain at West Dean, Sussex; at King's Stanley and Notgrove,
+Gloucestershire; Wonstone, Hants; Helmsley, Yorkshire; and at several
+other places. The Rectory of Shellingford, Berks, though much disguised
+by modern additions, is an original fourteenth-century house.</p>
+
+<p>In many villages there are old almshouses founded by pious benefactors
+for "poor brethren and sisters." As we enter the quiet courtyard paved
+with cobble stones, the spirit of olden days comes over us. The chapel
+where daily prayer is said morning and evening; the panelled
+dining-hall, with its dark oaken table; the comfortable rooms of the
+brethren; the time-worn pump in the courtyard&mdash;all recall the memory of
+old times, when life was more tranquil, and there was less hurry and
+busy bustling.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes we meet with a curious little house built of stone or timber,
+erected along the great highways, near some bridge or ford, wherein a
+"holy hermit" once dwelt, and served his generation by directing
+travellers to the nearest monastery or rectory, and spent his days in
+seclusion and prayer. Such indeed is the traditional idea of the
+hermit's life; but the real hermit of the Middle Ages did not always
+live a very lonely or ascetic life. He was supported by the alms of the
+charitable and did no work, but lived an idle life, endured no
+hardships, and escaped not the scoffs of the satirical. <i>Piers
+Ploughman</i> tells us of workmen&mdash;"webbers and tailors, and carters'
+knaves, and clerks without grace, who liked not long labour and light
+wages; and seeing that lazy fellows in friars' clothing had fat cheeks,
+forsook their toil and turned hermits. They lived in boroughs among
+brewers and begged in churches." They had a good house, with sometimes a
+chaplain to say daily Mass for them, a servant or two to wait on them,
+and plenty of food and drink provided by a regular endowment or the
+donations of the charitable. They did not shut themselves up in their
+cells and hold no intercourse with their fellow-men; and herein they
+differed from the recluses who were not supposed to go outside the doors
+of their anchorages. Both males and females were enrolled as recluses,
+but only the latter seem to have taken upon themselves the vows of
+complete seclusion.</p>
+
+<p>Several of these hermitages remain. There is one at Little Budworth, in
+Cheshire, in the park of Sir Philip Egerton. Warkworth has a famous one,
+consisting of a chapel hewn out of the rock, with an entrance porch, and
+a long, narrow room with a small altar at the east end, wherein the
+hermit lived. At Knaresborough, Yorkshire, there is a good example of a
+hermitage, hewn out of the rock, consisting of a chapel, called St.
+Robert's Chapel, with groined roof, which was used as the living-room of
+the hermit. This chapel was the scene of Eugene Aram's murder. At
+Wetheral, near Carlisle; Lenton, near Nottingham; on the banks of the
+Severn, near Bewdley, Worcestershire, there are anchorages, and also at
+Brandon, Downham, and Stow Bardolph, in Norfolk. Spenser in the <i>Faery
+Queen</i> gives the following description of a hermit's cell:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"A little lowly hermitage it was,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Down by a dale, hard by a forest's side,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Far from resort of people that did pass<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;In traveill to and froe; a little wyde<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;There was an holy Chappell edifyde,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Wherein the hermite dewly wont to say<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;His holy things, each morne and eventyde;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Hereby a chrystall streame did gently play,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Which from a sacred fountaine welled forth alway."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+
+<p>Within the churchyard of many a town or village church, and usually
+attached to the church, stood a reclusorium, or anchor-hold, wherein a
+recluse, male or female, once resided. At Laindon Church, Essex, there
+is a fine specimen of a house of this kind attached to the west end.
+Generally the anchor-hold was a small room, built of wood, connected
+with the church. Frequently there is a room over the porch of a church
+which may have been used for this purpose, the recluse living usually in
+the church. At Rettenden, Essex, there is a room over the vestry which
+has evidently been an anchor-hold. There was a window, now blocked up,
+through which the recluse could see the high altar, and the celebration
+of the holy mysteries, and another for him to look out, hold converse
+with his friends, and receive their alms. The church of St. Patricio,
+near Crickhowel, South Wales, has an anchor-hold; also Clifton Campville
+Church, Staffordshire; Chipping Norton Church, Oxfordshire; Warmington
+Church, Warwickshire; and many churches have rooms over the porch which
+were formerly used by recluses. The church itself was frequently the
+habitation of the anchorite. There is a notice of a hermit who lived in
+St. Cuthbert's Church, Thetford, and performed divine service therein.</p>
+
+<p>Of female recluses we gather many details in the <i>Ancren Riewle</i> of
+Bishop Poore of Salisbury, who left very minute directions for the
+regulation of their austere and solitary lives. The little cell had an
+altar where the anchoress frequently prayed, and through a window saw
+the elevation of the Host in the daily Mass. The walls were covered
+with mural paintings. There was a table, a fire, and a cat lying before
+it. An unglazed window with a shutter was covered by a black curtain,
+through which she could converse with anyone outside without being seen.
+She was not allowed to put her head out of the open window. "A peering
+anchoress, who is always thrusting her head outward, is like an untamed
+bird in a cage," says the good bishop. The long hours of solitude were
+spent in devotion, working embroidery, reading her few books, talking to
+her servant or to those who desired to speak with her through the
+curtained window.</p>
+
+<p>The poor caged birds must often have wished to break the bars of their
+cage, and occasionally they escaped from their solitary confinement. In
+the churchyard of Whalley, Lancashire, there are two cottages which
+stand upon the site of a reclusorium, founded by Henry, Duke of
+Lancaster, in 1349. Here in the reign of Henry VI. lived one Isole de
+Heton, who wearied of her lot, and left the anchor-hold, an example
+which was followed by several of her successors. A scandal having
+arisen, the hermitage was dissolved.</p>
+
+<p>Many a sad story of ruined hopes and broken hearts could these walls
+tell, which were the living tombs of many a devout or erring sister,
+who, wounded in the world's war, sought the calm seclusion of a cell,
+and found there the peace which elsewhere they had failed to find.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="14"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>PARISH CHURCHES</h3>
+
+<p>The Porch&mdash;Font&mdash;Stone benches&mdash;Pews&mdash;Pulpits&mdash;Rood-lofts&mdash;Destruction
+of&mdash;Screens&mdash;Royal arms&mdash;Chancel&mdash;Stalls&mdash;<i>Misereres</i>&mdash;Lectern&mdash;High
+altar and its furniture&mdash;Piscina&mdash;Credence&mdash;Aumbry&mdash;Sedilia&mdash;Easter
+sepulchre&mdash;Reredos&mdash;Shrines&mdash;Numerous altars&mdash;Chantry chapels&mdash;
+Hagioscopes&mdash;Images&mdash;Low side windows&mdash;Vestries&mdash;Vestments&mdash;Churches
+in olden times&mdash;Reading pews&mdash;Galleries&mdash;Destruction and profanation&mdash;
+Evils of "restoration."</p>
+
+<p>
+In the centre of our village stands the church, always the most
+important and interesting building in the place. We will suppose that
+it has not suffered overmuch at the hands of the "restorers" of the
+nineteenth, or the Puritans of the seventeenth, or the spoliators of
+an earlier century, so that we may observe all those details which
+characterise an ancient church. In spite of all the vandalism which has
+taken place, in spite of the changes in ceremonial and forms of worship,
+our beautiful old churches still retain relics of the past which time
+has spared.</p>
+
+<p>We will enter the church and notice first the porch, often a large
+structure with a chamber above. Why was it made so large? According to
+the Sarum use several services took place in the porch. Parts of the
+baptismal service and of the marriage service and the churching of women
+were there performed; hence the porch was an important building, and
+it was necessary to make it rather large. Above the door there is
+frequently a niche for the image of the patron saint of the church,
+which has not usually escaped the destructive hand of the Puritan. The
+room over the porch was frequently inhabited by a recluse, as I have
+already recorded in the previous chapter. Near the door always stands
+the font, signifying that baptism is the entrance to the Church of
+Christ. Ancient fonts are large enough to allow the infant to be totally
+immersed, and are made of stone or lead. Childrey Church, in our county
+of Berks, has a fine cylindrical, leaden font, of Norman date, carved
+with figures of bishops. Norman fonts are frequently carved, the
+favourite subjects being the Baptism of our Lord, the Twelve Apostles,
+and the evangelistic symbols. Early English and Decorated fonts are not
+usually carved, but in the Perpendicular style they are rich with
+ornamentation, the Seven Sacraments being a not uncommon design. We have
+sometimes noticed the symbols of Freemasonry carved on fonts, as at
+Bray, in Berkshire. To the same period belong the splendid spire-shaped
+font-covers, of immense weight, of which I am sometimes a little
+fearful, lest the mechanism by which they are raised should become
+damaged, and terrible disaster follow during the progress of a baptismal
+service. At Sonning, Berks, there is a small stone desk attached to a
+pillar for the service-book to rest on.</p>
+
+<p>The nave of the church is now filled with seats for the use of the
+congregation. In early times they do not seem to have been considered
+necessary, and until the fourteenth century the stone benches ranged
+against the walls were the only seats provided. Even as late as the
+fourteenth century it does not appear that many churches had pews, but
+in the fifteenth they became general. The hideous monstrosities of
+post-Reformation times did not then disfigure our churches. The pews
+were low open seats made of oak, sometimes carved at the back, and
+panelled, with the ends higher than the rest, and often richly carved.
+Many rich men left money in their wills for the <i>puying</i> of churches.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="206"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="206.jpg (41K)" src="206.jpg" height="307" width="457">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that the
+fashion of erecting high pews set in, which so disfigured our churches,
+and were frequently censured by the authorities. Some of these (as at
+Whalley) resemble four-posted beds; others are like cattle-pens, large
+square boxes with seats all round, wherein the occupants sit and sleep,
+screened from the rest of the congregation. The carving of the woodwork
+of these erections is often very elaborate. Modern pews are happily
+based upon the more primitive fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Preaching not being considered such an important part of the service in
+pre-Reformation times, pulpits in churches of that period were not so
+usual as in modern churches. Monastic refectories had pulpits, which the
+reader occupied when he read to his brethren during meals. Beaulieu
+Abbey has the most ancient pulpit in this country, which evidently
+belongs to the thirteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>The churches of Devonshire and Norfolk have wooden pulpits of the
+fifteenth century, which were painted and gilded, the figures of the
+four doctors of the church&mdash;SS. Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, and
+Jerome&mdash;being the favourite subjects. In 1603 the churchwardens were
+ordered to provide in every church "a comely and decent pulpit." Hence
+most of our pulpits date from this period. The sides were panelled and
+carved with scrollwork; and at the same time a sounding-board was
+introduced. Occasionally the hour-glass which regulated the length of
+the preacher's discourse remains, with its beautiful scroll-worked
+stand.</p>
+
+<p>The most striking feature of the pre-Reformation Church was the
+rood-loft, a narrow long gallery above the beautifully decorated screen,
+which separated the chancel from the nave. In this loft was erected the
+rood, or figure of our blessed Lord on the cross, together with figures
+of the Virgin and St. John on each side. Both the screen and the loft
+were richly panelled and ornamented with tracery and carvings, and
+before them hung one or more lamps. Sometimes tall candlesticks stood on
+pillars on each side of the figures. A staircase of stone, constructed
+in the wall near the chancel-arch, led to the rood-loft, and the
+blocked-up archway of this rood-stair frequently remains. The priest
+stood in the rood-loft to read the gospel and epistle, and sometimes
+preached there; official notices were read, and from it the bishop used
+to give the Benediction. The rood-cloth, or veil, hid the rood during
+Lent, and in some churches we have seen the roller which was used to
+raise this veil. A special altar, called the rood-altar, used to stand
+under the screen.</p>
+
+
+<a name="208"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="208.jpg (62K)" src="208.jpg" height="412" width="431">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The Reformers played havoc with these old rood-lofts and screens, which
+were regarded as monuments of idolatry and superstition. The
+churchwardens' account-books of many churches bear witness to this
+destruction. Those of St. Giles', Reading, tell of certain <i>items</i> "for
+pulling down the rood and carting away the rubbish." Instead of the
+figure of our Lord they put up the royal arms; and one John Serjente, of
+Hytchen, is licensed in 1614&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"to paynte in all the Churches and Chappells, within this Realme of
+England, the Kinges Majesties armes in due forme with helme creste
+mantell and supporters as they oughte to be&mdash;and to wright in fayre text
+letters the tenn commandments, the beliefe, and the Lord's prayer, with
+some other fruitefull and profitable sentences of holye scripture."</p>
+
+<p>In spite of this destruction of the ancient roods, several lofts still
+remain, <i>e.g.</i> at Bradninch, Cullompton, Dartmouth, Hartland, Kenton,
+Ugborough, and Plymtree, in Devonshire; in several places in
+Somersetshire, and at Charlton-on-Otmoor (erected in 1485) and
+Handborough, Oxfordshire. A very large number of the old screens remain,
+ornamented with the arms of Elizabeth or James I.</p>
+
+<p>Proceeding eastward we enter the chancel, so called because it is
+inclosed with <i>cancelli</i>, or the lattice-work of the screen. If the
+church was formerly connected with some monastery we shall see some
+beautifully carved wooden stalls with rich canopies over them. The seats
+are curiously constructed. They can be turned up, and beneath the seats
+is a projecting bracket of wood, commonly adorned with carved
+work&mdash;animals, birds, leaves, and flowers, and often with grotesque,
+satirical, and irreverent devices. They are called miserere-stalls, and
+were used by the monks or canons to lean against during the portions of
+the long mediaeval services, when they were not allowed to be seated. As
+this practice was a concession to human weakness or infirmity, the seats
+were called in France <i>misericordes</i>, and in England <i>misereres</i>. The
+subjects of the sculptures are often extremely curious. Domestic scenes,
+fables, such as the "Fox and the Grapes," demons carrying off monks,
+"The Seven Deadly Sins," are some of these subjects. Miss Phipson has
+published a learned work on <i>Choir Stalls and their Carvings</i>, which
+contains reproductions of three hundred of her sketches of curiously
+wrought <i>misereres</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="210"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="210.jpg"><img alt="210h.jpg (31K)" src="210h.jpg" height="321" width="529"></a>
+<br>
+VILLAGE CHURCH IN THE VALE
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+<p>The lectern formerly stood in the chancel; and then, as now, was often
+in the form of a large eagle, emblematic of St. John. Most of these
+reading-desks belong to the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and are
+made of wood, latten, iron, or stone, as well as of brass. There is a
+very curious wooden one at East Hendred, Berks, representing a foot
+resting on the head of a dragon, emblematic of the word of God
+conquering the powers of evil. Ancient wooden double reading-desks are
+not uncommon. The ornamentation usually denotes the period when they
+were constructed.</p>
+
+<p>And now we approach the high altar of the church, made of stone, covered
+with a beautifully worked frontal and cloth, and inclosed at the sides
+with curtains suspended on iron rods projecting from the wall. A
+crucifix hangs above the altar, and two candlesticks stand, one on each
+side. The furniture and accessories of the altar in pre-Reformation
+times were numerous. There was the pyx, a box or vessel of precious
+metal, in which the Host was reverently preserved for the purpose of
+giving communion to the sick and infirm. There were two small cruets or
+vessels for containing the wine and water used in Holy Communion, one
+engraved with the letter "V" (<i>vinum</i>), and the other "A" (<i>aqua</i>). An
+<i>osculatorium</i>, or pax tablet, of ivory or wood, overlaid with gold, was
+used for giving the kiss of peace during the High Mass just before the
+reception of the Host. Of church plate generally we shall write in a
+subsequent chapter.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="212"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="212.jpg (23K)" src="212.jpg" height="287" width="239">
+<br>NORMAN PISCINA, ROMSEY CHURCH, HANTS
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>On the south we see the piscina, which is contained in a beautifully
+carved niche&mdash;a hollow basin with a stone drain, wherein the priest
+washed his hands before consecrating the elements, and poured the water
+from the rinsed chalice. Above it in the niche was the credence, a shelf
+of stone, on which were placed the chalice and paten and all things
+necessary for the celebration. In some churches there is a separate
+credence table. On the north side was the aumbry, or locker, where the
+sacred vessels, altar linen, and service books were kept, guarded by a
+strong wooden door. The doors have usually disappeared, but a very large
+number of churches have the hole in the wall which was formerly the
+aumbry.</p>
+
+<p>On the south side are the sedilia, or stone seats, for the assistant
+clergy, frequently with canopies richly carved, and usually three in
+number. Opposite to the sedilia in the north wall is a large arch,
+within which the holy sepulchre was set up at Easter. This was a wooden
+structure made for the deposition of the consecrated elements of the
+Eucharist from the evening of Good Friday until the morning of Easter
+Day; during which time it was watched by a quasi-guard, after the manner
+of our Lord's sepulchre. The books of St. Lawrence, Reading, record:&mdash;</p>
+
+<pre>
+"Anno 1498. In primis payed for Wakyng of the Sepulchre viii'd."
+
+"Anno 1510. It. payed to Walter Barton to the new Sepulchur iiii'li
+xiii's x'd."
+</pre>
+
+<p>As this sum of money was a considerable one at that period, the
+sepulchre must have been an object of unusual magnificence. Sometimes
+it was a permanent structure of stone, carved with figures of soldiers
+watching the tomb of our Lord. Behind the altar was the reredos. In
+village churches these screens were made up of recessed stone panels,
+surrounded by sculptured wallflowers and other devices; but in large
+churches they were very ornate, enriched with niches, statues,
+tabernacle-work, and other adornments. Many of them were destroyed at
+the Reformation, together with the stone altars. Some were covered up
+and concealed by plaster, in order to preserve them from iconoclastic
+violence. They were buried and forgotten, until by some happy accident
+their existence was revealed in modern times. Nearly all large churches,
+and some village churches, especially those connected with a monastery,
+had shrines, or receptacles for the body or relics of a saint. Some
+of them were fixed, and made of stone or wood, adorned with rich
+tabernacle-work, such as the shrine of St. Cuthbert at Durham, or of St.
+Frideswide at Oxford; and others were portable, shaped like coped boxes,
+covered with precious metal, enamels, and engraving. Sculptured stones
+in the walls of our churches often mark the spot in the building where
+relics were stored.</p>
+
+<p>It is evident from the existence of niches and piscinas in other parts
+of the church, besides in the south wall near the high altar, that there
+formerly existed many altars in the sacred building. At the east end of
+each aisle we usually find these indications of the existence of an
+altar, which belonged to a chantry chapel, separated from the rest of
+the church by a screen. Here a priest said Mass daily for the soul of
+the founder of the chantry, his ancestors, and posterity. Ancient stone
+altars still remain in some of our churches. Sometimes they have been
+removed from their place, and used as tombstones, or in paving the floor
+of the church. They can be recognised by the five crosses engraved on
+them, one at each corner, and one in the centre of the stone.</p>
+
+<p>Hagioscopes, or squints, are openings in the thickness of the wall,
+enabling worshippers in the chantry chapels to witness the elevation of
+the Host at the high altar. They are usually plain; but in some churches
+we find these curious apertures moulded and decorated with architectural
+designs.</p>
+
+<p>Pre-Reformation churches had several wooden images of saints, most of
+which were destroyed by the iconoclastic zeal of the Reformers or
+Puritans. The brackets on which these figures stood often remain, though
+the images have disappeared.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="215"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="215.jpg (37K)" src="215.jpg" height="433" width="342">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Low side windows, commonly called "Lepers' windows," are very frequently
+found in our churches, and usually on the south wall of the chancel.
+Their object has been, and is, much disputed among antiquaries. The
+vulgar idea is that poor lepers used to come to this window to see the
+celebration of the Mass; but unfortunately it is quite impossible in
+many cases to see the high altar through this window, and moreover
+lepers were not allowed to enter a churchyard. Another idea is that
+they were used as confessionals, the priest in the church hearing the
+confession of the penitent who knelt on the grass in the churchyard.
+A more inconvenient arrangement could not have been devised; and this
+idea might be at once dismissed, were it not that one of Henry's
+commissioners for suppressing monasteries and chantries wrote: "We think
+it best that the place where these friars have been wont to hear outward
+confession of all-comers at certain times of the year, be walled up, and
+that use to be done for ever." It appears that sometimes at any rate the
+low side windows were used for this purpose. However, I am inclined to
+think that they were intended for the use of the anchorites or recluses,
+who dwelt in churches. The windows were not glazed, but had iron bars on
+the outside, and a wooden shutter on the inside of the church. These
+windows were probably their means of communication with the outside
+world.</p>
+
+<p>Many village churches then, as now, had no vestry. Where a <i>vestiarium</i>
+existed it was usually on the north side of the chancel, and its
+contents were more elaborate than the plain surplice stole and hood of
+recent times. In the vestry press we should find an alb of fine white
+linen, somewhat similar to a surplice, ornamented with "apparels,"
+<i>i.e.</i> embroidery, on the cuffs and skirts; a girdle made of white silk
+embroidered with colours; an amice, or oblong piece of fine linen, worn
+on the head or as a collar; a stole with embroidered ends; a maniple, or
+strip of ornamented linen worn by the priest in his left hand during
+celebrations; dalmatic, chasuble and other vestments which the ornate
+ritual of the mediaeval church required.</p>
+
+<p>Before the Reformation the appearance of our churches was certainly
+splendid, and differed much from the Puritan simplicity of later times.
+The walls were covered with mural paintings. The windows, soon to be</p>
+
+<p>"Shorn of their glass of a thousand colourings,
+Through which the deepened glories once could enter,"</p>
+
+<p>were then resplendent with stained glass. Above, the rood looked down on
+all the worshippers. Everywhere there was beautifully carved woodwork,
+gilded and painted, tombs of knights and dames all painted and adorned,
+altars with rich embroidered hangings. The floor was composed of
+encaustic tiles, and had many memorial brasses. Armour, crests, and
+banners hung upon the walls. Lights burned before numerous images, and
+the whole appearance of our churches was gorgeous and magnificent.</p>
+
+<p>Many changes have taken place since. Coatings of whitewash hide the
+mural paintings. Sacrilegious hands "have broken down all the carved
+work with axes and hammers." The stone altars have disappeared, and
+instead we have "an honest table decently covered." Reading-pews for the
+clergy were set up, and in the last century the hideous "three decker,"
+which hid the altar and utterly disfigured the sacred building. Instead
+of the low open seats great square high pews filled the nave. Hideous
+galleries were erected which obstructed the windows and hid the
+architectural beauties of former days. The old timber roofs were
+covered, and low flat ceilings substituted. Brasses were torn up and
+sold by dishonest churchwardens, and old monuments broken and defaced.
+The old stained-glass windows were destroyed. The Communion table was
+taken from the east end of the chancel, and seats erected round it.
+Crosses were defaced everywhere, and crucifixes destroyed. Puritan
+profanation and wanton destruction devastated our churches to a degree
+which has never been equalled since the hordes of heathens and barbaric
+Danish invaders carried fire and sword into the sanctuaries of God.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="218"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="218.jpg (56K)" src="218.jpg" height="436" width="514">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Much harm was done by the Goths and Vandals of the nineteenth century.
+Many old churches, replete with a thousand memories of the past, were
+pulled down entirely, and modern structures of "Victorian Gothic" style
+erected in their place, which can have none of the precious associations
+which the old churches had. Much harm was done to the old features of
+many churches by so-called "restoration," carried out by men ignorant of
+architecture and antiquities. But we are learning better now. The
+Society of Antiquaries has done much to prevent injudicious restoration
+and the destruction of our old churches, and if any incumbent and his
+parishioners are thinking of restoring their church, they cannot do
+better than to consult the secretaries of that learned body, who will
+show how best to preserve the interesting memorials of the past which
+time has spared.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="15"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>CHURCH PLATE</h3>
+
+<p>Spoliation&mdash;Few remains of pre-Reformation plate&mdash;Testimony of
+inventories&mdash;Plate found in graves of bishops&mdash;Characteristics of
+chalices in different periods&mdash;Inscriptions&mdash;Devices on patens&mdash;
+Censers&mdash;Pyx&mdash;Monstrance&mdash;Chrismatory&mdash;Pax&mdash;Sacring bell&mdash;Elizabethan
+chalice&mdash;Bridal cup&mdash;Post-Reformation plate&mdash;Hall marks.</p>
+
+<p>
+We have already mourned over the wanton destruction of much that was of
+intense interest and value in our churches; but the most systematic
+robbery and spoliation of our church goods at the time of the
+Reformation were carried out in the matter of church plate. Henry VIII.
+stripped our cathedrals and conventual churches of almost all that was
+valuable, and the unscrupulous commissioners of Edward VI. performed a
+like office for our parish churches and chantries. A large number of
+the old chalices were also melted down and converted into Communion
+cupsduring the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth. Hence of all the
+vast store of church plate which our churches possessed before the
+Reformation, at the present time throughout all England only thirty-four
+chalices and seventy-three patens remain. It is true that not all the
+ancient vessels fell into the hands of the commissioners of the king. In
+the churchwardens' account books of the period we read of sundry sales
+of church plate. Evidently the parishioners had some presentiment of the
+coming spoliation; so they sold their valuables, and kept the proceeds
+of the sale for "the paving of the streets," or other parochial
+necessities.</p>
+
+<p>The ancient inventories of church goods show the deplorable loss of the
+valuables of the church which has taken place. Thus at the church of St.
+Lawrence, Reading, in the year 1517, the inventory tells us of the
+following: a cross of silver and gilt; a censer of silver gilt; another
+censer; a ship of silver for holding incense; another ship of silver;
+two candlesticks of silver; two books bound in silver; two basins of
+silver; a pyx of silver gilt, with a silver pin; a monstrance of silver
+gilt; a silver gilt chrismatory for the holy oil; a pax; two cruets; a
+bell; a chalice, with a crucifix enamelled on the foot and the Trinity
+on the paten; another chalice, with a crucifix engraved on the foot
+and a hand on the paten; another chalice similarly described; another
+similar to first chalice; and two others, with a crucifix on the foot
+and a vernicle, or <i>vera icon</i> (a representation of our Lord's face
+miraculously delineated on the napkin of St. Veronica). All these
+vessels were made of silver or silver gilt. Nor were these all the
+treasures. There were several reliquaries of silver gilt containing
+parts of the holy cross; a gridiron, with a bone of St. Lawrence, and
+other articles contained in silver boxes; and many books bound with
+silver clasps. The total weight of silver in this church amounted to
+seven hundred ounces.</p>
+
+<p>Village churches were, of course, less sumptuously furnished than this
+important town church, which being situated under the shadow of one of
+the largest and most important abbeys in the kingdom, would receive many
+costly gifts and benefactors. But the inventories of village churches
+show that there was no lack of plate, rich altar hangings, copes, and
+vestments, which helped to swell the goodly heap of spoil. In country
+churches in Oxfordshire there were silver chalices and patens, pyxes,
+censers, candlesticks, chrismatories, crosses, sanctus bells, and other
+articles of plate.</p>
+
+<p>It was the practice in mediaeval times to place in the coffin of a
+bishop a chalice and paten; hence some of the earliest specimens of
+church plate which we possess have been recovered from episcopal
+graves.[<a href="#b3">3</a>] The Rites of Durham enjoin that on the death of a bishop
+he was to be buried "with a little chalice of silver, other metal, or
+wax" aid upon his breast within the coffin.[<a href="#b4">4</a>] Most of these were made
+of pewter or lead, but some have been found of silver gilt, latten,
+and tin. It is perhaps scarcely necessary for our present purposes to
+describe these early specimens of sacred vessels, as the number of them
+is so limited; and few of my readers will be able to discover any
+mediaeval examples amongst the plate of their own church. However, I
+will point out a few peculiarities of the plate of each period.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest chalice, used in the church of Berwick St. James, Wilts,
+until a few years ago, and now in the British Museum, dates from the
+beginning of the thirteenth century. Its bowl is broad and shallow, the
+stem and knot (by which the vessel was held) and foot being plain and
+circular. Then the makers (from 1250 to 1275) fashioned the stem and
+knot separately from the bowl and foot, and shaped them polygonally.
+During the remaining years of the century the foot was worked into
+ornate lobes. Then the bowl is deepened and made more conical. About
+1350 the custom arose of laying the chalice on its side on the paten to
+drain at the ablutions at Mass; and as the round-footed chalices would
+have a tendency to roll, the foot was made hexagonal for stability.
+Henceforth all the mediaeval chalices were fashioned with a six-sided
+foot. By degrees the bowl became broader and shallower, and instead of
+the base having six points, its form is a sexfoil without any points.
+Several old chalices are engraved with the inscription&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Calicem salutaris accipiam et nomen Domini inbocabo.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="223"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="223.jpg (15K)" src="223.jpg" height="229" width="396">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>In one of the compartments of the base there was a representation of a
+crucifix, or the Virgin, or ihc, or xpc.</p>
+
+<p>The usual devices on ancient patens were the <i>Manus Dei</i>, or hand of
+God, in the act of blessing; on later ones the vernicle, or face of our
+Lord; the Holy Trinity; the Holy Lamb; the sacred monogram. The oldest
+paten in existence is that found at Chichester Cathedral in a coffin,
+and its date is about the year 1180. In the centre is a rude engraving
+of the <i>Agnus Dei</i>, and it bears the inscription&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi miserere nobis.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="224"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="224.jpg (33K)" src="224.jpg" height="352" width="496">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The grave of Bishop Grostete at Lincoln yielded up an ancient paten
+(1230-53), which has the figure of a bishop vested, the right hand
+raised in the act of blessing, the left holding a crozier. The oldest
+piece of church plate still in use is a remarkable paten at Wyke Church,
+near Winchester, the date of which is about 1280. It bears an engraving
+of the <i>Agnus Dei</i> holding a banner, and around the rim is the legend&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>CUNTA: CREO: VIRTUTE: REGO: PIETATE REFORMO.</p>
+
+<p>Another favourite inscription was <i>Benedicamus patrem et filium cum
+spiritu sancto</i>; but on the paten in the church of Great Waltham, Essex,
+the important word <i>spiritu</i> is omitted for want of room.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="225"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="225.jpg (37K)" src="225.jpg" height="483" width="378">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+
+<p>We have already mentioned several of the important pieces of church
+plate which were in use in mediaeval times. Censers, or thuribles, were
+common in all our ancient parish churches, sometimes of gold or silver,
+more usually of brass or latten, and were in the shape of a covered vase
+or cup, perforated so as to allow the fumes of burning incense to
+escape. Most of our English censers are now in museums, but several
+ancient ones are still in use in the private chapels of Roman Catholic
+families.</p>
+
+<p>Old inventories always mention a pyx, a box or vessel of gold or silver,
+in which the Host was reserved for the sick and infirm. It often
+resembles a chalice, except that instead of the bowl there is a covered
+receptacle for the Host. A beautiful specimen was dug up a few years ago
+in the churchyard of Yateley, Hants. Another vessel was the monstrance,
+in which the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession, and exposed
+on the altar. The form varied. Sometimes monstrances were made in
+the shape of a tower, or a covered chalice; sometimes in the form of
+images carrying silver pyxes, elaborately ornamented with many jewels.
+Processions were always a great feature of mediaeval worship; hence the
+monstrance was frequently in use, especially on such occasions as the
+celebrations of Corpus Christi Day.</p>
+
+<p>Holy oil was much used in the services, as in the Roman Catholic Church
+at the present time. It was blessed by a bishop on Maundy Thursday, and
+used in Baptism, Confirmation, and Extreme Unction, as well as at the
+Consecration of Churches, Ordination, and the Coronation of Kings. The
+vessel for holding the oil was an important piece of church plate, and
+was called a chrismatory. Usually there were three distinct vessels, one
+for holding the oil for the sick, a second for use at confirmations, and
+a third for the baptismal oil. Sometimes these vessels are labelled with
+the words EXT. UNC., CAT., and CHR., according to the recommendation of
+St. Charles Borromeo, in order that each oil might be kept for its
+proper use, and that no confusion might arise.</p>
+
+<p>The pax was a small tablet of silver or other precious metal, used for
+giving the kiss of peace during High Mass. The celebrant kissed the
+tablet, and held it aloft before all the people. It was usually adorned
+with a representation of the <i>Agnus Dei</i>. Of the cruets containing wine
+and water for the celebration we have already written. Then there was a
+sacring bell, often made of silver, which was rung during the service at
+the time of the elevation of the Host, and at the sound the congregation
+knelt.</p>
+
+<p>We have now examined the aumbry, and noted its contents, upon which the
+commissioners in the reign of Edward VI. made such shameful inroads.
+Henceforth the plate was confined to a chalice and paten, alms-dish, and
+usually a large silver flagon. The form of the chalice was entirely
+changed. As we have noticed, the bowl of the pre-Reformation chalices
+became smaller and shallower, on account of the gradually introduced
+practice of refusing the wine to the laity. Now in the year 1562 the
+size of the bowl was greatly enlarged, and the "Communion cup" took
+the place of the "Massing chalice." Some poor parishes were obliged to
+content themselves with pewter vessels. St. Lawrence's Church, Reading,
+had a curious bridal cup, which was carried before all brides who
+were married in that church. The custom of drinking wine in the church
+at marriages is enjoined in the Hereford Missal, and the Sarum
+Missal ordered that the bread immersed in the wine, and consumed by
+the company, should first be blessed by the priest. Some of these
+post-Reformation vessels are extremely interesting. They record the
+thankofferings of pious donors on the occasion of some great event in
+the national annals, such as the Restoration, or of some private mercy
+vouchsafed to the individual. They record the connection of some family
+with the parish, the arms they bore; and the Hall marks tell us of their
+date, which is often anterior to the date of the inscription.</p>
+
+<p>Hall marks were first introduced in 1300 by Edward I. in order to keep
+up the purity of silver, and consisted of the lion's or leopard's head
+crowned. This was called the king's mark. The maker's mark was
+introduced in 1363, and was some initial or badge chosen by the
+silversmith. To these were added in 1438 the year letter or assayer's
+mark, a different letter being chosen for each year. When the alphabet
+was exhausted, another with differently shaped letters was begun. In
+1545 the lion passant was introduced, and since 1784 the portrait of the
+reigning sovereign has appeared. With the assistance of Mr. Cripps' <i>Old
+English Plate</i>, which contains a list of the alphabets used in marking
+plate, it is not very difficult to discover the date of any piece of
+silver. Inventories of church plate are being made in many counties and
+dioceses, and no more useful work can be undertaken by our local
+antiquarian societies.</p>
+<a name="b3"></a>
+<p>
+[3] <i>Mediaeval Chalices and Patens</i>, by W.H. St. John Hope and
+T.M. Fallow.</p>
+<a name="b4"></a>
+<p>[4] Surtees Society, vol. xv. pp. 45, 49.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="16"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES</h3>
+
+<p>Reverence for the dead&mdash;Cists&mdash;Stone coffins&mdash;Devices&mdash;Introduction
+of effigies&mdash;Cross-legged effigies&mdash;Wooden effigies&mdash;Incised
+effigies&mdash;Brasses&mdash;Essentially English&mdash;Vast number of brasses&mdash;
+Palimpsests&mdash;Destruction&mdash;Costumes and fashions&mdash;Ecclesiastics&mdash;
+Lawyers&mdash;Soldiers&mdash;Canopies and inscriptions&mdash;Punning inscriptions&mdash;
+Contractions&mdash;Emblems&mdash;Heraldry.</p>
+
+<p>
+The pious care which we all love to bestow on the mortal remains of our
+nearest and dearest, and the respect and honour with which all men
+regard the bodies of departed heroes, kings, saints, and warriors, have
+produced a remarkable series of sepulchral monuments, examples of which
+may be found everywhere. The cairns and tumuli of the primitive races
+which inhabited our island were the results of the same feelings of
+reverent regard which inspired the beautifully carved mediaeval
+monuments, the memorial brass, or the cross-shaped tombstone of to-day.</p>
+
+<p>I have already mentioned the cromlechs and barrows and other memorials
+of the early inhabitants of Britain. We have seen the cists of Saxon
+times, the coffins formed of several stones placed together in the form
+of a table. The Normans introduced stone coffins for the sepulchre of
+their great men, many of which may be seen in our cathedrals and old
+conventual churches. On the lids of their coffins they frequently cut a
+single cross. When the style of architecture changed to that of the
+Early English and Decorated periods, monumental slabs were ornamented
+with much greater richness and elaboration, and inscriptions were added,
+and also some device which showed the trade, rank, or profession of the
+departed. Thus the chalice and paten denoted a priest; a sword showed
+the knight; an axe, a forester; an ink-horn, a notary; shears, a wool
+merchant.</p>
+
+<p>At the beginning of the thirteenth century it occurred to someone to
+preserve the likeness of his departed friend as well as the symbols of
+his rank and station. So effigies were introduced upon the surface of
+the slabs, and were carved flat; but ere fifty years had passed away the
+art of the sculptor produced magnificent monumental effigies. Knights
+and nobles lie clad in armour with their ladies by their sides. Bishops
+and abbots bless the spectators with their uplifted right hands. Judges
+lie in their official garb, and merchants with the emblems of their
+trade. At their feet lie animals, usually having some heraldic
+connection with the deceased, or symbolical of his work&mdash;<i>e.g.</i> a dragon
+is trodden down beneath the feet of a bishop, signifying the defeat of
+sin as the result of his ministry. The heads of effigies usually rest on
+cushions, which are sometimes supported by two angels.</p>
+
+<p>A peculiar characteristic of the military effigies in England is that
+the knights are often represented with the legs crossed. Many
+speculations have been made with regard to the meaning of this fashion
+of cross-legged effigy. It is a popular superstition, in which for some
+years the writer shared, that such effigies represented Crusaders. We
+were told in our young days that when the knight had his legs crossed at
+the feet he had gone to the Crusades once; when at the knees, that he
+had been to two Crusades; and when crossed at the thighs, he had been
+thrice to rescue the Holy City from the hands of the infidels. All this
+seemed very plausible and interesting, but it is undoubtedly a myth.
+Many known Crusaders have their effigies with uncrossed legs, and many
+who never went to the Crusades have cross-legged effigies. Moreover,
+there are no such monuments in any foreign country which swelled the
+army of Crusaders. Hence we must abandon the pleasing superstition, and
+reconcile ourselves to the fact that no particular signification can be
+assigned to these cross-legged effigies, and that only fashion prompted
+the mediaeval sculptors to adopt this attitude for their figures. This
+mode prevailed until about the year 1320.</p>
+
+<p>At the close of the fifteenth century the art of making monumental
+effigies degenerated together with the skill of the architects of that
+period. We see the husband and wife kneeling facing each other, with a
+faldstool before each figure. A company of small figures below the
+effigies represent the children, the boys on one side, the girls on the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>Early wooden effigies were also in use. There is one much battered by
+the careless hands of former generations of villagers in the rural
+church of my parish of Barkham. The artists often used much colour,
+gilding, and enamel in making these effigies; and often rich canopies
+were erected over them, containing fine tabernacle-work and figures of
+saints in niches.</p>
+
+<p>Another form of effigy was commonly in use, in addition to the figures
+just described. These are called incised effigies, which were cut
+in outline upon flat slabs of stone, the lines being filled in with
+enamelled metals. Thorton Abbey, Lincolnshire, and Brading, in the Isle
+of Wight, have examples of this work. But the great expense of these
+enamels, and also their frailty when exposed in the pavements of
+churches, led to the use of brass; and hence arose the introduction of
+memorial brasses for which our country is famous.</p>
+
+<p>We owe the application of brass to memorial tablets to the artists of
+Flanders, and the date of their introduction is about the middle of the
+thirteenth century. The execution of almost all of our English brasses
+is due to native artists. Foreign brasses are usually of great size,
+and consist of a quadrangular sheet of metal, on which is engraved
+the figure, usually under a canopy, the background being ornamented
+with rich diaper, foliage, or scrollwork, and the incisions filled
+with colouring. Several brasses in England conform to this style of
+workmanship, and are evidently the production of foreign artists. The
+English brasses, on the contrary, consist of separate pieces, with an
+irregular outline, corresponding with that of the figure. They have no
+brass background; and for delicacy of engraving and general appearance
+the English brasses are by far the best.</p>
+
+<p>The names of the makers of brasses have been almost entirely lost. Two
+only bear marks which are supposed to be those of the engraver. No other
+country can boast of so large a number of these memorials as England, in
+spite of the hard usage they have received and their wanton destruction.
+About four thousand remain; and constantly we find the matrices cut in
+stone slabs, from which brasses have been torn; so that we may assume
+that quite as many have been destroyed as those which survive. The
+southern and eastern counties are most richly furnished with these
+monuments, whereas the western and northern counties have but few
+brasses. Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent are the most rich in this
+respect. The earliest brass of which we have any record is that of
+Simon de Beauchamp, who died before 1208. This is mentioned by Leland.
+The earliest brass now in existence is that of Sir John D'Aubernown at
+Stoke Dabernon, Surrey, which was fashioned in 1277. In the fourteenth
+century a very large number of brasses, remarkable for their beauty of
+form and execution, were made. The artistic workmanship began to decline
+in the fifteenth century, and in the following became utterly degenerate.</p>
+
+<p>It was not an uncommon practice for subsequent generations to appropriate
+the memorials of their predecessors. Such brasses are called palimpsests.
+By the carelessness of churchwardens, by fraud, or spoliation, brasses
+were taken from the churches, and acquired by some maker in the town.
+When a new one was required, the tradesman would take from his stock,
+and on the reverse engrave the figure of the individual whose memory he
+was called upon to perpetuate. Hence when brasses are taken up from the
+pavements, frequently the remains of a much earlier memorial are found on
+the reverse side. There is an example of this curious method of procedure
+at St. Lawrence's Church, Reading, where on the reverse of a brass to the
+memory of Walter Barton was found the remains of the brass of Sir John
+Popham, who was buried at the Charterhouse, London. This monastery was
+dissolved in 1536, the monuments sold, Sir John Popham's brass among them,
+which was evidently soon converted into a memorial of Walter Barton.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the original brass was appropriated as it lay, the figure
+being slightly altered to suit the style of costume prevalent at the
+later date. In other cases the engraver did not even trouble himself to
+alter the figure, and simply added a new inscription and shield of arms.</p>
+
+<p>The wanton destruction and gross neglect of churchwardens, both before
+and after the Reformation, were very great. At St. Mary's Church,
+Reading, the accounts tell a sad tale of the disgraceful damage in the
+year 1547:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Receyvid of John Saunders for iii cwt lacking ix'li of metall that was
+taken upp of the graves, and of olde candlestycks at vi's the hundred
+xlvj's ii'd."</p>
+
+<p>Evidently a clean sweep was made of most of the memorial brasses in the
+church, and few escaped destruction. The tale is too familiar. Most
+churches have suffered in the same way.</p>
+
+<p>The study of brasses throws much light upon the costumes and fashions of
+the day when they were engraved. We see priests, who may be recognised
+by the tonsure and vestments, amongst which we find the alb, amice,
+stole, maniple, and chasuble. The pastoral staff, ring, mitre, sandals,
+tunic, dalmatic, and gloves mark the graves of bishops and mitred
+abbots.</p>
+
+<p>A close skull-cap, a long robe with narrow sleeves, a hood, tippet, and
+mantle buttoned on the right shoulder, compose the dress of judges and
+officers of the law, as depicted on brasses. The changes in the fashion
+and style of armour, which took place between the fourteenth and the
+seventeenth centuries, are all accurately represented in these
+memorials; and also the picturesque costumes of ladies with their
+curious headgear; and the no less various fashions of the male
+civilian's dress. A study of brasses is an admirable guide to the
+prevailing style of dress during the periods of their construction.</p>
+
+<p>The beautiful canopies over the heads of the figures are well worthy of
+attention, and also the inscriptions. These usually take the form of
+Latin verses; and although many were written by learned abbots and
+scholars, the classical knowledge displayed is somewhat faulty. Here
+are a few examples:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>Respice quid prodest precentis temporis aebum<br>
+Omne quod est, nichil est, preter amare deum.</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>Sometimes the author of the inscription recorded his name, as did the
+learned Dame Elizabeth Hobby on a brass at Shottesbrooke, which runs&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>O multum dilecte senex, pater atqz bocate,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Del quia grandaebis, bel quia probus eras.<br>
+Annos bixisti nobies decem, atqz satelles<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Fidus eras regum, fidus erasqz tuis.<br>
+Iam satis functus baleas, sed tu, deus alme,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Sic mihi concedas bibere siqz mori.</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<p>Variety was added sometimes by jumbling together various languages,
+Norman-French, Latin, and English being often oddly combined.</p>
+
+<p>People in the Middle Ages loved punning and playing upon the sound of
+words. Thus a brass to the memory of Thomas Hylle (or Hill) has some
+verses beginning "<i>Mons</i> in valle jacet." John Day, the printer, had a
+very extravagant and jocular epitaph beginning&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>"Here lies the Daye that darkness could not blynd."</p>
+
+<p>"He set a Fox to wright how Martyrs runne<br>
+By death to lyfe"&mdash;</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>alluding to his publication of Foxe's <i>Book of Martyrs</i>. His widow
+probably married a man named Stone. Hence we read&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>"Als was the last encreaser of his store,<br>
+Who mourning long for being left alone,<br>
+Sett upp this tombe, her self turned to a Stone."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>"Orate pro anima," or "of your charite pray for the soul of &mdash;&mdash;" were
+usual inscriptions.</p>
+
+<p>It is somewhat difficult for the unpractised eye to read inscriptions on
+brasses, owing to the contractions and omissions of letters. Thus <i>m</i>
+and <i>n</i> are often omitted, and a line is placed over the adjoining
+letter to indicate the omission. Thus a=ia stands for <i>anima</i>, leg=u for
+<i>legum</i>. The letter <i>r</i> is also left out. Z stands for <i>que</i>, and there
+are many other contractions, such as D=ns for <i>Dominus</i>, D=s for <i>Deus</i>,
+E=ps for <i>Episcopus</i>, g=ia for <i>gratia</i>, m=ia for <i>misericordia</i>, and
+many others.</p>
+
+<p>The study of the emblems and devices is full of interest. Of
+ecclesiastical emblems we have the symbols of the Holy Trinity&mdash;God the
+Father represented as an aged person, holding a crucifix on which the
+dove, an emblem of the Holy Spirit, is alighting&mdash;representations of our
+Lord, angels, saints,[<a href="#b5">5</a>] evangelists, the fylfot cross, roses, and
+figures of Death. Sometimes the figure on the brass holds a heart in his
+hand, which indicates a response on the part of the deceased to the old
+invitatory "Sursum corda."</p>
+
+<p>The armorial bearings of the deceased are usually represented on
+brasses, and also personal or professional devices. The founders of
+churches hold representations in miniature of the churches which they
+founded. Bishops and abbots have a pastoral staff; priests, a chalice,
+or a book; wool merchants have woolpacks beneath their feet, and other
+tradesmen have similar devices denoting their special calling.
+Merchants' marks also frequently appear; and the mediaeval taste for
+punning is shown by frequent rebuses formed on the names of the
+deceased, <i>e.g.</i> a peacock, for one named Pecok; a fox, for a Foxley;
+four tuns and a cross, for Master Croston.</p>
+
+<p>England may well be proud of the brass memorials of her worthy sons and
+daughters. It is, however, terribly sad to see the destruction which
+fanatical and greedy folk have wrought on these beautiful monuments.
+As we have already noticed, the spoliators of the Reformation period
+accomplished much wanton destruction, and removed tombs "for greedinesse
+of the brasse." Cromwell's soldiers and commissioners did a vast deal
+more damage, violating sepulchres and monuments, and destroying brasses
+everywhere. A third cause of the defacement and loss of these valuable
+memorials has been the gross carelessness of churchwardens and
+incumbents, who during any alterations or restoration of their churches
+have allowed them to be sold, destroyed, or appropriated by the
+builders. Truly we have entered upon a diminished inheritance. It
+behoves us to preserve with the utmost vigilance and care the memorials
+which fanaticism, greed, and carelessness have spared.</p>
+<a name="b5"></a>
+<p>
+[5] The following are the principal emblems of the Apostles:&mdash;
+St. Andrew, a cross saltier; St. Bartholomew, a knife; St. James the
+Great, a pilgrim's staff, wallet, escallop shell; St. James the Less, a
+fuller's bat, or saw; St. John, a chalice and serpent; St. Jude, a boat
+in his hand, or a club; St. Matthew, a club, carpenter's square, or
+money-box; St. Matthias, a hatchet, battle-axe, or sword; St. Paul, a
+sword; St. Peter, keys; St. Philip, a tau cross, or a spear; St. Simon,
+fishes; St. Thomas, an arrow or spear.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="17"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PARISH CHEST</h3>
+
+<p>Contents of the parish chest&mdash;Parish registers&mdash;Effect of Civil War&mdash;
+Burials in woollen&mdash;"Not worth &pound;600"&mdash;Care bestowed upon registers&mdash;
+Curious entries&mdash;Astrology&mdash;Gipsies&mdash;Jester&mdash;Heart-burial&mdash;Plagues&mdash;Royal
+visits&mdash;Licences for eating flesh, for to be touched for king's evil&mdash;
+Carelessness of custody of registers&mdash;Churchwardens' account books&mdash;Their
+value&mdash;Curious entries&mdash;Sports and pastimes&mdash;Paschall money&mdash;Brief
+books&mdash;Strange entries in registers and account books&mdash;Dog-whippers&mdash;
+King's evil&mdash;Treating bishops and poor scholars of Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>
+The parish chest in the vestry usually contains many documents, which
+are of profound interest to the student of village antiquities. It
+contains the old churchwardens' account books, the parish registers,
+lists of briefs, and often many other papers and records which bear on
+the history of the parish. The old register books record the names of
+past generations of villagers, and many curious facts about the parish
+and its people, which are not found in the dull dry columns of our
+modern books.</p>
+
+<p>Parish registers were first ordered by Thomas Cromwell in the year 1538,
+and from that date many of our registers begin.[<a href="#b6">6</a>] But all vicars did
+not obey the injunctions of Viceregent Cromwell; they were renewed by
+Edward VI. in 1547 and by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and most of our old
+register books begin with this date. James I. ordered that the registers
+should be written over again in a parchment book, the entries previously
+having been recorded on paper. Hence many of our books, although they
+begin with the year 1538, are really copies of the paper records made
+previous to 1603.</p>
+
+<p>The disturbances of the Civil War period caused much neglect in the
+keeping of the registers. The incumbent was often driven away from his
+flock, and parish registrars were chosen by the parishioners and
+approved and sworn before a justice of the peace. Here is a record of
+this business taken from the books of this parish:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Whereas Robtr Williams of the prish of Barkham in the County of Berks
+was elected and chosen by the inhabitants of the same prish to be there
+prish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms was approved and sworne this
+sixteenth day of November 1653. Ri: Bigg, J.P."</p>
+
+<p>Henceforth the children are registered as having been <i>born</i>, not
+<i>baptised</i>, until the Restoration brought back the clergyman to his
+flock again, and the entries are written in a scholarly hand, and the
+disorder of the previous years ceases.</p>
+
+<p>In 1679 an Act was passed requiring that the dead should be buried in
+woollen, the purpose being to lessen "the importation of linen from
+beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper
+manufacturers of this kingdom." A penalty of &pound;5 was inflicted for a
+violation of this Act; and as frequently people preferred to be buried
+in linen, a record of the fine appears&mdash;<i>e.g.</i> at Gayton,
+Northamptonshire, where we find in the register&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"1708. Mrs. Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5, in <i>Linnen</i>, and the
+forfeiture of the Act payd fifty shillings to ye informer and fifty
+shillings to ye poor of the parishe."</p>
+
+<p>Pope wrote the following lines on the burial of Mrs. Oldfield, the
+actress, with reference to this custom:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Odious! in woollen! 'twould <i>a</i> saint provoke<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;(Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke);<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Sometimes after the name in the register is added the words, "Not worth
+&pound;600." This refers to the Act of William III. in 1694, which required
+that all persons baptised, married, or buried, having an estate of that
+value, should pay a tax of twenty shillings. The money was required for
+carrying on the war with France, and the Act was in force for five
+years. This description of the personal estate was not intended to be
+invidious, but was of practical utility in enforcing the Act.</p>
+
+<p>The parish registers reflect with wonderful accuracy the life of the
+people, and are most valuable to the student of history. Clergymen took
+great pride in recording "the short and simple annals of the poor." A
+Gloucestershire rector (1630 A.D.) wrote in his book the following good
+advice which might with advantage be taken in many other villages:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If you will have this Book last, bee sure to aire it att the fier, or
+in the Sunne, three or four times a yeare&mdash;els it will grow dankish and
+rott, therefore look to it. It will not be amisse when you find it
+dankish to wipe over the leaves with a dry wollen cloth. This Place
+is very much subject to dankishness; therefore I say looke to it."</p>
+
+<p>A study of the curious entries which we occasionally find conveys much
+remarkable information. Sometimes, in the days of astrology, in order
+to assist in casting the nativity, it is recorded that at the time of
+the child's birth "the sun was in Libra," or "in Taurus." Gipsies were
+evidently numerous in the sixteenth century, as we constantly find
+references to "the roguish AEgyptians." The domestic jester finds
+his record in the entry: "1580. March 21, William, fool to my Lady
+Jerningham." The suicide is "infamously buried." Heart-burial is often
+recorded, as at Wooburn, Bucks: "1700. Cadaver Edi Thomas, equitis
+aurati, hic inhumatum fuit vicessimo tertio die Junii."</p>
+
+<p>Records of the visitations of the plague are very numerous in all parts
+of England, as at Egglescliffe, Durham: "1644. In this year there died
+of the plague in this towne one and twenty people; they are not all
+buried in the churchyard, and are not in the Register." Sometimes masses
+of human bones are found buried in fields outside towns and villages,
+memorials of this devastating plague.</p>
+
+<p>Parish clerks have not always had very musical voices when they shout
+out the "Amens." The Rector of Buxted, Sussex (1666 A.D.), records with
+a sigh of relief the death of his old clerk, "whose melody warbled forth
+as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone."</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes royal visits to the neighbourhood are recorded, even a royal
+hunt, as when James I. hunted the hare at Fordham, Cambridgeshire. The
+register of Wolverton gives "a license for eating flesh on prohibited
+days granted to Sir Tho. Temple, on paying 13s. 4d." Storms,
+earthquakes, and floods are described; and records of certificates
+granted to persons to go before the king to be touched for the disease
+called the king's evil.</p>
+
+<p>The Civil War is frequently mentioned, and also caused the omission of
+many entries. At Tarporley, Cheshire, there is a break from 1643 to
+1648, for which the rector thus accounts:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This intermission hapned by reason of the great wars obliterating
+memorials, wasting fortunes, and slaughtering persons of all sorts."</p>
+
+<p>Parish registers have fared ill and suffered much from the gross
+carelessness of their custodians. We read of the early books of Christ
+Church, Hants, being converted into kettle-holders by the curate's wife.
+Many have been sold as waste paper, pages ruthlessly cut out, and
+village schoolbooks covered with the leaves of old registers. The
+historian of Leicestershire writes of the register of Scraptoft:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It has not been a plaything for young pointers&mdash;it has not occupied a
+bacon scratch, or a bread and cheese cupboard&mdash;it has not been scribbled
+on within and without; but it has been treasured ever since 1538, to the
+honour of a succession of worthy clergymen."&mdash;<i>O si sic omnes</i>!</p>
+
+<p>The churchwardens' account books are even of greater value to the
+student of history than the registers, priceless as the latter are
+for genealogical purposes. The Bishop of Oxford states that "in the
+old account books and minute books of the churchwardens in town and
+country we possess a very large but very perishable and rapidly
+perishing treasury of information on matters the very remembrance
+of which is passing away, although their practical bearing on the
+development of the system of local government is indisputable, and
+is occasionally brought conspicuously before the eye of the people
+by quaint survivals.... It is well that such materials for the
+illustration of this economic history as have real value should be
+preserved in print; and that the customs which they illustrate should
+be reclaimed by History from the misty region of folklore, whilst they
+can." Many of these account books date from pre-Reformation times,
+and disclose the changes which took place in the fabric of our churches,
+the removal of roods and other ecclesiastical furniture, during the
+Reformation. They are usually kept with great exactness, and contain
+an accurate record of the receipts and expenditure for each year. Some
+of the entries are very curious, and relate to the sports and pastimes
+of our ancestors, the mystery plays, and church ales, which were all
+under the patronage of the churchwardens. The proceeds of these
+entertainments were devoted to the maintenance of the church, and
+were included in the accounts, as well as the necessary cost of the
+merry diversions. Thus in the books of St. Lawrence's Church, Reading,
+we find such items as the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<pre>
+                                                  s. d.
+"1499. Paid for a coat for Robin Hood             5  4
+         "  for a supper to Robin Hood and
+               his company                        1  6
+         "  for making the church clean
+               against the day of drinking
+               in the said church                    4"
+
+"1531. Paid for five ells of canvass for a coat
+            for Maid Marian                       1  6-1/4"
+</pre>
+
+<p>"Bells for the Morris dancers," "liveries and coats," "bread and ale,"
+"horse-meat of the horses for the kings of Colen on May Day," are some
+of the items which appear in these books.</p>
+
+<p>Another book tells us about the "Gatherings" at Hock-tide, when on one
+day the men stopped the women, and on the next the women the men, and
+refused to let them go until they gave money. The women always succeeded
+in collecting the most money.</p>
+
+
+
+<pre>
+                                                  s. d.
+"It'm.  receyved of the men's gatherynge          7  3
+   "       "       "    women's gatherynge       37  5"
+</pre>
+
+
+<p>Traces of this custom are still found in many country places. The
+practice of "hocking" at Hungerford and "lifting" in Lancashire subsist
+still, but the money collected is no longer devoted to any pious uses.</p>
+
+<p>The item "Paschall money at Easter" frequently occurs. This was
+originally a collection for the Paschal taper, which burned before the
+high altar at Eastertide. When, in the reign of Elizabeth, the taper was
+no longer used, the money was devoted to buying the bread and the wine
+for the Easter Communion. Another item which often appears is a payment
+of "Smoke farthings" to the bishop of the diocese at his Visitation
+Court. This is another name for Peter's pence, formerly given to the
+Pope. In the accounts of Minchinhampton we find the entry under the year
+1576: "For Pentecost money, otherwyse peter pence, sometyme payed to
+Antecryst of Rome xvi'd." After the Reformation the tax was collected,
+but given to the bishop.</p>
+
+<p>There are very many other points of interest which a study of the
+churchwardens' books presents. In more recent times we find constant
+payments for the slaughter of sparrows, and many other items which
+scarcely come under the head of ecclesiastical charges.[<a href="#b7">7</a>] But of course
+the vestry was then the council chamber of the parish, which managed all
+the temporal affairs of the village community. Possibly, in these days
+of Poor Law Unions, District and County Councils, our affairs may be
+managed better; but there is much to be said in favour of the older
+system, and Parish Councils are not much of an improvement on the old
+vestries.</p>
+
+<p>Another book which our parish chest contains is the Brief Book. Briefs
+were royal letters which were sent to the clergy directing that
+collections be made for certain objects. These were very numerous and
+varied. The building of St. Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire, a
+fire at Drury Lane Theatre, rebuilding of churches, the redemption of
+English slaves taken by pirates, the construction of harbours in
+Scotland, losses by hail, floods, French refugees, Reformed Episcopal
+churches in Great Poland and Polish Prussia, Protestants in Copenhagen,
+loss by fire, colleges in Philadelphia&mdash;these and many other objects
+were commended to the liberality of Churchmen. The sums collected were
+usually very small, and Pepys wrote in his <i>Diary</i>, June 30th, 1661:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"To church, when we observe the trade of briefs is come now up to so
+constant a course every Sunday that we resolve to give no more to them."</p>
+
+<p>The granting of briefs gave rise to much abuse, and they were finally
+abolished by the advice of Lord Palmerston.</p>
+
+<p>The contents of the parish chest afford an unlimited mass of material
+for those who love to study the curious customs of our forefathers and
+their strange usages. Here is a record of a much-married person:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mary Blewitt, ye wife of nine husbands successively, buried eight of
+ym, but last of all ye woman dy'd and was buried, May 7th 1681."</p>
+
+<p>In the margin of the register is written, "This was her funeral text."</p>
+
+<p>The register of Sparsholt, Berks, records an instance of the body of a
+dead man being arrested for debt. The entry is:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The corpse of John Matthews, of Fawler, was stopt on the churchway for
+debt, August 27, 1689. And having laine there fower days, was by
+Justices warrant buryied in the place to prevent annoyances&mdash;but about
+sixe weekes after it was by an order of Sessions taken up and buried in
+the churchyard by the wife of the deceased."</p>
+
+<p>A dog-whipper was an ancient parish official, whose duty was to drive
+out all dogs from the church. The Wakefield accounts contain the
+items:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<pre>
+"1616. Paid to Gorby Stork for whippinge          s. d.
+    doggs                                         2  6"
+
+"1703. For hatts shoes and hoses for sexton
+    and dog-whipper                              18  6"
+</pre>
+
+<p>Another official was the person appointed to arouse members of the
+congregation from their slumbers during divine service. The parish
+accounts of Castleton record:&mdash;</p>
+
+<pre>
+                                                  s. d.
+"1702. Paid to sluggard waker                    10  0"
+</pre>
+
+<p>Sometimes the cost of a journey to London was
+defrayed by the parish in order to enable a sufferer
+to be touched for the king's evil. The Ecclesfield
+accounts contain the following entry relating to this
+custom:&mdash;</p>
+
+<pre>
+"1641. Given to John Parkin wife towards her
+    travell to London to get cure of his Majestie
+    for the disease called the Evill, which her   s. d.
+    Sonen Thorn is visited withall                6  8"
+</pre>
+
+<p>The clergymen were required to keep a register of all who were so
+touched, in order that they might not again go to the king and receive
+the bounty which accompanied the touch. Hence we read in the register of
+Hambleden, Bucks:&mdash;</p>
+
+<pre>
+"1685. May 17, Mary Wallington had a certificate to goe before the King
+for a disease called the King's Evil."
+</pre>
+
+<p>The treating of bishops and clergy is often noticed in the accounts.
+Sometimes a sugar-loaf was presented, as at St. James', Bristol:&mdash;</p>
+
+<pre>
+"1629. Paid for a sugar loaf for the Lord Bishop 15's 10'd"
+</pre>
+
+<p>Sometimes items relate to their refreshment:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<pre>
+"1593. Pd for a galland of beer given to the
+    Beishopp of Hereford                            iiii'd"
+
+"1617. Pd for a quart of wine and sugar bestowed
+    upon two preachers                                 x'd"
+</pre>
+
+<p>The status of students at the Universities was not so high in former
+days as at present, and poor scholars used to beg their way to Oxford
+and Cambridge, and receive the assistance of the charitable. Hence we
+read in the Leverton accounts:&mdash;</p>
+
+<pre>
+"1562. Gave to a pore scholar at Oxford.            2s. 0d."
+</pre>
+
+<p>With this record of "a pore scholar" we must leave our study of the
+contents of the parish chest, which afford such valuable and accurate
+information about village and town life of ancient times.</p>
+<a name="b6"></a>
+<p>
+[6] 812 registers begin in 1538, 40 of which contain entries prior to
+that date. 1,822 registers date from 1538 to 1558, and 2,448 from
+1558 to 1603.</p>
+<a name="b7"></a>
+<p>[7] In the Whitchurch books we find: "1671. Paide for a coate and
+wastcoate for good wife Clarke 13s., also for linen and shoes; to the
+Chiurgeons for looking at Ezechiell Huller's legg &pound;3." And such-like
+entries.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="18"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS</h3>
+
+<p>Destruction of old windows&mdash;Wilfrid's glass-window makers&mdash;Glass,
+stained and painted&mdash;Changes in style&mdash;Work of foreign artists&mdash;Inlaid
+tiles&mdash;Ironwork on doors and screens&mdash;Norman hinges&mdash;Mediaeval
+plumbing work&mdash;Mural decoration, frescoes, and wall-painting&mdash;Cause
+of their destruction&mdash;St. Christopher&mdash;Consecration crosses&mdash;Norman
+art&mdash;Favourite subjects&mdash;Yew trees in churchyards&mdash;Lich-gates&mdash;The
+churchyard&mdash;Curious epitaphs.</p>
+
+<p>
+No branch of archaeology is more interesting than the study of our
+stained-glass windows, which illustrate so clearly the faith, history,
+and customs of our ancestors. We have again to thank the fanatics of
+the Reformation and Cromwellian periods for the shameful destruction
+of so many beautiful windows. How great has been the loss to art and
+history caused by their reckless demolition! And in addition to this
+miserable violence our windows have suffered greatly from the ignorant
+indifference of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which allowed
+priceless examples of old glass to be removed and replaced by the
+hideous specimens of the modern glass-painters.</p>
+
+<p>In Saxon times this art found a home in England, the <i>artifices
+lapidearum et vitrearum fenestrarum</i> having been invited to this country
+by Wilfrid, Bishop of York, in 709. The earliest specimen of ancient
+glass now in existence is in the choir-aisles of Canterbury Cathedral,
+where it was probably fixed when the cathedral was rebuilt after the
+fire in 1174.</p>
+
+<p>Coloured glass is of two kinds: (1) <i>Stained glass</i>, made by mixing
+metallic oxides with the glass when in a state of fusion, the colours
+thus going through the whole mass; (2) <i>Painted glass</i>, in which
+colouring is laid upon the white or tinted glass, and fixed by the
+action of fire. As the style of architecture changed, so the art of the
+glass-painter changed with it. In the Early English period the colours
+were very rich, and the designs consisted of medallions containing
+subjects taken from Holy Scripture, or the lives of the saints, upon
+grounds of ruby and blue. Mosaic patterns form the groundwork of the
+medallions, and a border of scrolls and foliage incloses the whole
+design. The outlines of the figures are formed by the lead. In the
+Decorated period the medallions disappear, and in their place we find
+single figures of large size under canopies. Instead of the mosaic
+backgrounds diaper-work in whole colours is used. Lights and shades are
+introduced in the dresses and canopies, and foliage is painted on the
+panes. The artists of this period first introduced heraldic devices into
+the windows. A border of white glass intervenes between the window and
+the medallion.</p>
+
+<p>When the Perpendicular style was in vogue the art of the glass-painter
+degenerated, as did that of the architect. Stained glass was little
+used, and the artists painted with enamel colours their designs upon the
+glass. The figures were larger than before, and the canopies of great
+size and with much architectural detail, landscapes and buildings
+appearing in the background. During this period inscriptions began to be
+used. In the sixteenth century the progress of the art was in the same
+direction. Large figures, and groups of figures, fill the whole window,
+and the existence of mullions is disregarded in the execution of the
+design. Glass-painting flourished until the Civil War period, and then
+died out.</p>
+
+<p>English churches benefited much by the work of foreign artists. The
+great Florentine Francesco di Lievi da Gambassi visited this country.
+There is a letter dated 1434, written "to the master glass-painter
+Gambassi, then in Scotland, and who made works in glass of various
+kinds, and was held to be the best glass-painter in the world." How much
+must we regret the destruction of the windows made by this excellent
+artist in Holyrood chapel and elsewhere by fanatical mobs! The Fairford
+windows are perhaps the finest and most interesting in England. The
+story runs that they were made in Germany for a church in Rome, and that
+the vessel conveying them was captured by an English ship; and as the
+noble church at Fairford was then being built, the glass was sent there
+and given to it. Shiplake Church, Oxfordshire, has some of the beautiful
+glass which once adorned the ruined church of St. Bertin at St. Omer,
+plundered during the French Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>Some good work was accomplished in the seventeenth century by English
+artists, who practised enamel painting, notably by Jervais, who in 1717
+executed from designs by Sir Joshua Reynolds the beautiful west window
+of New College Chapel, Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>The floors of our churches were enriched with inlaid tiles. Various
+patterns and designs were impressed upon them when the clay was moist, a
+metallic glaze covered the surface, and then the tiles were placed in
+the furnace. Many designs are found on ancient tiles, such as heraldic
+devices, monograms, sacred symbols with texts, architectural designs,
+figures, and patterns. The age of the tiles may be determined by
+comparing the designs imprinted upon them with the architectural
+decorations belonging to particular periods. In the sixteenth century
+many Flemish tiles were brought to England, and superseded those of
+English manufacture.</p>
+
+<p>In the Middle Ages no branch of art was neglected. Even the smith, who
+made the ironwork for the doors, locks, and screens, was an artist, and
+took pains to adapt his art to the style of architecture prevailing in
+his time. Norman doors are remarkable for their beautifully ornamented
+hinges. They have curling scrollwork, and a large branch in the form of
+the letter C issuing from the straight bar near the head. Early English
+doors have much elaborate scrollwork, with foliage and animals' heads.
+During the Decorated period the hinges are simpler, on account of the
+carved panelling on the doors, and they continue to become plainer in
+the subsequent period. The knockers on the doors often assume very
+grotesque forms, as at Durham Cathedral. The mediaeval plumber was also
+an artist, and introduced shields of arms, fleur-de-lis, and other
+devices, for the enrichment of spires, and pipes for carrying off water
+from the roof.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="254"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="254.jpg (40K)" src="254.jpg" height="487" width="345">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>No part of the ancient decoration of our churches has suffered more than
+the paintings and frescoes which formerly adorned their walls. In the
+whole of the country there are very few of the ancient edifices which
+retain any traces of the numerous quaint designs and figures painted on
+the inner surfaces of their walls during the Middle Ages. Our ancestors
+used to make free use of colour for the purpose of architectural
+decoration, and employed several means in order to produce the effect.
+They sometimes used fresco, by means of which they produced pictures
+upon the walls covered with plaster while the plaster was wet. Sometimes
+they employed wall-painting, <i>i.e.</i> they covered the walls when the
+plaster was dry with some pictorial representation. The distinction
+between fresco and wall-painting is frequently forgotten. Most of the
+early specimens of this art are monochromes, but subsequently the
+painters used polychrome, which signifies surface colouring in which
+various colours are employed. The vaulted ceilings, the timber roof, the
+screens and canopies, the monuments with their effigies, as well as the
+surface of the walls, were often coloured with diaper-work. Colour and
+gilding were marked features in all mediaeval buildings, and even richly
+carved fonts and sculptural monuments were embellished with this method
+of decoration. The appearance of our churches in those times must have
+been very different from what it is now. Then a blaze of colour met the
+eye on entering the sacred building, the events of sacred history were
+brought to mind by the representations upon the walls, and many an
+unlearned rustic acquired some knowledge of biblical history from the
+contemplation of the rude figures with which his village church was
+adorned.</p>
+
+<p>"Even the very walls of this dread place,<br>
+And the tall windows, with their breathing lights,<br>
+Speak to the adoring heart."</p>
+
+<p>The practice of painting the walls of our churches dates as far back as
+Saxon times; but very few fragments of pre-Norman art remain. Of Norman
+work we have numerous examples, and sometimes it is found that the early
+specimens of the art have been painted over in later Gothic times, and
+ruder and larger figures have eclipsed the more careful work of previous
+ages. An example of this was discovered in the church of St. Lawrence,
+Reading, where no less than five distinct series of paintings were
+discovered, painted one over another.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="256"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="256.jpg (27K)" src="256.jpg" height="486" width="330">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Several circumstances have combined to obliterate these specimens of the
+art of former days. It was not the intention of the Reformers themselves
+to destroy them. They distinguished carefully between "an embossed and
+gilt image, and a process of a story painted with the gestures and
+action of many persons; and commonly the sum of the story written withal
+hath another use in it than one dumb idol or image standing by itself."
+It was left to the Puritans, impelled by fanaticism and ignorance, to
+make "a slanderous desolation of the places of prayer," and it is to
+them we owe much of the destruction of the old mural paintings. At the
+end of the eighteenth century there was a prejudice against these works
+of art; for in 1773 we find the Bishop of London refusing to allow
+Reynolds, West, and Barry to clothe the naked walls of St. Paul's
+Cathedral with pictures painted by themselves. Coated over by layers of
+plaster, or whitewashed until all traces were obliterated, these relics
+of ancient art have remained for generations, and it is only when an old
+church is being restored, and the coats of plaster and whitewash
+removed, that their presence is revealed; and then too often the colours
+fade away on exposure to the air.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="257"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="257.jpg (43K)" src="257.jpg" height="516" width="322">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>One of the favourite subjects of mural decoration was a figure of St.
+Christopher with the Infant Saviour on his shoulder.[<a href="#b8">8</a>] He usually has a
+staff, and strange-looking fish swim about his feet as he crosses the
+river; on one side there is a hermitage, with the figure of a hermit
+holding a lantern to guide the saint, and on the other a windmill. This
+figure usually was painted on the wall opposite the principal entrance,
+as it was deemed lucky to see St. Christopher on first entering a
+church. Moreover the sight of the saint was a preservative against
+violent death during the day, and also a preventive against drowsiness
+during the service, as the following verses show:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Christophori sancti speciem quicunque tuetur
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Illo namque die nullo languore tenetur."</p>
+
+<p>Churchwardens' accounts record the painting of these figures&mdash;</p>
+
+<pre>
+"1503-4.  It. payd to mylys paynter for payntyng
+              of Seynt X'fer viii's iiii'd"
+
+"1521.    It. payd to John Payne for payntyng
+              of Sent Leonard left by the wyffs
+              onpaynted xx'd"
+</pre>
+
+<p>A curious order was issued by Edward III. for arresting painters to work
+in St. Stephen's Chapel at Westminster, to which artists of every
+description were liable to surrender as often as the king required their
+services.</p>
+
+
+<a name="259"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="259.jpg (40K)" src="259.jpg" height="416" width="334">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>In Saxon times Consecration crosses were painted on the interior walls,
+twelve in number, on the spots where the bishop marked the cross with holy
+oil; and sometimes twelve crosses were carved or painted on the exterior
+walls. During Norman times the art made progress, and there are many
+specimens of mural decoration of this period, which correspond with the
+mouldings generally used then; but not many scenes and figures were
+depicted. Representations of bishops, <i>Agnus Dei</i>, scenes from the life of
+our Lord, the apostles, the Last Judgment, St. George, scenes from the
+life of St. Nicholas, St. John writing the Apocalypse, were favourite
+subjects. At Copford the painter evidently tried to make the chancel
+figuratively to represent the glories of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>During the reign of Henry III. great progress was made, and travelling
+monks roamed the country leaving behind them in many a village church
+traces of their skill in artistic decoration. The murder of St. Thomas of
+Canterbury now became a favourite subject, also the lives of St. Catherine
+of Alexandria, St. Nicholas, St. Margaret, St. Edmund, the Seven Acts of
+Mercy, and the wheel of fortune. In the fourteenth century the Doom was
+the usual decoration of the space over the chancel arch, and scenes from
+the New Testament, legends of saints, "moralities," etc., were depicted on
+the walls. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the artists paid
+little respect to the work of their predecessors, and frequently painted
+new designs over the earlier mural decorations. They also adorned very
+beautifully the roofs and screens. The arrival of the Flemings in the
+eastern counties is shown by the portraying of subjects and saints not
+usually worshipped in England. The figures of St. George become more
+numerous and also of St. Christopher, who were regarded with much
+superstitious reverence by all classes.</p>
+
+<p>The vanity of human greatness is taught by the morality, "Les Trois Rois
+Morts et les Trois Rois Vifs," representing three kings going gaily
+hunting meeting three skeletons, the remains of kings once as powerful
+as they. "The Dance of Death," so popular abroad, also appears in some
+English churches. The wholesale destruction of so many specimens of
+mediaeval art cannot be too strongly condemned and deplored. If any of my
+readers should be fortunate enough to discover any traces of colouring
+hidden away beneath the coats of whitewash on the walls of their church,
+I would venture to advise them to very carefully remove the covering, and
+then to consult Mr. Keyser's book on <i>Mural Decorations</i>, where they will
+find an account of the best methods for preserving these valuable
+specimens of early art.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="261"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="261.jpg (38K)" src="261.jpg" height="505" width="305">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>In the churchyard stands the old weather-beaten yew tree, looking like a
+sentinel keeping watch over the graves of our forefathers. Some of these
+trees are remarkable for their age; the yews at Fountains Abbey, in
+Yorkshire, were probably in a flourishing condition so long ago as the
+year 1132, and some are older still. Why they were planted in churchyards
+it is difficult to ascertain. It has been conjectured that they were
+planted in so secure a spot in order that the men might provide themselves
+with bows, as all the bows used by the English, with which they did such
+execution against their enemies, were made of yew. Others contend that its
+green boughs were used instead of palms on Palm Sunday, or for funerals.
+But I think that they were regarded with veneration by our forefathers
+when they were still heathen, and that some religious symbolism&mdash;such as
+of immortality&mdash;attached to them; and that when the Christian teachers
+came they made use of this religious sentiment of the people, planted the
+Christian cross by the side of the yew, and under its shade preached
+lessons of true immortality, of which the heathen ideals were only corrupt
+legends and vain dreams.</p>
+
+<p>At the entrance of the churchyard there is often a lich-gate, <i>i.e.</i> a
+corpse-gate, where the body may rest while the funeral procession is
+formed. <i>Lych</i> is the Saxon word for a dead body, from which Lich-field,
+"the field of dead bodies," is derived. Bray, in Berkshire, famous for
+its time-serving vicar, is also famous for its lich-gate, which has two
+rooms over it.</p>
+
+<p>"God's acre" is full of holy associations, where sleep "the rude
+forefathers of the hamlet." There stands the village cross where the
+preachers stood in Saxon times and converted the people to Christianity,
+and there the old sundial on a graceful stone pedestal. Sometimes amid
+the memorials of the dead stood the parish stocks. Here in olden days
+fairs were held, and often markets every Sunday and holiday, and minstrels
+and jugglers thronged; and stringent laws were passed to prevent "improper
+and prohibited sports within the churchyard, as, for example, wrestling,
+football, handball under penalty of twopence forfeit." Here church ales
+were kept with much festivity, dancing, and merry-making; and here
+sometimes doles were distributed on the tombstones of parochial
+benefactors, and even bread and cheese scrambled for, according to the
+curious bequests of eccentric donors.</p>
+
+<p>And then there are the quaint epitaphs on the gravestones, of which many
+have made collections. Here is one to the memory of the driver of a
+coach that ran from Aylesbury to London:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Parker, farewell! thy journey now is ended,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Death has the whip-hand, and with dust is blended;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Thy way-bill is examined, and I trust<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Thy last account may prove exact and just,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;When He who drives the chariot of the day,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Where life is light, whose Word's the living way,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Where travellers, like yourself, of every age,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And every clime, have taken their last stage,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The God of mercy and the God of love,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Show you the road to Paradise above."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Here is another to the memory of a once famous Yorkshire actor, buried
+at Beverley:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"In memory of Samuel Butler, a poor player that struts and frets his
+hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. Obt. June 15th, 1812,
+Aet. 62."</p>
+
+<p>Here is a strange one from Awliscombe, Devon:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here lie the remains of James Pady, brickmaker, late of this parish,
+in hopes that his clay will be remoulded in a workmanlike manner, far
+superior to his former perishable materials.</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Keep death and judgment always in your eye,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Or else the devil off with you will fly,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And in his kiln with brimstone ever fry;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;If you neglect the narrow road to seek,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Christ will reject you like a half-burnt brick."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Those interested in the brave mortals who go down to the sea in ships
+will like to read the following verses which appear on the tomb of
+William Harrison, mariner, buried in Hessle Road Cemetery, Hull:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Long time I ploughed the ocean wide,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A life of toil I spent;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;But now in harbour safe arrived<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From care and discontent.<br>
+&nbsp;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;"My anchor's cast, my sails are furled,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And now I am at rest;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Of all the ports throughout the world,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sailors, this is the best."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>The following original epitaph in a neighbouring churchyard compares very
+favourably with the flattering and fulsome inscriptions prevalent at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century, written in what has been called
+"lapidary style ":&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"He was&mdash;&mdash;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But words are wanting to say what;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Say what is just and kind,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And he was that."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<a name="b8"></a>
+<p>
+[8] At Sedgeford the Infant is portrayed with three heads, illustrating
+the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="19"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+<h3>CHURCH BELLS</h3>
+
+<p>Bell customs and village life&mdash;Antiquity of bells&mdash;Christening of
+bells&mdash;"Ancients"&mdash;Inscriptions&mdash;Dedications&mdash;Inscriptions of
+praise&mdash;Leonine verses&mdash;Curious inscriptions&mdash;Historical events
+recorded&mdash;Uses of bells&mdash;Passing bell&mdash;Pancake bell&mdash;Curfew&mdash;Guiding
+bells&mdash;Names of benefactors&mdash;Great bells&mdash;Sanctus bell&mdash;Sacring
+bell&mdash;Frequent ringing of bell&mdash;Change-ringing&mdash;Care of bells.</p>
+
+<p>
+Bells play an important part in village life, and there are few more
+interesting branches of the study of village antiquities than bell-lore.
+Ringing customs throw much light upon the manners and doings of our
+ancestors. Bells rang to commemorate the great events in history, news
+of which was conveyed to the quiet village; they sounded forth the joys
+and sorrows of the parishioners in their generations, pealed merrily at
+their weddings, and mourned for them at their funerals. As the bell
+"Roland" of Ghent seemed endowed with a human voice, and was silenced
+for ever by Charles V. lest it should again rouse the citizens to arms,
+so these bells in our village steeples seem to speak with living tongues
+and tell the story of our village life.</p>
+
+<p>Bells have great antiquity. Odoceus, Bishop of Llandaff, in 550 A.D.,
+is said to have taken the bells away from his cathedral during a time
+of excommunication. Bede mentions them in the seventh century. In 680
+Benedict, Abbot of Wearmouth, imported some from Italy, and in the tenth
+century St. Dunstan hung many. Ireland probably had bells in the time
+of St. Patrick, who died in 493, and a bell that bears his name is
+preserved at Belfast. The earliest Saxon bells were not cast, but were
+made of plates of iron riveted together, and were probably used as
+hand-bells.</p>
+
+<p>Bells were usually christened. Those of Crowland Abbey were named Pega,
+Bega, Tatwin, Turketyl, Betelin, Bartholomew, and Guthlac. A fire in
+1091 destroyed this peal. Those of the priory of Little Dunmow, Essex,
+according to an old chartulary, were new cast and baptised in 1501.</p>
+
+<p>"Prima in honore Sancti Michaelis Archangeli."<br>
+"Secunda in honore Sancti Johannis Evangelisti."<br>
+"Tertia in honore S. Johannis Baptisti."<br>
+"Quarta in honore Assumptionis beatae Mariae."<br>
+"Quinta in honore Sanctae Trinitatis et omnium sanctorum."</p>
+
+<p>The tenor bell at Welford, Berks, has the inscription, "Missi de celis
+habeo nomen Gabrielis 1596."</p>
+
+<p>Bells dating from before the year 1600 are called "ancients," and it is
+a very pleasant discovery to find one of these in our church tower; and
+still more so if it be a pre-Reformation bell. Unfortunately a large
+number of "ancients" have been recast, owing chiefly to the craze for
+change-ringing which flourished in England between 1750 and 1830. The
+oldest bell in this country is said to be St. Chad's, Claughton, which
+bears the date 1296. Pre-Reformation bells are very seldom dated.</p>
+
+<p>Mediaeval bells have many curious inscriptions on them, which record the
+name of the donor, the bell-founder, together with heraldic and other
+devices. The inscriptions are often written in the first person, the
+bell being supposed to utter the sentiment, as it sends forth its sound.
+A study of the inscriptions on bells is full of interest. The earliest
+are simple dedications of the bell to our Lord, or to some saint. The
+principal inscriptions of this class are: "Jesus," "Jesus Nazarenus Rex
+Judeorum," "Sit nomen IHC benedictum," "Sum Rosa Pulsata Mundi Maria
+Vocata," "Sum Virgo Sancta Maria." The invocation, "Ora pro nobis," very
+frequently is inscribed on bells, followed by the name of some saint,
+and almost every saint in the Calendar is duly honoured in some bell
+inscription.</p>
+
+<p>Bells were always rung on joyful occasions; hence inscriptions
+expressing thankfulness and praise were appropriate. Consequently we
+find such words as "Laus et Gloria Deo," "Laus Deo Gratia
+Benefactoribus," "Alleluja," "Praise God," and other similar
+inscriptions of praise.</p>
+
+<p>Some old bells have Latin hexameter verses inscribed on them, composed
+by monks, which are called Leonine verses, from one Leoninus, a monk of
+Marseilles, who lived in the early part of the twelfth century. A few
+examples of these will suffice:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Est michi collatum ihc illud nomen amaetum."
+&nbsp;&nbsp;"Protege Virgo pia quos convoco Sancta Maria."
+&nbsp;&nbsp;"Voce mea viva depello cunta nocina."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>This refers to the belief that the ringing of bells drives away all
+demons and tempests, storms and thunders, and all other hurtful things.
+One bell proudly asserts:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Me melior vere non est campana sub ere."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Inscriptions in English are often quaint and curious. Here is one from
+Somerset:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"My treble voice<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Makes hearts rejoice."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>Another self-complacent bell asserts&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"If you have a judicious ear,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;You'll own my voice is sweet and clear."</p>
+
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>Loyal inscriptions are often found, such as&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"For Church and King<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;We always ring."</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"I was made in hope to ring<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;At the crownacion of our King."</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Ye people all that hear me ring<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Be faithful to your God and King."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>A bell that has been recast sometimes praises the merits of its new
+founder at the expense of its first maker, as at Badgworth,
+Gloucester:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Badgworth ringers they are mad,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Because Rigbe made me bad;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;But Abel Rudhall you may see<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Hath made me better than Rigbe."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>Sometimes all the bells which compose a peal tell their various uses.
+Thus at Bakewell we find some verses on each bell:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>1. "When I begin our merry Din<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This Band I lead from discord free;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And for the fame of human name,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;May every Leader copy Me."</p>
+
+<p>2. "Mankind, like us, too oft are found<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Possess'd of nought but empty sound."</p>
+
+<p>3. "When of departed Hours we toll the knell,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Instruction take and spend the future well."</p>
+
+<p>4. "When men in Hymen's Bands unite,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Our merry peals produce delight;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But when Death goes his dreary Rounds,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We send forth sad and solemn sounds."</p>
+
+<p>5. "Thro' grandsires and Tripples with pleasure men range,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Till Death calls the Bob and brings on the Last Change."</p>
+
+<p>6. "When Vict'ry crowns the Public Weal<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With Glee we give the merry Peal."</p>
+
+<p>7. "Would men like us join and agree<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They'd live in tuneful Harmony."</p>
+
+<p>8. "Possess'd of deep sonorous Tone<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This Belfry King sits on his throne;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And when the merry Bells go round,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Adds to and mellows ev'ry Sound;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So in a just and well pois'd State,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where all Degrees possess due Weight,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One greater Pow'r one greater Tone<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Is ceded to improve their own."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<p>A Rutland bell has the following beautiful inscription:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei."<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;("Not noise but love sings in the ear of God.")</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<p>Historical events are sometimes recorded, as at Ashover, Derbyshire,
+where a recasted bell states:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and broke, April 1814."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>The uses of bells are often shown by their inscriptions. People were
+aroused by their sound each morning in many places, as at St. Ives,
+where a bell is inscribed&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Arise and go about your business."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>The villagers were summoned to extinguish fires by ringing of bells.
+Thus Sherborne, Dorset, has a bell inscribed&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Lord, quench this furious flame:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Arise, run, help put out the same."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>Bell-ringing customs are very numerous.[<a href="#b9">9</a>] The passing bell has many
+variants. In some places three times three strokes are sounded for a
+man, three times two for a woman, and three times one for a child. Out
+of the first-named of these practices probably arose the phrase, "Nine
+tailors make a man," which is usually explained as more properly
+signifying "nine tellers make a man." Then we have a pancake bell,
+which formerly summoned people to confession, and not to eat pancakes;
+a gleaning bell, an eight hours' bell rung at 4 a.m., noon, and 8 p.m.
+The curfew bell survives in many places, which, as everyone knows, was
+in use long before William the Conqueror issued his edict. Peals are
+rung on "Oak Apple Day," and on Guy Fawkes' Day, "loud enough to call
+up poor Guy." Church bells played a useful part in guiding the people
+homewards on dark winter evenings in the days when lands were
+uninclosed and forests and wild moors abounded, and charitable folk,
+like Richard Palmer, of Wokingham, left bequests to pay the sexton for
+his labour in ringing at suitable times when the sound of the bells
+might be of service to belated travellers. Names of benefactors often
+find a permanent memorial on the bells which they gave; as at Binstead,
+Hants, where a bell has the inscription&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Doctor Nicholas gave five pound<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;To help cast this peal tuneable and sound."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+<p>And another bell in the same tower records the name of our famous
+Berkshire bell-founders, the Knight family. The inscription runs:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Samuel Knight made this ring<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;In Binstead steeple for to ding."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<a name="271"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<img alt="271.jpg (71K)" src="271.jpg" height="808" width="537">
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>The story of our great bells, of "Great Toms," "Big Bens," "Great
+Peters," need not be told here. They wake the echoes of our great
+cities, and are not heard among the hills and dales of rural England.
+Outside the church at the apex of the gable over the chancel arch there
+is sometimes a small bell-cote, wherein the sanctus or saunce bell once
+hung. This was rung during the service of High Mass when the <i>Ter
+Sanctus</i> was sung, in order that those who were engaged at their work
+might know when the canon of the Mass was about to begin, in order that
+they might kneel at the sound and pray to God. At Bosham Harbour the
+fishermen used to so join in the service of the sanctuary, and it is
+said that when George Herbert's sanctus bell sounded for prayers, the
+ploughmen stopped from their work for a few moments and prayed. The
+sanctus bell differed from the sacring bell, which was a hand-bell rung
+inside the church at the elevation of the Host.</p>
+
+<p>Old churchwardens' accounts record the very frequent ringing of bells.
+In addition to the Great Festivals, Corpus Christi Day, Church feasts
+and ales, the occasions of royal visits, of episcopal visitations,
+victories, and many other great events, were always celebrated by the
+ringing of the church bells. In fact by the fondness of English folk
+for sounding their bells this country earned the title in the Middle
+Ages of "the ringing island." Peal-ringing was indeed peculiar to
+England. It was not until the seventeenth century that change-ringing
+became general, and our old bells suffered much at the hands of the
+followers of the new fashion.</p>
+
+<p>In recent years the study of our church bells has made great progress,
+and many volumes have been written upon the bells of various counties.
+Too long have our bells been left to the bats and birds, and the belfry
+is often the only portion of a church which is left uncared for. We are
+learning better now, and the bells which have sounded forth the joys
+and sorrows of our villagers for so many generations are receiving the
+attention they deserve.</p>
+<a name="b9"></a>
+<p>
+[9] A collection of these will be found in my book on <i>Old English
+Customs Extant at the Present Time</i>.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="20"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE</h3>
+
+<p>Local government&mdash;Changes in the condition of villeins and labourers&mdash;
+Famine and pestilence&mdash;Effects of the Great Plague&mdash;Spirit of
+independence&mdash;Picture of village life&mdash;Church house&mdash;Church ales&mdash;
+Pilgrimages&mdash;Markets&mdash;Old English fair&mdash;Wars&mdash;Hastings&mdash;Hereward
+the Wake&mdash;Great Civil War&mdash;Restoration&mdash;Beacons.</p>
+
+<p>
+Let us try to imagine the ordinary life and appearance of a mediaeval
+English village in the "piping times of peace." Of course, no two
+villages are quite alike; each has many distinguishing features; but
+a strong family likeness is observable. In the Middle Ages a village
+was much more independent than it is now. Then there were no Acts of
+Parliament to control its affairs, and it regulated its own conduct
+much to its own satisfaction, without any outside interference. Of
+course, sometimes things were managed badly; but the village knew
+it had only itself to blame, and therefore could not grumble at the
+Government, or the fickleness of members of Parliament, or the
+unreasonable conduct of Local Government Boards. Was not the lord
+of the manor quite capable of trying all criminals? and did not the
+rector and the vestry settle everything to the satisfaction of everyone,
+without any "foreigners" asking questions, or interfering?</p>
+
+<p>The position of the villeins and <i>cottiers</i> has changed considerably
+since the days of William the Norman. The former were now free tenants,
+who paid rent for their land to the lord of the manor, and were not
+bound to work for him, while the latter worked for wages like our
+modern agricultural labourer. There was thus in the twelfth century a
+gradual approximation to modern conditions on many estates; the home
+farm was worked by hired labourers who received wages; while the
+villeins had bought themselves off from the obligation of doing
+customary work by paying a quit-rent.</p>
+
+<p>We should like to know something of the way in which our ancestors
+farmed their land, and fortunately several bailiffs have left us
+their account books very carefully kept, and one Walter de Henley
+in 1250 wrote a book on the <i>Art of Husbandry</i>, which gives us much
+information. The rent of land was about sixpence per acre. They
+ploughed three times a year, in autumn, April, and at midsummer, and
+used oxen for their plough-teams. Women helped their husbands in
+ploughing and harvest work. An old writer describes the farmer's wife
+"walking by him with a long goad, in a cutted cote cutted full high."
+Pigs and poultry were numerous on a mediaeval farm, but sheep were the
+source of the farmer's wealth. Large flocks of divers breeds roamed the
+hills and vales of rural England, and their rich fleeces were sent to
+Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent for the manufacture of cloth by the Flemish
+weavers. After the Black Death, a great plague which ravaged the
+country in 1348, the labourers were fewer in number, and their wages
+higher; hence the farmers paid increased attention to their sheep,
+which yielded rich profits, and required few labourers to look after
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Prior to the advent of this grim visitor, the Great Plague, the
+prosperity of our villages had greatly increased. The people were
+better fed and better clothed than any of their neighbours on the
+Continent. Moreover they were free men, and enjoyed their freedom.
+There was much happiness in our English villages in those days, and
+"Merry England" was not a misnomer. There were, however, two causes of
+suffering which for a time produced untold wretchedness&mdash;two unwelcome
+visitors who came very frequently and were much dreaded&mdash;famine and
+pestilence. There is necessarily a sameness in the records of these
+pestilences.</p>
+
+<p>The chief famine years were 1315 and 1316, but there is hardly any
+period of five years from the death of Edward I. to the coming of
+Henry of Richmond without these ghastly records of the sufferings of
+the people. Disease not only arrested the growth of the population,
+but reduced it considerably. It was mostly of a typhoid nature. The
+undrained soil, the shallow stagnant waters which lay upon the surface
+of the ground, the narrow and unhealthy homes, the filthy and neglected
+streets of the towns, the excessive use of salted provisions and
+absence of vegetables, predisposed the people to typhoid diseases, and
+left them little chance of recovery when stricken down with pestilence.</p>
+
+<p>The Great Plague arrived in England in 1348 from the shores of Italy,
+whither it had been wafted from the East. It was probably carried to
+the port of Bristol by travelling merchants, whence it spread with
+alarming rapidity over the whole land. Whole villages were depopulated,
+and about one-third of the people of England perished. It is difficult
+for us to imagine the sorrow and universal suffering which the plague
+caused. Its effects were, however, beneficial to the villagers who
+survived. Naturally labourers became very scarce and were much sought
+after. Wages rose enormously. The tenants and rustics discovered that
+they were people of importance. Manor lords found it too expensive to
+farm their lands, and were eager to hand them over to their tenants,
+many of whom became much richer and more independent than formerly. The
+spirit of independence pervaded all classes. There came to our village
+many wandering friars, followers of Wiklif, who preached discontent to
+the labouring rustics, told them that the gentry had no right to lord
+it over them, that they were as good as their masters, who ought not to
+live in fine houses in luxury supported by their toil and the sweat of
+their brows. And when oppressive taxes were levied, the rustics
+revolted, and gained much for which they strove. The golden age of the
+English labourer set in, when food was cheap, wages high, and labour
+abundant. A fat pig could be bought for fourpence, and three pounds of
+beef for a penny; and in spite of occasional visits of the plague, the
+villager's lot was by no means unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>Here is a picture of village life in those days. The village church
+stood in the centre of the hamlet, with a carefully made fence around
+it, in order that no swine or foul beast might desecrate the graves.
+Surrounded by the churchyard, with its yew tree and lich-gate, the
+church was very similar to the old building wherein the villagers still
+worship. All the houses had thatched roofs, and chief among the other
+dwellings stood the lord's hall. Near the church was a curious building
+called the church house, which has almost entirely passed away, except
+in the records of old churchwardens' accounts. It was a large building,
+in which could be stored wool, lime, timber, sand, etc., and was often
+let to pedlars, or wandering merchants, to deposit their goods during
+the fair.</p>
+
+<p>In this building there was a long low room with a large fireplace and
+hearth, around which a dozen or more could sit in comfort, except when
+the wind blew the smoke down the wide, open chimney; but our ancestors
+were accustomed to smoky chimneys, and did not mind them. In the centre
+of the room was a large oak table. This was the scene of some very
+festive gatherings. Aubrey thus describes the church house:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"In every parish was a church house, to which belonged spits, crocks,
+and other utensils for dressing provisions. Here the housekeepers met.
+The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at
+butts, etc., the ancients [<i>i.e.</i> old folks] sitting gravely by, and
+looking on."</p>
+
+<p>The churchwardens bought, and received presents of, a large quantity of
+malt, which they brewed into beer and sold to the company. Hence these
+feasts were called "church ales," and were held on the feast of the
+dedication of the church, the proceeds being devoted to the maintenance
+of the poor. Sometimes they were held at Whitsuntide also, sometimes
+four times a year, and sometimes as often as money was wanted or a
+feast desired. An arbour of boughs was erected in the churchyard on
+these occasions called Robin Hood's Bower, where the maidens collected
+money for the "ales," and "all went merry as a marriage bell"&mdash;rather
+too merry sometimes, for the ale was strong and the villagers liked it,
+and the ballad-singer was so merry, and the company so hearty&mdash;and was
+it not all for a good cause, the support of the poor? The character of
+these festivals deteriorated so much, until at last "church ales" were
+prohibited altogether, on account of the excess to which they gave
+rise.</p>
+
+
+<a name="279"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="279.jpg"><img alt="279h.jpg (31K)" src="279h.jpg" height="344" width="494"></a>
+<br>
+AN ANCIENT VILLAGE
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>There was a large amount of gaiety in the old villages in those days.
+Men were not in so great a hurry to grow rich as they are now. The
+Church authorised many holidays in the course of the year; and what
+with May Day festivities, Plough Mondays, Hocktide and Shrovetide
+sports, harvest suppers, fairs, and "ales," the villagers had plenty of
+amusement, and their lives certainly could not be described as dull.
+Sometimes the village would be enlivened by the presence of a company
+of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury, or
+to Holywell, blessed by St. Winifred, in order to be cured of some
+disease. Although these pilgrims were deemed to be engaged on a
+religious duty, they certainly were not generally very serious or sad.
+Chaucer describes a very joyous pilgrimage in his <i>Canterbury Tales</i>,
+how the company met at the Tabard Inn, in Southwark, including the
+knight and the abbot, the prioress and the shipman, the squire and the
+merchant, the ploughman and sompnour (or summoner, "of whose visage
+children were sore afeard"), and rode forth gaily in the spring
+sunshine&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"The holy blissful martyr for to seek,
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That them hath holpen when that they were sick."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Pilgrim crosses are numerous all over England, where the pilgrims
+halted for their devotions by the way, and sometimes we find churches
+planted on the roadside far from human habitations, with no
+parishioners near them; and some people wonder why they were so built.
+These were pilgrim churches, built for the convenience of the
+travellers as they wended their way to Canterbury. The villages through
+which they passed must have been much enlivened by the presence of
+these not very austere companies.</p>
+
+<p>The ordinary lives of the farmers were diversified by the visits
+to the weekly markets held in the neighbouring town, where they took
+their fat capons, eggs, butter, and cheese. Here is a curious relic
+of olden times, an ancient market proclamation, which breathes the
+spirit of former days, and which was read a few years ago at
+Broughton-in-Furness, by the steward of the lord of the manor, from
+the steps of the old market cross. These are the words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"O yes, O yes, O yes![<a href="#b10">10</a>] The lord of the manor of Broughton and of
+this fair and market strictly chargeth and commandeth on Her Majesty's
+behalf, that all manners of persons repairing to this fair and market
+do keep Her Majesty's peace, upon pain of five pounds to be forfeited
+to Her Majesty, and their bodies to be imprisoned during the lord's
+pleasure. Also that no manner of person within this fair and market do
+bear any bill, battle-axe, or other prohibited weapons, but such as be
+appointed by the lord's officers to keep this fair or market, upon pain
+of forfeiture of all such weapons and further imprisonment. Also, that
+no manner of person do pick any quarrel, matter, or cause for any old
+grudge or malice to make any perturbation or trouble, upon pain of five
+pounds, to be forfeited to the lord, and their bodies to be imprisoned.
+Also, that none buy or sell in corners, back sides, or hidden places,
+but in open fair or market, upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods
+and merchandise so bought and sold, and their bodies to imprisonment.
+Also, that no manner of persons shall sell any goods with unlawful mete
+or measures, yards or weights, but such as be lawful and keep the true
+assize, upon pain of forfeiture of all such goods and further
+imprisonment. Lastly, if any manner of persons do here find themselves
+grieved, or have any injuries or wrong committed or done against them,
+let them repair to the lord or his officers, and there they shall be
+heard according to right, equity, and justice. God save the Queen and
+the lord of the manor!"</p>
+
+<p>And besides the weekly markets there were the great annual fairs, which
+lasted many days, and were frequented by all classes of the population.
+These fairs were absolutely necessary for the trade of the country in
+the days when few people travelled far from their own homesteads, and
+even the towns with their small number of inhabitants did not afford a
+sufficient market for the farmer's and trader's stock.</p>
+
+<p>The greatest of all English fairs was held in the little village of
+Stourbridge, near Cambridge, now almost absorbed by the University
+town. Hither flocked merchants and traders from all parts of Europe.
+Flemish merchants brought their fine linen and cloths from the great
+commercial cities of Belgium. Genoese and Venetian traders came with
+their stores of Eastern goods. Spaniards and Frenchmen brought their
+wines, and the merchants of the Hanse towns of Germany sold furs and
+flax, ornaments and spices, while in return for all these treasures our
+English farmers brought the rich fleeces of their sheep, their corn,
+horses, and cattle. The booths were planted in a cornfield, and the
+circuit of the fair, which was like a well-governed city, was over
+three miles. The shops were built in streets or rows, some named after
+the various nations that congregated there, and others after the kind
+of goods offered for sale. There were Garlick Row, Bookseller's Row,
+Cook Row; there were a cheese fair, a hop fair, a wool fair, and every
+trade was represented, together with taverns, eating-houses, and in
+later years playhouses of various descriptions. In the eighteenth
+century one hundred thousand pounds' worth of woollen manufactures was
+sold in a week in one row alone. A thousand pack-horses were used to
+convey the goods of the Lancashire merchants to this famous fair. Now
+railways have supplanted the pack-horses; fairs have had their day; the
+trade of the country can now be carried on without them; and their
+relics with their shows and shooting-galleries and steam roundabouts
+have become a nuisance.</p>
+
+<p>The peaceful life of the villagers was sometimes disturbed by the
+sounds and sights of conflict. The exciting tales of war are connected
+with the history of many an English village, and many "little
+Wilhelmines" and labouring "grandsires" have discovered "something
+large and round," traces of these ancient conflicts and "famous
+victories."</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"For often when they go to plough<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The ploughshare turns them out,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;'And many thousand men,' quoth he,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;'Were slain in that great victory.'"</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Many a lance and sword, and gilt spur, beautifully enamelled, which
+once decked the heel of a noble knight, have been found in our fields,
+and remind us of those battles which were fought so long ago.</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"The knights are dust,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Their good swords rust,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Their souls are with the saints, we trust."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Sometimes the spectres of armed knights and warriors are supposed to
+haunt these scenes of ancient slaughter, and popular superstition has
+handed down the memory of the battles which were fought so long ago. It
+tells us of the mythical records of the fights of King Arthur and his
+Knights of the Round Table by the banks of the River Douglas, which ran
+with blood for three days, so terrible was the slaughter. It tells us
+how stubbornly the Britons resisted the Roman armies, so that on one
+occasion not one Briton was left to tell the tale of their defeat.</p>
+
+<p>When we visit the site of some battle with the history book in our hand,
+it is possible to imagine the lonely hillside peopled again with the
+dense ranks of English archers, or hear the clanging of the armour as
+the men-at-arms charged for "St. George and merry England"; and the air
+will be full again of the battle-cries, of the groans of the wounded and
+the shouts of the victors.</p>
+
+<p>Visit the scene of the battle of Hastings. Here on the high ground,
+flanked by a wood, stood the brave English, under the leadership of
+Harold, with his banner, woven with gold and jewels, shining
+conspicuously in the morning sunlight. Here they stood in the form of
+a wedge; there they turned the Normans, and put them to flight. Then
+the Normans rallied, pretended to fly, decoyed the brave English from
+their position, and by stratagem succeeded in defeating them at last.
+Or go to the Madingley Windmill, near Cambridge, and see the fifteen
+miles of rich drained cornfields which intervene between "Ely's stately
+fane" and the spot on which you are standing. Here read Kingsley's
+well-known story of <i>Hereward; or, The Last of the English</i>, and instead
+of the rich cornfields you will see that black abyss of mud and bottomless
+slime into which sank the flower of Norman chivalry as they tried to
+cross that treacherous bog to conquer the gallant Hereward and to
+plunder the monastery of Ely, the last stronghold of the English. On
+they came, thousands upon thousands, rushing along the floating bridge
+which they had formed, until at last it gave way beneath the weight, and
+the black slime swallowed up the miserable wretches.</p>
+
+<p>Or let us take our stand on the Round Tower, near the summit of the Edge
+Hill, and see the site of the first battle between the troops of Charles
+I. and the soldiers of the Parliament. The whole of that green lane was
+lined with troops. In a cottage which stood at our feet the king
+breakfasted before the battle; from that mound he surveyed the forces of
+the enemy. Just as the bells in yonder church had ceased to ring for
+service on Sunday afternoon the cannon began to roar, and the fight
+commenced. There Prince Rupert charged with headlong fury, carrying all
+before him. And so we can follow the fortunes of the fight until the
+brave Cavaliers retired to rest&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>The memory of many a fight is recorded in the names of the fields,
+places, and hills on which the battle raged. Lichfield (<i>i.e.</i> the
+field of the dead), Battlefield, Battle, Battleflats, Standard Hill,
+Slaughterford, and many others, all tell the tale of war and slaughter.</p>
+
+<p>In some parts of the country, especially in Oxfordshire, there are fine
+avenues of trees, which appear to lead to a large house; but when you
+have walked to the end of the trees there is nothing to be seen. These
+avenues tell the tale of war, of the destruction of the manor-house of
+some old Royalist who fought for his king when the "Roundheads" and
+Cromwell's "Ironsides" were more than a match for the gallant Cavaliers.
+His house was destroyed, he and his sons killed, unless they were
+fortunate enough to escape to France and wait the merry time "when the
+king should enjoy his own again." How many of our uplands and gentle
+vales have been stained with blood, and seen the terrible horrors of
+war, of which we in these favoured days know nothing from our own
+experience! We read about the sad battles and sieges which have taken
+place in other countries, but can hardly imagine the time when hostile
+soldiers were riding through our village lanes, and the noise of the
+cannon was booming in the distance, as on that famous Sunday morning in
+October, 1642, when Richard Baxter was disturbed in his preaching at
+Alcester by that strange sound, and knew that the terrible conflict had
+begun between the king and Parliament. Our English villages suffered
+very much. All farming was stopped, manor-houses destroyed, some of the
+best blood in England spilt, and many a home made desolate. Indeed, in
+some parts of the country the people had literally no bread to eat, and
+no clothing to cover their nakedness; and Cromwell ordered collections
+to be made in London for the relief of the distressed people in
+Lancashire. Then the old clergyman was driven from his flock, and some
+commissioner appointed who wrote in the register-books of the parish the
+names of the children who were born, but did not record their baptism as
+the clergyman did. And then some black-gowned Puritan, with his hair cut
+short, came and took possession of the living, and preached very long
+sermons about Cromwell "girding his sword upon his thigh," and about
+blinded Papists, and about Mahershalal-hash-baz, who made haste to
+divide the spoil.</p>
+
+<p>But in the glorious year 1660 everyone began to throw up his cap and
+welcome right royally the king from over the water; and the long-faced
+Puritan disappeared, and the writing in the register-books changed into
+that of a scholarly hand; and many of our churches were enriched by
+thankofferings of plate and other gifts, because the good people of
+England rejoiced exceedingly that their loved Church and her services
+were restored to them; and "the king at last enjoyed his own again." The
+memory of the adventures of King Charles II., when he was endeavouring
+to escape from England after the last crushing defeat of the royal
+troops at Worcester, called by Cromwell "the crowning mercy," still
+lingers in many of the country villages through which the unfortunate
+monarch passed. The king and a few faithful followers avoided the towns,
+passed the ford of the Salwarp at Hemford Mill, and proceeded by Chester
+Lane to Broadwaters and Kinfare Heath. Presently they reached Brewood
+Forest, where there stood two old hunting-lodges, built by the Giffards
+in troublous times as hiding-places for proscribed Papists. They were
+called White Ladies and Boscobel, and were inhabited by staunch
+Royalists named Penderel; so the king knew he would be safe there. He
+was disguised as a forester with leathern jerkin and trunk hose, his
+long hair cropped, and his hands blackened. All day he lay concealed in
+a coppice, and in the evening, under the name of Will Jackson, he supped
+with the Penderels, and then tried to cross the Severn, but all the
+fords and bridges were guarded. The next day he and Colonel Carlos
+remained concealed in a large oak near Boscobel, and the memory of Royal
+Oak day is still preserved. He had other narrow escapes, and was saved
+by Mistress Jane Lane, the beautiful daughter of Colonel Lane. A pass
+had been obtained for her and her groom to go to Abbot's Leigh, near
+Bristol. The plan was arranged that the king should act as groom; so
+Charles mounted his horse, and Mistress Lane sat behind him on a
+pillion, and together they rode through Warwickshire to Bristol. The
+king was nearly captured at Long Marston, for some troopers of Cromwell
+suspected the party, and came to examine the house where they rested.
+The cook, however, set Charles to wind up the jack, and because he was
+awkward struck him with the basting-ladle just as the soldiers entered
+the kitchen. Their suspicions were thus removed; and in this old house
+the remains of the jack are still preserved. The poor king was
+disappointed of his ship; the skipper unfortunately told his wife that
+he was going to take the king to France, and she was angry, and locked
+him up in his room, so that he could not fulfil his engagement. At last
+Lord Wilmot procured a ship for the fugitive king, who set sail joyfully
+from Shoreham, near Brighton, and reached Paris in safety. There must
+have been great excitement in the villages of England when the troopers
+were scouring the country in all directions, and the unfortunate king
+was known to be wandering about disguised as a servant.</p>
+
+<p>If there are any hills or high ground in your neighbourhood commanding
+an extensive view of the country, it is probable that in olden days a
+beacon was placed there, so that the country might be aroused in case of
+an invasion, and frequently we find that the tower of a church was used
+as a beacon, and occasionally the iron brazier remains, as at Little
+Budworth, Cheshire. When the Spaniards determined to invade England in
+the reign of "Good Queen Bess," and sent the Invincible Armada,
+consisting of an enormous number of ships and men and guns, bonfires
+were placed on every hill; and when a gallant merchant vessel brought
+the news that the Spaniards were coming, the bonfires were lighted, and
+everyone prepared to resist their attack. Macaulay has told us in very
+stirring verse of how the news spread, as each fire was lighted,</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay";</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>how Beachy Head caught the signal from St. Michael's Mount, and sent it
+swiftly over the country from tower to hill-top,</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And the red glare of Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Again, within the memory of the old inhabitants of your village, the
+hill beacons were brought into use when Napoleon I. threatened to invade
+England; and on January 31, 1803, by some mistake, the fire on Hume
+Castle, in Berwickshire, was lighted; other beacons responded, and ere
+morning dawned thousands were marching ankle-deep through the dense mud
+of the winter roads to their appointed stations. The mistake was not
+without its uses, as Napoleon saw that England was ready, and did not
+venture to attack our shores. A similar accident took place in the reign
+of Henry VIII. There was a conspiracy against the king by the Roman
+Catholics, who did not like their monasteries being destroyed, called
+"The Pilgrimage of Grace." Beacons were erected on the heights of
+Pendel, in Lancashire, and on the various hills of Yorkshire and
+Derbyshire; but the beacon on Pendel was fired before the conspirators
+were quite ready for action, and their plot came to nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Once again in the history of our country were these beacon fires
+lighted; but it was not to announce the approach of an enemy, but to
+reflect the gladness of the nation which for so many years had enjoyed
+the reign of so good a ruler as Queen Victoria, who has now passed away
+from us, and whom the whole nation mourns. And as we witnessed the
+sudden blaze of the beacons we thought, perhaps, of other occasions when
+they were used, and were thankful that rejoicings and thanksgivings were
+the cause, and not invasions or conspiracies.</p>
+<a name="b10"></a>
+<p>
+[10] This is a corruption of the old Norman-French word <i>oyez</i>,
+"hear ye."</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="21"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+<h3>VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES</h3>
+
+<p>Decay of old sports&mdash;Twelfth Night&mdash;Shrovetide&mdash;Mothering Sunday&mdash;
+Hocktide&mdash;May Day&mdash;Miracle plays&mdash;St. John's Day&mdash;Rush-bearing&mdash;Beating
+the bounds&mdash;Archery&mdash;Quintain&mdash;Football&mdash;Christmas games&mdash;Stocks&mdash;
+Cucking-stool.</p>
+
+<p>
+It is the custom of some writers to represent the lot of an English
+villager in past ages as having been particularly hard and disagreeable;
+to enlarge upon the scanty wages which he received; and to compare his
+position unfavourably with that of the agricultural labourer of the
+present day. I have already pointed out that the small wages which he
+received are no test of his poverty, because he received so much more in
+lieu of wages; and certainly he had far more opportunities of enjoyment
+and recreation than the present generation has. Now we have scarcely any
+village games or sports, except when some energetic rector or curate
+starts a cricket club. Old social customs, which added such diversity to
+the lives of the rustics two centuries ago, have died out. The village
+green, the source of so much innocent happiness, is no more; and a
+recent writer has observed that the ordinary existence of agricultural
+labourers is so dull that in East Anglia they have almost forgotten how
+to laugh!</p>
+
+<p>We will now try to realise how our village forefathers used to enjoy
+themselves, how they used to spend their holidays, and to picture to
+ourselves the scenes of happy social intercourse which once took place
+in our own hamlet. Every season of the year had its holiday customs and
+quaint manner of observance, some of them confined to particular
+counties, but many of them universally observed.</p>
+
+<p>On the eve of Twelfth Night, January 5th, we see the good farmer and his
+labourers in Devonshire joining hands round his apple trees, and
+singing&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Here's to thee, old apple tree!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Hence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hats full! caps full!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bushel, bushel, sacks full,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And my pockets full too! Huzza!"</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>A hearty supper followed, and with laughter, songs, and good wishes to
+the farmer and his wife, the company passed a very joyous evening. In
+Herefordshire, Yorkshire, and other parts of England similar customs
+prevailed.</p>
+
+
+<a name="294"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="294.jpg"><img alt="294h.jpg (38K)" src="294h.jpg" height="346" width="494"></a>
+<br>
+ANN HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>Then followed Twelfth Night, which was celebrated by great rejoicings
+and merry-makings, a game called the choosing of kings and queens being
+played, and Twelfth Night cakes consumed in plenty. The next Monday was
+called Plough Monday, when the labourers used to draw a plough round
+the parish and receive presents of money, favouring the spectators with
+sword-dancing and mumming, preparatory to beginning to plough after the
+Christmas holidays. The men were decked out with gay ribbons, and were
+accompanied by morris-dancers. The Christmas holidays lasted these
+twelve days, and during them it was customary for the gentlemen to
+feast the farmers, and for the farmers to feast their labourers. Then
+came the Shrovetide festivities, on Shrove Tuesday, when pancakes,
+football, and cock-fighting, and a still more barbarous custom of
+throwing sticks at hens, were generally in vogue. On Mid-Lent Sunday,
+commonly called "Mothering Sunday," it was the pleasing custom for
+servants and apprentices to carry cakes or furmity as presents to their
+mother, and to receive from her a cake with her blessing. This was
+called "going a-mothering." The old poet Herrick alludes to the custom
+in Gloucestershire in these words:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"I'll to thee a simnell bring,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;So that when she blesseth thee,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Half that blessing thou'lt give me."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Then came the diversions of Hocktide, on the second Monday and Tuesday
+after Easter, when the men and women intercepted the public on alternate
+days with ropes, and boldly exacted money for pious purposes. There was
+a Hocktide play, which was acted before Queen Elizabeth, and caused her
+much amusement. She gave the players two bucks and five marks of money,
+which delighted them exceedingly.</p>
+
+<p>Very shortly afterwards the great rural festival of our forefathers
+took place, the glad May Day, when, in the early dawn, the lads and
+lassies left their towns and villages, and going into the woods to the
+sound of music, gathered the may or blossomed branches of the tree,
+and bound them with wreaths of flowers. At sunrise they returned, and
+decorated the lattices and doors with the sweet-smelling spoil of
+their joyous journey, and spent the rest of the day in sports and
+pastimes, and dancing round the Maypole. The setting-up of the
+May-pole was a very joyous ceremony. A long string of oxen, gaily
+decked with flowers, drew to the village green the time-honoured pole,
+decked with streamers, flowers, and flags, where it was raised amidst
+laughter and shouts; and the Queen of the May was enthroned in an
+arbour and all danced round; and the morris-dancers, Robin Hood, Friar
+Tuck, and Maid Marian performed wonderful antics as they led the
+revels. Targets were set up at the other end of the green, and archery
+formed an important part of the day's pleasures. The preachers at the
+time of the Reformation thought the people made an idol of the
+Maypole, and condemned the innocent amusements, which were revived
+again when Charles II. came to the throne. After May Day our villagers
+had not long to wait until the Whitsuntide holiday came round&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"A day of jubilee,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;An ancient holiday;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;When, lo! the rural revels are begun,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And gaily echoing to the laughing sky,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On the smooth-shaven green,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Resounds the voice of mirth."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>I have already given a description of these Whitsuntide rejoicings in
+a preceding chapter.</p>
+
+<p>Then there were the miracle plays, or "mysteries," as they were called,
+in June, on Corpus Christi Day, which were performed before the
+Reformation, principally in the neighbourhood of large monasteries;
+Coventry, Chester, London, York being specially renowned for these
+performances. The subjects were taken from Holy Scripture, or from
+the lives of saints, and were intended to teach the people religious
+knowledge, but the scenes were disfigured by many absurdities and
+grotesque perversions. Their history is a curious one, too long to
+enter upon in this chapter; but often in the open fields, at the bottom
+of natural amphitheatres, were these plays performed, very similar in
+construction to the famous passion play performed by the peasants, at
+Ober Ammergau, in Bavaria, the last surviving specimen of the ancient
+religious drama.</p>
+
+<p>Then there were the bonfires to be lighted on St. John's Day upon the
+hillsides, and the dance of the young people around them, the more
+venturesome youths leaping through the flames, all carrying home the
+firebrands and forming a glad procession. Afterwards followed the busy
+harvest-time, when everyone was too hard at work, and too tired at the
+end of the day's labours, to think of holiday-making; but at length
+came the harvest home, when the last sheaf was gathered in, and the
+harvest supper was a very joyous occasion. With light hearts, smiling
+faces, and cheerful shouts, the harvest labourers and their wives and
+children, carrying green boughs, a sheaf of wheat, and rude flags,
+formed a glad procession to the farmer's house, where they found the
+fuelled chimney blazing wide, and "the strong table groaning beneath
+the smoking sirloin." The feast over, they retired to some near
+hillock, and made the welkin ring with their shouts, "Holla, holla,
+holla, largess!"&mdash;largess being the presents of money and good things
+which the farmer had bestowed. Such was the harvest home in the good
+old days, a joy and delight to both old and young. Shorn of much of its
+merriment and quaint customs, it still lingers on; but modern habits
+and notions have deprived it of much of its old spirit and
+light-heartedness.</p>
+
+<p>The floors of the old churches were formerly unpaved and unbearded,
+simply made of clay, and were covered over with rushes. Once a year
+there was a great ceremony, called "rush-bearing." Rushes were cut in
+the neighbouring marsh, and made up into long bundles, decked with
+ribands and flowers. Then a procession was formed, everyone bearing a
+bundle of rushes, or placing them in the rush-cart beautifully adorned;
+and with music, drums, and ringing of bells, they marched to the church
+and strewed the floor with their honoured burdens. Long after the
+rushes ceased to be used in church the ceremony was continued, and I
+have myself witnessed a rush-bearing procession such as I have
+described. A village feast, followed by dancing round the May-pole,
+generally formed the conclusion to the day's festivities.</p>
+
+<p>"Beating the bounds" of the parish was another annual ceremony, which
+often took place on Ascension Day and is still in use at Oxford.
+Boundaries of property were not so clearly defined in those days as
+they are now; and hedgerows, walls, and railings were scarce. The
+bounds of the parish were often marked by trees, called "gospel trees,"
+because the clergyman used to read the gospel for the day under their
+shade. The people carried a processional cross and willow wands, and
+boys were generally flogged at the boundaries, or ducked in the river,
+if that constituted a boundary, in order to impress upon their memories
+where the bounds were. The village feast afterwards made some amends to
+them for their harsh treatment.</p>
+
+<p>The village sports were a great source of enjoyment, and were frequently
+indulged in. The time-honoured archery developed the skill of our
+English bowmen, and won for them many a battle before the days of
+gunpowder and cannons. Then there was the very ancient game of the
+quintain, which consisted of an upright post with a cross-post turning
+upon a pin. At one end of the latter was a broad board, at the other a
+heavy sand-bag. The play, which required skill and dexterity, was to
+ride against the broad end with a lance, and pass by before the sandbag,
+swinging round, could strike the player to the ground. This was a common
+sport at wedding festivities. There were also the games of singlestick,
+cudgelling, and wrestling, which had many votaries, and the famous game
+of quarter-staff, so general in Berkshire, and so graphically described
+in <i>The Scouring of the White Horse</i>, by Mr. Hughes. An old parishioner
+of mine was the reputed champion of this game, which has now almost died
+out. Football is an ancient sport, and the manner formerly in vogue most
+nearly resembles the game authorised by the Rugby rules. The football
+was thrown down in the churchyard, and the object was to carry it
+perhaps two or three miles, every inch of ground being keenly contested.
+"Touch-downs" were then unknown, but it is evident from old records that
+"scrimmages" and "hacking" were much in vogue. Sack-racing, grinning
+through horse-collars, running after pigs with greased tails, were some
+of the lighter forms of amusement which pleased the villagers.</p>
+
+<p>Then in the winter evenings there were "carols" to be practised for
+Christmas, and each village boasted of its own musicians, who played
+violins, flutes, clarionets, and other instruments in church, before
+the days of harmoniums and organs. Their music might not be of a very
+first-rate order, but they delighted in it, took an interest in it; and
+how pleased they were to take part in the service, and to play over
+their favourite hymn tunes, with a great many twirls and variations, to
+their children during the winter evenings! Christmas brought its
+accustomed merry-makings. In the north every farmer gave two feasts,
+one called "t' ould foaks' neet," and the other "t' young foaks' neet."
+Here is Sir Walter Scott's description of an ancient Christmas:&mdash;</p>
+<br>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"And well our Christian sires of old<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Loved when the year its course had roll'd<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And brought blithe Christmas back again,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;With all its hospitable train.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Domestic and religious rite<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Gave honour to the holy night:<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;On Christmas Eve the bells were rung;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;On Christmas Eve the Mass was sung;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That only night in all the year<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Saw the staled priest the chalice rear.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The damsel donn'd her kirtle sheen;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The hall was dressed with holly green;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Forth to the wood did merry men go,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;To gather in the mistletoe.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Then open wide the baron's hall,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;To vassal, tenant, serf, and all;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Power laid his rod of rule aside,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And Ceremony doft'd his pride.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The heir with roses in his shoes,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That night might village partner choose;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The lord, underogating, share<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The vulgar game of 'post and pair.'<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;All hailed with uncontrolled delight<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The general voice, the happy night,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;That to the cottage, as the crown,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Brought tidings of salvation down.<br>
+&nbsp;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;"The fire, with well-dried logs supplied,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Went roaring up the chimney wide;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The huge hall-table's oaken face<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Scrubb'd till it shone, the day of grace,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Bore then upon its massive board<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;No mark to part the squire and lord.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Then was brought in the lusty brawn,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;By old blue-coated serving man;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Then the grim boar's head frowned on high<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Crested with bays and rosemary.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Well can the green-garb'd ranger tell<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;How, when, and where the monster fell;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;What dogs before his death he tore,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And all the baiting of the boar;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;While round the merry wassail bowl,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Garnished with ribbons, blithe did trowl.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Then the huge sirloin reek'd: hard by<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Plum-porridge stood, and Christmas pie;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Nor fail'd old Scotland to produce<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;At such high time her savoury goose.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Then came the merry maskers in,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And carols roared with blithesome din;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;If unmelodious was the song,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;It was a hearty note, and strong.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Who lists may in this mumming see<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Traces of ancient mystery;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;White shirts supply the masquerade,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And smutted cheeks the visor made;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;But, oh! what masquers, richly dight,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Can boast of bosoms half so light!<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;England was merry England when<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Old Christmas brought his sports again.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;A Christmas gambol oft would cheer<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;A poor man's heart through half the year."</p><br>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+<p>Such was the manner of keeping Christmas in olden times; and if "the
+mightiest ale" was sometimes too mighty, and although the intemperance
+of our forefathers was a vice much to be deplored, at any rate their
+hearty manner of keeping this annual feast was effectual in promoting
+"goodwill amongst men," and in cheering the hearts of the poor.</p>
+
+<p>In this chapter I have attempted to show the varied amusements and
+recreations in which our village ancestors took part. On the old village
+green, which in too many of our villages has been inclosed and become a
+thing of the past, many of these sports and pastimes once took place.
+There stood the village stocks, in which the refractory paid the penalty
+of their misdeeds; and sometimes, too, a pillory was added, which held
+fast the head, arms, and legs of the culprit, while the villagers, rude
+vindicators of the law, threw stones, rotten eggs, and other missiles at
+the unhappy victim. At the edge of the pond you might have seen a long
+plank which turned on a swivel, with a chair at the end overhanging the
+water. This was called a "cucking-stool," and was used to duck scolds or
+brawlers. The culprit was placed in the chair, and the other end of the
+plank was raised several times, so that the ardour of the culprit was
+effectually cooled by frequent immersions. These were rough methods of
+administering justice, but often very effectual in checking vice.</p>
+
+<p>The social customs which formerly existed in each village, the sports
+and pastimes associated with the village green, the May Day festivals,
+and the Christmas carollings were of great value, inasmuch as they
+tended to infuse some poetical feeling into the minds of the people,
+softened the rudeness of rustic manners, and gave the villagers simple
+pleasures which lightened their labours. They prevented them from
+growing hard, grasping, and discontented with their lot. They promoted
+good feeling between the farmers and their labourers. The customs of
+the town were a poor exchange for the ancient country manners and
+amusements; and it was a sad day for our country when the villagers
+lost their simplicity and the power of appreciating the primitive
+pleasures of rural England.</p>
+
+
+<a name="303"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="303.jpg"><img alt="303h.jpg (22K)" src="303h.jpg" height="271" width="487"></a>
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="22"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE VILLAGE INN</h3>
+
+<p>Monastic inns&mdash;Village inns&mdash;Highwaymen&mdash;Inn signs&mdash;Famous inns&mdash;
+Man-traps.</p>
+
+<p>
+In almost every village in England there is an inn. Before the
+Reformation there were very few of these hostelries, as travellers
+were always accommodated at the monasteries, each of which, as we have
+seen, had a hospitium, or guest-house, where their wants were attended
+to by special officers appointed for the purpose, and where they could
+remain for several days. But the destruction of the monasteries
+produced many changes in the condition of the country; it introduced
+the necessity of a poor law, for the poor were always relieved by the
+monasteries; it required the erection of schools and places for
+education, as all the education of the country had been carried on in
+these monastic buildings; and when the old guesthouses ceased to
+exist, travellers, merchants, and pedlars required some place in which
+to lodge when they moved about the country, and inns became plentiful
+as time went on. Hence in almost every village in England there is an
+inn, which is generally a landmark; and if you wish to direct a
+stranger to some place where he desires to go, you doubtless tell him
+to turn to the right by "The Bull," or to keep straight on until he
+comes to "The Magpie." Indeed, a friend of mine, who is a strong
+teetotaler, asserts that the only good use inns have is to help people
+to find their road. But old inns have a great history. In former days
+they used to be meeting-places of plotters and conspirators. All the
+distinguished people in the country used to pass through the villages
+and towns on the great roads through the country, and when the horses
+were being changed they used to partake of the good fare which the
+landlord provided. Those were busy times for the old inns, when there
+was stabling for fifty or sixty horses, and the coaches used to rattle
+through the village to the inn door long before the iron horses began
+to drag their freight of passengers along the iron roads, and the
+scream of the engines took the place of the cheerful notes of the
+posthorn.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes a gentleman would ride to an inn door on a beautiful,
+fleet-looking steed, and receive a hearty welcome from the landlord;
+but the pistols in his belt looked ominous, and presently some
+soldiers would steal noiselessly into the inn where the gentleman was
+refreshing himself, and there would be heard the sounds of vigorous
+fighting; and often, in some wonderful way, Claude Duval or the noted
+Dick would fight his way out, whistle to his steed, jump into the
+saddle, and ride away before his less nimble pursuers had recovered
+from their astonishment. Very many exciting scenes have taken place in
+our old inns, but in these days railways have changed all things; and
+in many streets where the coaches used to rattle along, and the place
+was alive with merry sounds, the moss now grows, and all is silence
+and desolation. We should certainly think it inconvenient to take
+three days to travel from London to Bath, and it would not be pleasant
+to have a visit from Dick Turpin on the way, and to have all one's
+valuables appropriated by that notorious highwayman; but in these days
+of worry and busy bustling it would be refreshing to catch a glimpse
+of those quiet times when people were not so much in a hurry, and to
+hear the sound of the posthorn once more instead of the whistle of the
+steam-engine.</p>
+
+<p>The quaint-looking pictures and curious names which attract our notice
+as we pass an inn door have some queer stories to tell. We notice a very
+curious collection of animals sometimes, and a strange assortment of
+things; and the reason why our ancestors put some of these curious
+things together is somewhat difficult for us to find out. In olden days,
+other houses of tradesmen besides inns had signs. Grocers, tailors,
+candlestick-makers, all had signs; but most of these have disappeared,
+except one belonging to a certain sweep of my acquaintance, whose house
+is adorned with the figure of a man coming out of a globe, with the
+motto, "Help me through the world." Over their doors barbers still have
+their poles, which represented once the fact that the barber was
+prepared to bandage up wounded arms and legs, and to perform the office
+of blood-letting; the stripes on the pole were intended to represent the
+bandages, and the barber was the surgeon of the town. We do not seem to
+have so much blood to spare as our forefathers, as the barber always
+bled his customers once or twice a year, especially in the springtime,
+the operation being considered very beneficial.</p>
+
+<p>One reason for the curious mixture of animals and other things which we
+see on signboards is that an apprentice, when he had finished his time
+and begun to set up for himself, adopted some sign, and then joined with
+it the sign of his old master. This will account for such curiosities as
+"The Lamb and Dolphin," "The Goose and Gridiron," "The Fox and Seven
+Stars," combinations of things for which it would otherwise be difficult
+to account. Another reason is that signs were taken from the armorial
+bearings, or crests, of some popular character, or of some great family
+in the neighbourhood. For example, I may mention "The Bear with the
+Ragged Staff," which was the crest of Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick,
+commonly called "The Kingmaker," who was slain in the battle of Barnet,
+1471 A.D. "The Blue Boar" was one of the badges of the House of York.
+"The Bull" is a very common sign, because it was a very common crest,
+and we have them in all colours&mdash;black, red, white; lions also rage in
+blue, white, and red attire. Sometimes we meet with "The Cross Keys,"
+the keeper of which was probably an old servant or tenant of an abbey or
+monastery, and chose his sign from that of the monastery with which he
+was connected. Frequently, in olden times, a cross was erected at the
+meeting of two or three roads, or where the pilgrims to Canterbury used
+to pass; afterwards an inn was built near it, and was, in many cases,
+called the Cross Inn.</p>
+
+<p>One very common cause of curious signs is the way in which the original
+word has been corrupted by ignorant people frequently repeating words
+which they did not understand, and thus changing their whole meaning.
+You may have seen an inn described as "The Swan with Two Necks"&mdash;a very
+rare bird indeed. But it was never intended to disfigure the bird by
+giving it two necks; the original sign was "The Swan with Two <i>Nicks</i>"
+and nicks were the marks which were cut on a swan's bill to distinguish
+it from other swans, so that it might be known to whom the bird
+belonged. But <i>nicks</i> became <i>necks</i> in course of conversation, until at
+last a fabulous creature with two beautifully curved necks appeared on
+the signboard. This same cause will account for the two strange signs,
+"Bull and Gate" and "Bull and Mouth." The original signs were "Boulogne
+Gate" and "Boulogne Mouth," <i>i.e.</i> the gate and harbour of the town of
+Boulogne, in France, which was captured by the English under King Henry
+VIII. in the year 1544. The English were very pleased to hear of the
+defeat of the French, and of the taking of that important town, and
+several inns were named in honour of the event; but the French
+"Boulogne" was too much for our good English mouths to speak, so it
+became "Bull and."</p>
+
+<p>Another name which puzzled our forefathers was "<i>La Belle Sauvage</i>"
+("the Beautiful Savage"), which was named after a noted savage beauty
+who was the rage at Paris. Others assert that the name of the landlady
+was Isabella Savage, shortened into Bella Savage. However, in course of
+time the name was altered into "Bell and Savage," and a picture
+representing this odd combination stood over the door. In the same way
+the original sign, "Whip and Nag," between which there is often a very
+close connection, became "Whip and Egg"; and the reason why these two
+articles should be placed together is not so evident. So also there does
+not seem any reason for an inn to be called "Bag o' Nails"; but when we
+are told that the original word was "Bacchanals," <i>i.e.</i> followers of
+Bacchus, the old god of wine, we can understand how the corruption, "Bag
+o' Nails," arose. Before the days of licensing, when everyone could sell
+liquor who chose without obtaining any licence from the magistrates, it
+was the custom to put a bush over the doorway, in order to inform the
+passers-by that liquor could be purchased there. This is the origin of
+the saying, "Good wine needs no bush."</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="310"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="310.jpg"><img alt="310h.jpg (37K)" src="310h.jpg" height="347" width="518"></a>
+<br>
+VILLAGE INN WITH OLD TITHE BARN OF READING ABBEY
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>"The Catherine Wheel" tells us the sad story of St. Catherine, who was
+born at Alexandria, and for converting fifty heathen philosophers to
+Christianity was sentenced by the Emperor Maxentius to death on a wheel,
+devised by most ingenious cruelty, armed with knives, saws, and nails.
+It is recorded that she was rescued from this fate, but was afterwards
+beheaded (305 A.D.). It is curious that this instrument of torture and
+the story of St. Catherine's heroism should be recorded on a signboard.
+But it may have been brought before the public by a certain miracle
+play, founded on the life of St. Catherine, which used to be performed
+on festival days. However, the Catherine wheel appears frequently on the
+coats-of-arms of several families, and it may be that the sign was taken
+from these.</p>
+
+<p>"The George," also, is a very popular sign; and the "St. George of
+merry England" is the patron saint of this country, and the battle-cry
+of her knights and yeomen of ancient days. Who does not remember that
+stirring scene on St. George's Mount during the Crusades, described in
+Sir Walter Scott's <i>Talisman</i>, when King Richard tore down the Austrian
+banner, which the Austrian monarch had dared to erect beside the Royal
+Standard of England? St George is generally represented as slaying
+a dragon. He was a soldier who served gallantly under the Emperor
+Diocletian, and commanded a legion of soldiers; he was a Christian,
+and by the dragon whom he slew is meant the devil, red with the blood
+of the Christians. So popular a personage as St. George, whose name
+inspired our ancestors with courage, and was often borne by them into
+the heart of the foe, would soon be recorded in paintings and become a
+general sign. "The Goat" is a common sign, and is taken from the crest
+of the Duke of Bedford; but "The Goat and Compasses" has puzzled many
+people as to its origin. It appears to be a corruption of a pious
+expression, "God encompasseth us"; and this shows how strangely words
+may be twisted and converted by ignorant and careless usage.</p>
+
+<p>There are some very noted inns where great events have taken place,
+amongst which I may mention the Bull Inn at Coventry. Here Henry VII.
+was entertained the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, when
+he won for himself the English crown. Here Mary Queen of Scots was
+detained by order of Elizabeth. Here the conspirators of the Gunpowder
+Plot met to devise their scheme for blowing up the Houses of
+Parliament. And when the citizens refused to open their gates to
+Charles I. and his soldiers, no doubt there were great disputings
+amongst the frequenters of "The Bull" as to what would be the result
+of their disloyal refusal.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the inns in remote country places did not enjoy a very enviable
+reputation, and were little better than man-traps, where the
+unfortunate traveller was robbed and murdered. At Blewbury, in
+Berkshire, there was an inn, the landlord of which was suspected of
+murdering his guests with great secrecy and mystery, and no one could
+tell what he did with the bodies of the victims he was supposed to have
+murdered. A few years ago an old tree in the neighbourhood of the inn
+was blown down, and on digging up the roots a skeleton was found among
+them. People wondered how it could have been placed there, but at last
+a very old inhabitant told the story of the mysterious disappearance of
+the bodies of the late landlord's guests, and the mystery was at length
+accounted for. Whenever he slew a man he planted a tree, placing the
+body of the murdered victim beneath it. The constables never thought of
+looking there; and probably under every tree which he planted (and
+there were several), when their roots are dug up, the bones of his
+numerous victims will be discovered.</p>
+
+<p>Another story is connected with the old "Hind's Head" at Bracknell,
+which was another of these mantraps, where many travellers slept to
+rise no more. One winter's night a stout-hearted farmer stayed there,
+and joined several jovial companions round the kitchen fire. They ate
+and drank merrily, and at last the serving-maid showed the traveller
+to his chamber. She told him that he was surrounded by robbers and
+murderers, showed him a trap-door at the side of the bed, on which if
+he stepped he would tumble headlong into a deep well. She directed him
+to tie the bed into a bundle, put it on the trap-door, and escape by
+the window. He did so; down went the bundle, instead of the farmer,
+into the well, and he managed to effect his escape. Rousing the
+neighbourhood he captured the villains, who were all executed, and the
+bones of many of their victims were found in the well. Happily such
+inns were rare.</p>
+
+<p>To describe the conditions of the old inns for which England was
+famous, of the good fare which awaited the travellers by the coach, of
+the spacious corridors, of the comfortable beds hung with silk and
+smelling of lavender; to tell of all the great folk who entered their
+doors&mdash;kings, queens, poets, generals, highwaymen, statesmen, grooms,
+conspirators, coachmen&mdash;all this would require much space to relate.
+When railways came in, their ancient glory departed; the old stables
+are destroyed; grass grows in the courtyard; and the object of their
+existence has almost ceased to be.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="23"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+
+<h3>VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE</h3>
+
+<p>Belief in witches&mdash;Survival of water ordeal&mdash;Witches turned into hares&mdash;
+Cruelties practised on witches&mdash;Bishop Jewel on the "evil eye"&mdash;
+Fairies&mdash;Berkshire popular superstitions&mdash;Field-names&mdash;Homes of famous
+men&mdash;Washington Irving's description of an English village&mdash;Rural
+exodus&mdash;Conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>
+There is yet another class of subjects connected with old village life,
+of absorbing interest and importance. I refer to the old superstitions
+and folklore which still linger on in the recollections of the "oldest
+inhabitant," and which ought to be at once treasured up, lest they
+should be altogether lost. The generation of those who believed firmly
+in the power of the "evil eye" of the witch, and who feared to disturb
+the revels of the fairies on their rings and mounds, is only just
+passing away. An old gipsy has told me some strange stories of the
+superstitions of former days. He has told me of the witch at Farnham
+who made the cows wild and prevented them from giving milk; of another
+witch who lived at Henley-on-Thames, and who when thrown into the river
+"floated like a cork." Here we have a survival of the old Saxon method
+of trying culprits by the water ordeal, often used in examining
+witches. This particular witch could turn herself into a hare, so my
+venerable gipsy friend, aged one hundred and six years, informed me,
+and the dogs hunted her. He told me of the Tadley witch, who "wished"
+several people, and greatly injured them. It seems to have been a
+common practice of the old witches to turn themselves into hares, in
+order to vex the squires, justices, and country parsons, who were fond
+of hunting, as the old dames could elude the speed of the swiftest
+dogs. An old writer states "that never hunters nor their dogs may be
+bewitched, they cleave an oaken branch, and both they and their dogs
+pass over it." Mary Dore, a witch of Beaulieu, Hampshire, used to turn
+herself into a hare in order to escape detection when caught in the act
+of wood-stealing, to which she was somewhat addicted.</p>
+
+<p>Old women were rather harshly used in the days when people believed in
+the power of witches. If any farmer's cattle died, it was immediately
+concluded that the animals were bewitched; and some wretched old woman
+was singled out, and summarily tried and burnt. If anyone fell ill,
+some "witch" had evidently a waxen image of the sufferer, and stuck
+needles into it; and such was the power of the witch that, wherever the
+person was, he felt the stab of the cruel needle. Hence the witch had
+to be found and burnt. If the corn crops failed, was not witchcraft the
+cause? for had not old Mother Maggs been heard to threaten Farmer
+Giles, and had not her black cat been seen running over his fields?
+Even good Bishop Jewel did not disbelieve in the power of the evil eye.
+In preaching before Queen Elizabeth he said: "It may please Your Grace
+to understand that witches and sorcerers are marvellously increased
+within Your Grace's realm. Your Grace's subjects pine away even unto
+the death, their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is
+benumbed, their senses are bereft. I pray God they never practise
+further than on the subject." To so great an extent did faith in the
+witches' fatal power prevail. Our forefathers used to believe in the
+existence of other, and more pleasant little companions than the old
+toothless witches&mdash;the bright little fairies who, on account of the
+neglect which they have received from the present generation of
+Englishmen, have, so it is reported, left our shores in disgust, never
+to return. The previous inhabitants of our villages did not so treat
+them; and did not the fairies always bring them luck? They nailed the
+horseshoe to the stable door to keep out the witches, lest the old
+beldams should ride their steeds by night to the witches' revels; but
+no one wished to exclude the fairies. Did not the dairymaids find the
+butter ready churned, and the cows milked by these kind assistants? Was
+there not an old lady in Yorkshire who knew all about the fairies, had
+often heard them making butter, and had seen the butter smeared all
+over the gate by a little green man with a queer cap who had been seen
+slipping under a culvert? Canon Atkinson told us of this lady who knew
+all these strange things, and of the Hart Hall "Hob" who worked so hard
+with his flail, and of many other curious folk who frequented the
+Yorkshire moors in olden days. The last witch had just died before he
+went to Danby, but he found the whole atmosphere of the folklore
+firmament so surcharged with the being and work of the witch, that he
+seemed able to trace her presence and her activity in almost every nook
+and corner of the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>The wells all over England were haunted by fairies, and is it not
+confidently asserted that "the good people" (as the fairies are called)
+live in wilds and forests, and shun great cities because of the
+wickedness which exists therein? Have they never appeared to the lonely
+traveller, clothed in green, with long hair floating over their
+shoulders, and with faces more blooming than the blush of a summer
+morning? Then there were the fairy rings formed by the dancing of their
+merry feet.</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"Some say the screech-owl, at each midnight hour,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Awakes the fairies in yon ancient tower.<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Their nightly dancing ring I always dread,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Nor let my sheep within that circle tread;<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;When round and round all night, in moonlight fair,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;They dance to some strange music in the air."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>Then there were brownies; and knockers, who worked in mines, and showed
+rich veins of silver; and elves&mdash;all of whom were included in old
+village superstitions, and many were the tales told of the good deeds
+they did, and the luck they brought. Nor must we forget the story of
+the invisible smith who inhabited Wayland Smith's Cave, in Berkshire.
+Whenever a farmer tied up his horse in the cave, and left the money on
+a particular stone, on his return he found his horse shod by the kind
+efforts of the invisible smith. There is also the old Berkshire story
+of the old witch who lived in a cave by the roadside, and who, by the
+power of her "evil eye," could stop the strongest team of horses, so
+that, however much the carters lashed and swore at them, the animals
+would not budge an inch until she permitted them to go. Here are a few
+of the common superstitions current in Berkshire. If a corpse be kept
+over a Sunday another death will occur before the week is out; should a
+big bumble-bee enter the window, a guest may be expected; and when the
+woodpecker, commonly called the yaffle, laughs, they say the rain is
+coming. When the thick mist lies in the valley, the people say it is
+the White Lady, a belief closely akin to the Dame Blanche, who is said
+in Normandy to haunt streams. If one row of freshly sown seeds or
+potatoes does not come up, it foretells a death in the family. If a
+girl mends her clothes on her back, she risks having a drunken husband.
+A screech-owl is unlucky, and so also is it if a bird fly against the
+window.</p>
+
+<p>A woman came to the rectory a few years ago for a drop of sacramental
+wine, which she wanted for an infant who had "the graspings." This
+complaint I discovered to be a craving for something, accompanied by
+restlessness; and it was supposed that a drop of sacramental wine would
+cure an infant so troubled. If the mother before the child was born
+craved for drink, this craving was communicated to the child, and could
+only be remedied by a drop of wine used in Holy Communion. This
+superstition, which I have met with elsewhere, probably is a relic of
+pre-Reformation days, and of sacramental Reservation.</p>
+
+<p>A tramp was passing through a Hampshire village a short time ago, and
+calling at a house, begged for a glass of water. The woman who lived
+there said that she was sorry she could not give him water to drink, as
+there was a child in the house unbaptised, and therefore it would be
+unlucky. The origin of this superstition it is difficult to trace.</p>
+
+<p>These are some of the legends and superstitions which linger amongst
+us. Every neighbourhood has its stories, its legends, and romantic
+histories. It is a sad pity that these should pass away without any
+record being made. Many curious customs and ceremonies relating to
+christenings, marriages, and burials linger in remote hamlets; and
+charms, curious remedies, and other relics of the quaint superstitions
+of our forefathers, are full of interest to the lover of our English
+villages.</p>
+
+<p>As we walk in the fields, or study the old map of the parish, the names
+of the fields invite our attention. These are full of interest, and
+often tell us about matters which would be entirely forgotten. Some
+names tell us of the great forests which used to exist all over the
+country, when kings and noblemen, outlaws and poachers, used to hunt
+the deer and the wild boars in many a successful run. These forests
+were large tracts of country in its natural state, partly wood, partly
+heather and grass, which were owned by the king, and were especially
+brought under the harsh forest laws of the Norman sovereigns.</p>
+
+<p>Some of our field-names remind us of the existence of these old forests
+where corn now grows, and also of swamps and islands where everything
+now is dry and far removed from water. Sometimes they tell us of the
+old common lands which used to be farmed by the villeins and borderers,
+and of the strange way in which they used to manage their farming. Each
+man used to keep one or more oxen for the village plough until they
+made up the team into eight; then they ploughed the land in strips of
+an acre or half-acre each, divided by a bit of unploughed turf called
+a balk. Each strip was a furlong, <i>i.e.</i> a "furrow long," <i>i.e.</i> the
+length of the drive of a plough before it is turned. This was forty
+rods, or poles, and four of these furrows made up the acre. These
+pieces of land were called "shots," and there were "headlands," or
+common field-ways, to each shot; and "gored acres," which were corners
+of the fields which could not be cut up into strips, and odds and ends
+of unused land, which were called "No Man's Land," or "Jack's Land." It
+is curious, too, that all the strips belonging to one man did not lie
+together, but were scattered all over the common land, which must have
+been a very inconvenient arrangement for farming purposes. There were
+also in each village community a blacksmith, whose duty it was to keep
+in repair the ironwork of the village ploughs, a carpenter for the
+woodwork, and a pound-keeper, or punder, who looked after the stray
+cattle. Many of the "balks" still remain on the hillsides where these
+old common lands existed, and the names of the fields bear witness to
+the prevalence of this old field system.</p>
+
+<p>They tell us, too, of the way in which attempts were made to force the
+growth of particular crops, and in many parishes you will find a "flax
+piece," which reminds us of a foolish Act of Henry VIII. ordering the
+cultivation of that plant. Metals, too, which have long ago been
+worked out, and trades which no longer exist, have left their traces
+behind in the names of our lanes and fields. Also they speak of the
+early days when the wolf or the bear might be seen in our woods or
+fields, or of the beaver which loved the quietude of our streams, of
+the eagle which carried off the lambs undisturbed by sound of the
+keeper's gun. Sometimes he was disturbed in his thefts by the flight
+of a good strong English arrow, which came from a sturdy English bow
+drawn by a good strong English arm. The English archers were famous
+everywhere, and many a battle has been won by their valour and their
+skill. A law was passed in the reign of Edward IV. that every
+Englishman should have a bow of his own height, and that butts for the
+practice of archery should be set up in every village; and every man
+was obliged to shoot up and down on every feast-day, or be fined one
+halfpenny. Consequently, in some villages we find a field called "The
+Butts," where this old practice took place.[<a href="#b11">11</a>]</p>
+
+<p>Many villages are associated with the lives of distinguished
+men&mdash;authors, soldiers, and statesmen. Perhaps your village may have
+bred other poets besides "the mute inglorious Milton" of Gray's
+<i>Elegy</i>. Not far from where I am writing was Pope's early home, the
+village of Binfield, which he calls&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<center>
+<table summary="poems">
+<tr><td>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;"My paternal home,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;A little house, with trees arow,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;And, like its master, very low."</p>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<p>On the other side lies the village of Three Mile Cross, where Miss
+Mitford lived and wrote "Our Village"; and Arborfield, called in her
+book Arborleigh, about which she tells some pleasant stories, is the
+adjoining parish. Sometimes, as I ride down a grassy lane, a favourite
+haunt of the distinguished authoress, I seem to see her seated on a
+fallen tree weaving her pretty romances, while her favourite dog, which
+she often describes, plays and barks around her. A few miles in another
+direction lies Eversley, the loved abode of Charles Kingsley, about
+whom many stories linger in the countryside. To visit the uncomfortable
+brick-paved study where he wrote, the garden where he used to pace and
+think out his great thoughts, is delightfully refreshing and
+invigorating to a jaded writer.</p>
+
+
+
+<a name="323"></a>
+<br><br>
+<center>
+<a href="323.jpg"><img alt="323h.jpg (34K)" src="323h.jpg" height="347" width="489"></a>
+<br>
+OLD COTTAGES
+</center>
+<br><br>
+
+
+<p>These are only instances of places which have become interesting on
+account of the famous men who once lived in them; and England has many
+heroes of the sword and pen whose lives each Englishman should study;
+and when you visit their dwelling-places you will recall their
+achievements, and perhaps endeavour to imitate their examples. Here is
+an instance of how little the villagers know of the distinguished men
+who once lived amongst them. The great Duke of Wellington did not live
+a very long time ago, and yet some friends of mine who were staying at
+Strathfieldsaye, near the Iron Duke's house, and made inquiries amongst
+the villagers about their recollections of the hero of Waterloo, could
+obtain no information. At last one venerable rustic vouchsafed the
+extraordinary intelligence, "I believe as 'ow 'e were very good at
+war"! What a thing it is to be famous!</p>
+
+<p>Much more remains to be said upon the various subjects which this
+history of our village suggests. But the day is closing, and our walk
+through its sequestered lanes and our thoughts about the various scenes
+which yonder venerable oaks have witnessed, must cease. But enough has
+been said to show what a wealth of interest lies beneath the calm
+exterior of ordinary village life. An American truly observes that
+everything in the rural life of England is associated with ideas of
+order, of quiet, sober, well-established principles, of hoary usage,
+and reverent custom&mdash;the growth of ages of regular and peaceful
+existence. The impression which the appearance of an English village
+left on his mind is beautifully described in the following passage:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The old church of remote architecture with its low, massive portal,
+its gothic tower, its windows rich with tracery and painted glass,
+its scrupulous preservation, its stately monuments of warriors and
+worthies of olden times, ancestors of the present lords of the soil;
+its tombstones, recording successive generations of sturdy yeomanry,
+whose progeny still plough the same fields, and kneel at the same
+altar; the parsonage, a quaint, irregular pile, partly antiquated,
+but repaired and altered in the tastes of various eyes and occupants;
+the stile and footpath leading from the churchyard, across pleasant
+fields, and along shady hedgerows, according to an immemorial
+right-of-way; the neighbouring village, with its venerable cottages,
+its public green sheltered by trees, under which the forefathers of
+the present race have sported; the antique family mansion, standing
+apart in some little rural domain, but looking down with a protecting
+air on the surrounding scene. All these common features of English
+landscape evince a calm and settled security, and hereditary
+transmission of homebred virtues and local attachments, that speak
+deeply and touchingly for the moral character of the nation."</p>
+
+<p>One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+continual decrease of its population. All our young men flock to the
+towns, attracted by the greater excitement which town life offers, as
+compared with the more homely pleasures of the country. The rural
+exodus is an alarming and very real danger to the welfare of social
+England. Agricultural machinery has greatly diminished the number of
+labourers required on a farm. Agricultural depression and the decreased
+value of land have caused many old country families to close their old
+manor-houses, as they cannot afford to live on their estates.</p>
+
+<p>Let us hope that those whose happy lot it is to live in the quiet
+hamlets of our native land, afar from the noise and din of busy towns,
+will learn to love more deeply their village homes, and interest
+themselves in their surroundings. To those who read the history of
+their native place, each house and field, each stone and tree, will
+tell its story, and recount the wonders it has witnessed. And as the
+stories of wars and fights, of superstition and of crime, fall on our
+ears, we shall be thankful that our lot is cast in more peaceful days,
+when no persecutions, religious or political, disturb the tranquillity
+of our village life. And when we read of the piety and simplicity of
+our forefathers, their veneration of their church, their love of home,
+their innocent joys and social customs, we should strive to imitate
+their virtues which have materially helped to make England a great and
+powerful nation. It is hoped that these chapters upon the old life of
+our country, and the manners and customs of our forefathers, may induce
+many of my readers to read and study history more deeply, may serve to
+create an interest in the relics that remain to us of the past, and to
+preserve the fleeting traditions that Time doth consecrate.</p>
+<a name="b11"></a>
+<p>
+[11] In many cases the name "Butts" refers to the fact of the land,
+under the common-field system, <i>abutting</i> on meadows or roads, <i>e.g.</i>
+"Butt-close," in the parish of St. Mary Bourne.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="appendix"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>APPENDIX</h2>
+
+<h3>BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY</h3>
+
+<p>To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village,
+the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the
+name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and
+old county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor's <i>Words
+and Places</i>, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in
+<i>Domesday</i> and old documents. Bede's <i>History</i>, the <i>Anglo-Saxon
+Chronicles</i>, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may
+contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also
+Kemble's <i>Saxons in England</i>. The <i>Domesday Book</i> is, of course, a mine
+of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many documents which will
+be of great service&mdash;the <i>Testa de Neville</i> (Edward II.), <i>Marshall
+Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls,
+Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem</i>, and the <i>Feet of Fines</i>. The
+<i>Manor Court Rolls</i>, if they still exist, in the custody of the lord of
+the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local antiquarian
+societies and county histories will of course be examined. The history
+of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The British
+Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of <i>Heralds'
+Visitations</i>, and Burke's <i>Landed Gentry</i> and Dugdale's <i>Baronage</i>
+are the chief sources of information. Old <i>wills</i> will yield much
+information, many of which are in course of publication by the Index
+Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House and many
+diocesan registries contain the original documents. The Historical
+Manuscripts Commission has published many volumes of borough records
+which are of great service, and the lives of any great men connected
+with the parish may be studied in the <i>Dictionary of National
+Biography</i>. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains
+valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and
+its contents should be carefully examined.</p>
+
+<p>The registers of the diocese contain many documents relating to the
+ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a
+list of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any
+monastery, Dugdale's <i>Monasticon</i> will furnish some information. The
+Public Record Office contains the documents <i>Taxatio Ecclesiastica P.
+Nicholai IV.</i> and <i>Valor Ecclesiasticus</i>, which give an account of the
+value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the sale
+of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the saint
+to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in spite of
+years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some early will
+of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which usually
+gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ in
+stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the
+help of Rickman's <i>Gothic Architecture</i> or Parker's <i>Glossary of Gothic
+Architecture</i>. If there has ever been a monastery in the parish,
+Dugdale's <i>Monasticon</i> should be consulted; and if there are any remains
+of a castle, Clark's <i>Mediaeval Military Architecture in England</i> will
+be useful. Prehistoric remains, such as barrows, earthworks, pit
+dwellings, and caves should be described; also any Roman roads and
+villas; the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood, geology, folklore,
+and dialect.</p>
+
+<p>The following books are recommended:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<p>Evans' <i>Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain</i>.<br>
+Evans' <i> Ancient Bronze Implements</i>.<br>
+Boyd Dawkins' <i>Cave Hunting</i>.<br>
+Boyd Dawkins' <i>Early Man in Britain</i>.<br>
+Greenwell's <i>British Barrows</i>.<br>
+Fergusson's <i>Rude Stone Monuments</i>.<br>
+Cox's <i>How to Write the History of a Parish</i>.<br>
+Wright's <i>Essays on Archaeological Subjects</i>.<br>
+Parker's <i>Mediaeval Domestic Architecture</i>.<br>
+Sims' <i>Manual for the Topographer and Genealogist</i>.<br>
+Burn's <i>History of Parish Registers</i>.<br>
+Seebohm's <i>English Village Community</i>.<br>
+Toulmin Smith's <i>English Gilds</i>.<br>
+Haine's <i>Manual of Monumental Brasses</i>.<br>
+Bloxam's <i>Principles of Gothic Architecture</i>.<br>
+Tanner's <i>Notitia Monastica</i>.<br>
+Cutts' <i>Middle Ages</i>.<br>
+Lee's <i>Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms</i>.</p>
+
+<br><br>
+<a name="index"></a>
+<br><br>
+
+<h2>
+INDEX</h2>
+
+<p>Akeman Street, 60<br>
+Aldhelm, church-builder, 103<br>
+Alfriston clergy-house, 180<br>
+<i>Alignements</i>, 46<br>
+Allington rectory, 180<br>
+Almshouses, 181<br>
+Altars, 191<br>
+Amphitheatre, Roman, 67<br>
+Anchoresses, 183<br>
+Anchor-hold, 183<br>
+Anglo-Saxon villages, 74-89<br>
+Archery, 277, 298<br>
+Architecture, English, 102-24<br>
+Arresting a dead body, 227<br>
+Arrow-heads, 20<br>
+<i>Art of Husbandry</i>, 255<br>
+Astrology, belief in, 222<br>
+Aumbry, 192<br>
+Avebury cromlech, 46</p>
+
+<p>B</p>
+
+<p>Ball-flower moulding, 118<br>
+Barkham in <i>Domesday</i>, 128<br>
+Barnack Church, 106<br>
+Barrows or tumuli, 23-3<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;long and round, 25<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;near churchyards, 23<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Saxon, 90-3<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;their contents, 24, 29<br>
+Basilica, Roman, 66<br>
+Beacons, 268<br>
+Beating the bounds, 276<br>
+Bede, 75<br>
+Bell-ringing customs, 250<br>
+Bells, 245-53<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;christening of, 246<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;inscription on, 247-50<br>
+Benedict Biscop, 103<br>
+Benedictine monks, 161<br>
+Bewcastle cross, 98<br>
+Bishops, treating of, 229<br>
+Black Death, 255<br>
+Blood-letting, 167-9<br>
+Blowing Stone, 52<br>
+<i>Bordarii</i>, 131<br>
+Border castles, 140<br>
+Brachycephalic race, 21<br>
+Brasses, monumental, 212-18<br>
+Bridal cup, 207<br>
+Brief Book, 226<br>
+Brighthampton, pit dwellings at, &nbsp;33<br>
+British Church, 93<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;oppida, 34<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;roads, 60, 61<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;saints and martyrs, 94<br>
+Bronze Age, 21, 40<br>
+Budworth hermitage, 182<br>
+Burial urns, 29, 30<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;urns in woollen, 220</p>
+
+<p>C</p>
+
+<p>Caesar's camps, 50<br>
+Camps, 50-52<br>
+Carthusian monks, 162<br>
+Castles, 135-53<br>
+Cave men, 16<br>
+Celts, 21, 34, 37, 56<br>
+Cemeteries, Saxon, 92<br>
+Censers, 205<br>
+Chancels, 190<br>
+Charles II., adventures of, 267<br>
+Chaucer's satire on monks, 160<br>
+Chepstow Castle, 140<br>
+Chest, parish, 218-29<br>
+Chivalry, 143, 148<br>
+Chrismatory, 206<br>
+Christmas in olden time, 278<br>
+Chun Castle, 51<br>
+Church ales, 258<br>
+Church bells, 245-53<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;house, 258<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;plate, 200-8<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;yard, 243<br>
+Churches, parish, 184 99<br>
+Churchwardens' account books, 223-6<br>
+Cistercian monks, 114, 161<br>
+Civil War, effects of, 153, 220, 265<br>
+Cloister of monastery, 163<br>
+Cluny, monks of, 161<br>
+Consecration crosses, 239<br>
+Conversion of Saxons, 94, 95<br>
+Crannogs, 38<br>
+Cremation, 28, 29, 92<br>
+Cromlechs, 46-9<br>
+Crosses, Saxon, 95-101<br>
+Cross-legged effigies, 211<br>
+Cucking-stool, 280</p>
+
+<p>D</p>
+
+<p>Decay of old sports, 271<br>
+Decorated architecture, 117<br>
+Desecration of monasteries, 159<br>
+Devil's Highway, 61<br>
+Dog-tooth ornament, 116<br>
+Dog-whipper, 228<br>
+Dolichocephalic race, 19<br>
+Dolmen, 49, 50<br>
+<i>Domesday Book</i>, 125-34<br>
+Donnington Castle, 152<br>
+Druids, 48, 50</p>
+
+<p>E</p>
+
+<p>Early English architecture, 115-17<br>
+Earthworks, 50-6<br>
+Easter sepulchre, 193<br>
+Edge Hill, battle of, 264<br>
+Edwardian castles, 140<br>
+Emblems on brasses, 217<br>
+Enstone, menhir at, 45<br>
+Eslithic man, 14<br>
+Epitaphs, curious, 243<br>
+Ermyn Street, 60<br>
+"Evil eye," 291-3</p>
+
+<p>F</p>
+
+<p>Fairford windows, 232<br>
+Fairies, 56, 293<br>
+Fairs, 261<br>
+Feudalism, 141<br>
+Field-names, 296-8<br>
+Flint implements, discovery of, 11<br>
+Flint implements, 15, 20<br>
+Fonts, 186<br>
+Food in barrows, 24, 25<br>
+Football, 277<br>
+Force-pump, Roman, 68<br>
+Frescoes, 234<br>
+Friars, preaching, 161<br>
+Future life, belief in, shown by barrows, 24</p>
+
+<p>G</p>
+
+<p>Gambassi, glass-painter, 232<br>
+<i>Geburs</i>, 82<br>
+Gentleman, accomplishments of a, 149<br>
+Geological changes, 11-13<br>
+Glaciers in Britain, 12<br>
+Glass, stained, 230-3<br>
+Glastonbury, pit dwellings at, 37, 41, 42<br>
+Green, village, 8, 280<br>
+Grims-dike, 54, 55<br>
+Grosmont Castle, 141<br>
+Guizot on castles, 141</p>
+
+<p>H</p>
+
+<p>Hagioscopes, 194<br>
+Hall marks, 208<br>
+Harvest homes, 275<br>
+Hastings, battle of, 264<br>
+Heart burial, 222<br>
+Hedsor, pile dwellings at, 37, 38<br>
+<i>Hereivard the Wake</i>, 264<br>
+Hermits, 181<br>
+Hexham church, 104<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;crosses, 99<br>
+Highwaymen, 283<br>
+Hocktide sports, 225, 273<br>
+Homes of famous men, 298<br>
+Hospitium of monastery, 169<br>
+House, evolution of country, 172-7<br>
+Hundreds, origin of, 87<br>
+Hurstbourne, Hants, pit dwellings at, 34</p>
+
+<p>I</p>
+
+<p>Ice Age, 12, 13<br>
+Iknield Street, 60<br>
+Ilkley cross, 99<br>
+Inigo Jones, 176<br>
+Inns, 7, 282-90<br>
+Inventories, 201<br>
+Iron Age, 21<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;work in churches, 233<br>
+<i>Itinerary</i> of Antoninus, 59</p>
+
+<p>J</p>
+
+<p>Jervais, glass-painter, 232<br>
+Johnson, Dr., on monasteries, 159</p>
+
+<p>K</p>
+
+<p>Keep of Norman castle, 137<br>
+Kelvedon rectory, 179<br>
+Kenilworth Castle, 151<br>
+King's evil, 228<br>
+Knaresborough hermitage, 182<br>
+Knighthood, admission to, 145</p>
+
+<p>L</p>
+
+<p>Laindon reclusorium, 183<br>
+Lammas lands, 79<br>
+Lecterns, 191<br>
+Legends, 44, 55, 263<br>
+"Lepers' windows," 195<br>
+Lich-gate, 242<br>
+Local Government, 254<br>
+Low side windows, 195</p>
+
+<p>M</p>
+
+<p>Manor-house, 172-7<br>
+Manors, 79, 133<br>
+Man-traps, 289<br>
+Markets, 260<br>
+May Day, 225, 273<br>
+Mediaeval village, 254-70<br>
+Menhir, 45<br>
+"Merry England," 256<br>
+Milestones, Roman, 61<br>
+Miracle plays, 274<br>
+<i>Misereres</i>, 191<br>
+Monasteries, Saxon, 102<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;154-71<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;charity of, 159<br>
+Monastic day, 166, 167<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;inns, 282<br>
+Monks, benefits conferred by, 155<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;corruption of, 160<br>
+Monstrances, 206<br>
+Monumental effigies, 209-12<br>
+Mothering Sunday, 273<br>
+Mouldings, Decorated, 118, 120<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Early English, 116<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Norman, 112<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Perpendicular, 123<br>
+Mural paintings, 234-41</p>
+
+<p>N</p>
+
+<p>Neolithic man, 15, 18, 20, 37<br>
+Norman architecture, 109-15<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;castles, 135-53<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;place-names, 132<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;villages, 125-34<br>
+Normans, coming of, 125</p>
+
+<p>O</p>
+
+<p>Ockwells manor-house, 173<br>
+Ogee arch, 118<br>
+Organised condition of society among prehistoric races, 31<br>
+Ornaments, Saxon, 91<br>
+<i>Osculatorium</i>, 192<br>
+Oxford, poor scholar of, 229</p>
+
+<p>P</p>
+
+<p>Pageants, 149-52<br>
+Paleolithic man, 14<br>
+Palimpsests, 213<br>
+Parish chest, 218-29<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;registers, 218-23<br>
+Paschall money, 225<br>
+Pastimes, 271-81<br>
+Pavements, Roman, 71, 72<br>
+Pax, 192, 206<br>
+Perpendicular architecture, 120<br>
+Pews, 187<br>
+<i>Piers Ploughman</i>, 165, 174, 181<br>
+Pile dwellings, 37-43<br>
+Pilgrimages, 259<br>
+Piscina, 192<br>
+Pit dwellings, 33-7<br>
+Place-names, 76, 101<br>
+Plague, 255-7<br>
+Plate, church, 200-8<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;in bishop's coffin, 202<br>
+Ploughman's lament, 84<br>
+Plough Monday, 272<br>
+Porch, 185<br>
+"Pot-boilers," 36<br>
+Pre-Reformation plate, 202-5<br>
+Pulpits, 188<br>
+Pytheas of Marseilles, 10<br>
+Pyx, 191, 206</p>
+
+<p>Q</p>
+
+<p>Quintain, 277</p>
+
+<p>R</p>
+
+<p>Raglan Castle, 141<br>
+Reading Abbey, 171<br>
+Reading-pews, 197<br>
+Reclusorium, 183<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;at Rettenden, 183<br>
+Rectories, 177-81<br>
+Registers, parish, 218-23<br>
+Religion of Saxons, 93<br>
+"Restoration," 199<br>
+Rollright Stones, 46, 47<br>
+Roman relics, 57-73<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;rig, 54<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;roads, 58-62<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;villas, 70-3<br>
+Rood-loft, 188<br>
+Royal arms in churches, 190<br>
+Rural exodus, 300<br>
+Rush-bearing, 276<br>
+Ruthwell cross, 97<br>
+Ryknield Street, 60</p>
+
+<p>S</p>
+
+<p>Sacring bell, 252<br>
+St. Christopher, 238<br>
+Salisbury Cathedral, 115<br>
+Saltways, 61<br>
+Sanctus bell, 252<br>
+Saxon architecture, 106-9<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;house, 172<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;monasteries, 102<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;place-names, 76, 77<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;relics, 90-101<br>
+Saxons, coming of, 74, 75<br>
+Screens, 189<br>
+Secret chambers, 177<br>
+Settle, Victoria Cave at, 17<br>
+Shires, origin of, 88<br>
+Shrovetide sports, 273<br>
+Signs of inns, 284-8<br>
+Silchester, 54, 62-70<br>
+Slavery under Saxons, 84<br>
+Sluggard waker, 228<br>
+Smoke farthings, 226<br>
+<i>Socmen</i>, 83, 131<br>
+Spenser's description of hermitage, 182<br>
+Sports and pastimes, 271-81<br>
+Stocks, 280<br>
+Stonehenge, 46<br>
+Stone monuments, 44-50<br>
+Stourbridge Fair, 261<br>
+Sudeley Castle, pageant at, 149-51<br>
+Sun-worship, relics of, 27<br>
+Superstitions, 44, 295<br>
+Switzerland, pile dwellings in, 38-41</p>
+
+<p>T</p>
+
+<p>"Terraces," 19<br>
+<i>Tesserae</i>, 65, 71<br>
+Thanes, 80<br>
+Thane's house, 81<br>
+Thuribles, 205<br>
+Tiles, 233<br>
+Tournaments, 146-9<br>
+Tudor arch, 121<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;houses, 175<br>
+Tumuli, <i>see</i> Barrows<br>
+Turf monuments, 53, 54<br>
+Twelfth Night, 272<br>
+Tympana, Norman, 110</p>
+
+<p>U</p>
+
+<p>Uffington, 52-4<br>
+Ufton Court, Berks, 176, 178</p>
+
+<p>V</p>
+
+<p>Vernicle, 201<br>
+Vestry, contents of, 196<br>
+Vicarages, 177-81<br>
+Villas, Roman, 70-3<br>
+Villeins, 130, 255</p>
+
+<p>W</p>
+
+<p>Wars, 262-70<br>
+Watling Street, 60<br>
+Wayland Smith's Cave, 27, 294<br>
+Whalley cross, 96<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;reclusorium, 184<br>
+White Castle, 141<br>
+White Horse Hill, 53<br>
+Whittenham Clumps, 52<br>
+Wilfrid, St., 96, 104, 108, 230<br>
+Witches, 291<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;turned into hares, 292<br>
+Woollen, burials in, 220<br>
+Worlebury, pit dwellings at, 34</p>
+
+<p>Y</p>
+
+<p>Yeomen, 83, 131<br>
+Yew tree in churchyard, 241</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+This file should be named 8vilg10h.htm or 8vilg10h.zip
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8vilg11h.htm
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8vilg10ah.htm
+
+Produced by David Widger, Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga
+and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart hart@pobox.com
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/old/8vilg10h.zip b/old/8vilg10h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33197b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/8vilg10h.zip
diff --git a/old/files/images/019.jpg b/old/files/images/019.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c9b668
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/019.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/019h.jpg b/old/files/images/019h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b875313
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/019h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/026.jpg b/old/files/images/026.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..468a52c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/026.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/026h.jpg b/old/files/images/026h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4559048
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/026h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/032.jpg b/old/files/images/032.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2232c73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/032.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/033.jpg b/old/files/images/033.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f19916
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/033.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/033h.jpg b/old/files/images/033h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e33a73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/033h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/039.jpg b/old/files/images/039.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f7c04a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/039.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/040.jpg b/old/files/images/040.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b11051
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/040.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/043.jpg b/old/files/images/043.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fb0d63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/043.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/048.jpg b/old/files/images/048.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22790b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/048.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/051.jpg b/old/files/images/051.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2addc14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/051.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/058.jpg b/old/files/images/058.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8fdab6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/058.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/060.jpg b/old/files/images/060.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3257d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/060.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/062.jpg b/old/files/images/062.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a674b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/062.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/064.jpg b/old/files/images/064.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ba3dfb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/064.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/066.jpg b/old/files/images/066.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31bf94c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/066.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/077.jpg b/old/files/images/077.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f52f14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/077.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/079.jpg b/old/files/images/079.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa126e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/079.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/081.jpg b/old/files/images/081.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbbd882
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/081.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/085.jpg b/old/files/images/085.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0e2423
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/085.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/091.jpg b/old/files/images/091.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bfef8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/091.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/094.jpg b/old/files/images/094.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a96101
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/094.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/096.jpg b/old/files/images/096.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d13e17f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/096.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/098.jpg b/old/files/images/098.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3af8de2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/098.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/104.jpg b/old/files/images/104.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0afc94c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/104.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/114.jpg b/old/files/images/114.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6592486
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/114.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/114h.jpg b/old/files/images/114h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4267c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/114h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/118.jpg b/old/files/images/118.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a9fc94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/118.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/120.jpg b/old/files/images/120.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec2ea43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/120.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/121.jpg b/old/files/images/121.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29824c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/121.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/122.jpg b/old/files/images/122.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7a320e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/122.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/124.jpg b/old/files/images/124.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e758533
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/124.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/125.jpg b/old/files/images/125.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a203229
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/125.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/126.jpg b/old/files/images/126.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43d7b6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/126.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/127.jpg b/old/files/images/127.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66c92c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/127.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/128.jpg b/old/files/images/128.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..332f237
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/128.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/129.jpg b/old/files/images/129.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0447e39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/129.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/130.jpg b/old/files/images/130.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63f33e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/130.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/131.jpg b/old/files/images/131.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05d8fae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/131.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/132.jpg b/old/files/images/132.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad8732e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/132.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/133a.jpg b/old/files/images/133a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0610503
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/133a.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/133b.jpg b/old/files/images/133b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44518d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/133b.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/134.jpg b/old/files/images/134.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89d2999
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/134.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/135.jpg b/old/files/images/135.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d1ff620
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/135.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/136a.jpg b/old/files/images/136a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2b41fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/136a.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/136b.jpg b/old/files/images/136b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c77bb4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/136b.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/137.jpg b/old/files/images/137.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54b35d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/137.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/147.jpg b/old/files/images/147.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b53de13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/147.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/150.jpg b/old/files/images/150.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f12fc85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/150.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/152.jpg b/old/files/images/152.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d9f18f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/152.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/155.jpg b/old/files/images/155.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f888f64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/155.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/155h.jpg b/old/files/images/155h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..083d2d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/155h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/161.jpg b/old/files/images/161.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fa4e7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/161.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/172.jpg b/old/files/images/172.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20fc126
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/172.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/172h.jpg b/old/files/images/172h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a9d9c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/172h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/178.jpg b/old/files/images/178.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d22674
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/178.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/189.jpg b/old/files/images/189.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f62468e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/189.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/189h.jpg b/old/files/images/189h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f9848c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/189h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/189o.jpg b/old/files/images/189o.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9575999
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/189o.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/190.jpg b/old/files/images/190.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ffd944f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/190.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/191.jpg b/old/files/images/191.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be746c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/191.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/192.jpg b/old/files/images/192.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a27d31b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/192.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/193.jpg b/old/files/images/193.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d272e12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/193.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/194.jpg b/old/files/images/194.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b7f183
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/194.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/194h.jpg b/old/files/images/194h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b2e267
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/194h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/196.jpg b/old/files/images/196.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8668766
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/196.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/199.jpg b/old/files/images/199.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1c1cf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/199.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/199h.jpg b/old/files/images/199h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfd22b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/199h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/206.jpg b/old/files/images/206.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8faa8cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/206.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/208.jpg b/old/files/images/208.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa890ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/208.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/210.jpg b/old/files/images/210.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6645079
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/210.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/210h.jpg b/old/files/images/210h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a3e8ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/210h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/212.jpg b/old/files/images/212.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3d806c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/212.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/215.jpg b/old/files/images/215.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..50336a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/215.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/218.jpg b/old/files/images/218.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5183c0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/218.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/223.jpg b/old/files/images/223.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e31b8eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/223.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/224.jpg b/old/files/images/224.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c96b45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/224.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/225.jpg b/old/files/images/225.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd394cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/225.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/254.jpg b/old/files/images/254.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26152a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/254.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/256.jpg b/old/files/images/256.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4df2000
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/256.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/257.jpg b/old/files/images/257.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a95171e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/257.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/259.jpg b/old/files/images/259.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..65e239e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/259.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/261.jpg b/old/files/images/261.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41f8d77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/261.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/271.jpg b/old/files/images/271.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb4e6ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/271.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/279.jpg b/old/files/images/279.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48718aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/279.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/279h.jpg b/old/files/images/279h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c972cf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/279h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/294.jpg b/old/files/images/294.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0b3683
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/294.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/294h.jpg b/old/files/images/294h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db27a38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/294h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/303.jpg b/old/files/images/303.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81d0116
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/303.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/303h.jpg b/old/files/images/303h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..081ce8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/303h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/310.jpg b/old/files/images/310.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..faa62a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/310.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/310h.jpg b/old/files/images/310h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fcb9564
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/310h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/323.jpg b/old/files/images/323.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f3e998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/323.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/323h.jpg b/old/files/images/323h.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9229063
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/323h.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/front.jpg b/old/files/images/front.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd2ec13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/front.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/images/title.jpg b/old/files/images/title.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1a49b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/images/title.jpg
diff --git a/old/files/relative.htm b/old/files/relative.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31985c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/files/relative.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,9749 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      ENGLISH VILLAGES, by P. H. Ditchfield
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre     { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+    <h2>
+      <a href="#linkcontents">English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield</a>
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
+
+
+Title: English Villages
+
+Author: P. H. Ditchfield
+
+Release Date: August 13, 2004 [EBook #9197]
+Last Updated: November 17, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders.
+Illustrated HTML version by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="title.jpg (23K)" src="images/title.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="front.jpg (121K)" src="images/front.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      ENGLISH VILLAGES
+    </h1>
+    <h3>
+      BY
+    </h3>
+    <h2>
+      P.H. DITCHFIELD M.A., F.S.A.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      TO MY WIFE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      PREFACE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Eleven years ago my little book on the antiquities of English villages was
+      published. Its object was to interest our rustic neighbours in their
+      surroundings, to record the social life of the people at various times&mdash;their
+      feasts and fairs, sports and pastimes, faiths and superstitions&mdash;and
+      to describe the scenes which once took place in the fields and lanes they
+      know so well. A friendly reviewer remarked that the wonder was that a book
+      of that kind had never been written before, and that that was the first
+      attempt to give a popular and readable sketch of the history and
+      associations of our villages. In the present work I have attempted to fill
+      in the sketch with greater detail, and to write not only for the villagers
+      themselves, but for all those who by education are able to take a more
+      intelligent interest in the study of the past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the last decade many village histories have been written, and if
+      this book should be of service to anyone who is compiling the chronicles
+      of some rural world, or if it should induce some who have the necessary
+      leisure and ability to undertake such works, it will not have been written
+      in vain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+      continual decrease of the population. The rural exodus is an alarming and
+      very real danger to the welfare of social England. The country is
+      considered dull and life therein dreary both by squire and peasant alike.
+      Hence the attractions of towns or the delights of travel empty our
+      villages. The manor-house is closed and labourers are scarce. To increase
+      the attractions of our villages, to arouse an interest in their past
+      history and social life, is worth attempting; and perhaps this Story may
+      be of some use in fostering local patriotism, and in reconciling those who
+      spend their lives far from the busy hives of men to their lot, when they
+      find how much interest lies immediately around them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The study of archaeology has been pursued with much vigour during recent
+      years, and increased knowledge has overthrown the many wild theories and
+      conjectures which were gravely pronounced to be ascertained facts by the
+      antiquaries of fifty years ago. Gildas, Geoffrey of Monmouth, or Richard
+      of Cirencester are no longer accepted as safe and infallible guides. We
+      know that there were such people as the Druids, but we no longer attribute
+      to them the great stone circles nor imagine them sacrificing on &ldquo;Druid&rsquo;s
+      altars,&rdquo; as our forefathers called the dolmens. The history of
+      Britain no longer begins with the advent of Julius Caesar, nor is his
+      account of the Celtic tribes and their manners accepted as a full and
+      complete statement of all that is known about them. The study of flint
+      implements, of barrows and earthworks, has considerably thrown back our
+      historical horizon and enabled us to understand the conditions of life in
+      our island in the early days of a remote past before the dawn of history.
+      The systematic excavation of Silchester, so ably conducted by the Society
+      of Antiquaries, and of other Roman sites of towns and villas, enables us
+      to realise more clearly the history of Britain under the rule of the
+      Empire; and the study of the etymology of place-names has overthrown many
+      of the absurd derivations which found a place in the old county histories,
+      and are often repeated by the writers of modern guide books. Moreover
+      patient labour amid old records, rolls, and charters, has vastly increased
+      our knowledge of the history of manors; and the ancient parish registers
+      and churchwardens&rsquo; account books have been made to yield their store
+      of information for the benefit of industrious students and scholars. There
+      has been much destruction and much construction; and this good work will
+      doubtless continue, until at length English archaeology may be dignified
+      with the title of an exact science. Destruction of another kind is much to
+      be deplored, which has left its mark on many an English village. The
+      so-called &ldquo;restoration&rdquo; of ancient parish churches, frequently
+      conducted by men ignorant of the best traditions of English architecture,
+      the obliteration of the old architectural features, the entire destruction
+      of many interesting buildings, have wrought deplorable ruin in our
+      villages, and severed the links with the past which now can never be
+      repaired. The progress of antiquarian knowledge will I trust arrest the
+      destroyer&rsquo;s hand and prevent any further spoliation of our
+      diminished inheritance. If this book should be found useful in stimulating
+      an intelligent interest in architectural studies, and in protecting our
+      ancient buildings from such acts of vandalism, its purpose will have been
+      abundantly achieved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I am indebted to many friends and acquaintances for much information which
+      has been useful to me in writing this book; to Sir John Evans whose works
+      are invaluable to all students of ancient stone and bronze implements; to
+      Dr. Cox whose little book on <i>How to Write the History of a Parish</i>
+      is a sure and certain guide to local historians; to Mr. St. John Hope and
+      Mr. Fallow for much information contained in their valuable monograph on
+      <i>Old Church Plate</i>; to the late Dr. Stevens, of Reading; to Mr.
+      Shrubsole of the same town; to Mr. Gibbins, the author of <i>The
+      Industrial History of England</i>, for the use of an illustration from his
+      book; to Mr. Melville, Mr. P.J. Colson, and the Rev. W. Marshall for their
+      photographic aid; and to many other authors who are only known to me by
+      their valuable works. To all of these gentlemen I desire to express my
+      thanks, and also to Mr. Mackintosh for his artistic sketch of a typical
+      English village, which forms the frontispiece of my book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      P.H.D.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      BARKHAM RECTORY<br /> <i>May</i>, 1901
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="linkcontents" id="linkcontents"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> I. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link1">INTRODUCTION</a><br />
+        II. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link2">PREHISTORIC
+        REMAINS</a><br /> III. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link3">TUMULI
+        OR BARROWS</a><br /> IV. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link4">PIT
+        AND PILE DWELLINGS</a><br /> V. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link5">CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS</a><br /> VI. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link6">ROMAN RELICS</a><br /> VII. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link7">ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES</a><br /> VIII. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link8">SAXON RELICS</a><br /> IX. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link9">ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE</a><br /> X. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link10">NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE &ldquo;DOMESDAY BOOK&rdquo;</a><br />
+        XI. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link11">NORMAN CASTLES</a><br />
+        XII. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link12">MONASTERIES</a><br /> XIII.
+        &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link13">THE MANOR-HOUSE</a><br /> XIV. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link14">PARISH CHURCHES</a><br /> XV. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#link15">CHURCH PLATE</a><br /> XVI. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link16">MONUMENTAL
+        EFFIGIES AND BRASSES</a><br /> XVII. &nbsp;<a href="#link17">THE PARISH
+        CHEST</a><br /> XVIII. <a href="#link18">STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL
+        PAINTINGS</a><br /> XIX. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link19">CHURCH BELLS</a><br />
+        XX. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link20">THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE</a><br />
+        XXI. &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#link21">VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES</a><br />
+        XXII. &nbsp;<a href="#link22">THE VILLAGE INN</a><br /> XXIII. <a
+        href="#link23">VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#linkappendix">APPENDIX</a>&mdash;BOOKS
+        AND DOCUMENTS <br />RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a
+        href="#linkindex">INDEX</a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /><br /><br /><br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        FULL-PAGE (photographs)
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        [Click on photographs to enlarge]
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link019">An English Village street</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link026">Palaeolithic implements</a><br /> <a href="#link033">Neolithic
+        and bronze implements</a><br /> <a href="#link114">Old market cross</a><br />
+        <a href="#link155">Broughton Castle</a><br /> <a href="#link172">Netley
+        Abbey, south transept</a><br /> <a href="#link189">Southcote Manor,
+        showing moat and pigeon-house</a><br /> <a href="#link194">Old
+        Manor-house&mdash;Upton Court</a><br /> <a href="#link199">Stone Tithe
+        Barn, Bradford-on-Avon</a><br /> <a href="#link210">Village church in the
+        Vale</a><br /> <a href="#link279">An ancient village</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link294">Anne Hathaway&rsquo;s cottage</a><br /> <a href="#link303">Old
+        stocks and whipping-post</a><br /> <a href="#link310">Village inn, with
+        old Tithe Barn of Reading Abbey</a><br /> <a href="#link323">Old cottages</a>
+        <br /><br />
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        IN THE TEXT (drawings
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link032">Barbed and leaf-shaped arrow-heads</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link039">Plan of a tumulus</a><br /> <a href="#link040">Plan of
+        tumulus called Wayland Smith&rsquo;s Cave, Berkshire</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link043">Celtic cinerary urn</a><br /> <a href="#link048">Articles
+        found in pit dwellings</a><br /> <a href="#link051">Iron spear-head found
+        at Hedsor</a><br /> <a href="#link058">Menhir</a><br /> <a href="#link060">Rollright
+        stones (from Camden&rsquo;s <i>Britannia</i>, 1607)</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link062">Dolmen</a><br /> <a href="#link064">Plan and section of
+        Chun Castle</a><br /> <a href="#link066">The White Horse at Uffington</a><br />
+        <a href="#link077">Plan of Silchester</a><br /> <a href="#link079">Capital
+        of column</a><br /> <a href="#link081">Roman force-pump</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link085">Tesselated pavement</a><br /> <a href="#link091">Beating
+        acorns for swine (from the Cotton MS., <i>Nero</i>, c. 4)</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link094">House of Saxon thane</a><br /> <a href="#link096">Wheel
+        plough (from the Bayeux tapestry)</a><br /> <a href="#link098">Smithy
+        (from the Cotton MS., B 4)</a><br /> <a href="#link104">Saxon relics</a><br />
+        <a href="#link118">Consecration of a Saxon church</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link120">Tower of Barnack Church, Northamptonshire</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link121">Doorway, Earl&rsquo;s Barton Church</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link122">Tower window, Monkwearmouth Church</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link124">Sculptured head of doorway, Fordington Church, Dorset</a><br />
+        <a href="#link125">Norman capitals</a><br /> <a href="#link126">Norman
+        ornamental mouldings</a><br /> <a href="#link127">Croyland Abbey Church,
+        Lincolnshire</a><br /> <a href="#link128">Semi-Norman arch, Church of St.
+        Cross</a><br /> <a href="#link129">Early English piers and capitals</a><br />
+        <a href="#link130">Dog-tooth ornament</a><br /> <a href="#link131">Brownsover
+        Chapel, Warwickshire</a><br /> <a href="#link132">Ball-flower mouldings,
+        Tewkesbury Abbey</a><br /> <a href="#link132">Ogee arch</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link133a">Decorated capitals, Hanwell and Chacombe</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link133b">Decorated windows, Merton College Chapel; Sandiacre,
+        Derbyshire</a><br /> <a href="#link134">Decorated mouldings, Elton,
+        Huntingdonshire; Austrey, Warwickshire</a><br /> <a href="#link135">Perpendicular
+        window, Merton College Chapel, Oxford</a><br /> <a href="#link136a">Tudor
+        arch, vestry door, Adderbury Church, Oxon</a><br /> <a href="#link136b">Perpendicular
+        parapet, St. Erasmus&rsquo; Chapel, Westminster Abbey</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link137">Perpendicular moulding, window, Christchurch, Oxford</a><br />
+        <a href="#link147">Diagram of a manor</a><br /> <a href="#link150">Ancient
+        plan of Old Sarum</a><br /> <a href="#link152">A Norman castle</a><br />
+        <a href="#link161">Tournament</a><br /> <a href="#link178">A monk
+        transcribing</a><br /> <a href="#link190">Ockwells manor-house</a><br />
+        <a href="#link191">Richmond Palace</a><br /> <a href="#link192">Doorway
+        and staircase, Ufton Court</a><br /> <a href="#link193">The porch, Ufton
+        Court</a><br /> <a href="#link196">Window of south wing, Ufton Court</a><br />
+        <a href="#link206">Ancient pew-work, Tysoe Church, Warwickshire</a><br />
+        <a href="#link208">Early English screen, Thurcaston, Leicestershire</a><br />
+        <a href="#link212">Norman piscina, Romsey Church, Hants</a><br /> <a
+        href="#link215">Lowside window, Dallington Church, Northamptonshire</a><br />
+        <a href="#link218">Reading-pew, seventeenth century, Langley Chapel,
+        Salop.</a><br /> <a href="#link223">Chalice and paten, Sandford,
+        Oxfordshire</a><br /> <a href="#link224">Pre-Reformation plate</a><br />
+        <a href="#link225">Censer or thurible</a><br /> <a href="#link254">Mural
+        paintings (several)</a><br /> <a href="#link271">Ancient sanctus bell
+        found at Warwick</a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link1" id="link1"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      INTRODUCTION
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Local histories&mdash;Ignorance and destruction&mdash;Advantages of the
+      study of village antiquities&mdash;Description of an English village&mdash;The
+      church&mdash; The manor-house&mdash;Prehistoric people&mdash;Later
+      inhabitants&mdash;Saxons&mdash;Village inn&mdash;Village green&mdash;Legends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To write a complete history of any village is one of the hardest literary
+      labours which anyone can undertake. The soil is hard, and the crop after
+      the expenditure of much toil is often very scanty. In many cases the
+      records are few and difficult to discover, buried amidst the mass of
+      papers at the Record Office, or entombed in some dusty corner of the
+      Diocesan Registry. Days may be spent in searching for these treasures of
+      knowledge with regard to the past history of a village without any
+      adequate result; but sometimes fortune favours the industrious toiler, and
+      he discovers a rich ore which rewards him for all his pains. Slowly his
+      store of facts grows, and he is at last able to piece together the history
+      of his little rural world, which time and the neglect of past generations
+      had consigned to dusty oblivion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In recent years several village histories have been written with varied
+      success by both competent and incompetent scribes; but such books are few
+      in number, and we still have to deplore the fact that so little is known
+      about the hamlets in which we live. All writers seem to join in the same
+      lament, and mourn over the ignorance that prevails in rural England with
+      regard to the treasures of antiquity, history, and folklore, which are to
+      be found almost everywhere. We may still echo the words of the learned
+      author of <i>Tom Brown&rsquo;s Schooldays</i>, the late Mr. Hughes, who
+      said that the present generation know nothing of their own birthplaces, or
+      of the lanes, woods, and fields through which they roam. Not one young man
+      in twenty knows where to find the wood-sorrel, or the bee-orchis; still
+      fewer can tell the country legends, the stories of the old gable-ended
+      farmhouses, or the place where the last skirmish was fought in the Civil
+      War, or where the parish butts stood. Nor is this ignorance confined to
+      the unlearned rustics; it is shared by many educated people, who have
+      travelled abroad and studied the history of Rome or Venice, Frankfort or
+      Bruges, and yet pass by unheeded the rich stores of antiquarian lore,
+      which they witness every day, and never think of examining closely and
+      carefully. There are very few villages in England which have no objects of
+      historical interest, no relics of the past which are worthy of
+      preservation. &ldquo;Restoration,&rdquo; falsely so called, conducted by
+      ignorant or perverse architects, has destroyed and removed many features
+      of our parish churches; the devastating plough has well-nigh levelled many
+      an ancient barrow; railroads have changed the character of rustic life and
+      killed many an old custom and rural festival. Old legends and quaint
+      stories of the countryside have given place to talks about politics and
+      newspaper gossip. But still much remains if we learn to examine things for
+      ourselves, and endeavour to gather up the relics of the past and save them
+      from the destructive hand of Time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A great service may thus be rendered not only to the cause of history, but
+      also to the villagers of rural England, by those who have time, leisure,
+      and learning, sufficient to gain some knowledge of bygone times. It adds
+      greatly to the interest of their lives to know something of the place
+      where they live; and it has been well said that every man&rsquo;s concern
+      with his native place has something more in it than the amount of rates
+      and taxes that he has to pay. He may not be able to write a history of his
+      parish, but he can gather up the curious gossip of the neighbourhood, the
+      traditions and stories which have been handed down from former
+      generations. And if anyone is at the pains to acquire some knowledge of
+      local history, and will impart what he knows to his poorer neighbours, he
+      will add greatly to their interest in life. Life is a burden, labour mere
+      drudgery, when a man has nothing in which he can interest himself. When we
+      remember the long hours which an agricultural labourer spends alone,
+      without a creature to speak to, except his horses or the birds, we can
+      imagine how dull his life must be, if his mind be not occupied. But here,
+      on his own ground, he may find an endless supply of food for thought,
+      which will afford him much greater pleasure and satisfaction than thinking
+      and talking about his neighbours&rsquo; faults, reflecting upon his
+      wrongs, or imitating the example of one of his class who, when asked by
+      the squire what he was thinking so deeply about, replied, &ldquo;Mostly
+      naught.&rdquo; To remove the pall of ignorance that darkens the rustic
+      mind, to quicken his understanding and awaken his interest, are certainly
+      desirable objects; although his ignorance is very often shared by his
+      betters, who frequently hazard very strange theories and manifest many
+      curious ideas with regard to village antiquities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will walk together through the main roads of the village, and observe
+      some of its many points of interest. Indeed, it is no small thing to live
+      in such a &ldquo;city of memories&rdquo; as every village is, when at
+      every turn and corner we meet with something that reminds us of the past,
+      and recalls the pleasing associations of old village life. To those who
+      have lived amid the din and turmoil of a large town, where everybody is in
+      a hurry, and there is nothing but noise, confusion, and bustle, the
+      delicious calm and quietude of an old English village, undisturbed by the
+      world&rsquo;s rude noise, is most grateful. But to live in memory of what
+      has gone before, of the lives and customs of our forefathers, of the
+      strange events that have happened on the very ground upon which we are
+      standing, all this will make us love our village homes and delight in them
+      exceedingly. In most of our large towns the old features are fast
+      disappearing; historical houses have been pulled down to make room for
+      buildings more adapted to present needs, and everything is being
+      modernised; but in the country everything remains the same, and it is not
+      so difficult to let one&rsquo;s thoughts wander into the past, and picture
+      to one&rsquo;s self the old features of village life in bygone times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Most of our villages have the usual common features, and it is not
+      difficult to describe a typical example, though the details vary very
+      much, and the histories of no two villages are identical. We see arising
+      above the trees the church, the centre of the old village life, both
+      religious, secular, and social. It stands upon a site which has been
+      consecrated to the service of God for many centuries. There is possibly in
+      or near the churchyard a tumulus, or burial mound, which shows that the
+      spot was set apart for some religious observances even before Christianity
+      reached our shores. Here the early Saxon missionary planted his cross and
+      preached in the open air to the gathered villagers. Here a Saxon thane
+      built a rude timber church which was supplanted by an early Norman
+      structure of stone with round arches and curiously carved ornamentation.
+      This building has been added to at various times, and now shows, writ in
+      stone, its strange and varied history. The old time-worn registers, kept
+      in the parish chest in the vestry, breathe the atmosphere of bygone times,
+      and tell the stories and romances of the &ldquo;rude forefathers of the
+      hamlet.&rdquo; The tombs and monuments of knights and ancient heroes tell
+      many a tale of valour and old-world prowess, of families that have
+      entirely died out, of others that still happily remain amongst us, and
+      record the names and virtues of many an illustrious house. The windows,
+      brasses, bells, and inscriptions, have all some interesting story to
+      relate, which we hope presently to examine more minutely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nestling amid the trees we see the manor-house, standing probably on the
+      site of a much older edifice; and this building carries our thoughts back
+      to the Saxon and early Norman times, when the lord of the manor had
+      vassals and serfs under him, held his manorial court, and reigned as a
+      king in his own small domain. The history of the old English manor is a
+      very important one, concerning which much has been written, many questions
+      disputed, and some points still remain to be decided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we notice an old farmhouse which has doubtless seen better days, for
+      there are the remains of an ancient moat around it, as if some family of
+      importance once lived there, and wished to guard themselves and their
+      possessions from troublesome visitors. This moat tells of the times of war
+      and lawlessness, of wild and fierce animals roaming the countryside; and
+      if the walls of the old house could speak how many stories could they tell
+      of the strange customs of our ancestors, of bread riots, of civil wars,
+      and disturbances which once destroyed the tranquillity of our peaceful
+      villages!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We shall endeavour to discover the earliest inhabitants of our villages
+      who left their traces behind in the curious stone and bronze weapons of
+      war or domestic implements, and who lived in far remote periods before the
+      dawn of history. The barrows, or tumuli, which contain their dead bodies
+      tell us much about them; and also the caves and lake dwellings help us to
+      form some very accurate notions of the conditions of life in those distant
+      days. We shall see that the Britons or Celts were far from being the naked
+      woad-dyed savages described by Caesar, whose account has so long been
+      deemed sufficient by the historians of our childhood. We shall call to
+      mind the many waves of invaders which rolled over our country&mdash;the
+      Celts, the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans&mdash;all of whom have left
+      some traces behind them, and added sundry chapters to the story of our
+      villages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fields too proclaim their story, and tell us of the Saxon folk who
+      were our first farmers, and made clearings in the forests, and tilled the
+      same soil we work to-day. They tell us too of the old monks who knew so
+      much about agriculture; and occasionally the plough turns up a rusty sword
+      or cannon ball, which reveals the story of battles and civil wars which we
+      trust have passed away from our land for ever. The very names of the
+      fields are not without signification, and tell us of animals which are now
+      extinct, of the manners of our forefathers, of the old methods of farming,
+      and the common lands which have passed away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old village inn, with its curiously painted signboard, has its own
+      story to tell, of the old coaching days, and of the great people who used
+      to travel along the main roads, and were sometimes snowed up in a drift
+      just below &ldquo;The Magpie,&rdquo; which had always good accommodation
+      for travellers, and stabling for fifty horses. All was activity in the
+      stable yard when the coach came in; the villagers crowded round the inn
+      doors to see the great folks from London who were regaling themselves with
+      well-cooked English joints; and if they stayed all night, could find
+      comfortable beds with lavender-scented sheets, and every attention. But
+      the railroads and iron steeds have changed all that; until yesterday the
+      roads were deserted, and the glory of the old inns departed. Bicyclists
+      now speed along in the track of the old coaches; but they are not quite so
+      picturesque, and the bicycle bell is less musical than the cheerful
+      posthorn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the summit of a neighbouring hill we see a curious formation which is
+      probably an earthwork, constructed many centuries ago by the early
+      dwellers in this district for the purpose of defence in dangerous times,
+      when the approach of a neighbouring tribe, or the advance of a company of
+      free-booting invaders, threatened them with death or the destruction of
+      their flocks and herds. These earthworks we shall examine more closely. An
+      ivy-covered ruin near the church shows the remains of a monastic cell or
+      monastery; and in the distance perhaps we can see the outlines of an old
+      Norman keep or castle; all of these relate to the story of our villages,
+      and afford us subjects for investigation and research.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there is the village green where so many generations of the villagers
+      have disported themselves, danced the old country dances (now alas!
+      forgotten), and reared the merry May-pole, and crowned their queen. Here
+      they held their rural sports, and fought their bouts of quarter-staff and
+      cudgel-play, grinned through horse-collars, and played pipe and tabor at
+      many a rustic feast, when life was young and England merry. We shall try
+      to picture to ourselves these happy scenes of innocent diversion which
+      cheered the hearts of our forefathers in bygone times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link019" id="link019"></a><br /> <a
+      href="images/019.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="019h.jpg (38K)" src="images/019h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />AN ENGLISH VILLAGE STREET <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will try to collect the curious legends and stories which were told to
+      us by our grandsires, and are almost forgotten by the present generation.
+      These we should treasure up, lest they should be for ever lost. Local
+      tradition has often led the way to important discoveries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this brief circuit of an ordinary English village we have found many
+      objects which are calculated to excite our imagination and to stimulate
+      inquiry. A closer examination will well repay our study, and reward the
+      labour of the investigator. It is satisfactory to know that all possible
+      discoveries as to the antiquities of our villages have not yet been made.
+      We have still much to learn, and the earth has not yet disclosed all its
+      treasures. Roman villas still remain buried; the sepulchres of many a
+      Saxon chieftain or early nomad Celt are still unexplored; the pile
+      dwellings and cave domiciles of the early inhabitants of our country have
+      still to be discovered; and piles of records and historical documents have
+      still to be sought out, arranged, and examined. So there is much work to
+      be done by the antiquary for many a long year; and every little discovery,
+      and the results of every patient research, assist in accumulating that
+      store of knowledge which is gradually being compiled by the hard labour of
+      our English historians and antiquaries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link2" id="link2"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      PREHISTORIC REMAINS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Pytheas of Marseilles&mdash;Discovery of flint implements&mdash;Geological
+      changes&mdash;Palaeolithic man&mdash;Eslithic&mdash;Palaeolithic
+      implements&mdash; Drift men&mdash;Cave men&mdash;Neolithic man and his
+      weapons&mdash;Dolichocephalic&mdash; Celtic or Brachycephalic race&mdash;The
+      Iron Age.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was customary some years ago to begin the history of any country with
+      the statement, &ldquo;Of the early inhabitants nothing is known with any
+      certainty,&rdquo; and to commence the history of England with the landing
+      of Julius Caesar B.C. 55. If this book had been written forty or fifty
+      years ago it might have been stated that our first knowledge of Britain
+      dates from 330 B.C. when Pytheas of Marseilles visited it, and described
+      his impressions. He says that the climate was foggy, a characteristic
+      which it has not altogether lost, that the people cultivated the ground
+      and used beer and mead as beverages. Our villagers still follow the
+      example of their ancestors in their use of one at least of these drinks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of the history of all the ages prior to the advent of this Pytheas all
+      written record is silent. Hence we have to play the part of scientific
+      detectives, examine the footprints of the early man who inhabited our
+      island, hunt for odds and ends which he has left behind, to rake over his
+      kitchen middens, pick up his old tools, and even open his burial mound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About fifty years ago the attention of the scientific world was drawn to
+      the flint implements which were scattered over the surface of our fields
+      and in our gravel pits and mountain caves; and inquiring minds began to
+      speculate as to their origin. The collections made at Amiens and Abbeville
+      and other places began to convince men of the existence of an unknown and
+      unimagined race, and it gradually dawned on us that on our moors and downs
+      were the tombs of a race of men who fashioned their weapons of war and
+      implements of peace out of flint. These discoveries have pushed back our
+      knowledge of man to an antiquity formerly never dreamed of, and enlarged
+      considerably our historical horizon. So we will endeavour to discover what
+      kind of men they were, who roamed our fields and woods before any
+      historical records were written, and mark the very considerable traces of
+      their occupation which they have left behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The condition of life and the character and climate of the country were
+      very different in early times from what they are in the present day; and
+      in endeavouring to discover the kind of people who dwelt here in
+      prehistoric times, we must hear what the geologists have to tell us about
+      the physical aspect of Britain in that period. There was a time when this
+      country was connected with the Continent of Europe, and the English
+      Channel and North Sea were mere valleys with rivers running through them
+      fed by many streams. Where the North Sea now rolls there was the great
+      valley of the Rhine; and as there were no ocean-waves to cross, animals
+      and primitive man wandered northwards and westwards from the Continent,
+      and made their abode here. It is curious to note that the migratory birds
+      when returning to France and Italy, and thence to the sunny regions of
+      Algiers and other parts of Northern Africa, always cross the seas where in
+      remote ages there was dry land. They always traverse the same route; and
+      it appears that the recollection of the places where their ancestors
+      crossed has been preserved by them through all the centuries that have
+      elapsed since &ldquo;the silver streak&rdquo; was formed that severs
+      England from her neighbours.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the times of which we are speaking the land was much higher than it is
+      now. Snowdon was 600 feet greater, and the climate was much colder and
+      more rigorous. Glaciers like those in Switzerland were in all the higher
+      valleys, and the marks of the action of the ice are still plainly seen on
+      the rocky cliffs that border many a ravine. Moreover we find in the
+      valleys many detached rocks, immense boulders, the nature of which is
+      quite different from the character of the stone in the neighbourhood.
+      These were carried down by the glaciers from higher elevations, and
+      deposited, when the ice melted, in the lower valleys. Hence in this
+      glacial period the condition of the country was very different from what
+      it is now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then a remarkable change took place. The land began to sink, and its
+      elevation so much decreased that the central part of the country became a
+      huge lake, and the peak of Snowdon was an island surrounded by the sea
+      which washed with its waves the lofty shoulder of the mountain. This is
+      the reason why shells and shingle are found in high elevations. The Ice
+      Age passed away and the climate became warmer. The Gulf Stream found its
+      way to our shores, and the country was covered by a warm ocean having
+      islands raising their heads above the surface. Sharks swam around, whose
+      teeth we find now buried in beds of clay. The land continued to rise, and
+      attracted by the sunshine and the more genial clime animals from the
+      Continent wandered northwards, and with them came man. Caves, now high
+      amongst the hills, but then on a level with the rivers, were his first
+      abode, and contain many relics of his occupancy, together with the bones
+      of extinct animals. The land appears to have risen, and the climate became
+      colder. The sea worked its relentless way through the chalk hills on the
+      south and gradually met the waves of the North Sea which flowed over the
+      old Rhine valley. It widened also the narrow strait that severed the
+      country from Ireland, and the outline and contour of the island began more
+      nearly to resemble that with which we are now familiar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A vast period of time was necessary to accomplish all these immense
+      changes; and it is impossible to speculate with any degree of certainty
+      how long that period was, which transformed the icebound surface of our
+      island to a land of verdure and wild forests. We must leave such
+      conjectures and the more detailed accounts of the glacial and post-glacial
+      periods to the geologists, as our present concern is limited to the study
+      of the habits and condition of the men who roamed our fields and forests
+      in prehistoric times. Although no page of history gives us any information
+      concerning them, we can find out from the relics of arms and implements
+      which the earth has preserved for us, what manner of men lived in the old
+      cave dwellings, or constructed their rude huts, and lie buried beneath the
+      vast barrows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The earliest race of men who inhabited our island was called the
+      Palaeolithic race, from the fact that they used the most ancient form of
+      stone implements. Traces of a still earlier race are said to have been
+      discovered a few years ago on the chalk plateau of the North Down, near
+      Sevenoaks. The flints have some slight hollows in them, as if caused by
+      scraping, and denote that the users must have been of a very low condition
+      of intelligence&mdash;able to use a tool but scarcely able to make one.
+      This race has been called the Eolithic; but some antiquaries have thrown
+      doubts upon their existence, and the discovery of these flints is too
+      recent to allow us to speak of them with any degree of certainty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link026" id="link026"></a><br /> <a
+      href="images/026.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="026h.jpg (39K)" src="images/026h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />PALAEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The traces of Palaeolithic man are very numerous, and he evidently
+      exercised great skill in bringing his implements to a symmetrical shape by
+      chipping. The use of metals for cutting purposes was entirely unknown; and
+      stone, wood, and bone were the only materials of which these primitive
+      beings availed themselves for the making of weapons or domestic
+      implements. Palaeolithic man lived here during that distant period when
+      this country was united with the Continent, and when the huge mammoth
+      roamed in the wild forests, and powerful and fierce animals struggled for
+      existence in the hills and vales of a cold and inclement country. His
+      weapons and tools were of the rudest description, and made of chipped
+      flint. Many of these have been found in the valley gravels, which had
+      probably been dropped from canoes into the lakes or rivers, or washed down
+      by floods from stations on the shore. Eighty or ninety feet above the
+      present level of the Thames in the higher gravels are these relics found;
+      and they are so abundant that the early inhabitants who used them must
+      have been fairly numerous. Their shape is usually oval, and often pointed
+      into a rude resemblance of the shape of a spear-head. Some flint-flakes
+      are of the knifelike character; others resemble awls, or borers, with
+      sharp points evidently for making holes in skins for the purpose of
+      constructing a garment. Hammer-stones for crushing bones, tools with
+      well-wrought flat edges, scrapers, and other implements, were the
+      stock-in-trade of the earliest inhabitant of our country, and are
+      distinguishable from those used by Neolithic man by their larger and
+      rougher work. The maker of the old stone tools never polished his
+      implements; nor did he fashion any of those finely wrought arrowheads and
+      javelin points, upon which his successor prided himself. The latter
+      discovered that the flints which were dug up were more easily fashioned
+      into various shapes; whereas Palaeolithic man picked up the flints that
+      lay about on the surface of the ground, and chipped them into the form of
+      his rude tools. However, the elder man was acquainted with the use of
+      fire, which he probably obtained by striking flints on blocks of iron
+      pyrites. Wandering about the country in families and tribes, he contrived
+      to exist by hunting the numerous animals that inhabited the primeval
+      forests, and has left us his weapons and tools to tell us what kind of man
+      he was. His implements are found in the drift gravels by the riversides;
+      and from this cause his race are known as drift men, in order to
+      distinguish them from the <i>cave men</i>, who seem to have belonged to a
+      little later period.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first dwellings of man were the caves on the hillsides, before he
+      found out the art of building pile huts. In Palaeolithic times these caves
+      were inhabited by a rude race of feral nomads who lived by the chase, and
+      fashioned the rude tools which we have already described. They were,
+      however, superior to the drift men, and had some notion of art. The
+      principal caves in the British islands containing the relics of the cave
+      folk are the following: Perthichoaren, Denbighshire, wherein were found
+      the remains of Platycnemic man&mdash;so named from his having sharp
+      shin-bones; Cefn, St. Asaph; Uphill, Somerset; King&rsquo;s Scar and the
+      Victoria Cave, Settle; Robin Hood&rsquo;s Cave and Pinhole Cave,
+      Derbyshire; Black Rock, Caldy Island, Coygan Caves, Pembrokeshire; King
+      Arthur&rsquo;s Cave, Monmouth; Durdham Downs, Bristol; and sundry others,
+      near Oban, in the valleys of the Trent, Dove, and Nore, and of the Irish
+      Blackwater, and in Caithness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In these abodes the bones of both men and animals have been found; but
+      these do not all belong to the same period, as the Neolithic people, and
+      those of the Bronze and Iron Ages, followed the occupation of the earlier
+      race. The remains of the different races, however, lie at various depths,
+      those of the earlier race naturally lying the lowest. An examination of
+      the Victoria Cave, Settle, clearly shows this. Outside the entrance there
+      was found a layer of charcoal and burnt bones, and the burnt stones of
+      fireplaces, pottery, coins of the Emperors Trajan and Constantine, and
+      ornaments in bone, ivory, bronze and enamel. The animal remains were those
+      of the <i>bos longifrons</i> (Celtic ox), pig, horse, roe, stag, fowl
+      (wild), and grouse. This layer was evidently composed of the relics of a
+      Romano-British people. Below this were found chipped flints, an adze of
+      melaphyre, and a layer of boulders, sand, and clay, brought down by the
+      ice from the higher valley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inside the cave in the upper cave earth were found the bones of fox,
+      badger, brown bear, grizzly bear, reindeer, red deer, horse, pig, and
+      goat, and some bones evidently hacked by man. In the lower cave earth
+      there were the remains of the hyena, fox, brown and grizzly bears,
+      elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, urus, bison, and red deer, the hacked
+      bones of a goat, and a small leg-bone of a man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some idea of the time which has elapsed since primitive man inhabited this
+      rude dwelling may be formed from these excavations. Two feet below the
+      surface lay the Romano-British layer, and we know therefore that about
+      1,600 years was required for the earth to accumulate to that depth. The
+      Neolithic layer was six feet below this; hence 4,800 years would be
+      necessary to form this depth of earth. So we may conclude that at least
+      6,400 years ago Neolithic man used the cave. A long time previous to this
+      lived the creatures of the lower cave earth, the bison, elephant, and the
+      hyena with the solitary human bone, which belonged to the sharp-shinned
+      race (Platycnemic) of beings, the earliest dwellers in our country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is doubtful whether Palaeolithic man has left any descendants. The
+      Esquimaux appear to somewhat resemble them. Professor Boyd Dawkins, in his
+      remarkable book, <i>Cave Hunting</i>, traces this relationship in the
+      character of implements, methods of obtaining food and cooking it, modes
+      of preparing skins for clothing, and particularly in the remarkable skill
+      of depicting figures on bone which both races display. In carving figures
+      on bone and teeth early man in Britain was certainly more skilful than his
+      successor; but he was a very inferior type of the human race, yet his
+      intelligence and mode of life have been deemed not lower than those of the
+      Australian aborigines.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The animals which roamed through the country in this Pleistocene period
+      were the elk and reindeer, which link us on to the older and colder period
+      when Arctic conditions prevailed; the Irish deer, a creature of great size
+      whose head weighed about eighty pounds; bison, elephant, rhinoceros,
+      hippopotamus, lion, wolf, otter, bear, horse, red deer, roe, urus or
+      gigantic ox, the short-horned ox (<i>bos longifrons</i>), boar, badger and
+      many others which survive to the present day, and have therefore a very
+      long line of ancestors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The successor of the old stone implement maker was Neolithic man, to whom
+      we have already had occasion to refer. Some lengthy period of geological
+      change separates him from his predecessor of the Old Stone Age. Specimens
+      of his handiwork show that he was a much more civilised person than his
+      predecessor, and presented a much higher type of humanity. He had a
+      peculiarly shaped head, the back part of the skull being strangely
+      prolonged; and from this feature he is called <i>dolichocephalic</i>. He
+      was small in stature, about 5 feet 6 inches in height, having a dark
+      complexion, and his descendants are the Iberian or Basque races in the
+      Western Pyrenees and may still be traced in parts of Ireland and Wales.
+      The long barrows or mounds, the length of which is greater than the
+      breadth, contain his remains, and we find traces of his existence in all
+      the western countries of Europe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had made many discoveries which were unknown to his Old Stone
+      predecessor. Instead of always hunting for his food, like an animal, he
+      found out that the earth would give him corn with which he could make
+      bread, if only he took the trouble to cultivate it. Instead of always
+      slaying animals, he found that some were quite ready to be his servants,
+      and give him milk and wool and food. He brought with him to our shores
+      cows and sheep and goats, horses and dogs. Moreover he made pottery,
+      moulding the clay with his hand, and baking it in a fire. He had not
+      discovered the advantages of a kiln. He could spin thread, and weave
+      stuffs, though he usually wore garments of skins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His dwellings were no longer the caves and forests, for he made for
+      himself rude pit huts, and surrounded himself, his tribe, and cattle with
+      a circular camp. Traces of his agricultural operations may still be found
+      in the &ldquo;terraces,&rdquo; or strips of ground on hillsides, which
+      preserve the marks of our early Neolithic farmers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link032" id="link032"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="032.jpg (37K)" src="images/032.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their implements are far superior to those of the Old Stone men, and are
+      found on the surface of our fields, or on hillsides, where they tended
+      their flocks, or dug their rude pit shelters. Their weapons and tools are
+      highly polished, and have evidently been ground on a grindstone. They are
+      adapted for an endless variety of uses, and are most skilfully and
+      beautifully fashioned. There are finely wrought arrowheads, of three
+      shapes&mdash;barbed, tanged and barbed, and leaf-shaped; axes, scrapers
+      for cleansing and preparing skins for clothing, hammer stones, wedges,
+      drills, borers, knives, and many other tools. In the Reading Museum may be
+      seen a heavy quartzite axe and chipped flint hatchet, which were found
+      with some charred timber on an island in the Thames, and were evidently
+      used for scooping out the interior of a boat from a tree with the aid of
+      fire. So this New Stone man knew how to make boats as well as a vast
+      number of other things of which we shall presently speak more
+      particularly. His descendants linger on in South Wales and Ireland, and
+      are short in stature, dark in complexion, and narrow-skulled, like their
+      forefathers a few thousand years ago.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link033" id="link033"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/033.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="033h.jpg (35K)" src="images/033h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE IMPLEMENTS <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another wave of invaders swept over our land, and overcame the long-headed
+      Neolithic race. These were the Celtic people, taller and stronger than
+      their predecessors, and distinguished by their fair hair and rounded
+      skulls. From the shape of their heads they are called Brachycephalic, and
+      are believed to have belonged to the original Aryan race, whose birthplace
+      was Southern Asia. At some remote period this wave of invaders poured over
+      Europe and Asia, and has left traces behind it in the languages of all
+      Indo-European nations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their weapons were made of bronze, although they still used polished stone
+      implements also. We find chisels, daggers, rings, buttons, and
+      spear-heads, all made of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, and fashioned
+      by the skilled hands of these early Celtic folk. As they became more
+      civilised, being of an inventive mind, they discovered the use of iron and
+      found it a more convenient metal for fashioning axes to cut down trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Caesar came to Britain he found that the inhabitants knew the use of
+      iron, even the less civilised early Celtic settlers driven northwards and
+      westwards by the Belgae, had iron weapons, and the wild Caledonians in the
+      time of Severus, although they were naked, woad-dyed savages, wore iron
+      collars and girdles and were armed with metal weapons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such are some of the relics of antiquity which the soil of our native land
+      retains, as a memorial of the primitive people who first trod upon it.
+      Concerning their lives and records history is silent, until the Conqueror
+      tells us something of our Celtic forefathers. From the scanty remains of
+      prehistoric races, their weapons and tools, we can gather something of the
+      earliest inhabitants of our island, and try to realise their habits and
+      mode of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link3" id="link3"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      TUMULI OR BARROWS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Barrows near churchyards&mdash;Their universality&mdash;Contents&mdash;Food
+      in barrows&mdash;Curious burial customs&mdash;Belief in future life&mdash;Long
+      and round barrows&mdash;Interior of barrow&mdash;Position of bodies&mdash;Cremation&mdash;
+      Burial urns&mdash;Articles of dress and ornament&mdash;Artistic
+      workmanship&mdash; Pottery&mdash;Remains of agriculture&mdash;Organised
+      condition of society among prehistoric people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Throughout the country we find many artificial mounds which are called <i>tumuli</i>
+      or barrows, or in the neighbourhood of Wales, &ldquo;tumps.&rdquo; These
+      are the ancient burial-places of the early inhabitants of our island, the
+      word &ldquo;barrow&rdquo; being derived from the Anglo-Saxon <i>beorh</i>,
+      a hill or grave-mound. It is not unusual to see a barrow in the centre, or
+      near, an old churchyard, as at Taplow, Bucks. The church was built, of
+      course, much later than the erection of the mound; but doubtless the early
+      preachers of the gospel took advantage of the reverence which was paid to
+      these ancient tombs, proclaimed there the story of the cross, and on the
+      spots so consecrated churches were ultimately built.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These mounds have much to tell us of the early inhabitants. To cover the
+      dead with a mound of earth was a custom common to all nations. All over
+      Europe, in Northern Asia, India, and in the new world of America, we find
+      burial-mounds. The pyramids of Egypt are only glorified mounds; and our
+      islands can boast of an endless variety, sometimes consisting of cairns,
+      or heaps of stones, sometimes of huge hills of earth, 130 feet in height,
+      as at Silbury, Wilts, and covering five acres; while others are only small
+      heaps of soil a few feet high.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The contents of the tumuli differ also. Sometimes the bodies were burnt
+      and the ashes preserved in rude urns; sometimes they were not cremated.
+      Sometimes they were buried in stone cists, or in the hollowed trunk of
+      trees; sometimes without any covering save that of the earth. In nearly
+      all cases we find numerous articles buried with the dead, such as personal
+      ornaments, weapons, pottery, and food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The presence of food in the tumuli testifies to the natural instinct
+      implanted by the Creator in the human heart with regard to a future
+      existence. The idea that the soul of the departed is about to take a long
+      journey is constant and deeply rooted; the rainbow and the milky way have
+      often been supposed to be the paths trod by the departed, who require
+      sustenance for so long a journey. The Aztecs laid a water-bottle beside
+      the bodies to be used on the way to Mictlan, the land of the dead. Bow and
+      arrows, a pair of mocassins with a spare piece of deerskin to patch them
+      if they wear out, and sinews of deer to sew on the patches with, together
+      with a kettle and provisions, are still placed in the graves by the North
+      American Indians. The Laplanders lay beside the corpse flint, steel, and
+      tinder, to supply light for the dark journey. A coin was placed in the
+      mouth of the dead by the Greeks to pay Charon, the ferryman of the Styx,
+      and for a similar purpose in the hand of a deceased Irishman. The
+      Greenlanders bury with a child a dog, for they say a dog will find his way
+      anywhere. In the grave of the Viking warrior were buried his horn and
+      armour in order that he might enter the halls of Valhalla fully equipped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These and many other examples might be quoted showing the universality of
+      the belief in a future life, a belief that was evidently shared with other
+      nations by the primeval races who inhabited our islands in prehistoric
+      times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The presence of food and drinking vessels in the tumuli clearly shows
+      this, and also the store of weapons and implements, adzes, hammers,
+      scrapers, and other tools which the barrows have preserved through so many
+      ages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These barrows are not confined to one period or one race, as their shape
+      denotes. Some are long, measuring 200 to 400 feet in length by 60 or 80
+      feet wide; others are circular. The former were made by the long-headed
+      (dolichocephalic) race of whom we have already spoken; the latter by the
+      round-headed (brachycephalic), conquerors of their feebler long-skulled
+      forerunners. When we consider the poor tools used by these primitive
+      peoples, we may wonder at the amount of labour they must have expended on
+      the construction of these giant mounds. Picks made of deer&rsquo;s horns
+      and pointed staves enabled them to loosen the earth which was then
+      collected in baskets and thrown on the rising heap. Countless toilers and
+      many years must have been needed to produce such wonderful memorials of
+      their industry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link039" id="link039"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="039.jpg (64K)" src="images/039.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With better tools we will proceed to dig into these mounds and discover
+      what they contain. First we notice an encircling trench and mound
+      surrounding the barrow, the purpose of which is supposed to have been to
+      keep the dead person in the tomb, and prevent it from injuring the living.
+      After much digging in the centre of the barrow we find a single stone
+      chamber, entered by a passage underneath the higher and wider end of the
+      mound. Sometimes the chamber is divided into three parts, the centre one
+      being covered by a dome, formed by the overlapping of the stones in the
+      upper parts of the walls. The passage leading to the centre chamber is
+      also built with large stones erected with much care and skill. The
+      contents of these long barrows are not so interesting, or numerous, as
+      those contained in the round barrows. The skeletons are usually found in
+      irregular positions, and few weapons or ornaments accompany the buried
+      bones. Derbyshire possesses many barrows; wherever in a place-name the
+      suffix <i>low</i> occurs, derived from the Anglo-Saxon <i>hlow</i>,
+      signifying a small hill or mound, a barrow is generally to be found. The
+      long barrow is usually about 200 feet in length, 40 feet wide, and 8 to 12
+      feet high. They run east and west, frequently north-east by south-west,
+      the principal interment being usually at the eastern and higher end. The
+      bodies are often found in a cist or box made of large stones, and several
+      were buried in one mound, generally on the south and east sides, so that
+      they might lie in the sun. This practice may have been connected with
+      sun-worship; and the same idea prevailed in modern times, when the south
+      side of the churchyard was considered the favoured portion, and criminals
+      and suicides were relegated to the colder north side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link040" id="link040"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="040.jpg (26K)" src="images/040.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The position of the bodies varied, but usually they were buried in a
+      crouching position, with knees bent and head drawn towards the knees. This
+      was probably the natural position which a man would assume when he slept
+      without a luxurious bed to lie upon, and with little to cover him, in
+      order to keep himself as warm as possible. Hence when he sank into his
+      last long sleep, his mourning relatives would place him in the same
+      posture. In the Channel Islands bodies were often placed in a kneeling
+      position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The custom of burning the body seems to have been adopted later by the
+      same long-headed race who used the long barrows, and prevailed more in the
+      north of England, in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Scotland, than in the
+      south. The cremation was sometimes not very thoroughly performed. The
+      bodies were placed together, wood being piled about them, and over the
+      heap the mound was raised. Then the fire was lighted, which naturally only
+      partly consumed the bodies. We find also, mingled with bones of men and
+      women, the bones of animals, which were probably the remains of funeral
+      feasts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we have said the round-headed race introduced the circular barrow, and
+      cremation was their usual, though not exclusive, practice. These people
+      were much stronger and bigger men than their predecessors, their powerful
+      jaws and projecting chins showing much more power of will than the softer
+      narrow-faced dolichocephalic race. However, in the round barrows we also
+      find the bodies of the latter, and we gather that they were not
+      exterminated or driven out by their conquerors, but mingled with them,
+      intermarried, until at length the type of the long-skulled race prevailed,
+      and the Celt of later times possessed the features of the race he had
+      formerly subdued. At least such seems to be the teaching of the barrows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Celt became acquainted with the use of bronze, and his tomb was
+      enriched with a store of the relics of the life and art of the workmanship
+      of the time. As cremation was the usual practice, it was no longer
+      necessary to have a chamber which the dead might inhabit; the size of the
+      sleeping-place of the dead was reduced, and a cist was constructed for the
+      receptacle of the urn in which the remains were placed. The mound also was
+      reduced in size and looked much less imposing than the huge barrows of the
+      Stone Age; but its contents were much more important.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ashes we find frequently contained in a rude urn of black pottery with
+      some ornamentation. Then we discover pins made of bones, which were
+      evidently used to fasten the dress. The people therefore were evidently
+      not naked, woad-dyed savages; moreover we find bits of woollen fabric and
+      charred cloth, and in Denmark people belonging to this same early race
+      were buried in a cap, shirt, leggings, and boots, a fairly complete
+      wardrobe. They also loved to adorn themselves, and had buttons of jet, and
+      stone and bone ornaments. Besides flint implements we find adzes and
+      hatchets and chisels, axe-hammers constructed with a hole in them for the
+      insertion of a handle, grain rubbers, wheat stones, and hammer stones. The
+      mounds also disclose a great variety of flint implements, hatchets,
+      scrapers, both round and long, knife-daggers, knives, saws, drills,
+      fabricators or flaking tools, sling stones, hammer stones, polishers,
+      arrow-points, either leaf-shaped, triangular, or barbed, and heads of
+      darts and javelins. A very curious object is sometimes found, a stone
+      wrist guard, for the purpose of protecting the wrist from the bow string.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These barrows and their contents bear evidences to the artistic
+      workmanship of the prehistoric dwellers in our villages. Their tombs show
+      that these people did not confine themselves to the fabrication of objects
+      of utility, but that they loved to adorn themselves with personal
+      ornaments, which required much art and skill in the manufacture. Necklaces
+      of beads pleased their fancy, and these they made of jet, or shells, the
+      teeth of deer, and the vertebrae of fish. Moreover they loved ear-rings,
+      which were sometimes made of the teeth of pigs. Objects of gold, bronze,
+      glass, ivory, amber, clay, and bone were also used as ornaments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link043" id="link043"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="043.jpg (53K)" src="images/043.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If we examine the pottery in the barrows we find that a vessel of
+      earthenware was usually placed at the back of the head of the body when it
+      was not cremated. There were also cinerary urns, cups, usually called
+      incense cups, which were certainly not used for incense, whatever may have
+      been their purpose, food and drinking vessels. This pottery was not
+      sun-dried, but burnt in a fire, though not made in a kiln, and the form of
+      the vessels shows that the makers were ignorant of the use of a potter&rsquo;s
+      wheel. The ornamentation consisted of a series of straight lines made by a
+      sharp-pointed instrument and by impressions of the finger nails or string,
+      often revealing much skill and artistic workmanship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From a study of the barrows we may learn much about the early inhabitants
+      of our island, who lived and worked and died on the same spots where we
+      now are spending our days. We can see them hunting in the wild woodlands,
+      rearing cows and sheep and goats, and cultivating their crops of corn. We
+      can still trace on the hillsides some curious terraces fashioned by them
+      for the growing of their grain, and discover querns, or hand millstones,
+      and stones for bruising the corn. The bones of young oxen a few days old,
+      discovered in the mounds, show that they knew the use of milk, and how to
+      get a good supply. A rude spindle-whorl shows that they knew how to weave
+      stuffs for their clothing, and the numerous buttons, fasteners, and belts
+      prove that the clothes were fitted to the wearer, and not mere shapeless
+      sacks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The barrows also bear evidence to the existence of some organised
+      condition of society. In the early savage state of human existence the
+      family is the only community; but as man progressed towards civilisation,
+      he learnt how to combine with his fellows for mutual defence and support.
+      We gather from our examination of the tombs of these early races that they
+      had attained to this degree of progress. There were chiefs of tribes and
+      families who were buried with more honour than that bestowed upon the
+      humbler folk. Many families were buried in one mound, showing that the
+      tribal state had been reached, while the many humbler graves denote the
+      condition of servitude and dependence in which a large number of the race
+      lived. All this, and much more, may be learnt from a careful study of the
+      tombs of these prehistoric people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link4" id="link4"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      PIT AND PILE DWELLINGS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Pit dwelling earliest form of house-building&mdash;Discoveries at
+      Bright-hampton, Worlebury&mdash;British oppida&mdash;Hurstbourne&mdash;Contents
+      of pit dwelling&mdash;Pot-boilers&mdash;Condition of civilisation&mdash;Pile
+      dwellings&mdash; Switzerland&mdash;Glastonbury&mdash;Hedsor&mdash;Crannogs&mdash;Modern
+      use of pile dwellings&mdash;Description of a lake dwelling&mdash;Contents&mdash;Bronze
+      Age&mdash; Recent discoveries at Glastonbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have examined in our last chapter the abodes of the dead; we will now
+      investigate the abodes of the living which the earth has preserved for us
+      for so many centuries. The age of the cave dwellers had long passed; and
+      the prehistoric folk, having attained to some degree of civilisation,
+      began to devise for themselves some secure retreats from inclement rains
+      and cold winds. Perhaps the burrowing rabbit gave them an idea for
+      providing some dwelling-place. At any rate the earliest and simplest
+      notion for constructing a habitation was that of digging holes in the
+      ground and roofing them over with a light thatch. Hence we have the pit
+      dwellings of our rude forefathers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many examples of pit dwellings have been found by industrious explorers.
+      Some labourers when digging gravel at Brighthampton, near Oxford, came
+      across several such excavations. They were simply pits dug in the earth,
+      large enough to hold one or two persons, and from the sides of these pits
+      a certain quantity of earth had been removed so as to form a seat. At the
+      bottom of these a few rude flint arrow-heads were found. In the remarkable
+      British oppidum at Worlebury, near Weston-super-Mare, several circular,
+      well-like pits may be seen, fairly preserved in shape owing to the rocky
+      nature of the ground in which they have been excavated. One in particular
+      is very perfect, and about two feet from the bottom is a seat formed of
+      the rock extending all round the pit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These ancient pit dwellings are usually surrounded by an earthen rampart.
+      Caesar says that &ldquo;the Britons called that a town where they used to
+      assemble for the sake of avoiding an incursion of enemies, when they had
+      fortified the entangled woods with a rampart and ditch.&rdquo; The remains
+      of many of these oppida may still be seen in almost all parts of the
+      country; and in most of these hollows are plainly distinguishable, which
+      doubtless were pit dwellings; but owing to the sides having fallen in,
+      they have now the appearance of natural hollows in the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Hurstbourne, Hants, nine of these early habitations were discovered by
+      the late Dr. Stevens, some of which were rudely pitched with flint stones,
+      and had passages leading into the pit. A few flints irregularly placed
+      together with wood ashes showed the position of the hearths, where cooking
+      operations had been carried on. The sloping entrance-passages are peculiar
+      and almost unique in England, though several have been met with in France.
+      A rude ladder was the usual mode of entrance into these underground
+      dwellings. Fragments of hand-made British pottery and the commoner kinds
+      of Romano-British ware were found, and portions of mealing stones and also
+      a saddle-quern, or grain-crusher, which instruments for hand-mealing must
+      have been in common use among the pit dwellers. The grain was probably
+      prepared by parching it before crushing; the hollow understone prevented
+      the grain from escaping; and the muller was so shaped as to render it
+      easily grasped, while it was pushed backwards and forwards by the hands.
+      Similar stones are used at the present time by the African natives, as
+      travellers testify.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link048" id="link048"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="048.jpg (25K)" src="images/048.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      One of the pits at Hurstbourne was evidently a cooking-hole, where the pit
+      dwellers prepared their feasts, and bones of the Celtic ox (<i>bos
+      longifrons</i>), pig, red deer, goat, dog, and hare or rabbit were found
+      near it. One of the bones had evidently been bitten by teeth. The pit
+      dwellers also practised some domestic industries, as Dr. Stevens found a
+      needle, an awl or bodkin, and fragments of pointed bone, probably used for
+      sewing skins together. A rude spindle-whorl shows that they knew something
+      of weaving, and two bored stones were evidently buttons or
+      dress-fasteners. A large supply of flint implements, scrapers, and
+      arrow-heads, proves that the dwellings were inhabited by the Neolithic
+      people before the Britons came to occupy them. I must not omit to notice
+      the heating stones, or &ldquo;pot-boilers.&rdquo; These were heated in the
+      fire, and then placed among the meat intended to be cooked, in a hole in
+      the ground which served the purpose of a cooking pot. I have found many
+      such stones in Berkshire, notably from the neighbourhood of Wallingford
+      and Long Wittenham. The writer of the <i>Early History of Mankind</i>
+      states that the Assineboins, or stone-boilers, dig a hole in the ground,
+      take a piece of raw hide, and press it down to the sides of the hole, and
+      fill it with water; this is called a &ldquo;paunch-kettle&rdquo;; then
+      they make a number of stones red-hot in a fire close by, the meat is put
+      into the water, and the hot stones dropped in until it is cooked. The
+      South Sea Islanders have similar primitive methods of cooking. The
+      Highlanders used to prepare the feasts of their clans in much the same
+      way; and the modern gipsies adopt a not very dissimilar mode of cooking
+      their stolen fowls and hedgehogs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We can now people these cheerless primitive pit dwellings with their
+      ancient inhabitants, and understand something of their manners of life and
+      customs. Their rude abodes had probably cone-shaped roofs made of rafters
+      lashed together at the centre, protected by an outside coat of peat, sods
+      of turf, or rushes. The spindle-whorl is evidence that they could spin
+      thread; the mealing stones show that they knew how to cultivate corn; and
+      the bones of the animals found in their dwellings testify to the fact that
+      they were not in the wild state of primitive hunters, but possessed herds
+      of cows and goats and other domestic animals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Who were these people? Mr. Boyd Dawkins is of opinion that the early pit
+      dwellers belonged to the Neolithic folk of whom I have already told you,
+      as the flint implements testify. But these dwellings were evidently
+      occupied by a later people. The querns and spindle-whorl probably belonged
+      to the Celts, or Britons, before the advent of the Roman legions; and that
+      these people were the inhabitants of the Hampshire pit dwellings is proved
+      by the presence of a British gold coin which is recognised by numismatists
+      as an imitation of the Greek stater of Philip II. of Macedon. According to
+      Sir John Evans, the native British coinage was in existence as early as
+      150 years before Christ. Hence to this period we may assign the date of
+      the existence of these Celtic primitive habitations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pit dwellings were not the only kind of habitations which the early
+      inhabitants of our country used, and some of our villages possess
+      constructions of remarkable interest, which recent industrious digging has
+      disclosed. These are none other than lake dwellings, similar to those
+      first discovered in Switzerland about fifty years ago. Few of our villages
+      can boast of such relics of antiquity. Near Glastonbury, in 1892, in a
+      dried-up ancient mere a lake village was discovered, which I will describe
+      presently; and recently at Hedsor in Buckinghamshire a pile dwelling has
+      been found which some learned antiquaries are now examining. In Ireland
+      and Scotland there are found the remains of fortified dwellings called
+      Crannogs in some of the lakes, as in Dowalton Loch, Wigtownshire, and
+      Cloonfinlough in Connaught, but these belong to later times and were used
+      in the Middle Ages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link051" id="link051"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="051.jpg (18K)" src="images/051.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In primitive times, when tribe warred with tribe, and every man&rsquo;s
+      hand was against his fellow-man, and when wild and savage beasts roamed o&rsquo;er
+      moor and woodland, security was the one thing most desired by the early
+      inhabitants of Europe. Hence they conceived the brilliant notion of
+      constructing dwellings built on piles in the midst of lakes or rivers,
+      where they might live in peace and safety, and secure themselves from the
+      sudden attack of their enemies, or the ravages of beasts of prey.
+      Switzerland is famous for its numerous clusters, or villages, of ancient
+      lake dwellings, which were of considerable size. At Morges, on the Lake of
+      Geneva, the settlement of huts extends 1,200 feet long by 150 in breadth;
+      and that at Sutz on the Lake of Bienne covers six acres, and is connected
+      with the shore by a gangway 100 feet long and 40 feet wide. Nor is the use
+      of these habitations entirely abandoned at the present time. Venezuela,
+      which means &ldquo;little Venice,&rdquo; derives its name from the Indian
+      village composed of pile dwellings on the shores of the Gulf of Maracaibo,
+      as its original explorer Alonzo de Ojeda in 1499 chose to compare the
+      sea-protected huts with the queen city of the Adriatic; and in many parts
+      of South America, in the estuaries of the Orinoco and Amazon, such
+      dwellings are still found, also among the Dyaks of Borneo, in the Caroline
+      Islands, and on the Gold Coast of Africa. Herodotus describes similar
+      dwellings on the Lake Prasias, existing in the fifth century B.C., and
+      Lord Avebury states that now the Roumelian fishermen on the same lake
+      &ldquo;inhabit wooden cottages built over the water as in the time of
+      Herodotus.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These habitations of primitive man were built on piles driven into the bed
+      of the lake or river. These piles were stems, or trunks of trees,
+      sharpened with stone or bronze tools. A rude platform was erected on these
+      piles, and on this a wooden hut constructed with walls of wattle and daub,
+      and thatched with reeds or rushes. A bridge built on piles connected the
+      lake village with the shore whither the dwellers used to go to cultivate
+      their wheat, barley, and flax, and feed their kine and sheep and goats.
+      They made canoes out of hollow trunks of trees. One of these canoes which
+      have been discovered is 43 feet in length and over 4 feet wide. The beams
+      supporting the platform, on which the huts were erected, were fastened by
+      wooden pins. Much ingenuity was exercised in the making of these
+      dwellings. Sometimes they found that the mud of the lake was too soft to
+      hold the piles; so they fashioned a framework of trunks of trees, which
+      they let down to the bottom of the lake, and fastened the upright piles to
+      it. Sometimes the rocky bed of the lake prevented the piles from being
+      driven into it; so they heaped stones around the piles, and thus made them
+      secure. The lake dwellers were very sociable, and had only one common
+      platform for all the huts, which were clustered together. As all the
+      actual dwellings have been destroyed by time&rsquo;s rude action, it is
+      impossible to describe them accurately; but their usual size was about 20
+      feet by 12 feet. The floor was of clay, and in the centre of the building
+      there was a hearth made of slabs of stone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The people who inhabited these structures belonged either to the later
+      Stone Age, or the Bronze Age, as we learn from the relics which their huts
+      disclose. In the earlier ones are found celts, flint flakes, arrow-heads,
+      harpoons of stag&rsquo;s horn with barbs, awls, needles, chisels, and
+      fish-hooks made of bone, and sometimes wooden combs, and skates made out
+      of the leg-bone of a horse. Besides the remains of the usual domestic
+      animals we find bones of the beaver, bear, elk, and bison.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the use of bronze was discovered the people still lived on in their
+      lake dwellings. Fire often played havoc with the wooden wattle walls;
+      hence we frequently find a succession of platforms. The first dwelling
+      having been destroyed by flames, a second one was subsequently
+      constructed; and this having shared the same fate, another platform with
+      improved huts was raised upon the ruins of its predecessors. The relics of
+      each habitation show that, as time went on, the pit dwellers advanced in
+      civilisation, and increased the comforts and conveniences of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the dwellings of these early peoples belong to the Bronze Age, as
+      do those of the Auvernier settlement in the Lake of Neuchatel; and these
+      huts are rich in the relics of their former inhabitants. At Marin on the
+      same lake the lake dwellers were evidently workers in iron; and the
+      relics, which contain large spear-heads, shields, horse furniture,
+      fibulas, and other ornaments, together with Roman coins, prove that they
+      belonged to the period of which history tells us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have described at length these Swiss lake dwellings, although they do
+      not belong to the antiquities of our villages in England, because much the
+      same kind of habitations existed in our country, though few have as yet
+      been unearthed. Possibly under the peaty soil of some ancient river-bed,
+      or old mere, long ago drained, you may be fortunate enough to meet with
+      the remains of similar structures here in England. At Glastonbury a few
+      years ago a lake village was discovered, which has created no small stir
+      in the antiquarian world, and merits a brief description. Nothing was
+      known of its existence previously; and this is an instance of the
+      delightful surprises which explorers have in store for them, when they
+      ransack the buried treasure-house of the earth, and reveal the relics
+      which have been so long stored there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All that met the eyes of the diggers was a series of circular low mounds,
+      about sixty in number, extending over an area of three acres. Imagine the
+      delight of the gentlemen when they discovered that each of these mounds
+      contained the remains of a lake dwelling which was constructed more than
+      two thousand years ago.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First they found above the soft peat, the remains of a lake long dried up,
+      a platform formed of timber and brushwood, somewhat similar to the
+      structures which we have seen in the Swiss lakes. Rows of small piles
+      support this platform, and on it a floor of clay, or rather several
+      floors. The clay is composed of several horizontal layers with intervening
+      thin layers of decayed wood and charcoal, each layer representing a
+      distinct floor of a dwelling. In the centre of each mound are the remains
+      of rude hearths. The dwellings, of which no walls remain, were evidently
+      built of timber, the crevices between the wood being filled with wattle
+      and daub. In one of the mounds were found several small crucibles which
+      show that the inhabitants knew how to work in metals. Querns, whetstones,
+      spindle whorls, fibulae, and finger-rings of bronze, a horse&rsquo;s bit,
+      a small saw, numerous implements of horn and bone, combs, needles, a jet
+      ring and amber bead, all tell the tale of the degree of civilisation
+      attained by these early folk. They worked in metals, made pottery and
+      cloth, tilled and farmed the adjoining lands, and probably belonged to the
+      late Celtic race before the advent of the Romans. These lake dwellers used
+      a canoe in order to reach the mainland, and this primitive boat has been
+      discovered. It is evidently cut out of the stem of an oak, is
+      flat-bottomed, and its dimensions are 17 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 1
+      foot deep. The prow is pointed, and has a hole, through which doubtless a
+      rope was passed, in order to fasten it to the little harbour of the lake
+      village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It will be gathered that these people, whether dwelling in their pit or
+      lake villages, showed so much capacity, industry, and social organisation,
+      that even in the Neolithic Age they were far removed from a savage state,
+      and a low condition of culture and civilisation. They showed great
+      ingenuity in the making of their tools, their vessels of pottery, their
+      ornaments, and clothing. They were not naked, woad-dyed savages. They
+      could spin and weave, grow corn, and make bread, and had brought into
+      subjection for their use domestic animals, horses and cattle, sheep and
+      goats, and swine. They lived in security and comfort, and were industrious
+      and intelligent; and it is interesting to record, from the relics which
+      the earth has preserved of their civilisation, the kind of life which they
+      must have lived in the ages which existed before the dawn of history.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link5" id="link5"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CROMLECHS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Stone monuments&mdash;Traditions relating to them&mdash;Menhirs or
+      hoar-stones&mdash; <i>Alignements</i>&mdash;Cromlechs&mdash;Stonehenge&mdash;Avebury&mdash;Rollright
+      stones&mdash;Origin of stone circles&mdash;Dolmens&mdash;Earthworks&mdash;Chun
+      Castle&mdash;Whittenham clumps&mdash; Uffington&mdash;Tribal boundaries&mdash;Roman
+      rig&mdash;Grims-dike&mdash;Legends&mdash;Celtic words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among the antiquities which some of our English villages possess, none are
+      more curious and remarkable than the grand megalithic monuments of the
+      ancient races which peopled our island. Marvellous memorials are these of
+      their skill and labour. How did they contrive to erect such mighty
+      monuments? How did they move such huge masses of stone? How did they raise
+      with the very slender appliances at their disposal such gigantic stones?
+      For what purpose did they erect them? The solution of these and many
+      such-like problems we can only guess, and no one has as yet been bold
+      enough to answer all the interesting questions which these rude stone
+      monuments raise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Superstition has attempted to account for their existence. Just as the
+      flint arrow-heads are supposed by the vulgar to be darts shot by fairies
+      or witches which cause sickness and death in cattle and men, and are worn
+      as amulets to ward off disease; just as the stone axes of early man are
+      regarded as thunder bolts, and when boiled are esteemed as a sure cure for
+      rheumatism, or a useful cattle medicine&mdash;so these stones are said to
+      be the work of the devil. A friend tells me that in his childhood his
+      nurse used to frighten him by saying that the devil lurked in a dolmen
+      which stands near his father&rsquo;s house in Oxfordshire; and many weird
+      traditions cluster round these old monuments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link058" id="link058"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="058.jpg (24K)" src="images/058.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In addition to the subterranean sepulchral chambers and cairns which we
+      have already examined, there are four classes of megalithic structures.
+      The first consists of single stones, called in Wales, Cornwall, and
+      Brittany, <i>menhirs</i>, a name derived from the Celtic word <i>maen</i>
+      or <i>men</i> signifying a stone, and <i>hir</i> meaning tall. In England
+      they are known as &ldquo;hoar-stones,&rdquo; <i>hoar</i> meaning a
+      boundary, inasmuch as they are frequently used in later times to mark the
+      boundary of an estate, parish, or manor. There is one at Enstone,
+      Oxfordshire, and at Wardington, Warwickshire. Possibly they were intended
+      to mark the graves of deceased chieftains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The second class consists of lines of stones, which the French call <i>alignements</i>.
+      Frequently they occur in groups of lines from two to fourteen in number,
+      Carnac, in Brittany, possesses the best specimen in Europe of this curious
+      arrangement of giant stones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The third class of megalithic monuments is the circular arrangement, such
+      as we find at Avebury and Stonehenge. These are now usually called
+      cromlechs, in accordance with the term used by French antiquaries, though
+      formerly this name was applied in England to the dolmens, or chambered
+      structures, of which we shall speak presently. According to the notions of
+      the old curator of Stonehenge the mighty stones stood before the Deluge,
+      and he used to point out (to his own satisfaction) signs of the action of
+      water upon the stones, even showing the direction in which the Flood
+      &ldquo;came rushing in.&rdquo; The Welsh bards say that they were erected
+      by King Merlin, the successor of Vortigern; and Nennius states that they
+      were erected in memory of four hundred nobles, who were treacherously
+      slain by Hengist, when the savage Saxons came. There is no need to
+      describe these grand circles of huge stones which all antiquaries have
+      visited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cromlech at Avebury covers a larger area than that of Stonehenge, the
+      circle being about 1,300 feet in diameter. There is a fine circle at
+      Rollright, in Oxfordshire, which is the third largest in England. The
+      diameter of the circle is about 107 feet, and the stones numbered
+      originally about sixty. Near the circle stand the Five Whispering Knights,
+      five large stones leaning together, probably the remains of a dolmen, and
+      a large solitary stone, or menhir. Popular tradition has woven a strange
+      legend about these curious relics of bygone ages. A mighty chieftain once
+      ruled over the surrounding country; but he was ambitious, and wished to
+      extend his sway, and become King of England. So he mustered his army, and
+      the oracle proclaimed that if he could once see Long Compton, he would
+      obtain his desire. Having proceeded as far as Rollright, he was repeating
+      the words of the oracle&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;If Long Compton I can see,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;King of
+      England I shall be&rdquo;&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      when Mother Shipton, who had doubtless ridden on her broomstick from her
+      Norfolk home, appeared and pronounced the fatal spell&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Move no more; stand fast, stone;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;King
+      of England thou shall none.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link060" id="link060"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="060.jpg (102K)" src="images/060.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately the king and his army were changed into stone, as if the head
+      of Medusa had gazed upon them. The solitary stone, still called the King
+      Stone, is the ambitious monarch; the circle is his army; and the Five
+      Whispering Knights are five of his chieftains, who were hatching a plot
+      against him when the magic spell was uttered. The farmers around Rollright
+      say that if the stones are removed from the spot, they will never rest,
+      but make mischief till they are restored. Stanton Drew, in Somersetshire,
+      has a cromlech, and there are several in Scotland, the Channel Islands,
+      and Brittany. Some sacrilegious persons transported a cromlech bodily from
+      the Channel Islands, and set it up at Park Place, Henley-on-Thames. Such
+      an act of antiquarian barbarism happily has few imitators.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For what purpose were these massive stones erected at the cost of such
+      infinite labour? Tradition and popular belief associate them with the
+      Druids. Some years ago all mysterious antiquarian problems were solved by
+      reference to the Druids. But these priests of ancient days are now out of
+      fashion, and it is certainly not very safe to attribute the founding of
+      the great stone circles to their agency. The Druidical worship paid its
+      homage to the powers of Nature, to the nymphs and genii of the woods and
+      streams, whereas the great stone circles were evidently constructed by
+      sun-worshippers. There is no doubt among antiquaries that they are
+      connected with the burial of the dead. Small barrows have been found in
+      the centre of them. Dr. Anderson is of opinion that the stone circles were
+      developed out of the hedge, or setting of stone, which frequently
+      surrounds the base of a barrow, and was intended to keep the ghost in, and
+      prevent it from injuring the living. By degrees the wall was increased in
+      size while the barrow or cairn decreased; until at last a small mound of
+      earth, or heap of stones, only marked the place of burial, and the huge
+      circle of stones surrounded it. Stonehenge, with its well-wrought stones
+      and gigantic trilitha, is much later than the circles of Avebury and
+      Rollright, and was doubtless constructed by the people who used iron,
+      about two hundred years before our era. The earlier circles have been
+      assigned to a period eight or ten centuries before Christ.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link062" id="link062"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="062.jpg (60K)" src="images/062.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many conjectures have been made as to how the huge capstones of the circle
+      at Stonehenge were placed on the erect stones. Sir Henry Dryden thought
+      that when the upright stones were set on end, earth or small stones were
+      piled around them until a large inclined plane was formed, on which
+      &ldquo;skids&rdquo; or sliding-pieces were placed. Then the caps were
+      placed on rollers, and hauled up by gangs of men. Probably in some such
+      way these wonderful monuments were formed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The last class of rude stone monuments is composed of dolmens, or
+      chambered tombs, so named from the Welsh word <i>dol</i>, a table, and <i>maen</i>
+      or <i>men</i>, a stone. They are in fact stone tables. Antiquaries of
+      former days, and the unlearned folk of to-day, call them &ldquo;Druids&rsquo;
+      altars,&rdquo; and say that sacrifices were offered upon them. The typical
+      form is a structure of four or more large upright stones, supporting a
+      large flat stone, as a roof. Sometimes they are covered with earth or
+      stones, sometimes entirely uncovered. Some antiquaries maintain that they
+      were always uncovered, as we see them now; others assert that they have
+      been stripped by the action of wind and rain, and snow, frost, and thaw,
+      until all the earth placed around them has been removed. Possibly fashions
+      changed then as now; and it may console some of us that there was no
+      uniformity of ritual even in prehistoric Britain. Dolmens contain no
+      bronze or iron implements, or carvings of the same, and evidently belong
+      to the time of the Neolithic folk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among prehistoric remains none are more striking than the great camps and
+      earthworks, which hold commanding positions on our hills and downs, and
+      have survived during the countless years which have elapsed since their
+      construction. Caesar&rsquo;s camps abound throughout England; it is
+      needless to say that they had nothing to do with Caesar, but were made
+      long years before the Conqueror ever set foot on British land. These early
+      camps are usually circular in shape, or follow the natural curve of the
+      hill on which they stand. Roman camps are nearly always square or
+      rectangular. They consist of a high vallum, or rampart of earth,
+      surrounded by a deep ditch, and on the <i>counterscarp</i>, or outside
+      edge of the ditch, there is often another bank or rampart. The entrance to
+      these strongholds was often ingeniously contrived, in order that an enemy
+      endeavouring to attack the fortress might be effectually resisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Chun Castle, in Cornwall, is an interesting specimen of ancient Celtic
+      fortress. It consists of two circular walls separated by a terrace. The
+      walls are built of rough masses of granite, some 5 or 6 feet long. The
+      outer wall is protected by a ditch. Part of the wall is still about 10
+      feet high. Great skill and military knowledge are displayed in the plan of
+      the entrance, which is 6 feet wide in the narrowest part, and 16 in the
+      widest, where the walls diverge and are rounded off on either side. The
+      space within the fortress is about 175 feet in diameter. The Herefordshire
+      Beacon on the Malvern Hills is a fine example of a triple-ramparted Celtic
+      camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link064" id="link064"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="064.jpg (60K)" src="images/064.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Berkshire we have the well-known Whittenham Clumps, the Sinodun of the
+      Celts, on the summit of which there is a famous camp, with a triple line
+      of entrenchment, the mound and ditch being complete. The circumference of
+      the fortress is over a mile. Berkshire and Oxfordshire are very rich in
+      these camps and earthworks, which guard the course of the old British road
+      called the Iknield Way. Hill-forts crown the tops of the hills; and the
+      camps of Blewberry, Scutchamore Knob (a corruption of Cwichelm&rsquo;s
+      law), Letcombe, Uffington, and Liddington, command the ancient trackway
+      and bid defiance to approaching foes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The object of these camps was to provide places of refuge, whither the
+      tribe could retire when threatened by the advent of its enemy. The Celts
+      were a pastoral people; and their flocks grazed on the downs and
+      hillsides. When their scouts brought news of the approach of a hostile
+      force, some signal would be given by the blowing of a horn, and the people
+      would at once flee to their fortress driving their cattle before them, and
+      awaiting there the advent of their foes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Uffington there is a remarkable relic of British times called the
+      Blowing Stone, or King Alfred&rsquo;s Bugle-horn, which was doubtless used
+      by the Celtic tribes for signalling purposes; and when its deep low note
+      was heard on the hillside the tribe would rush to the protecting shelter
+      of Uffington Castle. There, armed with missiles, they were ready to hurl
+      them at the invading hosts, and protect their lives and cattle until all
+      danger was past. Those who are skilled at the art can still make the
+      Blowing Stone sound. The name, King Alfred&rsquo;s Bugle-horn, is a
+      misnomer, and arose from the association of the White Horse Hill with the
+      battle which Alfred fought against the Danes at Aescendune, which may, or
+      may not, have taken place near the old British camp at Uffington. There
+      are several White Horses cut out in the turf on the hillsides in
+      Wiltshire, besides the famous Berkshire one at Uffington, celebrated by
+      Mr. Thomas Hughes in his <i>Scouring of the White Horse</i>. We have also
+      some turf-cut crosses at White-leaf and Bledlow, in Buckinghamshire. The
+      origin of these turf monuments is still a matter of controversy. It is
+      possible that they may be Saxon, and may be the records of Alfred&rsquo;s
+      victories; but antiquaries are inclined to assign them to an earlier date,
+      and connect them with the builders of cromlechs and dolmens. It is
+      certainly improbable that, when he was busily engaged fighting the Danes,
+      Alfred and his men would have found time to construct this huge White
+      Horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link066" id="link066"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="066.jpg (19K)" src="images/066.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In addition to the earthen mounds and deep ditch, which usually formed the
+      fortifications of these ancient strongholds, there were wicker-work
+      stockades, or palisading, arranged on the top of the vallum. Such defences
+      have been found at Uffington; and during the present year on the ancient
+      fortifications of the old Calleva Atrebatum, afterwards the Roman
+      Silchester, a friend of the writer has found the remains of similar
+      wattle-work stockades. Evidently tribal wars and jealousies were not
+      unknown in Celtic times, and the people knew how to protect themselves
+      from their foes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another important class of earthen ramparts are the long lines of
+      fortifications, which extend for miles across the country, and must have
+      entailed vast labour in their construction. These ramparts were doubtless
+      tribal boundaries, or fortifications used by one tribe against another.
+      There is the Roman rig, which, as Mrs. Armitage tells us in her <i>Key to
+      English Antiquities</i>, coasts the face of the hills all the way from
+      Sheffield to Mexborough, a distance of eleven miles. A Grims-dike (or
+      Grims-bank, as it is popularly called) runs across the southern extremity
+      of Oxfordshire from Henley to Mongewell, ten miles in length; and near it,
+      and parallel to it, there is a Medlers-bank, another earthen rampart,
+      exceeding it in length by nearly a third. Near Salisbury there is also a
+      Grims-dike, and in Cambridgeshire and Cheshire. Danes&rsquo; Dike, near
+      Flamborough Head, Wans-dike, and Brokerley Dike are other famous lines of
+      fortifications.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are twenty-two Grims-dikes in England. The name was probably derived
+      from Grim, the Saxon devil, or evil spirit; and was bestowed upon these
+      mysterious monuments of an ancient race which the Saxons found in various
+      parts of their conquered country. Unable to account for the existence of
+      these vast mounds and fortresses, they attributed them to satanic agency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is much work still to be done in exploring these relics of the
+      prehistoric races; and if there should be any such in your own
+      neighbourhood, some careful digging might produce valuable results.
+      Perhaps something which you may find may throw light upon some disputed or
+      unexplained question, which has perplexed the minds of antiquaries for
+      some time. I do not imagine that the following legend will deter you from
+      your search. It is gravely stated that years ago an avaricious person dug
+      into a tumulus for some treasure which it was supposed to contain. At
+      length after much labour he came to an immense chest, but the lid was no
+      sooner uncovered than it lifted itself up a little and out sprang an
+      enormous black cat, which seated itself upon the chest, and glowed with
+      eyes of passion upon the intruder. Nothing daunted, the man proceeded to
+      try to move the chest, but without avail; so he fixed a strong chain to it
+      and attached a powerful team of horses. But when the horses began to pull,
+      the chain broke in a hundred places, and the chest of treasure disappeared
+      for ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some rustics assert that if you run nine times round a tumulus, and then
+      put your ear against it, you will hear the fairies dancing and singing in
+      the interior. Indeed it is a common superstition that good fairies lived
+      in these old mounds, and a story is told of a ploughman who unfortunately
+      broke his ploughshare. However he left it at the foot of a tumulus, and
+      the next day, to his surprise, he found it perfectly whole. Evidently the
+      good fairies had mended it during the night. But these bright little
+      beings, who used to be much respected by our ancestors, have quite
+      deserted our shores. They found that English people did not believe in
+      them; so they left us in disgust, and have never been heard of since.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you have no other Celtic remains in your neighbourhood, at least you
+      have the enduring possession of the words which they have bequeathed to
+      us, such as <i>coat, basket, crook, cart, kiln, pitcher, comb, ridge</i>,
+      and many others, which have all been handed down to us from our British
+      ancestors. Their language also lives in Wales and Brittany, in parts of
+      Ireland and Scotland, and in the Isle of Man, where dwell the modern
+      representatives of that ancient race, which was once so powerful, and has
+      left its trace in most of the countries of Europe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link6" id="link6"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ROMAN RELICS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Roman remains numerous&mdash;Chedworth villa&mdash;Roads&mdash;Names
+      derived from roads&mdash;<i>Itinerary</i> of Antoninus&mdash;British roads&mdash;Watling
+      Street&mdash;Iknield Street&mdash;Ryknield Street&mdash;Ermyn Street&mdash;Akeman
+      Street&mdash;Saltways&mdash; Milestones&mdash;Silchester&mdash;Its walls&mdash;Calleva&mdash;Its
+      gardens and villas&mdash; Hypocausts&mdash;Pavements&mdash;Description of
+      old city&mdash;Forum&mdash;Temple&mdash;Baths&mdash; Amphitheatre&mdash;Church&mdash;Roman
+      villa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The world&rsquo;s a scene of change,&rdquo; sings Poet Cowley; but
+      in spite of all the changes that have transformed our England, the coming
+      and going of conquerors and invaders, the lapse of centuries, the
+      ceaseless working of the ploughshare on our fields and downs, traces of
+      the old Roman life in Britain have remained indelible. Our English
+      villages are rich in the relics of the old Romans; and each year adds to
+      our knowledge of the life they lived in the land of their adoption, and
+      reveals the treasures which the earth has tenderly preserved for so many
+      years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If your village lies near the track of some Roman road, many pleasing
+      surprises may be in store for you. Oftentimes labourers unexpectedly meet
+      with the buried walls and beautiful tesselated pavements of an ancient
+      Roman dwelling-place. A few years ago at Chedworth, near Cirencester, a
+      ferret was lost, and had to be dug out of the rabbit burrow. In doing this
+      some Roman <i>tesserae</i> were dug up; and when further excavations were
+      made a noble Roman villa with numerous rooms, artistic pavements,
+      hypocausts, baths, carvings, and many beautiful relics of Roman art were
+      brought to light. Possibly you may be equally successful in your own
+      village and neighbourhood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you have the good fortune to live near a Roman station, you will have
+      the pleasing excitement of discovering Roman coins and other treasures,
+      when you watch your labourers draining the land or digging wells. Everyone
+      knows that the names of many of the Roman stations are &nbsp;distinguished
+      by the termination <i>Chester, caster</i>, or <i>caer</i>, derived from
+      the Latin <i>castra</i>, a camp; and whenever we are in the neighbourhood
+      of such places, imagination pictures to us the well-drilled Roman
+      legionaries who used to astonish the natives with their strange language
+      and customs; and we know that there are coins and pottery, <i>tesserae</i>
+      and Roman ornaments galore, stored up beneath our feet, awaiting the
+      search of the persevering digger. Few are the records relating to Roman
+      Britain contained in the pages of the historians, as compared with the
+      evidences of roads and houses, gates and walls and towns, which the earth
+      has preserved for us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Near your village perhaps a Roman road runs. The Romans were famous for
+      their wonderful roads, which extended from camp to camp, from city to
+      city, all over the country. These roads remain, and are evidences of the
+      &nbsp;great engineering skill which their makers possessed. They liked
+      their roads well drained, and raised high above the marshes; they liked
+      them to go straight ahead, like their victorious legions, and never swerve
+      to right or left for any obstacle. They cut through the hills, and filled
+      up the valleys; and there were plenty of idle Britons about, who could be
+      forced to do the work. They called their roads <i>strata</i> or streets;
+      and all names of places containing the word <i>street</i>, such as <i>Streatley</i>,
+      or <i>Stretford</i>, denote that they were situated on one of these Roman
+      roads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You may see these roads wending their way straight as a die, over hill and
+      dale, staying not for marsh or swamp. Along the ridge of hills they go, as
+      does the High Street on the Westmoreland hills, where a few inches below
+      the grass you can find the stony way; or on the moors between Redmire and
+      Stanedge, in Yorkshire, the large paving stones, of which the road was
+      made, in many parts still remain. In central places, as at Blackrod, in
+      Lancashire, the roads extend like spokes from the centre of a wheel,
+      although nearly eighteen hundred years have elapsed since their
+      construction. The name of Devizes, Wilts, is a corruption of the Latin
+      word <i>divisae</i>, which marks the spot where the old Roman road from
+      London to Bath was <i>divided</i> by the boundary line between the Roman
+      and the Celtic districts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In order to acquire a knowledge of the great roads of the Romans we must
+      study the <i>Itinerary</i> of Antoninus, written by an officer of the
+      imperial Court about 150 A.D. This valuable road-book tells us the names
+      of the towns and stations, the distances, halting-places, and other
+      particulars. Ptolemy&rsquo;s <i>Geographia</i> also affords help in
+      understanding the details of the <i>Itinerary</i>, and many of the roads
+      have been very satisfactorily traced. The Romans made use of the ancient
+      British ways, whenever they found them suitable for their purpose. The
+      British roads resembled the trackways on Salisbury Plain, wide grass
+      rides, neither raised nor paved, and not always straight, but winding
+      along the sides of the hills which lie in their course. There were seven
+      chief British ways: Watling Street, which was the great north road,
+      starting from Richborough on the coast of Kent, passing through Canterbury
+      and Rochester it crossed the Thames near London, and went on through
+      Verulam, Dunstable, and Towcester, Wellington, and Wroxeter, and thence
+      into Wales to Tommen-y-Mawr, where it divided into two branches. One ran
+      by Beth Gellert to Caernarvon and Holy Head, and the other through the
+      mountains to the Manai banks and thence to Chester, Northwich, Manchester,
+      Ilkley, until it finally ended in Scotland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The second great British road was the way of the Iceni, or Iknield Street,
+      proceeding from Great Yarmouth, running through Cambridgeshire,
+      Bedfordshire, Bucks, and Oxon, to Old Sarum, and finishing its course at
+      Land&rsquo;s End. We have in Berkshire a branch of this road called the
+      Ridgeway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Ryknield Street beginning at the mouth of the Tyne ran through
+      Chester-le-Street, followed the course of the Watling Street to Catterick,
+      thence through Birmingham, Tewkesbury, and Gloucester, to Caermarthen and
+      St. David&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Ermyn Street led from the coast of Sussex to the south-east part of
+      Scotland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Akeman Street ran between the Iknield and Ryknield Streets, and led
+      from what the Saxons called East Anglia, through Bedford, Newport Pagnel,
+      and Buckingham to Alcester and Cirencester, across the Severn, and ending
+      at St. David&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Upper Saltway was the communication between the sea-coast of
+      Lincolnshire and the salt mines at Droitwich; and the Lower Saltway led
+      from Droitwich, then, as now, a great centre of the salt trade, to the
+      sea-coast of Hampshire. Traces of another great road to the north are
+      found, which seems to have run through the western parts of England
+      extending from Devon to Scotland.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such were the old British roads which existed when the Romans came. The
+      conquerors made use of these ways, wherever they found them useful,
+      trenching them, paving them, and making them fit for military purposes.
+      They constructed many new ones which would require a volume for their full
+      elucidation. Many of them are still in use, wonderful records of the
+      engineering skill of their makers, and oftentimes beneath the surface of
+      some grassy ride a few inches below the turf you may find the hard
+      concreted road laid down by the Romans nearly eighteen hundred years ago.
+      Roman milestones we sometimes find. There is one near Silchester, commonly
+      called the Imp Stone, probably from the first three letters of the Latin
+      word <i>Imperator</i>, carved upon it. Curious legends often cluster round
+      these relics of ancient times. Just as the superstitious Saxons, when they
+      saw the great Roman roads, made by a people who had long vanished from the
+      land, often attributed these great works to evil spirits, and called parts
+      of these well-made streets the Devil&rsquo;s Highway, so they invented a
+      strange legend to account for the Imp Stone, and said that some giant had
+      thrown it from the city, and left on it the marks of his finger and thumb.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our English villages contain many examples of Roman buildings. Where now
+      rustics pursue their calling, and sow their crops and reap their harvests,
+      formerly stood the beautiful houses of the Roman nobles, or the
+      flourishing towns of Roman citizens. Upon the sites of most of these
+      old-world places new towns have been constructed; hence it is difficult
+      often to trace the foundations of Roman cities in the midst of the masses
+      of modern bricks and mortar. Hence we fly to the villages; and sometimes,
+      as at Silchester, near a little English village, we find the remains of a
+      large, important, and flourishing town, where the earth has kept safely
+      for us during many centuries the treasures and memories of a bygone age.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every student of Roman Britain must visit Silchester, and examine the
+      collections preserved in the Reading Museum, which have been amassed by
+      the antiquaries who have for several years been excavating the ruins. The
+      city contained a forum, or marketplace, having on one side a basilica, or
+      municipal hall, in which prisoners were tried, business transactions
+      executed, and the general affairs of the city carried on. On the other
+      side of the square were the shops, where the butchers, bakers, or
+      fishmongers plied their trade. You can find plenty of oyster shells, the
+      contents of which furnished many a feast to the Romans who lived there
+      seventeen hundred years ago. The objects which have been found tell us how
+      the dwellers in the old city employed themselves, and how skilful they
+      were in craftsmanship. Amongst other things we find axes, chisels, files
+      for setting saws, hammers, a large plane, and other carpenters&rsquo;
+      tools; an anvil, a pair of tongs, and blacksmiths&rsquo; implements;
+      shoemakers&rsquo; anvils, very similar to those used in our day, a large
+      gridiron, a standing lamp, safety-pins, such as ladies use now, and many
+      other useful and necessary objects.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In order to protect the city it was surrounded by high walls, which seem
+      to defy all the attacks of time. They are nine feet in thickness, and are
+      still in many places twenty feet high. Outside the wall a wide ditch added
+      to the strength of the fortifications. Watch-towers were placed at
+      intervals along the walls; and on the north, south, east, and west sides
+      were strongly fortified gates, with guard chambers on each side, and
+      arched entrances through which the Roman chariots were driven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These walls inclose a space of irregular shape, and were built on the site
+      of old British fortifications. Silchester was originally a British
+      stronghold, and was called by them Calleva. The Celtic tribe which
+      inhabited the northern parts of Hampshire was the Atrebates, who after a
+      great many fights were subdued by the Romans about 78 A.D. Then within the
+      rude fortifications of Calleva arose the city of Silchester, with its fine
+      houses, temples, and baths, its strong walls, and gates, and streets, the
+      great centre of civilisation, and the chief city of that part of the
+      country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is often possible to detect the course of Roman streets where now the
+      golden corn is growing. On the surface of the roads where the ground is
+      thin, the corn is scanty. Observation of this kind a few years ago led to
+      the discovery of a Romano-British village at Long Whittenham, in Berks. In
+      Silchester it is quite easy to trace the course of the streets by the
+      thinness of the corn, as Leland observed as long ago as 1536. One is
+      inclined to wonder where all the earth comes from, which buries old
+      buildings and hides them so carefully; but any student of natural history,
+      who has read Darwin&rsquo;s book on <i>Worms</i>, will cease to be
+      astonished. It is chiefly through the action of these useful creatures
+      that soil accumulates so greatly on the sites of ancient buildings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link077" id="link077"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="077.jpg (48K)" src="images/077.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Within the walls of Silchester were gardens and villas replete with all
+      the contrivances of Roman luxury. The houses were built on three sides of
+      a square court. A cloister ran round the court, supported by pillars. The
+      open space was used as a garden. At the back of the house were the
+      kitchens and apartments for the slaves and domestics. The Romans adapted
+      their dwellings to the climate in which they lived. In the sunny south, at
+      Pompeii, the houses were more open, and would be little suited to our more
+      rigorous climate. They knew how to make themselves comfortable, built
+      rooms well protected from the weather, and heated with hypocausts. These
+      were furnaces made beneath the house, which generated hot air; and this
+      was admitted into the rooms by earthenware flue-tiles. The dwellers had
+      both summer and winter apartments; and when the cold weather arrived the
+      hypocaust furnaces were lighted, and the family adjourned to their winter
+      quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The floors were made of <i>tesserae</i>, or small cubes of different
+      materials and various colours, which were arranged in beautiful patterns.
+      Some of these pavements were of most elegant and elaborate designs, having
+      figures in them representing the seasons, or some mythological characters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The walls were painted with decorations of very beautiful designs,
+      representing the cornfields, just as the Roman artists in Italy loved to
+      depict the vine in their mural paintings. The mortar used by the Romans is
+      very hard and tenacious, and their bricks were small and thin, varying
+      from 8 inches square to 18 inches by 12, and were about 2 inches in
+      thickness. Frequently we find the impression of an animal&rsquo;s foot on
+      these bricks and tiles, formed when they were in a soft state before they
+      were baked, and one tile recently found had the impression of a Roman baby&rsquo;s
+      foot. Roman bricks have often been used by subsequent builders, and are
+      found built up in the masonry of much later periods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link079" id="link079"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="079.jpg (8K)" src="images/079.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is quite possible to build up in imagination the old Roman city, and to
+      depict before our mind&rsquo;s eye the scenes that once took place where
+      now the rustics toil and till the ground. We enter the forum, the great
+      centre of the city, the common resort and lounging-place of the citizens,
+      who met together to discuss the latest news from Rome, to transact their
+      business, and exchange gossip. On the west side stood the noble basilica,
+      or hall of justice&mdash;a splendid building, its entrance being adorned
+      with fine Corinthian columns; and slabs of polished Purbeck marble, and
+      even of green and white marble from the Pyrenees, covered the walls. It
+      was a long rectangular hall, 233 feet in length by 58 feet in width, and
+      at each side was a semicircular apse, which was called the Tribune. Here
+      the magistrate sat to administer justice, or an orator stood to address
+      the citizens. In the centre of the western wall was another apse, where
+      the <i>curia</i> met for the government of the city. Two rows of columns
+      ran down the hall, dividing it into a nave with two aisles, like many of
+      our churches. Indeed the form of the construction of our churches was
+      taken from these Roman basilica. Several chambers stood on the west of the
+      hall, one of which was another fine hall, probably used as a corn
+      exchange. The height of this noble edifice, the roof of which was probably
+      hidden by a coffered ceiling, must have been about fifty-seven feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Passing along the main street towards the south gate we come to the
+      foundations of a nearly circular temple. Two square-shaped buildings stood
+      on the east of the city, which were probably temples for some Gaulish form
+      of religion, as similar sacred buildings have been discovered in France. A
+      quadrangle of buildings near the south gate, having various chambers,
+      contained the public baths, whither the Romans daily resorted for gossip
+      and discussion as well as for bathing. There is an ingenious arrangement
+      for using the waste water for the purpose of flushing the drains and
+      sewers. Nor were they ignorant of the invention of a force-pump, as the
+      accompanying illustration on the next page shows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link081" id="link081"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="081.jpg (100K)" src="images/081.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The amphitheatre stands outside the gate, whither the citizens flocked to
+      see gladiatorial displays or contests between wild beasts. With the
+      exception of one at Dorchester, it is the largest in Britain. It is made
+      of lofty banks of earth, which surround the arena, and must have been an
+      imposing structure in the days of its glory, with its tiers of seats
+      rising above the level arena. It is difficult to imagine this
+      grass-covered slope occupied by a gay crowd of Romans and wondering
+      Britons, all eagerly witnessing some fierce fight of man with man, or
+      beast with beast, and enthusiastically revelling in the sanguinary sport.
+      The modern rustics, who have no knowledge of what was the original purpose
+      of &ldquo;the Mount,&rdquo; as they name the amphitheatre, still call the
+      arena &ldquo;the lions&rsquo; den.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Silchester was a very busy place. There were dye works there, as the
+      excavations show; hence there must have been some weaving, and therefore a
+      large resident population. Throngs of travellers used to pass through it,
+      and carts and baggage animals bore through its streets the merchandise
+      from London, which passed to the cities and villas so plentifully
+      scattered in western Britain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By far the most important of the discoveries made in Roman Britain is the
+      little church which stood just outside the forum. It is very similar in
+      form to the early churches in Italy and other parts of the Roman Empire,
+      and is of the basilican type. The orientation is different from that used
+      after the reign of Constantine, the altar being at the west end. The
+      churches of S. Peter and S. Paul at Rome had the same arrangement; and the
+      priest evidently stood behind the altar facing the congregation and
+      looking towards the east at the time of the celebration of the Holy
+      Communion. There is an apse at the west end, and the building is divided
+      by two rows of columns into a nave and two aisles. The nave had probably
+      an ambon, or reading-desk, and was mainly used by the clergy, the aisles
+      being for the use of the men and women separately. A vestry stood at the
+      western end of the north aisle. Across the eastern end was the narthex, or
+      porch, where the catechumens stood and watched the service through the
+      three open doors. Outside the narthex was the atrium, an open court,
+      having in the centre the remains of the labrum, or laver, where the people
+      washed their hands and faces before entering the church. We are reminded
+      of a sermon by S. Chrysostom, who upbraided his congregation, asking them
+      what was the use of their washing their hands if they did not at the same
+      time cleanse their hearts by repentance. This interesting memorial of
+      early Christianity was probably erected soon after the Emperor Constantine&rsquo;s
+      Edict of Toleration issued in 313 A.D.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But not only at Silchester and at other places, once the great centres of
+      the Roman population, do we find Roman remains. In addition to the
+      stations, camps, and towns, there were the villas of the rich Roman
+      citizens or Gaulish merchants on the sunny slopes of many a hillside.
+      Although hundreds of the remains of these noble houses have been
+      discovered, there are still many to be explored.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The villa consisted of the house of the proprietor, which occupied the
+      centre of the little colony, together with the smaller houses of the
+      servants and slaves, stables, cowsheds, mills, and granaries, and all the
+      other usual outbuildings connected with a large estate. The main house was
+      built around a central court, like an Oxford college; and resembled in
+      architectural style the buildings which the excavations at Pompeii have
+      disclosed. A corridor ran round the court supported by pillars, from which
+      the rooms opened. In a well-defended town like Silchester the houses were
+      usually built on three sides of the court; but the country villas, which
+      had occasionally to be fortified against the attacks of wandering bands of
+      outlaws and wild Britons, and the inroads of savage beasts, were usually
+      built on all the four sides of the square court. They were usually of one
+      story, although the existence of a force-pump in Silchester shows that
+      water was laid on upstairs in one house at least. As the wells were less
+      than thirty feet deep, a force-pump would not be needed to lift the water
+      to the earth-level. Hence in some houses there must have been some upper
+      chambers, a conclusion that is supported by the thickness of the
+      foundations, which are far more substantial than would be required for
+      houses of one story. The rooms were very numerous, often as many as sixty
+      or seventy, and very bright they must have looked decorated with beautiful
+      marbles and stuccoes of gorgeous hues, and magnificent pavements, statues
+      and shrines, baths and fountains, and the many other objects of Roman
+      luxury and comfort. The floors were made of <i>opus signinum</i>, such as
+      the Italians use at the present day, a material composed of cement in
+      which are embedded fragments of stone or brick, the whole being rubbed
+      down to a smooth surface, or paved with mosaic composed of <i>tesserae</i>.
+      In whatever land the Roman dwelt, there he made his beautiful tesselated
+      pavement, rich with graceful designs and ever-enduring colours,
+      representing the stories of the gods, the poetry of nature, and the
+      legends of the heroes of his beloved native land. Here we see Perseus
+      freeing Andromeda, Medusa&rsquo;s locks, Bacchus and his band of
+      revellers, Orpheus with his lyre, by which he is attracting a monkey, a
+      fox, a peacock, and other animals, Apollo singing to his lyre, Venus being
+      loved by Mars, Neptune with his trident, attended by hosts of seamen. The
+      seasons form an accustomed group, &ldquo;Winter&rdquo; being represented,
+      as at Brading, by a female figure, closely wrapped, holding a lifeless
+      bough and a dead bird. Satyrs and fauns, flowers, Graces and wood-nymphs,
+      horns of plenty, gladiators fighting, one with a trident, the other with a
+      net&mdash;all these and countless other fanciful representations look at
+      us from these old Roman pavements. The Roman villa at Brading is an
+      excellent type of such a dwelling, with its magnificent suites of rooms,
+      colonnades, halls, and splendid mosaic pavements. As at Silchester, we see
+      there fine examples of hypocausts. The floor of the room, called a <i>suspensura</i>,
+      is supported by fifty-four small pillars made of tiles. Another good
+      example of a similar floor exists at Cirencester, and many more at
+      Silchester.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link085" id="link085"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="085.jpg (104K)" src="images/085.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here is a description of a Roman gentleman&rsquo;s house, as drawn by the
+      writer of <i>The History of Oxfordshire</i>:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His villa lay sheltered from wild winds partly by the rising brow
+      of the hill, and partly by belts of trees; it was turned towards the
+      south, and caught the full sun. In the spring the breath of his violet
+      beds would be as soft and sweet as in Oxfordshire woods to-day; in the
+      summer his quadrangle would be gay with calthae, and his colonnade
+      festooned with roses and helichryse. If we are to believe in the <i>triclinium
+      aestivum</i> of Hakewill, it says much for the warmth of those far-away
+      summers that he was driven to build a summer dining-room with a north
+      aspect, and without heating flues. And when the long nights fell, and
+      winter cold set in, the slaves heaped higher the charcoal fires in the <i>praefurnium</i>;
+      the master sat in rooms far better warmed than Oxford country houses now,
+      or sunned himself at midday in the sheltered quadrangle, taking his
+      exercise in the warm side of the colonnade among his gay stuccoes and
+      fluted columns. Could we for a moment raise the veil, we should probably
+      find that the country life of 400 A.D. in Oxfordshire was not so very
+      dissimilar to that of to-day, ... and that the well-to-do Roman of rustic
+      Middle England was ... a useful, peaceful, and a happy person.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link7" id="link7"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Departure of Romans&mdash;Coming of Saxons&mdash;Bede&mdash;Saxon names of
+      places&mdash; Saxon village&mdash;Common-field system&mdash;<i>Eorl</i>
+      and <i>ceorl</i>&mdash;Thanes, <i>geburs</i>, and <i>cottiers</i>&mdash;Description
+      of village life&mdash;Thane&rsquo;s house&mdash;<i>Socmen</i>&mdash;Ploughman&rsquo;s
+      lament&mdash;Village tradesmen&mdash;Parish council&mdash;Hundreds&mdash;Shires.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The scene changes. The Roman legions have left our shores, and are trying
+      to prop the tottering state of the falling empire. The groans of the
+      Britons have fallen on listless or distracted ears, and no one has come to
+      their succour. The rule of the all-swaying Roman power has passed away,
+      and the Saxon hordes have poured over the hills and vales of rural
+      Britain, and made it the Angles&rsquo; land&mdash;our England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The coming of the Saxons was a very gradual movement. They did not attack
+      our shores in large armies on one or two occasions; they came in clans or
+      families. The head of the clan built a ship, and taking with him his
+      family and relations, founded a settlement in wild Britain, or wherever
+      the winds happened to carry them. They were very fierce and relentless in
+      war, and committed terrible ravages on the helpless Britons, sparing
+      neither men, women, nor children, burning buildings, destroying and
+      conquering wherever they went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bede tells the story of doings of the ruthless Saxons:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The barbarous conquerors ... plundered all the neighbouring cities
+      and country, spread the conflagration from the eastern to the western sea
+      without any opposition, and covered almost every part of the devoted
+      island. Public as well as private structures were overturned; the priests
+      were everywhere slain before the altars; the prelates and the people,
+      without any respect of persons, were destroyed with fire and sword; nor
+      was there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly slaughtered. Some of
+      the miserable remainder, being taken in the mountains, were butchered in
+      heaps. Others, spent with hunger, came forth and submitted themselves to
+      the enemy for food, being destined to undergo perpetual servitude, if they
+      were not killed even upon the spot. Some, with sorrowful hearts, fled
+      beyond the seas; others, continuing in their own country, led a miserable
+      life among the woods, rocks, and mountains, with scarcely enough food to
+      support life, and expecting every moment to be their last.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many antiquaries believe that the extirpation of the Britons was not so
+      complete as Bede asserts, and that a large number of them remained in
+      England in a condition of servitude. At any rate, the almost entire
+      extinction of the language, except as regards the names of a few rivers
+      and mountains, and of a few household words, seems to point to a fairly
+      complete expulsion of the Britons rather than to a mingling of them with
+      the conquering race.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What remains have we in our English villages of our Saxon forefathers, the
+      makers of England? In the first place we notice that many of the names of
+      our villages retain the memory of their founders. When the family, or
+      group of families, formed their settlements, they avoided the buildings
+      and walled towns, relics of Roman civilisation, made clearings for
+      themselves in the primeval forests, and established themselves in village
+      communities. In the names of places the suffix <i>ing</i>, meaning <i>sons
+      of</i>, denotes that the village was first occupied by the clan of some
+      chief, whose name is compounded with this syllable <i>ing</i>. Thus the
+      Uffingas, the children of Offa, formed a settlement at Uffinggaston, or
+      Uffington; the Redingas, or sons of Rede, settled at Reading; the Billings
+      at Billinge and Billingham; the Wokings or Hocings, sons of Hoc, at Woking
+      and Wokingham. The Billings and Wokings first settled at Billinge and
+      Woking; and then like bees they swarmed, and started another hive of
+      industry at Billingham and Wokingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These family settlements, revealed to us by the patronymic <i>ing</i>, are
+      very numerous. At Ardington, in Berkshire, the Ardings, the royal race of
+      the Vandals, settled; the Frankish Walsings at Wolsingham; the Halsings at
+      Helsington; the Brentings at Brentingley; the Danish Scyldings at
+      Skelding; the Thurings at Thorington; and many other examples might be
+      quoted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many Saxon names of places end in <i>field</i>, which denotes a forest
+      clearing, or <i>feld</i>, made by the axes of the settlers in the primeval
+      woods, where the trees were <i>felled</i>. These villages were rudely
+      fortified, or inclosed by a hedge, wall, or palisade, denoted by the
+      suffix <i>ton</i>, derived from the Anglo-Saxon <i>tynan</i>, to hedge;
+      and all names ending with this syllable point to the existence of a Saxon
+      settlement hedged in and protected from all intruders. Thus we have
+      Barton, Preston, Bolton, and many others. The terminations <i>yard</i>, <i>stoke</i>,
+      or stockaded place, as in Basingstoke, <i>worth</i> (Anglo-Saxon <i>weorthig</i>),
+      as in Kenilworth, Tamworth, Walworth, have much the same meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps the most common of all the terminations of names denoting the
+      presence of Anglo-Saxon settlers is the suffix <i>ham</i>. When the <i>a</i>
+      is pronounced short the syllable denotes an inclosure, like <i>stoke</i>
+      or <i>ton</i>; but when the <i>a</i> is long, it means home, and expresses
+      the reverence with which the Anglo-Saxon regarded his own dwelling.
+      England is the land of homes, and the natural affection with which we
+      Englishmen regard our homes is to a great extent peculiar to our race. The
+      Frenchman, the Spaniard, the Italian, do not have the same respect for
+      home. Our Saxon forefathers were a very home-loving people, and it is from
+      them doubtless that we inherit our love for our homes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We find, then, the Saxon holding the lands. The clan formed settlements;
+      sections of each clan formed branch settlements; and several members of
+      each section cut their way through the thick forests, felled the trees,
+      built homesteads, where they tilled the land and reared their cattle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In early Saxon times the settlement consisted of a number of families
+      holding a district, and the land was regularly divided into three
+      portions. There was the village itself, in which the people lived in
+      houses built of wood or rude stonework. Around the village were a few
+      small inclosures, or grass yards, for rearing calves and baiting farm
+      stock; this was the common farmstead. Around this was the arable land,
+      where the villagers grew their corn and other vegetables; and around this
+      lay the common meadows, or pasture land, held by the whole community, so
+      that each family could turn their cattle into it, subject to the
+      regulations of an officer elected by the people, whose duty it was to see
+      that no one trespassed on the rights of his neighbour, or turned too many
+      cattle into the common pasture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link091" id="link091"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="091.jpg (34K)" src="images/091.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Around the whole colony lay the woods and uncultivated land, which was
+      left in its natural wild state, where the people cut their timber and
+      fuel, and pastured their pigs in the glades of the forest. The cultivated
+      land was divided into three large fields, in which the rotation of crops
+      was strictly enforced, each field lying fallow once in three years. To
+      each freeman was assigned his own family lot, which was cultivated by the
+      members of his household. But he was obliged to sow the same crop as his
+      neighbour, and compelled by law to allow his lot to lie fallow with the
+      rest every third year. The remains of this common-field system are still
+      evident in many parts of the country, the fields being termed &ldquo;lot
+      meadows,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Lammas lands.&rdquo; Our commons, too, many of
+      which remain in spite of numerous inclosures, are evidences of the
+      communal life of our village forefathers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How long the Saxon villages remained free democratic institutions, we do
+      not know. Gradually a change came over them, and we find the manorial
+      system in vogue. Manors existed in England long before the Normans came,
+      although &ldquo;manor&rdquo; is a Norman word; and in the time of Canute
+      the system was in full force. The existence of a manor implies a lord of
+      the manor, who exercised authority over all the villagers, owned the home
+      farm, and had certain rights over the rest of the land. How all this came
+      about, we scarcely know. Owing to the Danish invasions, when the rude
+      barbarous warriors carried fire and sword into many a peaceful town and
+      village, the villagers found themselves at the mercy of these savage
+      hordes. Probably they sought the protection of some thane, or <i>eorl</i>,
+      with his band of warriors, who could save their lands from pillage. In
+      return for their services they acknowledged him as the lord of their
+      village, and gave him rent, which was paid either in the produce of these
+      fields or by the work of their hands. Thus the lords of the manor became
+      the masters of the villagers, although they too were governed by law, and
+      were obliged to respect the rights of their tenants and servants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Saxon society was divided into two main divisions, the <i>eorl</i> and the
+      <i>ceorl</i>, the men of noble birth, and those of ignoble origin. The
+      chief man in the village was the manorial lord, a <i>thane</i>, who had
+      his demesne land, and his <i>gafol</i> land, or <i>geneat</i> land, which
+      was land held in villeinage, and cultivated by <i>geneats</i>, or persons
+      holding by service. These villein tenants were in two classes, the <i>geburs</i>,
+      or villeins proper, who held the yardlands, and the <i>cottiers</i>, who
+      had smaller holdings. Beneath these two classes there were the <i>theows</i>,
+      or slaves, made up partly of the conquered Britons, partly of captives
+      taken in war, and partly of freemen who had been condemned to this penalty
+      for their crimes, or had incurred it by poverty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were degrees of rank among Saxon gentlemen, as among those of
+      to-day. The thanes were divided into three classes: (i.) those of royal
+      rank (<i>thani regis</i>), who served the king in Court or in the
+      management of State affairs; (ii.) <i>thani mediocres</i>, who held the
+      title by inheritance, and corresponded to the lords of the manor in the
+      later times; (iii.) <i>thani minores</i>, or inferior thanes, to which
+      rank <i>ceorls</i> or merchants could attain by the acquisition of
+      sufficient landed property.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We can picture to ourselves the ordinary village life which existed in
+      Saxon times. The thane&rsquo;s house stood in the centre of the village,
+      not a very lordly structure, and very unlike the stately Norman castles
+      which were erected in later times. It was commonly built of wood, which
+      the neighbouring forests supplied in plenty, and had stone or mud
+      foundations. The house consisted of an irregular group of low buildings,
+      almost all of one story. In the centre of the group was the hall, with
+      doors opening into the court. On one side stood the kitchen; on the other
+      the chapel when the thane became a Christian and required the services of
+      the Church for himself and his household. Numerous other rooms with
+      lean-to roofs were joined on to the hall, and a tower for purposes of
+      defence in case of an attack. Stables and barns were scattered about
+      outside the house, and with the cattle and horses lived the grooms and
+      herdsmen, while villeins and <i>cottiers</i> dwelt in the humble, low,
+      shedlike buildings, which clustered round the Saxon thane&rsquo;s
+      dwelling-place. An illustration of such a house appears in an ancient
+      illumination preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 603. The lord and lady of
+      the house are represented as engaged in almsgiving; the lady is thus
+      earning her true title, that of &ldquo;loaf-giver,&rdquo; from which her
+      name &ldquo;lady&rdquo; is derived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link094" id="link094"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="094.jpg (76K)" src="images/094.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The interior of the hall was the common living-room for both men and
+      women, who slept on the reed-strewn floor, the ladies&rsquo;
+      sleeping-place being separated from the men&rsquo;s by the arras. The
+      walls were hung with tapestry, woven by the skilled fingers of the ladies
+      of the household. A peat or log fire burned in the centre of the hall, and
+      the smoke hid the ceiling and finally found its way out through a hole in
+      the roof. Arms and armour hung on the walls, and the seats consisted of
+      benches called &ldquo;mead-settles,&rdquo; arranged along the sides of the
+      hall, where the Saxon chiefs sat drinking their favourite beverage, mead,
+      or sweetened beer, out of the horns presented to them by the waiting
+      damsels. When the hour for dinner approached, rude tables were laid on
+      trestles, and forthwith groaned beneath the weight of joints of meat and
+      fat capons which the Saxon loved dearly. The door of the hall was usually
+      open, and thither came the bards and gleemen, who used to delight the
+      company with their songs and stories of the gallant deeds of their
+      ancestors, the weird legends of their gods Woden and Thor, their Viking
+      lays and Norse sagas, and the acrobats and dancers astonished them with
+      their strange postures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next to the thane ranked the <i>geburs</i>, who held land granted to them
+      by the thane for their own use, sometimes as much as one hundred and
+      twenty acres, and were required to work for the lord on the home farm two
+      or three days a week, or pay rent for their holdings. This payment
+      consisted of the produce of the land. They were also obliged to provide
+      one or more oxen for the manorial plough team, which consisted of eight
+      oxen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was also a strong independent body of men called <i>socmen</i>, who
+      were none other than our English yeomen. They were free tenants, who have
+      by their independence stamped with peculiar features both our constitution
+      and our national character. Their good name remains; English yeomen have
+      done good service to their country, and let us hope that they will long
+      continue to exist amongst us, in spite of the changed condition of English
+      agriculture and the prolonged depression in farming affairs, which has
+      tried them severely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link096" id="link096"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="096.jpg (57K)" src="images/096.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Besides the <i>geburs</i> and <i>socmen</i> there were the <i>cottiers</i>,
+      who had small allotments of about five acres, kept no oxen, and were
+      required to work for the thane some days in each week. Below them were the
+      <i>theows</i>, serfs, or slaves, who could be bought and sold in the
+      market, and were compelled to work on the lord&rsquo;s farm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Listen to the sad lament of one of this class, recorded in a dialogue of
+      AElfric of the tenth century:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What sayest thou, ploughman? How dost thou do thy work?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my lord, hard do I work. I go out at daybreak, driving the oxen
+      to field, and I yoke them to the plough. Nor is it ever so hard winter
+      that I dare loiter at home, for fear of my lord, but the oxen yoked, and
+      the ploughshare and the coulter fastened to the plough, every day must I
+      plough a full acre, or more.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hast thou any comrade?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have a boy driving the oxen with an iron goad, who also is hoarse
+      with cold and shouting.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What more dost thou in the day?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Verily then I do more. I must fill the bin of the oxen with hay,
+      and water them, and carry out the dung. Ha! Ha! hard work it is, hard work
+      it is! because <i>I am not free.</i>&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evidently the ploughman&rsquo;s want of freedom was his great hardship;
+      his work in ploughing, feeding, and watering his cattle, and in cleansing
+      their stable, was not harder than that of an ordinary carter in the
+      present day; but servitude galled his spirit, and made the work
+      intolerable. Let us hope that his lord was a kind-hearted man, and gave
+      him some cattle for his own, as well as some land to cultivate, and then
+      he would not feel the work so hard, or the winter so cold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Frequently men were thus released from slavery; sometimes also freemen
+      sold themselves into slavery under the pressure of extreme want. A man so
+      reduced was required to lay aside his sword and lance, the symbols of the
+      free, and to take up the bill and the goad, the implements of slavery, to
+      fall on his knees and place his head, in token of submission, under the
+      hands of his master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link098" id="link098"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="098.jpg (42K)" src="images/098.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Each trade was represented in the village community. There were the <i>faber</i>,
+      or smith, and the carpenter, who repaired the ironwork and woodwork of the
+      ploughs and other agricultural implements, and in return for their work
+      had small holdings among the tenants free from ordinary services. There
+      was the <i>punder</i>, or pound-man, who looked after the repair of the
+      fences and impounded stray cattle; the <i>cementarius</i>, or stonemason;
+      the <i>custos apium</i>, or bee-keeper, an important person, as much honey
+      was needed to make the sweetened ale, or mead, which the villagers and
+      their chiefs loved to imbibe; and the steward, or <i>prepositus</i>, who
+      acted on behalf of the lord, looked after the interests of the tenants,
+      and took care that they rendered their legal services. The surnames Smith,
+      Baker, Butcher, Carter, and many others, preserve the remembrance of the
+      various trades which were carried on in every village, and of the complete
+      self-dependence of the community.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have inherited many customs and institutions from our Saxon
+      forefathers, which connect our own age with theirs. In recent years we
+      have established parish councils in our villages. Formerly the pet theory
+      of politicians was centralisation; everything had to be done at one
+      centre, at one central office, and London became the head and centre of
+      all government. But recently politicians thought that they had discovered
+      a new plan for carrying on the internal affairs of the country, and the
+      idea was to leave each district to manage its own affairs. This is only a
+      return to the original Saxon plan. In every village there was a moot-hill,
+      or sacred tree, where the freemen met to make their own laws and arrange
+      their agricultural affairs. Here disputes were settled, plough lands and
+      meadow lands shared in due lot among the villagers, and everything
+      arranged according to the custom of the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our county maps show that the shires are divided into hundreds. This we
+      have inherited from our Saxon forefathers. In order to protect themselves
+      from their neighbours, the Saxon colonists arranged themselves in hundreds
+      of warriors. This little army was composed of picked champions, the
+      representatives of a hundred families; men who were ready in case of war
+      to uphold the honour of their house, and to fight for their hearths and
+      homes. These hundred families recognised a bond of union with each other
+      and a common inheritance, and ranged themselves under one name for general
+      purposes, whether for defence, administration of justice, or other
+      objects.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On a fixed day, three times a year, in some place where they were
+      accustomed to assemble&mdash;under a particular tree,[<a href="#linkb1">1</a>]
+      or near some river-bank&mdash;these hundred champions used to meet their
+      chieftain, and gather around him when he dismounted from his horse. He
+      then placed his spear in the ground, and each warrior touched it with his
+      own spear in token of their compact, and pledged himself to mutual
+      support. At this assembly criminals were tried, disputes settled, bargains
+      of sale concluded; and in later times many of these transactions were
+      inserted in the chartularies of abbeys or the registers of bishops, which
+      thus became a kind of register too sacred to be falsified. A large number
+      of the hundreds bear the name of some chieftain who once used to call
+      together his band of bearded, light-haired warriors and administer rude
+      justice beneath a broad oak&rsquo;s shade.[<a href="#linkb2">2</a>] Others
+      are named after some particular spot, some tree, or ford, or stone, or
+      tumulus, where the hundred court met.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our counties or shires were not formed, as is popularly supposed, by King
+      Alfred or other royal person by the dividing up of the country into
+      portions, but were the areas occupied by the original Saxon tribes or
+      kingdoms. Most of our counties retain to this day the boundaries which
+      were originally formed by the early Saxon settlers. Some of our counties
+      were old Saxon kingdoms&mdash;such as Sussex, Essex, Middlesex&mdash;the
+      kingdoms of the South, East, and Middle Saxons. Surrey is the Sothe-reye,
+      or south realm; Kent is the land of the Cantii, a Belgic tribe; Devon is
+      the land of the Damnonii, a Celtic tribe; Cornwall, or Corn-wales, is the
+      land of the Welsh of the Horn; Worcestershire is the shire of the Huiccii;
+      Cumberland is the land of the Cymry; Northumberland is the land north of
+      the Humber, and therefore, as its name implies, used to extend over all
+      the North of England. Evidently the southern tribes and kingdoms by
+      conquest reduced the size of this large county and confined it to its
+      present smaller dimensions. In several cases the name of the county is
+      derived from that of its chief town, <i>e.g.</i> Oxfordshire,
+      Warwickshire; these were districts which were conquered by some powerful
+      earl or chieftain, who held his court in the town, and called his newly
+      acquired property after its name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have seen the picture of an ordinary English village in early Saxon
+      times, the villeins and slaves working in the fields and driving their
+      oxen, and the thane dressed in his linen tunic and short cloak, his hose
+      bandaged to the knee with strips of cloth, superintending the farming
+      operations. We have seen the freemen and thanes taking an active part in
+      public life, attending the courts of the hundred and shire, as well as the
+      folk moot or parish council of those times, and the slave mourning over
+      his lack of freedom. But many other relics of Saxon times remain, and
+      these will require another chapter for their examination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb1" id="linkb1"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [1] Until the eighteenth century there stood a pollard oak in the parish
+      of Shelford, Berks, where the hundred court used to be held.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb2" id="linkb2"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [2] Other theories with regard to the origin of the hundred have been
+      suggested. Some writers maintain that the hundred was a district whence
+      the hundred warriors were derived, or a group of townships. But the Bishop
+      of Oxford in his <i>Constitutional History</i> states: &ldquo;It is very
+      probable that the colonists of Britain arranged themselves in hundreds of
+      warriors; it is not probable that the country was carved into equal
+      districts. The only conclusion that seems reasonable is that under the
+      name of geographical hundreds we have the variously sized <i>pagi</i>, or
+      districts, in which the hundred warriors settled, the boundaries of these
+      being determined by other causes.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link8" id="link8"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SAXON RELICS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Peculiarities of Saxon barrows&mdash;Their contents&mdash;Weapons&mdash;Articles
+      of personal adornment&mdash;Cremation&mdash;Saxon Cemeteries&mdash;Jutes&mdash;Saxons&mdash;
+      Angles&mdash;Religion of Saxons&mdash;British Church in Wales&mdash;Conversion
+      of Saxons&mdash;Saxon crosses&mdash;Whalley&mdash;St. Wilfrid&mdash;Ruthwell
+      cross&mdash; Bewcastle cross&mdash;Eyam cross&mdash;Ilkley cross&mdash;Hexham
+      cross&mdash;Cross at St. Andrew&rsquo;s, Bishop Auckland&mdash;Cheeping
+      crosses&mdash;Pilgrim crosses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The earth has preserved a vast store of relics of the Saxons, and for
+      these we must search in the barrows which contain their dead. There are
+      certain peculiarities which characterise these memorials of the race. The
+      larger tumuli, whether belonging to Celt or Roman, usually stand alone, or
+      in groups of not more than two or three, and were the monuments of
+      distinguished people; whereas the Saxon barrows form a regular cemetery,
+      each group being the common burying-place of the people in the district.
+      Another characteristic is the large number of articles which they contain.
+      Moreover it was the practice of the other races to lay the body on the
+      ground, and build up the chamber and mound above it. The Saxons on the
+      other hand laid the body in a deep grave before they began to construct
+      the barrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The body was usually stretched out on its back, but is sometimes found in
+      a sitting position, as in graves recently discovered on Lord Wantage&rsquo;s
+      estate, Berks. Coffins of hollowed trunks of trees were occasionally used,
+      but these were not common. If the dead man was a warrior, his weapons were
+      buried with him, and we find the head and spike of his spear, heads of
+      javelins, a long iron broad-sword, a long knife, occasionally an axe, and
+      over his breast the iron boss of his shield, the wooden part of which has
+      of course decayed away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <a name="link104" id="link104"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="104.jpg (31K)" src="images/104.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The articles of personal adornment are very numerous. Fibulae, or
+      brooches, and buckles, made of bronze, are very beautifully ornamented.
+      Gold fibulae of circular form are found in the Kentish barrows, frequently
+      ornamented with real or fictitious gems. Rings, bracelets, necklaces of
+      beads, pendants for the neck and ears, are very common. The beads are of
+      glass, or amber, or variegated clay. Hairpins with which the Saxon ladies
+      bound up their tresses, chatelaines with tweezers for removing superfluous
+      hairs, toothpicks, scissors, and small knives, are very frequent, and
+      combs made of bone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When cremation was used the ashes were deposited in an urn made of rude
+      earthenware without the help of a lathe. Drinking-vessels of glass of fine
+      and delicate workmanship, pointed or rounded at the bottom, are common.
+      From the construction of these cups it is evident that the Saxon allowed
+      no &ldquo;heel-taps.&rdquo; Bronze bowls, dishes, and basins are found in
+      Saxon barrows, and occasionally buckets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A pair of dice was found in a grave at Kingston Down, which indicates a
+      favourite pastime of the Saxons. The presence of a large number of Roman
+      coins shows that they used Roman money long after the legions had left our
+      shores. Sceattas, or Saxon silver coins, are also frequently discovered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many Saxon cemeteries have been discovered in various parts of England,
+      but a vast number have never been examined; and the careful inspection of
+      the contents of barrows must throw much light upon Saxon settlements in
+      England. Bede tells us that there were three different branches of this
+      race. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons settled
+      in Essex, the country of the East Saxons, Sussex, that of the South
+      Saxons, and Wessex, of the West Saxons. The Angles settled in East Anglia.
+      Now an examination of barrows shows that the Angles practised cremation
+      and urn burial, which was not so common amongst the Jutes and Saxons, and
+      the fibulae found in the tombs of these tribes differ considerably in
+      shape and size. The contents of these graves throw much light on the
+      history of the people, their customs and habits. The action of the plough
+      has often obliterated the traces of ancient barrows. It is advisable that
+      the position of all such mounds should be carefully noted and recorded,
+      and where possible excavations made which may help in settling many vexed
+      questions, and enable us to understand more fully the condition of the
+      pagan Saxon, ere the light of Christianity had dawned upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our names for the days of the week tell us of the gods of our Saxon
+      forefathers, whom they worshipped in their pagan and unregenerate state.
+      Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuisco&rsquo;s-day, Woden&rsquo;s-day, Thor&rsquo;s-day,
+      Frya&rsquo;s-day, Saeter&rsquo;s-day, link us on to the times when these
+      &ldquo;whelps from the kennels of barbarism,&rdquo; as the Britons loved
+      to call their conquerors, swept away the old British Church, and
+      established their heathen rites and customs. Their religion resembled that
+      of their Scandinavian neighbours. Each village had its sacred spot, some
+      clearing in the forest, a tree, or well, whither the people resorted to
+      pray to their gods, and practise superstitious rites and customs which
+      lingered long after the introduction of Christianity, and even still
+      survive. They had also a few temples whither the freemen came three times
+      a year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Driven out of England the ancient British Church found a refuge in the
+      wilds of Wales and Cornwall, where it lived on and flourished vigorously,
+      allied to the Churches of Ireland and Scotland, sending out missionaries
+      to the Continent of Europe, having schools and colleges, monasteries, and
+      numerous churches. Llancarvan, in Glamorganshire, was a celebrated seat of
+      learning; and all places named Bangor, such as Bangor-Iscaed, St. Asaph,
+      and many others, possessed schools and colleges. The village names of
+      numerous places in Wales and Cornwall record the labours of many earnest,
+      saintly men, who brought Christianity to the savage folk in these wild
+      regions. There are nearly five hundred names of these holy men in Wales
+      alone, whose memory is retained by this simple record; and Cornwall is
+      dotted over with churches dedicated to men and women whose names are
+      strange, and of whom we know nothing. History tells us of some of these
+      early saints and martyrs, of St. Alban, the first British martyr, who was
+      slain 303 A.D. during the Diocletian persecution in the city which bears
+      his name; of St. David, a Welsh prince, who followed the active life of
+      John the Baptist, and preached like him. The memory of early saints is
+      enshrined in the names, St. Ives, St. Neots, St. Bees, and in St. Edmund&rsquo;s
+      Bury, named after St. Edmund, who was taken prisoner by Ingvar the Viking,
+      and having been bound to a tree, was scourged, and served as a target for
+      the arrows of the Danes, being afterwards beheaded. All these record the
+      bravery and zeal of the holy men of old who loved their God, and for His
+      sake feared not to die.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing need be said of the conversion of the English. That is a story
+      which has been often told. The scene is again changed. The temples of
+      Woden and Thor at Canterbury and Godmundingham and elsewhere, with their
+      heathen altars and shrines and idols, have been changed into Christian
+      churches, and other houses of God have been raised in the various
+      kingdoms; while Paulinus, Berinus, Aidan, Winfrid, and other preachers,
+      travelled through the country, exhorting the people to accept the
+      Christian faith.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Memorials of these early Christian missionaries remain in many a village
+      churchyard. Often there stands near the village church an old stone cross,
+      its steps worn away by the rains and frosts of thirteen centuries; its
+      head has doubtless gone, broken off by the force of the gales, or by the
+      wild rage of human passion and Puritanical iconoclastic zeal; but it
+      preserves the memory of the first conversion of the Saxon villagers to
+      Christianity, and was erected to mark the spot where the people assembled
+      to hear the new preacher, and to consecrate it for this purpose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the life of St. Willibald we read that it was the custom of the Saxon
+      nation, on the estates of some of their nobles or great men, to erect, not
+      a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to God, beautifully
+      and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common use of daily
+      prayer. It is recorded also that St. Kentigern used to erect a cross in
+      any place where he had converted the people, and where he had been staying
+      for some time. Very probably the Saxon preacher would make use of the old
+      open-air meeting-place, where the pagan villagers used to worship Woden;
+      and thus the spots still used for public worship are in many cases the
+      same which used to echo with the songs of Thor and the prayers of pagan
+      Saxons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These crosses were the rallying-points for Christian congregations before
+      churches arose, and the bells in their turrets summoned the people to the
+      service of God. In Somersetshire alone there are two hundred relics of the
+      piety of our forefathers; and the North of England and Scotland are
+      especially rich in crosses. No two are ever quite similar. Some are of
+      simple design or character; but many have such beautiful carving and
+      scrollwork that we are astonished at the skill of the workmen who, with
+      very simple and rude tools, could produce such wonderful specimens of art.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pagan Saxons worshipped stone pillars; so in order to wean them from
+      their ignorant superstition, the Christian missionaries, such as St.
+      Wilfrid, erected these stone crosses, and carved upon them the figures of
+      the Saviour and His Apostles, displaying before the eyes of their hearers
+      the story of the cross written in stone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The North of England has very many examples of the zeal of these early
+      preachers of the faith, and probably most of them were fashioned by the
+      monks and followers of St. Wilfrid, who was Archbishop of York at the
+      beginning of the eighth century.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he travelled about his diocese a large body of monks and workmen
+      attended him; and amongst these were the cutters in stone who made the
+      crosses and erected them on the spots which Wilfrid consecrated to the
+      worship of God.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Whalley cross is earlier than the time of Wilfrid. It is one of the
+      crosses of Paulinus, who was one of the priests sent by Pope Gregory to
+      help Augustine in the work of converting the Saxons, and who became
+      Archbishop of York. Under the shadow of this very cross Paulinus, who came
+      to England in 601 A.D., preached nearly thirteen hundred years ago. Indeed
+      an old monkish writer wished to represent that Augustine himself came to
+      Whalley and erected the cross, which he calls &ldquo;St. Augustine&rsquo;s
+      Cross&rdquo;; but there is little doubt that Paulinus was the founder. In
+      Puritan times this and other relics of early faith suffered badly, and was
+      removed with two others from the churchyard, and used as a gatepost; but
+      the spoiler repented, and restored it once more to its old resting-place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But how did the founders learn to make such beautiful patterns and
+      designs? St. Wilfrid had travelled much; he had been to Rome and seen the
+      wonderful examples of Roman skill in the great city. The Romans had left
+      behind them in England their beautiful pavements, rich in designs, with
+      splendid borders of fine workmanship. These, doubtless, the monks copied
+      on parchment in the writing-rooms of their monasteries, and gave their
+      drawings to the monks in the stone-shed, who reproduced them in stone. The
+      only tool they had to produce all this fine and delicate work was the
+      pick, and this increases our wonder at the marvels they were able to
+      accomplish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is a famous cross at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire, which for a short
+      time formed part of the kingdom of Northumbria. Scenes from early
+      Christian history are portrayed, and these are surrounded by bands with
+      sentences in Latin describing them. The lowest panel is too defaced for us
+      to determine the subjects; on the second we see the flight into Egypt; on
+      the third figures of Paul, the first hermit, and Anthony, the first monk,
+      are carved; on the fourth is a representation of our Lord treading under
+      foot the heads of swine; and on the highest there is the figure of John
+      the Baptist with the Lamb. On the opposite side are the Annunciation, the
+      Salutation, and other scenes of gospel history. On the side of the cross
+      is some beautiful scrollwork, which shows a wonderful development of skill
+      and art.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In addition to the Latin sentences there are five stanzas of an
+      Anglo-Saxon poem of singular beauty. It is the story of the crucifixion
+      told in touching words by the cross itself, which narrates its own sad
+      tale from the time when it was a growing tree by the woodside, until at
+      length, after the body of the Lord had been taken down&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;The warriors left me there,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Standing
+      defiled with blood.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the head of the cross are inscribed the words, &ldquo;Caedmon made me.&rdquo;
+      This Caedmon was the holy monk, on whom the gift of writing verses was
+      bestowed by Heaven, who in the year 680 A.D. began to pour forth his songs
+      in praise of Almighty God, and told in Anglo-Saxon poetry the story of the
+      creation and the life of our Lord. The Bewcastle cross is somewhat similar
+      to that at Ruthwell. We see again the figure of our Lord standing on the
+      heads of swine, but the lower figure is represented with a hawk, the sign
+      of nobility, and is probably that of a person to whom the cross is a
+      memorial. The ornamentation on this cross is very perfect and beautifully
+      executed. The very beautiful cross at Eyam, in Derbyshire, differs both in
+      style and workmanship from almost any other. The shaft has evidently been
+      broken. In the panels of the head of the cross are figures of angels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes we find some very strange beasts carved on the old crosses. On
+      the cross at Ilkley we observe some of these curious animals with their
+      long tails interlacing. Sometimes the tail is wound round the creature&rsquo;s
+      body, and the idea of the artist was to represent the animal reduced to a
+      state of powerlessness. One forepaw is held up in sign of submission.
+      Above is a figure of our Lord triumphing over the powers of evil, and
+      these animals represent probably man&rsquo;s lower nature owning the
+      supremacy of the King of Heaven. On the other side of the cross are
+      figures of the four evangelists. The upper half of the figures alone
+      appears dressed in flowing garments; each is carrying a book; circles of
+      glory surround their heads, which are the symbols of the evangelists. St.
+      Matthew has a man&rsquo;s head; St. Mark a leopard&rsquo;s; St. Luke&rsquo;s
+      a calf&rsquo;s; and St. John an eagle&rsquo;s head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The crosses at Hexham, where Archbishop Wilfrid founded a monastery, are
+      very ancient. We are able to tell the date of these stones, for they were
+      placed at the head and feet of the grave of Bishop Acca, who was a
+      follower of St. Wilfrid, and accompanied him on his missionary journeys.
+      Acca succeeded Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham, and according to the old
+      chronicler Bede, &ldquo;being a most active man and great in the sight of
+      God and man, he much adorned and added to his church.&rdquo; Acca died in
+      738 A.D., and as the monastery of Hexham was soon destroyed, these crosses
+      must have been erected eleven hundred and sixty-three years ago.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cross at St. Andrew&rsquo;s, Bishop Auckland, is of much later date,
+      and the workmanship is not nearly so fine and delicate as in the earlier
+      crosses. The Saxons had deteriorated as a race just before the Normans
+      came, and although the cross still appears on the flat stone, the design
+      on the shaft of the cross merely represents a hunting scene; and a Saxon
+      bowman is shown shooting at some animals. The religious conceptions of an
+      earlier and purer time have disappeared. The moustache of the sportsman
+      also shows that the stone belonged to a period very near the Norman
+      Conquest, when that fashion of wearing the hair was in vogue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      England is remarkable for these specimens of ancient art. On the Continent
+      there are very few of these elaborately carved crosses; but it is
+      noteworthy that wherever the English or Irish missionaries went, they
+      erected these memorials of their faith. In Switzerland, where they founded
+      some monasteries, there are some very similar to those in England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are several other kinds of crosses besides those in churchyards.
+      There are market crosses, called &ldquo;cheeping&rdquo; crosses after the
+      Anglo-Saxon <i>cheap</i>, to buy, from which Cheapside, in London,
+      Chippenham and Chipping Norton derive their names. Some crosses are
+      &ldquo;pilgrim&rdquo; crosses, and were erected along the roads leading to
+      shrines where pilgrimages were wont to be made, such as the shrine of St.
+      Thomas a Becket at Canterbury, Glastonbury, Our Lady of Walsingham.
+      Sometimes they were erected at the places where the corpse rested on its
+      way to burial, as the Eleanor crosses at Waltham and Charing, in order
+      that people might pray for the soul of the deceased. Monks also erected
+      crosses to mark the boundaries of the property of their monastery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link114" id="link114"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/114.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="114h.jpg (26K)" src="images/114h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />OLD MARKET CROSS <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Time has dealt hardly with the old crosses of England. Many of them were
+      destroyed by the Puritans, who by the Parliamentary decree of 1643,
+      ordered that all altars and tables of stones, all crucifixes, images and
+      pictures of God and the saints, with all superstitious inscriptions,
+      should be obliterated and destroyed. In London, St. Paul&rsquo;s Cross,
+      Charing Cross, and that in Cheapside, were levelled with the ground, and
+      throughout the country many a beautiful work of art which had existed
+      hundreds of years shared the same fate. Place-names sometimes preserve
+      their memory, such as Gerard&rsquo;s Cross, in Buckinghamshire, Crosby,
+      Crossens, Cross Inn, Croston; these and many others record the existence
+      in ancient times of a cross, and probably beneath its shade the first
+      preachers of the gospel stood, when they turned the hearts of our heathen
+      ancestors, and taught them the holy lessons of the Cross.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link9" id="link9"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Saxon monasteries&mdash;Parish churches&mdash;Benedict Biscop&mdash;Aldhelm&mdash;St.
+      Andrew&rsquo;s, Hexham&mdash;Brixworth Church&mdash;Saxon architecture&mdash;Norman
+      architecture&mdash;Characteristics of the style&mdash;Transition Norman&mdash;
+      Early English style&mdash;Decorated style&mdash;Perpendicular style.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The early Saxon clergy lived in monasteries, where they had a church and a
+      school for the education of the sons of thanes. Monastic houses, centres
+      of piety and evangelistic zeal, sprang up, the abodes of religion,
+      civilisation, peace, and learning. They were the schools of culture,
+      sacred and profane, of industry and agriculture; the monks were the
+      architects, the painters, the sculptors, the goldsmiths of their time.
+      They formed the first libraries; they taught the young; they educated
+      women in convents, and by degrees dispersed the shades of ignorance,
+      idolatry, and barbarism, and reformed England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To record the number of these monastic houses which were erected in the
+      seventh and eighth centuries would require much space; and as our chief
+      concern is with the vestiges that remain in our English villages, and as
+      most of these Saxon monasteries were plundered and destroyed by the Danes,
+      or rebuilt on a grander scale by the Normans, we will not now enumerate
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the country had been evangelised by the itinerant monks and
+      preachers, the next process was to establish a church in every village,
+      and to provide a pastor to minister therein. Archbishop Theodore
+      encouraged the thanes to build and endow churches on their estates, and
+      introduced to this country the parochial system, by means of which all
+      villages could have the services of a resident pastor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the thane&rsquo;s house was not considered complete without its
+      chapel; and in the scattered hamlets and village communities churches
+      arose, rudely built of wood and roofed with thatch, wherein the Saxon <i>ceorls</i>
+      and <i>cottiers</i> loved to worship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great Churchmen of the day were not content with such humble
+      structures. They had travelled to Rome, and seen there some of the fine
+      buildings dedicated for divine service; so they determined to have the
+      like in their own country. One of these noble builders was Benedict
+      Biscop, founder of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. When he
+      built the former, he imported foreign artists from Gaul, who constructed
+      the monastery after the Roman style, and amongst other things introduced
+      glazed windows, which had never been seen in England before. Nor was his
+      new house bare and unadorned. He brought from Rome vast stores of church
+      furniture, many books, and the &ldquo;arch-chanter&rdquo; John, to teach
+      his monks the music and ritual of Rome.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, and first Bishop of Sherborne, was one of
+      the foremost church-builders of the time, and the beautiful churches at
+      Malmesbury, Sherborne, Bradford-on-Avon, Frome, and Wareham, owe their
+      erection to his instrumentality. Wilfrid also was one of the saintly
+      architects of the period. Here is a description of the church of St.
+      Andrew, at Hexham, taken from the writings of Richard, prior of the
+      monastery there:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The foundations of this church St. Wilfrid laid deep in the earth
+      for the crypts and oratories, and the passages leading to them, which were
+      then with great exactness contrived and built under ground. The walls,
+      which were of great length, and raised to an immense height, and divided
+      into three several stones or tiers, he supported by square and other kinds
+      of well-polished columns. Also, the walls, the capitals of the columns
+      which supported them, and the arch of the sanctuary, he decorated with
+      historical representations, imagery, and various figures of relief, carved
+      in stone, and painted with a most agreeable variety of colour. The body of
+      the church he compassed about with pentices and porticoes, which, both
+      above and below, he divided with great and inexpressible art, by partition
+      walls and winding stairs. Within the staircases, and above them, he caused
+      flights of steps and galleries of stone, and several passages leading from
+      them both ascending and descending, to be so artfully disposed, that
+      multitudes of people might be there, and go quite round the church,
+      without being seen by anyone below in the nave. Moreover in the several
+      divisions of the porticoes or aisles, he erected many most beautiful and
+      private oratories of exquisite workmanship; and in them he caused to be
+      placed altars in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Michael, St. John
+      the Baptist, and the holy Apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, with
+      all decent and proper furniture to each of them, some of which, remaining
+      at this day, appear like so many turrets and fortified places.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link118" id="link118"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="118.jpg (69K)" src="images/118.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Danish wars had a disastrous effect on such noble structures raised by
+      these monastic architects, as well as on many a rustic village church,
+      which fell a prey to the ruthless invading bands of pagan warriors. But
+      frequently, as we study the history written in the stonework of our
+      churches, we find amid the massive Norman walls traces of the work of
+      Saxon builders, an arch here, a column there, which link our own times
+      with the distant past when England was divided into eight kingdoms, or
+      when Danegeld was levied to buy off the marauding strangers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Roman buildings served as a model for our Saxon architects, and Roman
+      bricks were much used by them. Brixworth Church is perhaps the finest
+      specimen of our early Saxon churches. It has semicircular arches, made of
+      Roman bricks, springing from square massive piers with single abaci.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link120" id="link120"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="120.jpg (54K)" src="images/120.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will try to point out the distinguishing features of Saxon work, in
+      order that you may be able to detect the evidence of its existence in your
+      own village and neighbourhood. The walls are chiefly formed of rubble or
+      rag stone, having &ldquo;long and short work,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i> long
+      block of cut stone laid alternately horizontally and vertically, at the
+      corners of the building and in the jambs of the doors. Often narrow ribs
+      of masonry run vertically up the walls, and a string-course runs
+      horizontally. The churches of Barnack and Wittering in Northamptonshire,
+      St. Michael&rsquo;s, Oxford, and the towers of Earl&rsquo;s Barton are
+      good examples of this.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link121" id="link121"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="121.jpg (41K)" src="images/121.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Saxon doorways have semicircular arches, and sometimes the head is shaped
+      in the form of a triangle. The jambs are square-edged, the stone of the
+      arch is plain, and a hood or arch of ribwork projecting from the surface
+      of the wall surrounds the doorway. Belfry windows have two
+      semicircular-headed lights divided by a <i>baluster</i> shaft, <i>i.e.</i>
+      a column resembling a turned-wood pillar. This feature is quite peculiar
+      to Saxon architecture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Anglo-Saxon single-light windows have two splays, increasing in width from
+      the centre of the wall in which the window is placed. Norman windows have
+      only one splay on the internal side of the building. Saxon arches
+      separating the nave from the aisles and chancel are plain. There is no
+      sub-arch as in Norman buildings. They are often very small, sometimes only
+      five or six feet wide, and stand on square piers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link122" id="link122"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="122.jpg (38K)" src="images/122.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some Saxon churches have crypts, but few of them remain. The crypt made by
+      St. Wilfrid at Hexham, mentioned above, still exists, and also one at
+      Ripon Cathedral, in which there is a small window called &ldquo;Wilfrid&rsquo;s
+      needle.&rdquo; There is a legend about this which states that if a maid
+      goes through the &ldquo;needle,&rdquo; she will be married within the
+      year. Repton Church has a very perfect specimen of Saxon crypt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ground plan of Saxon churches differed. Many were cruciform, and
+      consisted of nave, transepts, and chancel. The east wall of the chancel
+      was often semicircular or polygonal, sometimes rectangular. The church of
+      St. Lawrence, at Bradford-on-Avon, mentioned by William of Malmesbury, is
+      a fine specimen of a Saxon church, and also the little church at Escombe,
+      Durham, and that of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, recently rescued from
+      being used as a farmstead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After the close of the thousandth year after the birth of Christ a new
+      impulse was given to church-building. People imagined that with that year
+      the millennium would arrive and the Second Advent take place. It would be
+      vain to build beautiful churches, if they were so soon to perish in the
+      general destruction of the world, as vain as to heap up treasure by means
+      of trade. Hence people&rsquo;s minds were unsettled, and the churches left
+      in ruins. But when the millenary had safely passed away, they began to
+      restore the fallen shrines, and build new churches, and the late Saxon or
+      early Norman style came into vogue. Canute was a great church-builder, and
+      Edward the Confessor rebuilt Westminster Abbey after the new fashion. Then
+      came William the Conqueror with his Norman builders, and soon nearly every
+      village had its church, which was constructed, according to William of
+      Malmesbury, <i>novo aedificandi genere</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will now notice the characteristics of early Norman work, traces of
+      which you may be able to recognise in your own church. The doorways are
+      very remarkable, profusely adorned with richly carved ornamental mouldings
+      and sculpture. The archways are round, and are composed of a succession of
+      receding arches, all elaborately carved. The doorway of Malmesbury Church
+      has eight arches, recessed one within the other. These arches are
+      supported by one or more shafts, which are sometimes carved. Above the
+      door and below the arch is the tympanum, covered with sculpture,
+      representing scriptural subjects, such as the figure of the Saviour in
+      allusion to His saying, &ldquo;I am the door,&rdquo; or the <i>Agnus Dei</i>,
+      or Adam and Eve, or such legendary or symbolical subjects as St. George
+      and the Dragon, or the Tree of Life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link124" id="link124"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="124.jpg (77K)" src="images/124.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Porches are not very common in early Norman structures, but several still
+      exist, notably at Malmesbury, Balderton, and Brixworth. The windows are
+      usually small and narrow, the jambs being splayed only on the inside of
+      the church. Three such windows placed together usually give light over the
+      altar. The walls of Norman buildings are thick and massive, and are often
+      faced with cut stone. String-courses or mouldings projecting from the
+      walls, run horizontally along them, and are often adorned with the zigzag
+      or other Norman patterns of ornament. The tower often stands between the
+      nave and the chancel, and is usually low and massive. In the eastern
+      counties are found many round towers made of flint masonry. Flat
+      buttresses are a sure sign of Norman work, as they were not used in any of
+      the subsequent styles of architecture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link125" id="link125"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="125.jpg (26K)" src="images/125.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The arches of the Norman builders are easily recognised. The piers in
+      country churches are nearly always cylindrical; but there are several
+      examples of massive square or octagonal piers, and also a number of round
+      columns attached, so as to form one pier. The <i>cushion</i> capital is
+      the most common form used in the Norman style. It is easily recognisable,
+      but difficult to be described; and perhaps the accompanying sketch will
+      enable the reader to discover a cushion capital when he sees it. The early
+      Norman builders loved to bestow much labour on their capitals; and while
+      preserving the usual cushion form, enriched them with much elaboration.
+      The <i>scallop</i> frequently occurs, and also the <i>volute</i>, which
+      was copied from the work of Roman builders, who themselves imitated the
+      Greek sculptures. Sometimes the capitals are elaborately carved with
+      figures of men, or animals, or foliage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <a name="link126" id="link126"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="126.jpg (99K)" src="images/126.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Norman arches resemble the doorways in having sub-arches recessed within
+      an outer arch, the intrados often being decorated with mouldings such as
+      the zigzag or the lozenge. The chancel arch is usually very elaborately
+      ornamented with various mouldings, which are very numerous and peculiar.
+      Those illustrated on the previous page are the most common.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link127" id="link127"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="127.jpg (52K)" src="images/127.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Normans were also much skilled in vaulting with stone, as the crypts
+      in our churches testify. Over the vaulted roof of the aisles was the <i>triforium</i>,
+      a kind of gallery between this roof and the external roof of the church.
+      Very few of the wooden roofs of Norman churches remain. The fonts are
+      large, square or cylindrical in shape, and are decorated with mouldings or
+      sculpture, often very elaborate but rudely executed. At Winchester
+      Cathedral the font is carved with a representation of the baptism of King
+      Cynigils at Dorchester. Other favourite subjects were the creation of man,
+      the formation of Eve, the expulsion from Paradise, Christ upon the cross,
+      the Four Evangelists, the baptism of our Lord, and legendary or symbolical
+      representations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link128" id="link128"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="128.jpg (16K)" src="images/128.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This style of architecture prevailed until about the middle of the twelfth
+      century, when the <i>Transition Norman</i> became in vogue. It is
+      characterised by the introduction of the pointed arch. Many conjectures as
+      regards its origin have been made. Some suppose that the idea of making
+      the arch pointed was suggested by the intersection of semicircular arches
+      in ornamental arcades. Others say that the Crusaders introduced it on
+      their return from the East, or that it was suggested by the Norman
+      vaulting, or from the form of the <i>vesica piscis</i>, the most ancient
+      of Christian symbols. The Cistercian monks were the first to introduce it
+      to this country, and the Cistercian abbeys of Fountains, Kirkstall,
+      Furness, and Tintern are noble specimens of Transition Norman work.
+      Religious zeal and enthusiasm are often reflected in the improved
+      condition of our churches, and the grand buildings of this period are
+      outward and visible signs of a great religious revival. Semicircular
+      arches, however, continued to be used for windows and for the triforium;
+      the capitals of the piers were decorated with foliage somewhat similar to
+      that used in a subsequent period.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link129" id="link129"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="129.jpg (37K)" src="images/129.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then arose the Early English style of architecture which flourished from
+      about the year 1175 to 1275, and is characterised by a gradual abandonment
+      of the heavy and massive features of the Norman style, and the adoption of
+      lighter and more elegant forms of construction and decoration. Salisbury
+      Cathedral, erected 1220-1260 A.D., is the most perfect example of this
+      period. The arches are pointed, and the piers supporting them are often
+      composed of an insulated cylindrical column surrounded by slender detached
+      shafts, all uniting together under one capital, and divided into parts by
+      horizontal bands. In small churches plain octagonal or circular piers are
+      frequently used, as in the succeeding style, from which they can only be
+      distinguished by the mouldings. Mouldings are often the surest guides in
+      helping us to ascertain the date of a building. We have already studied
+      the Norman mouldings. In this style they are composed of bold rounds and
+      deep hollows, usually plain, or ornamented with the dog-tooth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link130" id="link130"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="130.jpg (11K)" src="images/130.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lancet window is now introduced, at first of only one light, very
+      narrow and long, and differing from the Norman window in having a pointed
+      arch. At the east end of the chancel there are often three lancet windows,
+      the centre one higher than the rest, with one dripstone over them. The
+      first idea of window-tracery was the introduction of a plain
+      lozenge-shaped opening over a double lancet window, the whole being
+      covered by a single dripstone. From this simple arrangement it was not
+      difficult to develop the beautiful bar-tracery which came into vogue in
+      the subsequent period of English architecture. The capitals of the Early
+      English style are bell-shaped, at first quite plain, but subsequently
+      these are often covered with beautifully sculptured foliage of a very
+      graceful character. Circular windows at this period came into vogue in the
+      gables of churches. They were either plain or quatre-foiled. Norman towers
+      were sometimes capped with spires in the thirteenth century. The walls are
+      not so thick or massive as in the Norman period, and the buttresses are
+      stouter and more numerous, and project further from the wall. Flying
+      buttresses were also introduced at this period. We can generally
+      distinguish Early English work from that of the Norman style by its
+      lightness and elegance, as compared with the roughness and massiveness of
+      the latter; and its plainness and simplicity sufficiently distinguish it
+      from that of the Decorated period.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link131" id="link131"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="131.jpg (32K)" src="images/131.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Decorated style (1275-1375) which prevailed during the reigns of the
+      three Edwards was ushered in by a period of Transition, during which there
+      was gradually developed the most perfect style which English architectural
+      skill has ever attained. In the thirteenth century our builders were
+      striving to attain the highest forms of graceful design and artistic
+      workmanship. In the fourteenth their work reached perfection, while in the
+      fifteenth there was a marked decline in their art, which in spite of its
+      elaborate details lacked the beauty of the Decorated style.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link132" id="link132"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="132.jpg (93K)" src="images/132.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The arches of this period are usually wider, and are distinguished from
+      those of the Early English by the character of the mouldings. The
+      ball-flower, consisting of a ball inclosed by three or four leaves,
+      somewhat resembling a rosebud, is the favourite ornament, and a
+      four-leaved flower is often used. Roll mouldings, quarter, half, or
+      three-quarters round, frequently occur, and produce a very pleasing
+      effect. The form of the arch is in many instances changed, and the
+      graceful <i>ogee</i> arch is introduced. The piers are round or octagonal
+      in village churches, and in large churches are formed by a cluster of
+      cylindrical shafts, not detached as in the preceding period, but closely
+      united. The capitals are bell-shaped, and in large churches richly
+      sculptured. Few of the wooden roofs remain, as they have been superseded
+      in later times; but the marks of the old roofs may often be seen on the
+      eastern wall of the tower. The windows are larger than those of the
+      earlier style, and are filled with geometrical and flowing tracery of
+      great variety and beauty. Small windows have heads shaped in the ogee or
+      trefoil forms. Square-headed windows are not uncommon, especially in the
+      clerestory, and in monastic churches circular windows are frequently met
+      with. It is characteristic of this style that the carving is not so deep
+      as in the previous work. We find groups of shallow mouldings separated by
+      one cut deeper than the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link133a" id="link133a"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="133a.jpg (30K)" src="images/133a.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link133b" id="link133b"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="133b.jpg (38K)" src="images/133b.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link134" id="link134"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="134.jpg (35K)" src="images/134.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length the glories of the Decorated period pass away and are merged and
+      lost in the <i>Perpendicular</i> which held sway from 1375 to 1540. The
+      work is now more elaborate and richer, but lacks the majestic beauty of
+      the Decorated style. It is easy to distinguish Perpendicular windows. They
+      are larger than any which we have seen before; the mullions are carried
+      straight up through the head of the window; smaller mullions spring from
+      the heads of the principal lights, and thus the windows are broken up into
+      panel-like compartments, very different from the beautiful curves of the
+      Decorated style. Simple pointed arches are still in use, but gradually
+      they become flattened; and the arch, commonly known as the Tudor arch, is
+      a peculiar feature of this style. In village churches the mouldings of the
+      arch are often continued down the piers without any capital or shaft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link135" id="link135"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="135.jpg (42K)" src="images/135.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Piers are commonly formed from a square or parallelogram with the angles
+      fluted, having on the flat face of each side a semicyclindrical shaft. The
+      base mouldings are polygonal. The most common doorway is the Tudor arch
+      having a square head over it. The doors are often richly ornamented. There
+      are a large number of square-headed windows, and so proud were these
+      builders of their new style of window that they frequently inserted
+      Perpendicular windows in walls of a much earlier date. Hence it is not
+      always safe to determine the age of a church by an examination of the
+      windows alone. Panel-work tracery on the upper part of the interior walls
+      is a distinctive feature of this style.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link136a" id="link136a"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="136a.jpg (37K)" src="images/136a.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link136b" id="link136b"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="136b.jpg (16K)" src="images/136b.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The slope of the roof is much lower than before, and often the former
+      high-pitched roofs were at this period replaced by the almost flat roofs
+      prevalent in the fifteenth century. The parapets are often embattled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rose, the badge of the houses of York and Lancaster, is often used as
+      an ornamental detail, and also rows of the Tudor flower, composed of four
+      petals, frequently occur. One of the most distinctive mouldings is the <i>cavetto</i>,
+      a wide shallow hollow in the centre of a group of mouldings. Also we find
+      a peculiar wave, and a kind of double ogee moulding which are
+      characteristic of the style.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link137" id="link137"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="137.jpg (15K)" src="images/137.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Spires of this period are not very common, and usually spring from within
+      the parapet. The interiors of our churches were enriched at this time with
+      much elaborate decoration. Richly carved woodwork in screens, rood-lofts,
+      pulpits, and pews, sculptured sedilia and a noble reredos, and much
+      exuberance of decorative imagery and panel-work, adorned our churches at
+      this time, much of which was obliterated or destroyed by spoliators of the
+      Reformation period, the iconoclastic Puritans of the seventeenth century,
+      or the &ldquo;restorers&rdquo; of the nineteenth. However, we may be
+      thankful that so much remains to the present day of the work of our great
+      English church-builders, while we endeavour to trace the history of each
+      church written in stone, and to appreciate these relics of antiquity which
+      most of our villages possess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link10" id="link10"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE <i>DOMESDAY BOOK</i>
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The coming of the Normans&mdash;<i>Domesday Book</i>&mdash;Its objects&mdash;Its
+      contents&mdash; Barkham in <i>Domesday</i>&mdash;Saxon families&mdash;Saxons
+      who retained their estates&mdash;Despoiled landowners&mdash;Village
+      officers and artisans&mdash; Villeins&mdash;<i>Bordarii</i>&mdash;<i>Cottarii</i>&mdash;<i>Servi</i>&mdash;Socmen&mdash;Presbyter&mdash;Names
+      of Normans&mdash;The teaching of <i>Domesday</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a great stir in our English villages when the news was brought
+      to them that William of Normandy had landed in England, and intended to
+      fight for the English Crown. News travelled very slowly in those days.
+      First the villeins and the cottiers who were not fighting with their lord
+      heard that a great battle had been fought at Stamford Bridge, in
+      Yorkshire, in which their gallant King Harold had defeated his own brother
+      Tostig, aided by the King of Norway, Hardrada, and a large army. Then the
+      news reached them that William of Normandy had arrived, and that Harold
+      was marching night and day to meet him. Then they heard of the fatal
+      battle of Hastings; and when it was told them that their brave King Harold
+      was slain, and that William, the Norman, was the conqueror of England and
+      the acknowledged king of the country, all England groaned to hear the
+      fatal news. And then, after a few years, they found that their old lord
+      had been deprived of his estates, and a new, haughty, proud Norman, who
+      talked like a Frenchman, and laughed at their dear old Saxon language,
+      came and ruled over them. He brought Norman servants with him, who took
+      the best of the land, and made the Saxons do all the hard work on the
+      farm, treating them like slaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now we must examine a most valuable document which throws a
+      wonderfully clear light on the condition of England just before and after
+      the Conquest. I refer to the <i>Domesday Book</i>, or survey of the
+      country which William caused to be made. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler tells
+      us that after a great Council at Gloucester the king &ldquo;sent his men
+      over all England, into every shire, and caused to be ascertained how many
+      hundred hides were in the shire, or what land the king himself had, and
+      cattle within the land, or what dues he ought to have in twelve months
+      from the shire. Also he caused to be written how much land his archbishops
+      had, and his suffragan bishops, and abbots, and earls; and though I may
+      narrate somewhat prolixly, what or how much each man had who was a holder
+      of land in England, in land, or in cattle, and how much money it might be
+      worth. So very narrowly he caused it to be traced out, that there was not
+      one single hide, nor one yard of land, nor even, it is shame to tell,
+      though it seemed to him no shame to do, an ox, nor a cow, nor a swine was
+      left that was not set down in his writ. And all the writings were brought
+      to him afterwards.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The commissioners appointed by the king, among whom were Remigius, Bishop
+      of Lincoln, and Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, were to inquire the
+      following details concerning each parish:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Its name. Who held it in the time of King Edward the Confessor. The
+      present possessor. Number of hides in the manor, number of ploughs, of
+      homagers, villeins, cottars, free tenants, tenants in socage; how much
+      wood, meadow, and pasture; number of mills and fishponds; the value in the
+      time of the last king; and its present value.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such a survey was of immense value. Its object, according to the king, was
+      that every man might know and be satisfied with his rightful possessions,
+      and not with impunity usurp the property of others. But it was also of
+      great service to the king, so that he might know who were his vassals, the
+      amount of taxation which he could draw from them, and the actual strength
+      of his new kingdom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The commissioners performed their work with much care and exactness. The
+      survey is wonderfully complete, and was compiled in a very short time. It
+      is of great value to the historians of subsequent ages. The writing of the
+      book is very clear and beautiful, the abbreviations alone presenting some
+      difficulty to an unaccustomed reader. No illuminations adorn the text. At
+      the head of each page the name of the county is written in red ink. The
+      book is preserved in an ancient chest in the Public Record Office, where
+      it was removed from the Chapter House at Westminster.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As an example we may take the <i>Domesday</i> description of the parish of
+      Barkham, which runs as follows:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;IN CERLEDONE HD.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rex ten in dnio Bercheha. AElmer Tenuit de rege. E. Te 7 m &nbsp;iii
+      hid. Tra e iii car. In dnio e una, 7 vi uilli 7 iiii bord cu iii car. Ibi
+      v. ac pti. Silua de XL pore. Valuit iiii lib. T.R.E. 7 m: iii. lib.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      TRANSLATION.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the hundred of Charlton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The king holds Barkham in demesne. AElmer held it of King Edward.
+      Then, as now, it was rated for three hides. The land is three ploughlands.
+      In demesne there is one ploughland. There are six villeins, four borderers
+      with three ploughs. There are five acres of pasture. Wood for the
+      pasturage of forty hogs. It was worth 4l. in the time of King Edward,
+      afterwards, and now, 3l.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      King Edward here mentioned was Edward the Confessor. A hide, when it is
+      used as a measure of land, may be taken at about one hundred and twenty
+      acres. A ploughland was as much land as one plough with oxen could plough
+      in a year. The villeins were men who tilled their lord&rsquo;s land, and
+      in return for certain services had holdings under him. The borderers were
+      cottagers who also worked for their lord and held smaller holdings, from
+      one to ten acres. In other entries we find the number of serfs recorded,
+      and also mention of the hall of the lord of the manor, where the manorial
+      courts were held, the church, the priest&rsquo;s house, the names of
+      landowners and tenants, the mill, and of the various officers and artisans
+      who made up the village community.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Domesday</i> tells us of the old Saxon families, many of whom lost
+      their estates when the Conqueror came, and were supplanted by the
+      favourites of the new king. Some of them contrived to weather the storm
+      and retain their lands. Almer, or Almar, the lord of Barkham, who
+      succeeded his brother Stigand as Bishop of Elmham in 1047, when the latter
+      became archbishop, was among the number of the dispossessed, and probably
+      found shelter with many of his compatriots in the cloister. Several of
+      William&rsquo;s Norman adventurers married the heiresses of the old Saxon
+      gentry, and thus became possessed of great estates. Thus Robert D&rsquo;Oili
+      married the daughter of Wigod, lord of Wallingford, and soon gained
+      possession of his father-in-law&rsquo;s property.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the names of the fortunate Saxons who retained their estates are
+      few in comparison with those who were dispossessed. We find Edgar
+      Atheling, real heir to the throne, retaining a small estate; but he was a
+      feeble prince, and therefore not to be feared by William. His sister
+      Cristina had also land in Oxfordshire. Bishop Osbern, of Exeter, a kinsman
+      of the late king, also held his estates; and amongst the list we find
+      Seward the huntsman, of Oxfordshire; Theodric the goldsmith; Wlwi the
+      huntsman, of Surrey; Uluric the huntsman, of Hampshire, who were not
+      deprived of their lands, their occupations being useful to the king.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The list of despoiled landowners is a long one, and need not here be
+      recorded. One Brictric was very unfortunate. When ambassador to Baldwin of
+      Flanders he refused to marry the count&rsquo;s daughter Maud. The slighted
+      lady became the Conqueror&rsquo;s consort, and in revenge for her despised
+      love caused Brictric to be imprisoned and his estates confiscated, some of
+      which were given to the queen. The luckless relations and connections of
+      the late royal house were consistently despoiled, amongst them Editha, the
+      beautiful queen of King Edward, and daughter of Earl Godwin, of whom it
+      was written: &ldquo;<i>Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwynus Editham</i>&rdquo;;
+      and Gida, the mother of Harold; Godric, his son; and Gwith, his brother.
+      Harold himself&mdash;the earl, as he is called, and not the king, who
+      fought and died at Senlac, if he did not, as the romance states, end his
+      life as a holy hermit at Chester&mdash;had vast estates all over England,
+      which went to enrich William&rsquo;s hungry followers. Hereward the Wake,
+      the English hero, also held in pre-Norman days many fat manors. Few of the
+      Saxon landowners were spared, and it is unnecessary here to record the
+      names of the Uchtreds, Turgots, Turchils, Siwards, Leurics, who held lands
+      &ldquo;in the time of King Edward,&rdquo; but whose place after Domesday
+      knows them no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Domesday</i> tells us also the names of the officers and artisans who
+      played important parts in the old village communities. The <i>villani</i>,
+      or villeins, corresponding to the Saxon <i>ceorls</i>, were the most
+      important class of tenants in villeinage, and each held about thirty acres
+      in scattered acre or half-acre strips, each a furlong in length and a
+      perch or two in breadth, separated by turf balks. The villein thus
+      supported himself and his family, and in return was bound to render
+      certain services to the lord of the manor, to work on the home farm, and
+      provide two or more oxen for the manorial plough-team. He was not a free
+      tenant, could acquire no property, and his lord&rsquo;s consent was needed
+      for the marriage of his daughters. But the law protected him from unjust
+      usage; his holdings were usually regranted to his son. He could obtain
+      freedom in several ways, and by degrees acquired the rights and privileges
+      of a free tenant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Next to the villeins were the <i>bordarii</i>, who lived in <i>bords</i>
+      or cottages, <i>i.e.</i> boarded or wooden huts, and ranked as a lower
+      grade of villeins. They held about five acres, but provided no oxen for
+      the manorial plough-team. Below them were the <i>cottarii</i>, or
+      cottiers, who were bound to do domestic work and supply the lord&rsquo;s
+      table. They corresponded to the modern labourer, but lacked his freedom.
+      The lowest class of all were the <i>servi</i>, or serfs, who corresponded
+      to the Saxon <i>theows</i>. In Norman times their condition was greatly
+      improved; they mingled with the cottiers and household servants, and
+      gradually were merged with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The <i>sochemanni</i>, or socmen, our yeomen, who abounded chiefly in the
+      Danish district of England, were inferior landowners who had special
+      privileges, and could not be turned out of their holdings, though they
+      rendered certain services to the lord of the manor, and in this respect
+      differed little from the villeins. <i>Domesday Book</i> also mentions a
+      class of men called <i>burs</i> or <i>geburs</i>, who were the same as <i>coliberti</i>;
+      also the <i>commendati</i>, who received privileges in return for services
+      rendered to the lord of the manor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Each village community was self-contained, and had its own officers.
+      Although <i>Domesday Book</i> was not compiled in order to ascertain the
+      condition of the Church and its ministers, and frequently the mention of a
+      parish church is omitted where we know one existed, the <i>presbyter</i>,
+      or priest, is often recorded. Archbishop Egbert&rsquo;s <i>Excerptiones</i>
+      ordained that &ldquo;to every church shall be allotted one complete
+      holding (mansa), and that this shall be free from all but ecclesiastical
+      services.&rdquo; According to the Saxon laws every tenth strip of land was
+      set aside for the Church, and <i>Domesday</i> shows that in many villages
+      there was a priest with his portion of land set apart for his support.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there was a <i>prepositus</i>, bailiff or reeve, who collected the
+      lord&rsquo;s rents, assisted by a <i>bedellus</i>, beadle or
+      under-bailiff. <i>Bovarii</i>, or oxherds, looked after the plough-teams.
+      The <i>carpentarius</i>, or carpenter; the <i>cementarius</i>, or
+      bricklayer; the <i>custos apium</i>, or beekeeper; the <i>faber</i>, or
+      smith; the <i>molinarius</i>, or miller&mdash;were all important officers
+      in the Norman village; and we have mention also of the <i>piscatores</i>
+      (fishermen), <i>pistores</i> (bakers), <i>porcarii</i> (swineherds), <i>viccarii</i>
+      (cowmen), who were all employed in the work of the village community.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Domesday Book</i> enables us to form a fairly complete picture of our
+      villages in Norman and late Saxon times. It tells us of the various
+      classes who peopled the village and farmed its fields. It gives us a
+      complete list of the old Saxon gentry and of the Norman nobles and
+      adventurers who seized the fair acres of the despoiled Englishmen. Many of
+      them gave their names to their new possessions. The Mandevilles settled at
+      Stoke, and called it Stoke-Mandeville; the Vernons at Minshall, and called
+      it Minshall-Vernon. Hurst-Pierpont, Neville-Holt, Kingston-Lysle,
+      Hampstead-Norris, and many other names of places compounded of Saxon and
+      Norman words, record the names of William&rsquo;s followers, who received
+      the reward of their services at the expense of the former Saxon owners. <i>Domesday
+      Book</i> tells us how land was measured in those days, the various tenures
+      and services rendered by the tenants, the condition of the towns, the
+      numerous foreign monasteries which thrived on our English lands, and
+      throws much light on the manners and customs of the people of this country
+      at the time of its compilation. <i>Domesday Book</i> is a perfect
+      storehouse of knowledge for the historian, and requires a lifetime to be
+      spent for its full investigation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link147" id="link147"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="147.jpg (76K)" src="images/147.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link11" id="link11"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      NORMAN CASTLES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Castle-building&mdash;Description of Norman castle&mdash;A Norman
+      household&mdash; Edwardian castles&mdash;Border castles&mdash;Chepstow&mdash;Grosmont&mdash;Raglan&mdash;Central
+      feature of feudalism&mdash;Fourteenth-century castle&mdash;Homes of
+      chivalry&mdash; Schools of arms&mdash;The making of a knight&mdash;Tournaments&mdash;Jousts&mdash;Tilting
+      at a ring&mdash;Pageants&mdash;&ldquo;Apollo and Daphne&rdquo;&mdash;Pageants
+      at Sudeley Castle and Kenilworth&mdash;Destruction of castles&mdash;Castles
+      during Civil War period.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many an English village can boast of the possession of the ruins of an
+      ancient castle, a gaunt rectangular or circular keep or donjon, looking
+      very stern and threatening even in decay, and mightily convincing of the
+      power of its first occupants. The new masters did not feel very safe in
+      the midst of a discontented and enraged people; so they built these huge
+      fortresses with strong walls and gates and moats. Indeed before the
+      Conquest the Norman knights, to whom the weak King Edward the Confessor
+      granted many an English estate, brought with them the fashion of building
+      castles, and many a strong square tower began to crown the fortified
+      mounds. Thence they could oppress the people in many ways, and the writers
+      of the time always speak of the building of castles with a kind of
+      shudder. After the Conquest, especially during the regency of William&rsquo;s
+      two lieutenants, Bishop Odo and Earl William Fitz-osbern, the Norman
+      adventurers who were rewarded for their services by the gift of many an
+      English manor, built castles everywhere. The wretched men of the land were
+      cruelly oppressed by forced labour in erecting these strongholds, which
+      were filled &ldquo;with devils and evil men.&rdquo; Over a thousand
+      castles were built in nineteen years, and in his own castle each earl or
+      lord reigned as a small king, coining his own money, making his own laws,
+      having power of life and death over his dependants, and often using his
+      power most violently and oppressively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link150" id="link150"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="150.jpg (66K)" src="images/150.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The original Norman castle consisted of a keep, &ldquo;four-square to
+      every wind that blew,&rdquo; standing in a bailey court. It was a mighty
+      place with walls of great thickness about one hundred and fifty feet high.
+      It contained several rooms, one above the other. A deep well supplied the
+      inhabitants with water. Spiral stone steps laid in the thickness of the
+      wall led to the first floor where the soldiers of the garrison resided.
+      Above this was the hall, with a chimney and fireplace, where the lord of
+      the castle and his guests had their meals, and in the thickness of the
+      wall there were numerous chambers used as sleeping-apartments and
+      garderobes, and the existence of a piscina in one of these shows that it
+      was a small chapel or oratory. The upper story was divided by wooden
+      partitions into small sleeping-rooms; and unlike our modern houses, the
+      kitchen was at the top of the keep, and opened on the roof.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Descending some stone steps which led from the ground floor in ancient
+      time we should visit the dungeons, dark, gloomy, and dreadful places,
+      where deep silence reigns, only broken by the groans of despairing
+      captives in the miserable cells. In one of these toads and adders were the
+      companions of the captive. Another poor wretch reposed on a bed of sharp
+      flints, while the torture-chamber echoed with the cries of the victims of
+      mediaeval cruelty, who were hanged by their feet and smoked with foul
+      smoke, or hung up by their thumbs, while burning rings were placed on
+      their feet. In Peak Castle, Derbyshire, a poor, simple squire, one Godfrey
+      Rowland, was confined for six days without either food or drink, and then
+      released from the dungeon with his right hand cut off. In order to extract
+      a heavy ransom, to obtain lands and estates, to learn the secrets of
+      hidden treasure, the most ingenious and devilish tortures were inflicted
+      in these terrible abodes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link152" id="link152"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="152.jpg (97K)" src="images/152.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The same style of castle-building continued for a century and a half after
+      the Norman Conquest. It is possible to distinguish the later keeps by the
+      improved and fine-jointed ashlar stonework, by the more frequent use of
+      the stone of the district, instead of that brought from Caen, by the ribs
+      upon the groins of the vaulting of the galleries and chambers in the
+      walls, and by the more extensive use of ornaments in the bosses, windows,
+      doors, and fireplaces. The style of the decoration approaches the Early
+      English character.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The walls of the keep were not the only protection of the fortress. A moat
+      surrounds the whole castle, crossed by a drawbridge, protected on the side
+      remote from the castle by a barbican. High walls with an embattled parapet
+      surround the lower court, or ballium, which we enter by a gate defended by
+      strong towers. A portcullis has to be raised, and a heavy door thrown
+      back, before we can enter; while above in the stone roof of the archway
+      there are holes through which melted lead and pitch can be poured upon our
+      heads, if we attempt to enter the castle as assailants. In the lower court
+      are the stables, and the mound where the lord dispenses justice, and where
+      criminals and traitors are executed. Another strong gateway flanked by
+      towers protects the inner court, on the edge of which stands the keep
+      which frowns down upon us as we enter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An immense household was supported in every castle. Not only were there
+      men-at-arms, but also cooks and bakers, brewers and tailors, carpenters,
+      smiths, masons, and all kinds of craftsmen; and all the crowd of workers
+      had to be provided with accommodation by the lord of the castle. Hence a
+      building, in the form of a large hall, was erected sometimes of stone,
+      usually of wood, in the lower or upper court for these soldiers and
+      artisans, where they slept and had their meals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A new type of castle was introduced during the reigns of the three
+      Edwards. The stern, massive, and high-towering keep was abandoned, and the
+      fortifications arranged in a concentric fashion. A fine hall with kitchens
+      occupied the centre of the fortress; a large number of chambers was added,
+      and the inner and outer courts both defended by walls, as we have already
+      described, were introduced. The Edwardian castles of Caernarvon and
+      Beaumaris belong to this type of fortress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link155" id="link155"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/155.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="155h.jpg (34K)" src="images/155h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />BROUGHTON CASTLE <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The border counties of Wales are remarkable for the number and beauty of
+      their ancient castles. On the site of British earthworks the Romans
+      established their camps. The Saxons were obliged to erect their rude
+      earthen strongholds in order to keep back the rebellious Welsh, and these
+      were succeeded by Norman keeps. Monmouthshire is famous for its castles;
+      out of the eleven hundred erected in Norman times twenty-five were built
+      in that county. There is Chepstow Castle, with its early Norman gateway
+      spanned by a circular arch flanked by round towers. In the inner court
+      there are the gardens and ruins of a grand hall, and in the outer the
+      ruins of a chapel with evidences of beautifully groined vaulting, and also
+      a winding staircase leading to the battlements. In the dungeon of the old
+      keep at the south-east corner of the inner court Roger de Britolio, Earl
+      of Hereford, was imprisoned for rebellion against the Conqueror, and in
+      later times Henry Martin, the regicide, lingered as a prisoner for thirty
+      years, employing his enforced leisure in writing a book in order to prove
+      that it is not right for a man to be governed by one wife. Then there is
+      Grosmont Castle, the fortified residence of the Earl of Lancaster;
+      Skenfrith Castle; White Castle, the <i>Album Castrum</i> of the Latin
+      records, the Landreilo of the Welsh, with its six towers, portcullis, and
+      drawbridge flanked by massive tower, barbican, and other outworks; and
+      Raglan Castle, with its splendid gateway, its Elizabethan banqueting-hall
+      ornamented with rich stone tracery, its bowling-green, garden terraces,
+      and spacious courts, an ideal place for knightly tournaments in ancient
+      days. Raglan is associated with the gallant defence of the castle by the
+      Marquis of Worcester in the Civil War.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ancient castles of England were the central feature of feudal society.
+      They were the outward and visible sign of that system. M. Guizot in his <i>History
+      of Civilisation</i> says, &ldquo;It was feudalism which constructed them;
+      their elevation was, so to speak, the declaration of its triumph.&rdquo;
+      On the Continent they were very numerous long before castle-building
+      became the fashion in England, and every suzerain saw with displeasure his
+      vassal constructing his castle; for the vassal thus insured for himself a
+      powerful means of independence. The Norman barons in the troublous times
+      of Stephen lived a life of hunting and pillage; they were forced to have a
+      fortified retreat where they might shut themselves up after an expedition,
+      repel the vengeance of their foes, and resist the authorities who
+      attempted to maintain order in the country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Others followed the example of the barons. The townsfolk fortified their
+      towns, monks their monasteries; and even within the town-walls many houses
+      had their towers and gates and barriers in order to keep back troublesome
+      visitors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here is a description of a French castle in the fourteenth century:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;First imagine to yourself a superb position, a steep mountain,
+      bristling with rocks, furrowed with ravines and precipices; upon the
+      declivity is the castle. The small houses which surround it set off its
+      grandeur; the river seems to turn aside with respect; it forms a large
+      semicircle at its feet. This castle must be seen when, at sunrise, the
+      outward galleries glimmer with the armour of the sentinels, and the towers
+      are shown all brilliant with their large new gratings. Those high
+      buildings must be seen, which fill those who defend them with courage, and
+      with fear those who should be tempted to attack them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The door presents itself covered with heads of boars or wolves,
+      flanked with turrets and crowned with a high guard-house. Enter, there are
+      three inclosures, three moats, three drawbridges to pass. You find
+      yourself in a large square court, where are cisterns, and on the right and
+      left the stables, hen-houses, pigeon-houses, coach-houses; the cellars,
+      vaults, and prisons are below; above are the dwelling-apartments; above
+      these are the magazines, larders, or salting-rooms, and arsenals. All the
+      roofs are bordered with machicolations, parapets, guard-walks, and
+      sentry-boxes. In the middle of the court is the donjon, which contains the
+      archives and the treasure. It is deeply moated all round, and can only be
+      entered by a bridge, almost always raised. Although the walls, like those
+      of the castle, are six feet thick, it is surrounded up to half its height
+      with a chemise, or second wall, of large cut stones. This castle has just
+      been rebuilt. There is something light, fresh, laughing about it, not
+      possessed by the heavy massive castles of the last century.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One would scarcely expect to hear a castle described as &ldquo;light,
+      fresh, laughing&rdquo;; yet so a fourteenth-century castle seemed to eyes
+      accustomed to the gloomy, stern, and massive structures of the eleventh
+      and twelfth centuries. In these no beauty or display of art was attempted.
+      Defence and safety were the only objects sought after in the construction
+      of our ancient strongholds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Strange as it may seem, these castles were the birthplaces and homes of
+      chivalry. Women were raised to an exalted position, and honoured and
+      reverenced by knights and warriors. A prize won in a tournament was
+      esteemed of vastly greater value, if it were bestowed upon the successful
+      combatant by some lady&rsquo;s hand. &ldquo;Queens of Beauty&rdquo;
+      presided at these contests of knightly skill and daring. The statutes and
+      ordinances for jousts and tournaments made by John Tiptoft, Earl of
+      Worcester, at the command of Edward IV., conclude thus: &ldquo;Reserving
+      always to the queenes highness and the ladyes there present, the
+      attributing and gift of the prize after the manner and forme accustomed.&rdquo;
+      If a knight was guilty of any impropriety of conduct, he was soundly
+      beaten by the other knights, in order to teach him to respect the honour
+      of the ladies and the rights of chivalry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the days of chivalry a knight vowed in somewhat extravagant language
+      eternal love to his particular lady fair, wore her glove or her guerdon on
+      his helmet, and swore to protect it with his life. Family ties and
+      domestic joys were cultivated. The wife of a knight was often herself a
+      warrior. Fair ladies have donned armour and followed their lords to the
+      Crusades; and often during her lord&rsquo;s absence at the wars in France,
+      or Scotland, or the Holy Land, the wife would defend his fief and castle,
+      and sometimes was called upon to withstand a siege, when some neighbouring
+      lord coveted the fair estates of the absent warrior, and sought to obtain
+      them by force of arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The castles also were schools, not of learning, but of arms and chivalry,
+      where the sons of vassals were trained in all the qualites that become a
+      knight. The sons of vassals were sent to the castle of the suzerain to be
+      brought up with his sons. Numerous reasons have been assigned for the
+      origin of this custom, which we need not now enumerate. The practice,
+      however, became general, and concerning it an ancient work entitled <i>L&rsquo;ordre
+      de la Chevalerie</i> records:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is fitting that the son of the knight, while he is a squire,
+      should know how to take care of a horse; and it is fitting that he should
+      serve before and be subject to his lord; for otherwise he will not know
+      the nobleness of his lordship when he shall be a knight; and to this end
+      every knight shall put his son in the service of another knight, to the
+      end that he may learn to carve at table and to serve, and to arm and
+      apparel a knight in his youth. According as to the man who desires to
+      learn to be a tailor or a carpenter, it is desirable that he should have
+      for a master one who is a tailor or a carpenter; it is suitable that every
+      nobleman who loves the order of chivalry, and wishes to become and be a
+      good knight, should first have a knight for a master.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the young squire attained the age of manhood he was admitted to the
+      honour of knighthood, which was bestowed upon him with much ceremony and
+      dignity. First he was divested of his garments and put in a bath, a symbol
+      of purification; then they clothed him in a white tunic, a symbol of
+      purity, in a red robe, a symbol of the blood which he was bound to shed in
+      the service of the faith; and then in a close black coat, a reminder of
+      the death which awaited him. Then he was obliged to observe a fast for
+      twenty-four hours, and in the evening entered the church and there passed
+      the night in prayer. On the morrow after confession and the receiving of
+      Holy Communion, he heard a sermon upon the duties of knighthood, and then
+      advancing to the altar presented his sword to the priest, who blessed it.
+      Kneeling before his lord he was asked, &ldquo;With what design do you
+      desire to enter into the order? If it is in order to become rich, to
+      repose yourself, and to be honoured without doing honour to chivalry, you
+      are unworthy of it, and would be to the order of chivalry what the
+      simoniacal priest is to the prelacy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His answers being satisfactory, knights, or ladies, advance and clothe him
+      with the equipments of his order, spurs, the hauberk or coat of mail, the
+      cuirass, the vambraces and gauntlets, and lastly his sword. Then his lord
+      gives him three blows of a sword on his shoulder, saying, &ldquo;In the
+      name of God, of Saint Michael, and Saint George I dub thee knight,&rdquo;
+      adding, &ldquo;Be brave, adventurous, and loyal.&rdquo; He then mounts his
+      horse, caracoles about, brandishing his lance, and afterwards in the
+      courtyard he repeats the performances before the people ever eager to take
+      part in the spectacle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link161" id="link161"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="161.jpg (80K)" src="images/161.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young knight was now able to take part in the jousts, and all kinds of
+      chivalric displays, which were common and frequent. Many castles have,
+      like that at Carisbrooke, a tilting-ground within the walls; but great and
+      important tournaments were held outside the castle. Richard I. appointed
+      five special places for the holding of tournaments, namely between Sarum
+      and Wilton, between Stamford and Wallingford, between Warwick and
+      Kenilworth, between Brakely and Mixeberg, and between Blie and Tykehill.
+      There was much pomp and ceremony attached to these knightly exercises. The
+      lists, as the barriers were called which inclosed the scene of combat,
+      were superbly decorated, and surrounded by pavilions belonging to the
+      champions, ornamented with their arms and banners. The seats reserved for
+      the noble ladies and gentlemen who came to see the fight were hung with
+      tapestry embroidered with gold and silver. Everyone was dressed in the
+      most sumptuous manner; the minstrels and heralds were clothed in the
+      costliest garments; the knights who were engaged in the sports and their
+      horses were most gorgeously arrayed. The whole scene was one of great
+      splendour and magnificence, and, when the fight began, the shouts of the
+      heralds who directed the tournament, the clashing of arms, the clang of
+      trumpets, the charging of the combatants, and the shouts of the
+      spectators, must have produced a wonderfully impressive and exciting
+      effect upon all who witnessed the strange spectacle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The regulations and laws of the tournament were very minute. When many
+      preliminary arrangements had been made with regard to the examination of
+      arms and helmets and the exhibition of banners, etc., at ten o&rsquo;clock
+      on the morning of the appointed day, the champions and their adherents
+      were required to be in their places. Two cords divided the combatants, who
+      were armed with a pointless sword and a truncheon hanging from their
+      saddles. When the word was given by the lord of the tournament, the cords
+      were removed, and the champions charged and fought until the heralds
+      sounded the signal to retire. It was considered the greatest disgrace to
+      be unhorsed. A French earl once tried to unhorse our King Edward I., when
+      he was returning from Palestine, wearied by the journey. The earl threw
+      away his sword, cast his arms around the king&rsquo;s neck, and tried to
+      pull him from his horse. But Edward put spurs to his horse and drew the
+      earl from the saddle, and then shaking him violently, threw him to the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The joust (or just) differed from the tournament, because in the former
+      only lances were used, and only two knights could fight at once. It was
+      not considered quite so important as the grand feat of arms which I have
+      just described, but was often practised when the more serious encounter
+      had finished. Lances, or spears without heads of iron, were commonly used,
+      and the object of the sport was to ride hard against one&rsquo;s adversary
+      and strike him with the spear upon the front of the helmet, so as to beat
+      him backwards from his horse, or break the spear. This kind of sport was
+      of course rather dangerous, and men sometimes lost their lives at these
+      encounters. In order to lessen the risk and danger of the two horses
+      running into each other when the knights charged, a boarded railing was
+      erected in the midst of the lists, about four or five feet high. The
+      combatants rode on separate sides of this barrier, and therefore they
+      could not encounter each other except with their lances. Sometimes two
+      knights would fight in mortal combat. If one knight accused the other of
+      crime or dishonour, the latter might challenge him to fight with swords or
+      lances; and, according to the superstition of the times, the victor was
+      considered to be the one who spoke the truth. But this ordeal combat was
+      far removed from the domain of sport.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When jousts and tournaments were abandoned, tilting on horseback at a ring
+      became a favourite courtly amusement. A ring was suspended on a level with
+      the eye of the rider; and the sport consisted in riding towards the ring,
+      and sending the point of a lance through it, and so bearing it away. Great
+      skill was required to accomplish this surely and gracefully. Ascham, a
+      writer in the sixteenth century, tells us what accomplishments were
+      required from the complete English gentleman of the period:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To ride comely, to run fair at the tilt or ring, to play at all
+      weapons, to shoot fair in bow, or surely in gun; to vault lustily, to run,
+      to leap, to wrestle, to swim, to dance comely, to sing, and play of
+      instruments cunningly; to hawk, to hunt, to play at tennis, and all
+      pastimes generally which be joined to labour, containing either some fit
+      exercises for war, or some pleasant pastime for peace&mdash;these be not
+      only comely and decent, but also very necessary for a courtly gentleman to
+      use.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the days of pageants and royal progresses these old castles were the
+      scenes of very lively exhibitions of rustic histrionic talent. The stories
+      of Greek and Roman mythology were ransacked to provide scenes and subjects
+      for the rural pageant. Shepherds and shepherdesses, gods and goddesses,
+      clowns and mummers, all took part in the rural drama which kings and
+      queens delighted to honour. When Queen Elizabeth visited the ancient and
+      historic castle of Sudeley, great preparations were made for the event,
+      and a fine classical pageant was performed in her presence, a sketch of
+      which may not be without interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The play is founded on the old classical story of Apollo and Daphne. The
+      sun-god Apollo was charmed by the beauty of the fair Daphne, the daughter
+      of a river-god, and pursued her with base intent. Just as she was about to
+      be overtaken, she prayed for aid, and was immediately changed into a
+      laurel tree, which became the favourite tree of the disappointed lover.
+      The pageant founded on this old classical legend commenced with a man who
+      acted the part of Apollo, chasing a woman who represented Daphne, followed
+      by a young shepherd bewailing his hard fate. He, too, loved the fair and
+      beautiful Daphne, but Apollo wooed her with fair words, and threatened him
+      with diverse penalties, saying he would change him into a wolf, or a
+      cockatrice, or blind his eyes. The shepherd in a long speech tells how
+      Daphne was changed into a tree, and then Apollo is seen at the foot of a
+      laurel tree weeping, accompanied by two minstrels. The repentant god
+      repeats the verse:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Sing you, play you; but sing and play my truth;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;This tree my lute, these sighs my note of ruth:<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;The laurel leaf for ever shall be green,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And
+            chastity shall be Apollo&rsquo;s queen.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;If gods may
+            die, here shall my tomb be placed,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And this
+            engraven, &lsquo;Fond Phoebus, Daphne chaste.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      A song follows, and then, wonderful to relate, the tree opens, and Daphne
+      comes forth. Apollo resigns her to the humble shepherd, and then she runs
+      to Her Majesty the Queen, and with a great deal of flattery wishes her a
+      long and prosperous reign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was the simple play which delighted the minds of our forefathers, and
+      helped to raise them from sordid cares and the dull monotony of continual
+      toil. In our popular amusements the village folk do not take part, except
+      as spectators, and therefore lose half the pleasure; whereas in the time
+      of the Virgin Queen the rehearsals, the learning the speeches by heart,
+      the dresses, the excitement, all contributed to give them fresh ideas and
+      new thoughts. The acting may not have been very good; indeed Queen
+      Elizabeth did not always think very highly of the performances of her
+      subjects at Coventry, and was heard to exclaim, &ldquo;What fools ye
+      Coventry folk are!&rdquo; But I think Her Majesty must have been pleased
+      at the concluding address of the players at Sudeley. After the shepherds
+      had acted a piece in which the election of the King and Queen of the Bean
+      formed a part, they knelt before the real queen, and said&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon, dread Sovereign, poor shepherds&rsquo; pastimes, and bold
+      shepherds&rsquo; presumptions. We call ourselves kings and queens to make
+      mirth; but when we see a king or queen we stand amazed. At chess there are
+      kings and queens, and they of wood. Shepherds are no more, nor no less,
+      wooden. In theatres workmen have played emperors; yet the next day
+      forgotten neither their duties nor occupation. For our boldness in
+      borrowing their names, and in not seeing Your Majesty for our blindness,
+      we offer these shepherds&rsquo; weeds; which, if Your Majesty vouchsafe at
+      any time to wear, it shall bring to our hearts comfort, and happiness to
+      our labours.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the queen visited Kenilworth Castle, splendid pageants were performed
+      in her honour. As she entered the castle the gigantic porter recited
+      verses to greet Her Majesty, gods and goddesses offered gifts and
+      compliments on bended knee, and the Lady of the Lake, surrounded by
+      Tritons and Nereids, came on a floating island to do homage to the
+      peerless Elizabeth and to welcome her to all the sport the castle could
+      afford. For an account of the strange conduct of Orion and his dolphin
+      upon this occasion, we refer our readers to Sir Walter Scott&rsquo;s <i>Kenilworth</i>;
+      and the lover of pageants will find much to interest him in Gascoigne&rsquo;s
+      <i>Princely Progress</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The glories of our ancient castles have passed away; some indeed are
+      preserved, and serve as museums, or barracks, or the country house of some
+      noble lord; but most of them are in ruins. All traces of many a Norman
+      castle have completely vanished. There was once a castle at Reading, but
+      the only relics of it are the names Castle Hill and Castle Street. The
+      turbulent barons made such terrible use of their fortresses during the
+      troublous times of the civil war in Stephen&rsquo;s reign that in the more
+      settled reign of Henry II. they were deprived of this means of oppression
+      and their castles destroyed wholesale. The civil war in the reign of
+      Charles I. was also another great cause of the destruction of these old
+      fortresses. They were of great service during the progress of the war to
+      those who were fortunate enough to possess them, and many of them in spite
+      of Cromwell&rsquo;s cannon were most gallantly held and stoutly defended.
+      Donnington Castle, Berkshire, was bravely held in spite of a prolonged
+      siege during all the time that the war lasted by gallant Colonel Boys, who
+      beat off the flower of the Parliamentary army; and when in obedience to
+      the King&rsquo;s command he yielded up the castle, he and his brave
+      garrison marched out with all the honours of war, having earned the
+      respect of both friend and foe. Many other castles could tell the story of
+      similar sieges in the days when &ldquo;the gallants of England were up for
+      the King.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But these brave sieges were the cause of their destruction. Cromwell when
+      in power recognised their strength; they were too dangerous, these
+      castles, and must be destroyed. His cannon-balls had rattled against their
+      stone walls without much effect during the war; but their fate was sealed
+      with that of their King, and the gunpowder of Cromwell&rsquo;s soldiers
+      was soon employed in blowing up the walls that resisted him so long, and
+      left them battered and smoking ruins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Since then the ivy has grown over them to hide their nakedness. Forlorn
+      and lonely the ruined castle stands. Where once loud clarion rang, the
+      night owls hoot; vulgar crowds picnic where once knights fought in all the
+      pride and pomp of chivalry. Kine feed in the grass-grown bailey court; its
+      glory is departed. We need no castles now to protect us from the foes of
+      our own nation. Civil wars have passed away, we trust, for ever; and we
+      hope no foreign foeman&rsquo;s foot may ever tread our shores. But if an
+      enemy threatened to attack England her sons would fight as valiantly as in
+      the brave days of old, though earthen ramparts have replaced the ancient
+      castles and iron ships the old wooden walls of England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link12" id="link12"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      MONASTERIES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Beautiful surroundings&mdash;Benefits conferred by monasteries&mdash;Charity&mdash;
+      Learning&mdash;Libraries&mdash;Monks not unhappy&mdash;Netley&mdash;Cluny&mdash;Alcuin&mdash;
+      Monastic friendships&mdash;St. Bernard&mdash;Anselm&mdash;Monks shed
+      happiness around them&mdash;Desecration&mdash;Corruption of monasteries&mdash;Chaucer&rsquo;s
+      prior&mdash;Orders of monks&mdash;Plan of a monastery&mdash;<i>Piers
+      Ploughman&rsquo;s</i> description of a monastery&mdash;A day in a
+      monastery&mdash;Regulations as regards blood-letting&mdash;The infirmary&mdash;Food&mdash;Hospitium&mdash;Chapter-house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the neighbourhood of many of our villages stand the ruins of an old
+      monastery. Who were the builders of these grand and stately edifices? What
+      kind of men lived within those walls? What life did they lead? We will try
+      to picture to ourselves the condition of these noble abbeys, as they were
+      in the days of their glory, before the ruthless hands of spoilers and
+      destroyers robbed them of their magnificence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It has often been remarked that the monks knew well how to choose the most
+      beautiful spots for their monastic houses, establishing them by the banks
+      of some charming river, surrounded by beautiful scenery and fertile
+      fields.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They loved the beauties of nature, and had a keen sense for discovering
+      them. They had a delicate and profound appreciation of the delights of the
+      country, and loved to describe the beauties that surrounded their
+      habitations. Nature in its loveliness and wild picturesqueness was a
+      reflection of God&rsquo;s beauty, a temple of His light and goodness.
+      Moreover they built their monasteries amidst forests and wild scenery, far
+      from the haunts of men, seeking solitude, wherein they could renew their
+      souls by the sweetness of a life of contemplation, and consecrate their
+      energies to the service of God. In the days of war and bloodshed, of
+      oppression and lawlessness, holy men found it very difficult to be &ldquo;in
+      the world and yet not of it.&rdquo; Within the monastic walls they found
+      peace, seclusion, solitude; they prayed, they worked, they wrote and
+      studied. They were never idle. To worship, to labour, to fight as the <i>milites
+      Christi</i> with weapons that were not carnal, these were some of the
+      duties of the monks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The world owes much to these dwellers in monasteries. They rescued the
+      people from barbarism, and uplifted the standard of the cross. They
+      emerged from their cells to direct councils, to preach and teach at the
+      universities, to build churches and cathedrals, and astonish the world by
+      their skill and learning. Who can tell what services they rendered to
+      their nation and to all mankind by pouring forth that ceaseless stream of
+      intercession day and night for the averting of the judgments of divine
+      wrath which the crimes and follies of men so richly deserved? &ldquo;What
+      the sword is to the huntsman, prayer is to the monk,&rdquo; says St.
+      Chrysostom; and well did they use this weapon for the spiritual and
+      material benefit of all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another great benefit they conferred upon the world was that of charity.
+      They were the true nurses of the poor. There were no poor laws, and union
+      workhouses, and hospitals. The monks managed to supply all the wants of
+      all who suffered from poverty, privation, and sickness. &ldquo;The
+      friendship of the poor constitutes us the friends of kings,&rdquo; says
+      St. Bernard; &ldquo;but the love of poverty makes kings of us.&rdquo; They
+      welcomed in their ranks poor men, who were esteemed as highly as those of
+      noble birth on entering the cloister. All men were equal who wore the monk&rsquo;s
+      robe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Amongst other services the monks rendered was the cultivation of learning
+      and knowledge. With wonderful assiduity they poured forth works of
+      erudition, of history, of criticism, recorded the annals of their own
+      times, and stored these priceless records in their libraries, which have
+      done such good service to the historians of modern times. The monasteries
+      absorbed nearly all the social and intellectual movement of the thirteenth
+      century. Men fired with poetical imagination frequently betook themselves
+      to the cloister, and consecrated their lives to the ornamentation of a
+      single sacred book destined for the monastery which gave them in exchange
+      all the necessaries of life. Thus the libraries of the monastic houses
+      were rich in treasures of beautifully illuminated manuscripts, which were
+      bound by members of the community. The Abbot of Spanheim in the fifteenth
+      century gives the following directions to his monks:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let that one fasten the leaves together, and bind the book with
+      boards. You, prepare those boards; you, dress the leather; you, the metal
+      plates, which are to adorn the binding.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link172" id="link172"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/172.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="172h.jpg (40K)" src="images/172h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />NETLEY ABBEY, SOUTH TRANSEPT <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Terrible is it to think of the dreadful destruction of these libraries at
+      the time of the spoliation of monasteries and of the priceless treasures
+      which they contained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We are apt to suppose that the lives of the monks were gloomy, hard,
+      severe, and that few rays of the sunshine of happiness could have
+      penetrated the stern walls of the cloister. But this does not appear to
+      have been the case. The very names of monasteries show that they rejoiced
+      in their solitude and labour. Netley Abbey was called the Joyous Place, <i>loeto
+      loco</i>; and on the Continent there are many names which bear witness to
+      the happiness that reigned in the cloister. Moreover the writings of the
+      monks proclaim the same truth. Cluny is called by Peter Damien his <i>hortus
+      deliciarum</i> (garden of delights), and it is recorded that when Peter de
+      Blois left the Abbey of Croyland to return to France he stopped seven
+      times to look back and contemplate again the place where he had been so
+      happy. Hear how Alcuin laments on leaving the cloister for the Court of
+      Charlemagne:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O my cell! sweet and well-beloved home, adieu for ever! I shall see
+      no more the woods which surround thee with their interlacing branches and
+      aromatic herbs, nor thy streams of fish, nor thy orchards, nor thy gardens
+      where the lily mingles with the rose. I shall hear no more those birds
+      who, like ourselves, sing matins and celebrate their Creator, in their
+      fashion&mdash;nor those instructions of sweet and holy wisdom which sound
+      in the same breath as the praises of the Most High, from lips and hearts
+      always peaceful. Dear cell! I shall weep thee and regret thee always.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The life was very peaceful, entirely free from care, and moreover lighted
+      by the whole-hearted friendships which existed between the brethren. A
+      chapter might be written on the love of the cloister, which like that of
+      David for Jonathan, was &ldquo;wonderful, passing the love of women.&rdquo;
+      Thus St. Bernard burst out in bitter grief at the loss of a brother monk:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Flow, flow, my tears, so eager to flow! he who prevented your
+      flowing is here no more! It is not he who is dead, it is I who now live
+      only to die. Why, oh, why have we loved, and why have we lost each other?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The letters of Anselm to Lanfranc and Gondulph, his dearest friends,
+      abound in expressions of the most affectionate regard and deep true
+      friendship. He writes:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can I forget thee? Can a man forget one who is placed like a
+      seal upon his heart? In thy silence I know that thou lovest me; and thou
+      also, when I say nothing, thou knowest that I love thee. What can my
+      letter tell thee that thou knowest not already, thou who art my second
+      soul?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The monks&rsquo; lot was not sad and melancholy. They loved God and His
+      service, and rejoicing in their mutual regard and affection were happy in
+      their love and work. Orderic Vitalis writes, &ldquo;I have borne for
+      forty-two years with happiness the sweet yoke of the Lord.&rdquo; Moreover
+      they shed happiness on those who dwelt around them, on the crowds of
+      masons and carpenters, traders and workmen, who dwelt under the shadow of
+      the monastery or farmed the fields of the monastic estates. No institution
+      was ever more popular; no masters more beloved. They took a hearty
+      interest in the welfare of all their tenants, and showed an active
+      sympathy for all. The extent of their charity was enormous. In a French
+      abbey, when food was scarce, they fed 1,500 to 2,000 poor in the course of
+      the year, gave monthly pensions to all the families who were unable to
+      work, entertained 4,000 guests, and maintained eighty monks&mdash;a
+      wonderful record truly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The influence of the monastery was felt in all the surrounding
+      neighbourhood&mdash;the daily services, the solemn and majestic chants,
+      the processions, must have created a deep impression on the minds of
+      people. Many of the great writers and thinkers of subsequent ages have
+      appreciated the wonderful labours of the monks. Dr. Johnson wrote:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never read of a hermit, but in imagination I kiss his feet; never
+      of a monastery, but I fall on my knees and kiss the pavement.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now these noble buildings, hallowed by a thousand memories, exist only
+      as dishonoured ruins. Some have been pulled down entirely, and the site
+      used for gaols or barracks. Convicts labour where once monks prayed. The
+      renowned abbey of Cluny is a racing stable, and Le Bec, the home of
+      Anselm, has suffered a like profanation. Factories have invaded some of
+      these consecrated sites. Many have been used as quarries for generations.
+      All the carved and wrought stone has been cut off, and used for making
+      bridges and roads and private houses. Nature has covered the remains with
+      clinging ivy, and creeping plants, and wild flowers, and legends cluster
+      round the old stones and tell the story of their greatness and their ruin.
+      The country folk of western Ireland show the marks on the stones furrowed
+      by the burning tears of the monks when they were driven out of their holy
+      home. I am describing the condition of the monasteries in the days of
+      their glory, when the spirit of the religious orders was bright and pure
+      and enthusiastic. It cannot be denied that often the immense wealth which
+      kings and nobles poured into the treasury of the monks begat luxury and
+      idleness. Boccaccio in Italy, and even Dante, and our own Chaucer, write
+      vigorously against the corruption of the monks, their luxury, love of
+      sport, and neglect of their duty. Thus Chaucer wrote of a
+      fourteenth-century prior:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Therefore he was a prickasoure a right:<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Greihounds he hadde as swift as foul of flight:<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Of pricking and of hunting for the hare<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Was
+            all his lust, for no cost wolde he spare.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;I saw his
+            sleves purfiled at the hond<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;With gris, and that the
+            finest in the loud.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And for to fasten his hood
+            under his chinne,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;He hadde of gold ywrought a
+            curious pinne:<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;A love-knotte in the greter end ther
+            was.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;His head was balled, and shone as any glas,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;And eke his face, as it had been anoint.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;He
+            was a lord full fat and in good point<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;His eye
+            stepe, and rolling in his bed,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;That stemed as a
+            forneis of led.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;His botes souple, his hors in gret
+            estat,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Now certainly he was a fayre prelat.<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;He was not pale as a forpined gost.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;A
+            fat swan loved he best of any rost.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;His palfrey was
+            as broune as is a bery.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Many were the efforts to reform the abuses which crept into the monastic
+      houses. Holy men grieved over the scandals of the times in which they
+      lived. Many monasteries remained until the end homes of zeal and religion,
+      and the unscrupulous tools of Henry VIII. could find naught to report
+      against them. The only charge they could fabricate against one monastery
+      was &ldquo;that the monks would do evil, if they could.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The foundation of the various orders of monks shows the efforts which were
+      from time to time made by earnest men to revive the zeal and religious
+      enthusiasm characteristic of the early dwellers in monasteries. The
+      followers of St. Benedict and St. Columba were the first monks of the
+      western Church who converted the peoples of England, Germany, Belgium, and
+      Scandinavia. The Benedictines had many houses in England in Saxon times.
+      In the tenth and eleventh centuries flourished a branch of the
+      Benedictines, the order of Cluny, who worked a great religious revival,
+      which was continued in the twelfth by the order of the Cistercians,
+      founded at Citeaux in Burgundy. Some of our most beautiful English abbeys&mdash;Fountains,
+      Kirkstall, Rievaulx, Tintern, Furness, and Byland&mdash;all belonged to
+      this order. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the new orders of
+      preaching friars founded by St. Francis and St. Dominic arose, and
+      exercised an immense influence in the world. They did not shut themselves
+      up in the cloister, but went everywhere, preaching in the market-places,
+      and tending the sick, the lepers, and the outcasts. At first they were
+      immensely popular, but the orders degenerated like their predecessors, and
+      long before the Reformation laid themselves open to the derision and the
+      scoffs of the more enlightened men of the age. Since the days of the
+      Friars there has been no building of monasteries in England. Wealth,
+      luxury, and corruption had destroyed the early piety of the monks, and
+      rich men preferred to give their wealth for the purpose of founding
+      colleges and hospitals, rather than in increasing the number of religious
+      houses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link178" id="link178"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="178.jpg (21K)" src="images/178.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will now visit these monasteries, and try to picture them as they stood
+      in the days of their glory, and see the daily life which the monks led.
+      The rules of the orders differed somewhat, some being stricter than
+      others; and likewise the arrangements of the buildings were not all based
+      upon one plan. The Carthusian monasteries differ widely from those of the
+      other orders, owing to the rule that each monk should have his separate
+      cell, wherein he lived and had his food, and only met his brethren in
+      church and in the chapter-house. We will examine the usual plan of a
+      monastery, the main buildings of which clustered round the cloister-court.
+      This was called the paradise, around which was a covered ambulatory. Here
+      the monks read and wrote, and sometimes had little spaces partitioned off
+      for studies, with bookstands and cupboards. It was the great centre of the
+      monastic life. The earlier ambulatories were open, but in the fourteenth
+      century they had windows looking on to the cloister-court, filled with
+      stained glass. The monks must have found the open cloister a somewhat
+      chilly place for writing, and although their fingers were endured to
+      hardness, had sometimes to abandon their tasks. Orderic Vitalis tells us
+      that his fingers were so numbed by the cold in a hard winter that he was
+      obliged to leave his writing until a more congenial season.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the north of the cloister-court stood the monastic church, the grandest
+      and noblest of the monastic buildings, adorned with shrines, and tombs,
+      and altars. Several of our cathedrals were monastic churches, and afford
+      us some idea of the splendour and magnificence of these stately buildings.
+      Many other churches built by the monks, quite as large and noble as any of
+      our cathedrals, are now in ruins, with only a wall or a buttress remaining
+      to mark the site of the once noble minster. The church was usually
+      cruciform, with nave and aisles. East of the high altar in the choir stood
+      the lady-chapel, and round the choir a retro-choir, or presbytery. There
+      was a door on the south side of the church, opposite the eastern
+      ambulatory, for the entrance of the monks. The south transept formed part
+      of the eastern side of the cloister. On the same side stood the
+      chapter-house, a large chamber richly ornamented with much architectural
+      detail, and adorned with mural paintings. Between the chapter-house and
+      the church there is a narrow room, which was the sacristy, and on the
+      south of the chapter-house a building in two stories, the ground floor
+      being the frater-house, where the monks retired after meals to converse,
+      the upper room being the dortor, or dormitory, where they slept. A passage
+      often separated the chapter-house from this building.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the south side of the cloister-court stood the refectory, a long room
+      in which the monks took their meals; and on the west was a range of
+      buildings the use of which differed in various monasteries, in some for
+      cellars and larders, in others for dormitories. Sometimes this western
+      building was the <i>domus conversorum</i>, or house of the lay brethren.
+      The abbot&rsquo;s lodging was a fine house, consisting of hall, chambers,
+      kitchen, buttery, and cellars, capable of entertaining a large number of
+      guests, and frequently stood on the east side of the chapter-house quite
+      separate from the other buildings. In small monastic houses governed by a
+      prior his residence often formed the western side of the cloister-court.
+      The farmery, or infirmary, where sick monks were nursed during illness,
+      was a separate building, having its own kitchen, refectory, and chapel.
+      The hospitium was also a separate building near the outer gate of the
+      abbey, and consisted of a hall, dormitories, and a chapel, in which each
+      night a goodly company of guests were entertained and courteously welcomed
+      by the hospitaller. A high wall surrounded the abbey precincts, in which
+      was the outer gate, consisting of a porter&rsquo;s lodge, a prison, and a
+      large room in which the manorial court was held, or the abbot met the
+      representatives of the townsfolk in order to direct their affairs and
+      choose their chief magistrate or settle their differences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The author of <i>Piers Ploughman</i> gives a description of the appearance
+      of a monastery in the fourteenth century. As he approached the monastic
+      buildings he was so bewildered by their greatness and beauty that for a
+      long time he could distinguish nothing certainly but stately buildings of
+      stone, pillars carved and painted, and great windows well wrought. In the
+      centre quadrangle he notices the stone cross in the middle of grass sward.
+      He enters the minster, and describes the arches as carved and gilded, the
+      wide windows full of shields of arms and merchants&rsquo; marks on stained
+      glass, the high tombs under canopies, with armed effigies in alabaster,
+      and lovely ladies lying by their sides in many gay garments. He passes
+      into the cloister, and sees it pillared and painted, and covered with
+      lead, and conduits of white metal pouring water into bronze lavatories
+      beautifully wrought. The chapter-house was like a great church, carved and
+      painted like a parliament-house. Then he went into the refectory, and
+      found it a hall fit for a knight and his household, with broad tables and
+      clean benches, and windows wrought as in a church. And then he wandered
+      and wondered at &ldquo;the halls full high and houses full noble, chambers
+      with chimneys and chapels gay,&rdquo; and kitchens fit for a king in his
+      castle, and their dorter or dormitory with doors full strong, their
+      fermerye (infirmary) and frater, and many more houses, and strong stone
+      walls, enough to harbour the queen. The author was evidently amazed at all
+      the sights which he witnessed in the monastery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will now see the monks at work, and spend a day with them in their
+      monastic home. It is not easy definitely to map out a monk&rsquo;s day.
+      The difficulty arises in a measure from the want of distinct marks of
+      time. A monastic day was divided into twelve hours of uncertain length,
+      varying according to the season; but the religious observances began at
+      midnight, when the brethren rose at the sound of a bell in the dortor for
+      the continuous service of Mattins and Lauds. They then retired to sleep,
+      until the bell again summoned them at sunrise, when Prime was said,
+      followed by the morning Mass, private masses and confessions, and the
+      meeting of the Chapter; after this, work; then Tierce; then High Mass,
+      followed by Sext. A short time was then devoted to reading, during which
+      the <i>ministri</i> and the reader at table dined; and then the monks sat
+      down to dinner. This was the first food of the day, though the weaker
+      brethren were allowed to sustain themselves with wine and water, or bread
+      steeped in wine. Dinner was followed by a brief rest in the dormitory. If
+      the monks did not wish to sleep they could read in the dorter; but they
+      were to be careful not to disturb their resting brethren by any noise,
+      such as that caused by turning over the leaves of their books. At one o&rsquo;clock
+      the bell rang for None, a short service consisting of a hymn, two psalms,
+      some collects, the Lord&rsquo;s Prayer, and versicles. Then the brethren
+      washed themselves, had a stoup of wine in the frater, and worked until
+      Evensong, which was followed by supper. After supper they read in the
+      cloister until the bell rang for Collation, which consisted of a reading
+      in the chapter-house, whence they retired to the fratery for a draught of
+      wine or beer. Then followed Compline, and then the monks were ready for
+      bed, and retired to the dortor. Even there rules followed them, and
+      directed them how they were to take off their shoes, and &ldquo;to behave
+      with more quiet, self-restraint, and devotion than elsewhere.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have not exhausted all the services which the monks attended. In
+      addition to the principal ones there were several minor functions, at
+      which devotion to the Blessed Virgin was the chief feature. The life was
+      hard and the discipline severe; and lest the animal spirits of the monks
+      should rise too high, the course of discipline was supplemented by
+      periodical blood-letting. The doctors of the day were firm believers in
+      the utility of this practice, and perhaps it had special advantages for
+      dwellers in monasteries. According to the mediaeval metrical treatise on
+      medicine, <i>Flos Medicinae</i>, or <i>Regimen Sanitatis Salerni</i>&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Spiritus uberior exit per phlebotomaniam.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;It maketh cleane your braine, releeves your eie,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;It mends your appetite, restoreth sleep,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Correcting
+            humours that do waking keep;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And inward parts and
+            sences also clearing<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;It mends the voyce, touch,
+            smell, taste, hearing.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      According to the <i>Observances</i> of the Augustinian Priory at Barnwell,
+      Cambridge, each brother was compelled to be bled seven times a year. It
+      was probably a welcome duty, as the monks enjoyed a regular holiday, and
+      were solaced with unwonted good fare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Those who wished to be bled asked leave in Chapter, and having received a
+      formal licence, attended High Mass. After the gospel they left the quire,
+      and were bled in the farmery, where they remained three days. During this
+      period they were excused attendance at the daily services, except on very
+      special occasions; and minute directions are given for their personal
+      comfort. They were allowed fire and lights, with suitable food, eggs and
+      vegetables being specially mentioned; and they might take exercise within
+      the precincts, and even beyond them, should the prelate give them leave.
+      The infirmary seems to have been the most cheerful place in the monastery.
+      Its inmates were &ldquo;to lead a life of joy and freedom from care, in
+      comfort and happiness.&rdquo; Conversation was freely permitted, though
+      sarcastic and abusive language was strictly forbidden. &ldquo;Games of
+      dice and chess, and other games unsuitable to those who lead a religious
+      life, were forbidden&rdquo;; &ldquo;because beyond all doubt they are
+      offensive to God, and frequently give occasion to strife and contention
+      among those who play them.&rdquo; We notice that invalids were allowed to
+      walk in the &ldquo;vineyards&rdquo;; evidently the monks grew their own
+      grapes, and made their own wine. The infirmary must have been well
+      frequented. The complaints which are often specially mentioned as likely
+      to compel the monks to resort to it are &ldquo;irksomeness of life in the
+      cloister,&rdquo; &ldquo;long continuance of silence,&rdquo; &ldquo;fatigue
+      in the quire or extension of fasting,&rdquo; and &ldquo;sleeplessness and
+      overwork.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With regard to blood-letting the various orders had different customs. The
+      Benedictines and Cluniacs had no stated times or seasons for the
+      operation. The Cistercians prescribe bleeding four times in the year. The
+      Carthusians were bled five times, and the Dominicans four times in the
+      year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The food of the monastery was varied and plentiful. Fish and flesh were
+      brought to the table, the former being obtained from the monastic
+      stew-ponds. Fruit was supplied, both raw and cooked, and a good supply of
+      beer and wine. Wine seems to have been very commonly used, and some
+      relaxation was evidently permitted in the matter of drink.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hospitium, or guest-house, is worthy of a visit. Thither flocked a
+      mixed crowd of knights and dames, monks and clerks, palmers, friars,
+      traders with their wares, minstrels with their songs, and beggars,
+      enjoying to the full the hospitality of the monks, who recognised it as
+      one of their duties &ldquo;to entertain strangers.&rdquo; The religious
+      houses were, to a great extent, the inns of the Middle Ages; and when they
+      were situated on the high roads, the guests were numerous and their
+      entertainment costly. We are reminded, however, by the <i>Observances</i>
+      of Barnwell Priory that &ldquo;by showing hospitality to guests the
+      reputation of the monastery is increased, friendships are multiplied,
+      animosities are blunted, God is honoured, charity is increased, and a
+      plenteous reward in heaven is promised.&rdquo; It was enjoined that the
+      hosteller, or brother in charge of the hospitium, should have &ldquo;facility
+      of expression, elegant manners, and a respectable bringing up; and if he
+      have no substance to bestow he may at any rate exhibit a cheerful
+      countenance and agreeable conversation, for friends are multiplied by
+      agreeable words.&rdquo; He had to provide clean cloths and towels, cups
+      without flaws, spoons of silver, mattresses, blankets and untorn sheets,
+      pillows, quilts, etc. His duties are laid down with much minuteness; every
+      morning he was required to go through the inventory, lest anything should
+      be missing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The meeting in the chapter-house we must not omit to describe. When all
+      the brethren had taken their seats, one monk went to the pulpit and read
+      aloud the martyrology for the day. Then some psalms and collects were
+      read, and a portion of the monastic rule, and briefs announcing the deaths
+      of persons in whom the brethren were interested. The <i>tabula</i>, or
+      notice-board, recording the names of those who were responsible for
+      certain duties, was read; and a sermon followed. After the precentor had
+      given minute instructions with regard to the reading and singing of the
+      services for the day, the abbot said: &ldquo;Speak of your own order.&rdquo;
+      This was the call to confession; and any brother who was conscious that he
+      had transgressed any rule, or neglected his duty, came forward and asked
+      pardon for his fault. This was followed by the report of the <i>circator</i>,
+      whose duty was to play the spy, and discover the faults of the monks. And
+      after this the brethren accused each other. One brother started up saying:
+      &ldquo;I accuse &mdash;&mdash; a brother.&rdquo; The accused came forward
+      and stood before the abbot, waiting patiently for the charge. The accuser
+      then stated the charge, which was admitted, or denied, by the accused. If
+      the abbot judged him to be flogged, the culprit might not be flogged by
+      his accuser. He rose from his knees and modestly divested himself of his
+      garments, remaining covered from his girdle downwards; and he who flogged
+      him might not cease till the abbot bade him. Then he helped the brother to
+      put on his clothes, who bowed to the abbot and went back to his place. The
+      Chapter, after this exciting interlude, proceeded to transact the temporal
+      business of the house, and then adjourned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chapter-house was often the scene of great events in the history of
+      England. At Reading Abbey in this noble chamber parliaments were held.
+      Here Heraclius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, presented to Henry II. the
+      keys of the Holy Sepulchre, and invoked his aid in the crusade against the
+      Saracens. Here the bishops assembled and excommunicated Longchamp,
+      Chancellor and Regent of the country. Here the marriage contract between
+      John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster was signed, when there were great
+      rejoicings in the ancient town, and tilts and tournaments took place
+      daily. These gay scenes must have greatly disturbed the tranquil life of
+      the monks, and contrasted strangely with their normal condition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The picture of monastic life, which a study of the records of a monastery
+      brings before us, is strange and alien to our present ideas; but it is
+      brightened by a spirit of sincere religion and true charity, and helps us
+      to understand the attraction of the convent walls in turbulent and
+      troublous times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link13" id="link13"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE MANOR-HOUSE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Evolution of a country house&mdash;Saxon house&mdash;Addition of separate
+      sleeping-chambers&mdash;Castles&mdash;Tudor houses&mdash;Old manor-houses&mdash;Secret
+      chambers&mdash;Rectories and vicarages&mdash;Duty of hospitality&mdash;Kelvedon
+      Rectory&mdash;Allington&mdash;Tithe-barns&mdash;Alfriston clergy-house&mdash;Almshouses&mdash;
+      Hermitages&mdash;Little Budworth&mdash;Knaresborough&mdash;Reclusorium or
+      anchor-hold&mdash; Laindon&mdash;Rattenden&mdash;Female recluses&mdash;Whalley.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two principal houses in an English village are the manor-house and the
+      rectory, wherein according to the theories of the modern political
+      Socialist and agitator &ldquo;the two arch-tyrants&rdquo; of the labourers
+      dwell, the squire and the parson. There is much of interest in the growth
+      and evolution of the country house, which resulted in the construction of
+      these old, pleasant, half-timbered granges and manor-houses, which form
+      such beautiful features of our English villages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link189" id="link189"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/189.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="189h.jpg (37K)" src="images/189h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />SOUTHCOTE MANOR SHOWING MOAT AND PIGEON-HOUSE <br /><br /> <a
+      name="link190" id="link190"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="190.jpg (58K)" src="images/190.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In our description of the village in Anglo-Saxon times we gave a picture
+      of a house of a Saxon gentleman, which consisted mainly of one large hall,
+      wherein the members of the household lived and slept and had their meals.
+      There was a chapel, and a kitchen, and a ladies&rsquo; bower, usually
+      separated from the great hall, and generally built of wood. In Norman
+      times the same plan and arrangements of a country house continued. The
+      fire still burnt in the centre of the hall, the smoke finding its way out
+      through a louvre in the roof. Meals were still served on tables laid on
+      trestles, which were removed when the meal was finished. The lord and
+      lady, their family and guests, dined at the high table placed on the dais,
+      as in a college hall, the floor of which was boarded. The household and
+      retainers dined in the space below, which was strewn with rushes and
+      called &ldquo;the marsh,&rdquo; which, according to Turner&rsquo;s <i>History
+      of Domestic Architecture</i>, &ldquo;was doubtless dirty and damp enough
+      to deserve that name.&rdquo; The timbers of the roof in the better houses
+      were moulded, the walls hung with tapestry, and at the lower end of the
+      hall was a screen, above which in later times was the minstrels&rsquo;
+      gallery. The screen formed a passage which led into a separate building at
+      right angles to the hall, containing the cellar, buttery, and kitchen.
+      Parallel with this at the upper end of the hall was a building of two
+      stories, one used as a parlour, and the other was called the &ldquo;great
+      chamber,&rdquo; where the lady and her guests retired after dining in the
+      hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link191" id="link191"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="191.jpg (42K)" src="images/191.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Later on a greater refinement of domestic customs was introduced. In the
+      twelfth century a separate sleeping-chamber for the lord was added. The
+      next century saw him and his lady dining in a room apart from his
+      servants, a custom which was much satirised by the author of <i>Piers
+      Ploughman</i>, who wrote&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Now hath each rich a rule<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;To
+            eaten by themselve,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;In a privy parlour<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;For
+            poor man sake,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Or in a chamber with a chimney;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;And leave the chief hall,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;That was made
+            for meals<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Men to eaten in.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Evidently the author did not approve of the new fashion. But the
+      advantages of the custom were much appreciated by the squires and ladies
+      of the day, and this process of development led to a multiplication of
+      rooms, and the diminution of the size of the great hall. The walls were
+      raised, and an upper room was formed under the roof for sleeping
+      accommodation. There are many old farmhouses throughout the country, once
+      manor-houses, which retain in spite of subsequent alterations the
+      distinguishing features of this mediaeval style of architecture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link192" id="link192"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="192.jpg (40K)" src="images/192.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The nobles built their castles as late as the fourteenth century; but
+      under the Tudor monarchs, when the government of the country was strong
+      and more settled, fortified dwellings were deemed no longer necessary, and
+      the great landowners built splendid country houses. English domestic
+      architecture then reached the period of its highest perfection. Instead of
+      castles men built palaces, the noblest specimens of our English style,
+      before it became corrupted. Hatfield House and Hampton Court are its best
+      examples.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the fifteenth century the common hall had decreased in importance;
+      and now in smaller houses it disappeared altogether, and a grand entrance
+      hall usually took its place. The number of rooms was increased enormously,
+      and corridors were introduced. The principal features of an Elizabethan
+      house are the gallery and noble staircase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link193" id="link193"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="193.jpg (110K)" src="images/193.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the seventeenth century Inigo Jones introduced the revived
+      classic style of architecture into England, and entirely altered the
+      appearance and arrangement of our manor-houses. Palladio was the
+      originator of this style. The old English model was declared obsolete, and
+      fashion dictated that Italian villas must supersede the old houses. These
+      new buildings were very grand with their porticos and colonnades; but the
+      architects cared little for comfort and convenience. Indeed a witty
+      nobleman suggested to the owner of one of these new houses that he had
+      better hire a lodging over the way and look at it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link194" id="link194"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/194.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="194h.jpg (30K)" src="images/194h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />OLD MANOR HOUSE, UPTON COURT <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old manor-houses are often surrounded by a moat, and not unfrequently
+      contain secret rooms and underground passages, which were often used as
+      places of refuge in troublous times. Those held by recusants usually had
+      two or three hiding-places ingeniously contrived, which must have baffled
+      all pursuers, and were needed for the concealment of the Roman Catholic
+      priest, in the days when his services were proscribed. There are two
+      cleverly designed hiding-places at Ufton Court, Berkshire, which was held
+      by the Roman Catholic family of Perkins. In a subterranean vault under an
+      old house at Hurley, in which the bones of monks were discovered, the
+      supporters of William of Orange used to meet to plan his succession to the
+      English Crown. The walls of many of the manor-houses and halls in
+      Lancashire and Yorkshire could tell of many a plot for the restoration of
+      the Stuarts to the throne, and of many a deep health drunk to &ldquo;Bonnie
+      Charlie,&rdquo; while the chorus rang&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s over the seas and far awa&rsquo;,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;He&rsquo;s over the seas and far awa&rsquo;,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;But
+            of no man we&rsquo;ll stand in awe,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;But drink his
+            health that&rsquo;s far awa&rsquo;.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      The rectories and vicarages scattered over the country have passed through
+      the same transformation as the manor-houses, which they much resembled.
+      The rectory was often surrounded by a moat, with an entrance protected by
+      a gatehouse. The duty of entertaining strangers and travellers was always
+      duly recognised by the clergy, and entailed a heavy charge upon their
+      income. Those who lived off the main roads used to provide accommodation
+      for an occasional guest, but the rectors in the more frequented districts
+      had frequently to entertain many travellers. There <i>is</i> a description
+      of the rectory-house of Kelvedon, Essex, in a deed dated 1356, which runs
+      as follows:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One hall situate in the manor of the said abbot and convent
+      [Westminster] near the said church, with a soler and chamber at one end of
+      the hall, and with a buttery and cellar at the other. Also one other house
+      in three parts, namely a kitchen with a convenient chamber in the end of
+      the said house <i>for guests</i>, and a bakehouse. Also one other house in
+      two parts next the gate at the entrance of the manor for a stable and
+      cow-house. He [the vicar] shall also have a convenient grange, to be built
+      within a year at the expense of the prior and convent. He shall also have
+      the curtilage with the garden adjoining the hall on the north side
+      enclosed as it is with hedges and ditches.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link196" id="link196"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="196.jpg (60K)" src="images/196.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here the house for guests is an important feature of the clergyman&rsquo;s
+      house; and about the same date, in 1352, we find the Bishop of Winchester
+      ordering the prior and convent of Merton to provide &ldquo;a competent
+      manse for the vicar, viz. a hall with two rooms, one at one end of the
+      hall, and the other at the other end, with a drain to each, and a suitable
+      kitchen with fireplace and oven, and a <i>stable for six horses</i>, all
+      covered with tiles, and completed within one year, such place to remain to
+      the use of the said vicar and his successors.&rdquo; Unless the vicar was
+      a very sporting parson he would not require a stable for six horses, and
+      this was doubtless intended for the accommodation of the steeds of his
+      guests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The descriptions of these old rectory-houses are interesting. The Rector
+      of Allington, Kent, possessed a house consisting of &ldquo;a hall,
+      parlour, and chamber over the parlour, stairs-head, beside the parson&rsquo;s
+      bedchamber, parson&rsquo;s lodging-chamber, study, chamber behind the
+      chimney, chamber next adjoining westward, buttery, priest&rsquo;s chamber,
+      servants&rsquo; chamber, kitchen, mill-house, boulting-house, larder,
+      entries, women&rsquo;s chamber; gatehouse, still beside the gate, barn
+      next the gate; cartlage, barn next the church, garden-house, court.&rdquo;
+      The barn next the church was probably the tithe-barn. Tithe was then paid
+      in kind; hence a barn was required to contain the dues of the
+      parishioners. Sometimes these tithe-barns are very large and long,
+      especially when the tithe-owner was the abbot of some monastery. Near
+      Reading there is still standing the barn of the abbey, and at Cholsey, in
+      Berkshire, there is one of the finest specimens of the kind in England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link199" id="link199"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/199.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="199h.jpg (35K)" src="images/199h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />STONE TITHE BARN, BRADFORD-ON-AVON <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There still remain several of these old pre-Reformation parsonages and
+      rectories. The most noted is the clergy-house at Alfriston, Sussex, which
+      has been carefully preserved. It follows the usual type of
+      fourteenth-century house, and consists of a fine hall, the lower part
+      divided off by a screen, a soler of two stories at one end, and a kitchen
+      at the other. It is built of oak framework, filled in with &ldquo;wattle
+      and daub.&rdquo; There is a large chimney and grate in the hall, and huge
+      beams support the thatched roof. Parsonages of mediaeval times remain at
+      West Dean, Sussex; at King&rsquo;s Stanley and Notgrove, Gloucestershire;
+      Wonstone, Hants; Helmsley, Yorkshire; and at several other places. The
+      Rectory of Shellingford, Berks, though much disguised by modern additions,
+      is an original fourteenth-century house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In many villages there are old almshouses founded by pious benefactors for
+      &ldquo;poor brethren and sisters.&rdquo; As we enter the quiet courtyard
+      paved with cobble stones, the spirit of olden days comes over us. The
+      chapel where daily prayer is said morning and evening; the panelled
+      dining-hall, with its dark oaken table; the comfortable rooms of the
+      brethren; the time-worn pump in the courtyard&mdash;all recall the memory
+      of old times, when life was more tranquil, and there was less hurry and
+      busy bustling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes we meet with a curious little house built of stone or timber,
+      erected along the great highways, near some bridge or ford, wherein a
+      &ldquo;holy hermit&rdquo; once dwelt, and served his generation by
+      directing travellers to the nearest monastery or rectory, and spent his
+      days in seclusion and prayer. Such indeed is the traditional idea of the
+      hermit&rsquo;s life; but the real hermit of the Middle Ages did not always
+      live a very lonely or ascetic life. He was supported by the alms of the
+      charitable and did no work, but lived an idle life, endured no hardships,
+      and escaped not the scoffs of the satirical. <i>Piers Ploughman</i> tells
+      us of workmen&mdash;&ldquo;webbers and tailors, and carters&rsquo; knaves,
+      and clerks without grace, who liked not long labour and light wages; and
+      seeing that lazy fellows in friars&rsquo; clothing had fat cheeks, forsook
+      their toil and turned hermits. They lived in boroughs among brewers and
+      begged in churches.&rdquo; They had a good house, with sometimes a
+      chaplain to say daily Mass for them, a servant or two to wait on them, and
+      plenty of food and drink provided by a regular endowment or the donations
+      of the charitable. They did not shut themselves up in their cells and hold
+      no intercourse with their fellow-men; and herein they differed from the
+      recluses who were not supposed to go outside the doors of their
+      anchorages. Both males and females were enrolled as recluses, but only the
+      latter seem to have taken upon themselves the vows of complete seclusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several of these hermitages remain. There is one at Little Budworth, in
+      Cheshire, in the park of Sir Philip Egerton. Warkworth has a famous one,
+      consisting of a chapel hewn out of the rock, with an entrance porch, and a
+      long, narrow room with a small altar at the east end, wherein the hermit
+      lived. At Knaresborough, Yorkshire, there is a good example of a
+      hermitage, hewn out of the rock, consisting of a chapel, called St. Robert&rsquo;s
+      Chapel, with groined roof, which was used as the living-room of the
+      hermit. This chapel was the scene of Eugene Aram&rsquo;s murder. At
+      Wetheral, near Carlisle; Lenton, near Nottingham; on the banks of the
+      Severn, near Bewdley, Worcestershire, there are anchorages, and also at
+      Brandon, Downham, and Stow Bardolph, in Norfolk. Spenser in the <i>Faery
+      Queen</i> gives the following description of a hermit&rsquo;s cell:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;A little lowly hermitage it was,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Down
+            by a dale, hard by a forest&rsquo;s side,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Far from
+            resort of people that did pass<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;In traveill to and
+            froe; a little wyde<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;There was an holy Chappell
+            edifyde,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Wherein the hermite dewly wont to say<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;His holy things, each morne and eventyde;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Hereby
+            a chrystall streame did gently play,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Which from a
+            sacred fountaine welled forth alway.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Within the churchyard of many a town or village church, and usually
+      attached to the church, stood a reclusorium, or anchor-hold, wherein a
+      recluse, male or female, once resided. At Laindon Church, Essex, there is
+      a fine specimen of a house of this kind attached to the west end.
+      Generally the anchor-hold was a small room, built of wood, connected with
+      the church. Frequently there is a room over the porch of a church which
+      may have been used for this purpose, the recluse living usually in the
+      church. At Rettenden, Essex, there is a room over the vestry which has
+      evidently been an anchor-hold. There was a window, now blocked up, through
+      which the recluse could see the high altar, and the celebration of the
+      holy mysteries, and another for him to look out, hold converse with his
+      friends, and receive their alms. The church of St. Patricio, near
+      Crickhowel, South Wales, has an anchor-hold; also Clifton Campville
+      Church, Staffordshire; Chipping Norton Church, Oxfordshire; Warmington
+      Church, Warwickshire; and many churches have rooms over the porch which
+      were formerly used by recluses. The church itself was frequently the
+      habitation of the anchorite. There is a notice of a hermit who lived in
+      St. Cuthbert&rsquo;s Church, Thetford, and performed divine service
+      therein.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of female recluses we gather many details in the <i>Ancren Riewle</i> of
+      Bishop Poore of Salisbury, who left very minute directions for the
+      regulation of their austere and solitary lives. The little cell had an
+      altar where the anchoress frequently prayed, and through a window saw the
+      elevation of the Host in the daily Mass. The walls were covered with mural
+      paintings. There was a table, a fire, and a cat lying before it. An
+      unglazed window with a shutter was covered by a black curtain, through
+      which she could converse with anyone outside without being seen. She was
+      not allowed to put her head out of the open window. &ldquo;A peering
+      anchoress, who is always thrusting her head outward, is like an untamed
+      bird in a cage,&rdquo; says the good bishop. The long hours of solitude
+      were spent in devotion, working embroidery, reading her few books, talking
+      to her servant or to those who desired to speak with her through the
+      curtained window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The poor caged birds must often have wished to break the bars of their
+      cage, and occasionally they escaped from their solitary confinement. In
+      the churchyard of Whalley, Lancashire, there are two cottages which stand
+      upon the site of a reclusorium, founded by Henry, Duke of Lancaster, in
+      1349. Here in the reign of Henry VI. lived one Isole de Heton, who wearied
+      of her lot, and left the anchor-hold, an example which was followed by
+      several of her successors. A scandal having arisen, the hermitage was
+      dissolved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many a sad story of ruined hopes and broken hearts could these walls tell,
+      which were the living tombs of many a devout or erring sister, who,
+      wounded in the world&rsquo;s war, sought the calm seclusion of a cell, and
+      found there the peace which elsewhere they had failed to find.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link14" id="link14"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      PARISH CHURCHES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The Porch&mdash;Font&mdash;Stone benches&mdash;Pews&mdash;Pulpits&mdash;Rood-lofts&mdash;Destruction
+      of&mdash;Screens&mdash;Royal arms&mdash;Chancel&mdash;Stalls&mdash;<i>Misereres</i>&mdash;Lectern&mdash;High
+      altar and its furniture&mdash;Piscina&mdash;Credence&mdash;Aumbry&mdash;Sedilia&mdash;Easter
+      sepulchre&mdash;Reredos&mdash;Shrines&mdash;Numerous altars&mdash;Chantry
+      chapels&mdash; Hagioscopes&mdash;Images&mdash;Low side windows&mdash;Vestries&mdash;Vestments&mdash;Churches
+      in olden times&mdash;Reading pews&mdash;Galleries&mdash;Destruction and
+      profanation&mdash; Evils of &ldquo;restoration.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the centre of our village stands the church, always the most important
+      and interesting building in the place. We will suppose that it has not
+      suffered overmuch at the hands of the &ldquo;restorers&rdquo; of the
+      nineteenth, or the Puritans of the seventeenth, or the spoliators of an
+      earlier century, so that we may observe all those details which
+      characterise an ancient church. In spite of all the vandalism which has
+      taken place, in spite of the changes in ceremonial and forms of worship,
+      our beautiful old churches still retain relics of the past which time has
+      spared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will enter the church and notice first the porch, often a large
+      structure with a chamber above. Why was it made so large? According to the
+      Sarum use several services took place in the porch. Parts of the baptismal
+      service and of the marriage service and the churching of women were there
+      performed; hence the porch was an important building, and it was necessary
+      to make it rather large. Above the door there is frequently a niche for
+      the image of the patron saint of the church, which has not usually escaped
+      the destructive hand of the Puritan. The room over the porch was
+      frequently inhabited by a recluse, as I have already recorded in the
+      previous chapter. Near the door always stands the font, signifying that
+      baptism is the entrance to the Church of Christ. Ancient fonts are large
+      enough to allow the infant to be totally immersed, and are made of stone
+      or lead. Childrey Church, in our county of Berks, has a fine cylindrical,
+      leaden font, of Norman date, carved with figures of bishops. Norman fonts
+      are frequently carved, the favourite subjects being the Baptism of our
+      Lord, the Twelve Apostles, and the evangelistic symbols. Early English and
+      Decorated fonts are not usually carved, but in the Perpendicular style
+      they are rich with ornamentation, the Seven Sacraments being a not
+      uncommon design. We have sometimes noticed the symbols of Freemasonry
+      carved on fonts, as at Bray, in Berkshire. To the same period belong the
+      splendid spire-shaped font-covers, of immense weight, of which I am
+      sometimes a little fearful, lest the mechanism by which they are raised
+      should become damaged, and terrible disaster follow during the progress of
+      a baptismal service. At Sonning, Berks, there is a small stone desk
+      attached to a pillar for the service-book to rest on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The nave of the church is now filled with seats for the use of the
+      congregation. In early times they do not seem to have been considered
+      necessary, and until the fourteenth century the stone benches ranged
+      against the walls were the only seats provided. Even as late as the
+      fourteenth century it does not appear that many churches had pews, but in
+      the fifteenth they became general. The hideous monstrosities of
+      post-Reformation times did not then disfigure our churches. The pews were
+      low open seats made of oak, sometimes carved at the back, and panelled,
+      with the ends higher than the rest, and often richly carved. Many rich men
+      left money in their wills for the <i>puying</i> of churches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link206" id="link206"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="206.jpg (41K)" src="images/206.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that the fashion
+      of erecting high pews set in, which so disfigured our churches, and were
+      frequently censured by the authorities. Some of these (as at Whalley)
+      resemble four-posted beds; others are like cattle-pens, large square boxes
+      with seats all round, wherein the occupants sit and sleep, screened from
+      the rest of the congregation. The carving of the woodwork of these
+      erections is often very elaborate. Modern pews are happily based upon the
+      more primitive fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Preaching not being considered such an important part of the service in
+      pre-Reformation times, pulpits in churches of that period were not so
+      usual as in modern churches. Monastic refectories had pulpits, which the
+      reader occupied when he read to his brethren during meals. Beaulieu Abbey
+      has the most ancient pulpit in this country, which evidently belongs to
+      the thirteenth century.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The churches of Devonshire and Norfolk have wooden pulpits of the
+      fifteenth century, which were painted and gilded, the figures of the four
+      doctors of the church&mdash;SS. Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, and Jerome&mdash;being
+      the favourite subjects. In 1603 the churchwardens were ordered to provide
+      in every church &ldquo;a comely and decent pulpit.&rdquo; Hence most of
+      our pulpits date from this period. The sides were panelled and carved with
+      scrollwork; and at the same time a sounding-board was introduced.
+      Occasionally the hour-glass which regulated the length of the preacher&rsquo;s
+      discourse remains, with its beautiful scroll-worked stand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The most striking feature of the pre-Reformation Church was the rood-loft,
+      a narrow long gallery above the beautifully decorated screen, which
+      separated the chancel from the nave. In this loft was erected the rood, or
+      figure of our blessed Lord on the cross, together with figures of the
+      Virgin and St. John on each side. Both the screen and the loft were richly
+      panelled and ornamented with tracery and carvings, and before them hung
+      one or more lamps. Sometimes tall candlesticks stood on pillars on each
+      side of the figures. A staircase of stone, constructed in the wall near
+      the chancel-arch, led to the rood-loft, and the blocked-up archway of this
+      rood-stair frequently remains. The priest stood in the rood-loft to read
+      the gospel and epistle, and sometimes preached there; official notices
+      were read, and from it the bishop used to give the Benediction. The
+      rood-cloth, or veil, hid the rood during Lent, and in some churches we
+      have seen the roller which was used to raise this veil. A special altar,
+      called the rood-altar, used to stand under the screen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link208" id="link208"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="208.jpg (62K)" src="images/208.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Reformers played havoc with these old rood-lofts and screens, which
+      were regarded as monuments of idolatry and superstition. The churchwardens&rsquo;
+      account-books of many churches bear witness to this destruction. Those of
+      St. Giles&rsquo;, Reading, tell of certain <i>items</i> &ldquo;for pulling
+      down the rood and carting away the rubbish.&rdquo; Instead of the figure
+      of our Lord they put up the royal arms; and one John Serjente, of Hytchen,
+      is licensed in 1614&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;to paynte in all the Churches and Chappells, within this Realme of
+      England, the Kinges Majesties armes in due forme with helme creste mantell
+      and supporters as they oughte to be&mdash;and to wright in fayre text
+      letters the tenn commandments, the beliefe, and the Lord&rsquo;s prayer,
+      with some other fruitefull and profitable sentences of holye scripture.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of this destruction of the ancient roods, several lofts still
+      remain, <i>e.g.</i> at Bradninch, Cullompton, Dartmouth, Hartland, Kenton,
+      Ugborough, and Plymtree, in Devonshire; in several places in
+      Somersetshire, and at Charlton-on-Otmoor (erected in 1485) and
+      Handborough, Oxfordshire. A very large number of the old screens remain,
+      ornamented with the arms of Elizabeth or James I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Proceeding eastward we enter the chancel, so called because it is inclosed
+      with <i>cancelli</i>, or the lattice-work of the screen. If the church was
+      formerly connected with some monastery we shall see some beautifully
+      carved wooden stalls with rich canopies over them. The seats are curiously
+      constructed. They can be turned up, and beneath the seats is a projecting
+      bracket of wood, commonly adorned with carved work&mdash;animals, birds,
+      leaves, and flowers, and often with grotesque, satirical, and irreverent
+      devices. They are called miserere-stalls, and were used by the monks or
+      canons to lean against during the portions of the long mediaeval services,
+      when they were not allowed to be seated. As this practice was a concession
+      to human weakness or infirmity, the seats were called in France <i>misericordes</i>,
+      and in England <i>misereres</i>. The subjects of the sculptures are often
+      extremely curious. Domestic scenes, fables, such as the &ldquo;Fox and the
+      Grapes,&rdquo; demons carrying off monks, &ldquo;The Seven Deadly Sins,&rdquo;
+      are some of these subjects. Miss Phipson has published a learned work on
+      <i>Choir Stalls and their Carvings</i>, which contains reproductions of
+      three hundred of her sketches of curiously wrought <i>misereres</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link210" id="link210"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/210.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="210h.jpg (31K)" src="images/210h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> VILLAGE CHURCH IN THE VALE <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lectern formerly stood in the chancel; and then, as now, was often in
+      the form of a large eagle, emblematic of St. John. Most of these
+      reading-desks belong to the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and are
+      made of wood, latten, iron, or stone, as well as of brass. There is a very
+      curious wooden one at East Hendred, Berks, representing a foot resting on
+      the head of a dragon, emblematic of the word of God conquering the powers
+      of evil. Ancient wooden double reading-desks are not uncommon. The
+      ornamentation usually denotes the period when they were constructed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now we approach the high altar of the church, made of stone, covered
+      with a beautifully worked frontal and cloth, and inclosed at the sides
+      with curtains suspended on iron rods projecting from the wall. A crucifix
+      hangs above the altar, and two candlesticks stand, one on each side. The
+      furniture and accessories of the altar in pre-Reformation times were
+      numerous. There was the pyx, a box or vessel of precious metal, in which
+      the Host was reverently preserved for the purpose of giving communion to
+      the sick and infirm. There were two small cruets or vessels for containing
+      the wine and water used in Holy Communion, one engraved with the letter
+      &ldquo;V&rdquo; (<i>vinum</i>), and the other &ldquo;A&rdquo; (<i>aqua</i>).
+      An <i>osculatorium</i>, or pax tablet, of ivory or wood, overlaid with
+      gold, was used for giving the kiss of peace during the High Mass just
+      before the reception of the Host. Of church plate generally we shall write
+      in a subsequent chapter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link212" id="link212"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="212.jpg (23K)" src="images/212.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />NORMAN PISCINA, ROMSEY CHURCH, HANTS <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the south we see the piscina, which is contained in a beautifully
+      carved niche&mdash;a hollow basin with a stone drain, wherein the priest
+      washed his hands before consecrating the elements, and poured the water
+      from the rinsed chalice. Above it in the niche was the credence, a shelf
+      of stone, on which were placed the chalice and paten and all things
+      necessary for the celebration. In some churches there is a separate
+      credence table. On the north side was the aumbry, or locker, where the
+      sacred vessels, altar linen, and service books were kept, guarded by a
+      strong wooden door. The doors have usually disappeared, but a very large
+      number of churches have the hole in the wall which was formerly the
+      aumbry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the south side are the sedilia, or stone seats, for the assistant
+      clergy, frequently with canopies richly carved, and usually three in
+      number. Opposite to the sedilia in the north wall is a large arch, within
+      which the holy sepulchre was set up at Easter. This was a wooden structure
+      made for the deposition of the consecrated elements of the Eucharist from
+      the evening of Good Friday until the morning of Easter Day; during which
+      time it was watched by a quasi-guard, after the manner of our Lord&rsquo;s
+      sepulchre. The books of St. Lawrence, Reading, record:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"Anno 1498. In primis payed for Wakyng of the Sepulchre viii'd."
+
+"Anno 1510. It. payed to Walter Barton to the new Sepulchur iiii'li
+xiii's x'd."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      As this sum of money was a considerable one at that period, the sepulchre
+      must have been an object of unusual magnificence. Sometimes it was a
+      permanent structure of stone, carved with figures of soldiers watching the
+      tomb of our Lord. Behind the altar was the reredos. In village churches
+      these screens were made up of recessed stone panels, surrounded by
+      sculptured wallflowers and other devices; but in large churches they were
+      very ornate, enriched with niches, statues, tabernacle-work, and other
+      adornments. Many of them were destroyed at the Reformation, together with
+      the stone altars. Some were covered up and concealed by plaster, in order
+      to preserve them from iconoclastic violence. They were buried and
+      forgotten, until by some happy accident their existence was revealed in
+      modern times. Nearly all large churches, and some village churches,
+      especially those connected with a monastery, had shrines, or receptacles
+      for the body or relics of a saint. Some of them were fixed, and made of
+      stone or wood, adorned with rich tabernacle-work, such as the shrine of
+      St. Cuthbert at Durham, or of St. Frideswide at Oxford; and others were
+      portable, shaped like coped boxes, covered with precious metal, enamels,
+      and engraving. Sculptured stones in the walls of our churches often mark
+      the spot in the building where relics were stored.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is evident from the existence of niches and piscinas in other parts of
+      the church, besides in the south wall near the high altar, that there
+      formerly existed many altars in the sacred building. At the east end of
+      each aisle we usually find these indications of the existence of an altar,
+      which belonged to a chantry chapel, separated from the rest of the church
+      by a screen. Here a priest said Mass daily for the soul of the founder of
+      the chantry, his ancestors, and posterity. Ancient stone altars still
+      remain in some of our churches. Sometimes they have been removed from
+      their place, and used as tombstones, or in paving the floor of the church.
+      They can be recognised by the five crosses engraved on them, one at each
+      corner, and one in the centre of the stone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hagioscopes, or squints, are openings in the thickness of the wall,
+      enabling worshippers in the chantry chapels to witness the elevation of
+      the Host at the high altar. They are usually plain; but in some churches
+      we find these curious apertures moulded and decorated with architectural
+      designs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pre-Reformation churches had several wooden images of saints, most of
+      which were destroyed by the iconoclastic zeal of the Reformers or
+      Puritans. The brackets on which these figures stood often remain, though
+      the images have disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link215" id="link215"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="215.jpg (37K)" src="images/215.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Low side windows, commonly called &ldquo;Lepers&rsquo; windows,&rdquo; are
+      very frequently found in our churches, and usually on the south wall of
+      the chancel. Their object has been, and is, much disputed among
+      antiquaries. The vulgar idea is that poor lepers used to come to this
+      window to see the celebration of the Mass; but unfortunately it is quite
+      impossible in many cases to see the high altar through this window, and
+      moreover lepers were not allowed to enter a churchyard. Another idea is
+      that they were used as confessionals, the priest in the church hearing the
+      confession of the penitent who knelt on the grass in the churchyard. A
+      more inconvenient arrangement could not have been devised; and this idea
+      might be at once dismissed, were it not that one of Henry&rsquo;s
+      commissioners for suppressing monasteries and chantries wrote: &ldquo;We
+      think it best that the place where these friars have been wont to hear
+      outward confession of all-comers at certain times of the year, be walled
+      up, and that use to be done for ever.&rdquo; It appears that sometimes at
+      any rate the low side windows were used for this purpose. However, I am
+      inclined to think that they were intended for the use of the anchorites or
+      recluses, who dwelt in churches. The windows were not glazed, but had iron
+      bars on the outside, and a wooden shutter on the inside of the church.
+      These windows were probably their means of communication with the outside
+      world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many village churches then, as now, had no vestry. Where a <i>vestiarium</i>
+      existed it was usually on the north side of the chancel, and its contents
+      were more elaborate than the plain surplice stole and hood of recent
+      times. In the vestry press we should find an alb of fine white linen,
+      somewhat similar to a surplice, ornamented with &ldquo;apparels,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i>
+      embroidery, on the cuffs and skirts; a girdle made of white silk
+      embroidered with colours; an amice, or oblong piece of fine linen, worn on
+      the head or as a collar; a stole with embroidered ends; a maniple, or
+      strip of ornamented linen worn by the priest in his left hand during
+      celebrations; dalmatic, chasuble and other vestments which the ornate
+      ritual of the mediaeval church required.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before the Reformation the appearance of our churches was certainly
+      splendid, and differed much from the Puritan simplicity of later times.
+      The walls were covered with mural paintings. The windows, soon to be
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shorn of their glass of a thousand colourings,<br /> Through which
+      the deepened glories once could enter,&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      were then resplendent with stained glass. Above, the rood looked down on
+      all the worshippers. Everywhere there was beautifully carved woodwork,
+      gilded and painted, tombs of knights and dames all painted and adorned,
+      altars with rich embroidered hangings. The floor was composed of encaustic
+      tiles, and had many memorial brasses. Armour, crests, and banners hung
+      upon the walls. Lights burned before numerous images, and the whole
+      appearance of our churches was gorgeous and magnificent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many changes have taken place since. Coatings of whitewash hide the mural
+      paintings. Sacrilegious hands &ldquo;have broken down all the carved work
+      with axes and hammers.&rdquo; The stone altars have disappeared, and
+      instead we have &ldquo;an honest table decently covered.&rdquo;
+      Reading-pews for the clergy were set up, and in the last century the
+      hideous &ldquo;three decker,&rdquo; which hid the altar and utterly
+      disfigured the sacred building. Instead of the low open seats great square
+      high pews filled the nave. Hideous galleries were erected which obstructed
+      the windows and hid the architectural beauties of former days. The old
+      timber roofs were covered, and low flat ceilings substituted. Brasses were
+      torn up and sold by dishonest churchwardens, and old monuments broken and
+      defaced. The old stained-glass windows were destroyed. The Communion table
+      was taken from the east end of the chancel, and seats erected round it.
+      Crosses were defaced everywhere, and crucifixes destroyed. Puritan
+      profanation and wanton destruction devastated our churches to a degree
+      which has never been equalled since the hordes of heathens and barbaric
+      Danish invaders carried fire and sword into the sanctuaries of God.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link218" id="link218"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="218.jpg (56K)" src="images/218.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Much harm was done by the Goths and Vandals of the nineteenth century.
+      Many old churches, replete with a thousand memories of the past, were
+      pulled down entirely, and modern structures of &ldquo;Victorian Gothic&rdquo;
+      style erected in their place, which can have none of the precious
+      associations which the old churches had. Much harm was done to the old
+      features of many churches by so-called &ldquo;restoration,&rdquo; carried
+      out by men ignorant of architecture and antiquities. But we are learning
+      better now. The Society of Antiquaries has done much to prevent
+      injudicious restoration and the destruction of our old churches, and if
+      any incumbent and his parishioners are thinking of restoring their church,
+      they cannot do better than to consult the secretaries of that learned
+      body, who will show how best to preserve the interesting memorials of the
+      past which time has spared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link15" id="link15"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CHURCH PLATE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Spoliation&mdash;Few remains of pre-Reformation plate&mdash;Testimony of
+      inventories&mdash;Plate found in graves of bishops&mdash;Characteristics
+      of chalices in different periods&mdash;Inscriptions&mdash;Devices on
+      patens&mdash; Censers&mdash;Pyx&mdash;Monstrance&mdash;Chrismatory&mdash;Pax&mdash;Sacring
+      bell&mdash;Elizabethan chalice&mdash;Bridal cup&mdash;Post-Reformation
+      plate&mdash;Hall marks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have already mourned over the wanton destruction of much that was of
+      intense interest and value in our churches; but the most systematic
+      robbery and spoliation of our church goods at the time of the Reformation
+      were carried out in the matter of church plate. Henry VIII. stripped our
+      cathedrals and conventual churches of almost all that was valuable, and
+      the unscrupulous commissioners of Edward VI. performed a like office for
+      our parish churches and chantries. A large number of the old chalices were
+      also melted down and converted into Communion cupsduring the reigns of
+      Edward VI. and Elizabeth. Hence of all the vast store of church plate
+      which our churches possessed before the Reformation, at the present time
+      throughout all England only thirty-four chalices and seventy-three patens
+      remain. It is true that not all the ancient vessels fell into the hands of
+      the commissioners of the king. In the churchwardens&rsquo; account books
+      of the period we read of sundry sales of church plate. Evidently the
+      parishioners had some presentiment of the coming spoliation; so they sold
+      their valuables, and kept the proceeds of the sale for &ldquo;the paving
+      of the streets,&rdquo; or other parochial necessities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ancient inventories of church goods show the deplorable loss of the
+      valuables of the church which has taken place. Thus at the church of St.
+      Lawrence, Reading, in the year 1517, the inventory tells us of the
+      following: a cross of silver and gilt; a censer of silver gilt; another
+      censer; a ship of silver for holding incense; another ship of silver; two
+      candlesticks of silver; two books bound in silver; two basins of silver; a
+      pyx of silver gilt, with a silver pin; a monstrance of silver gilt; a
+      silver gilt chrismatory for the holy oil; a pax; two cruets; a bell; a
+      chalice, with a crucifix enamelled on the foot and the Trinity on the
+      paten; another chalice, with a crucifix engraved on the foot and a hand on
+      the paten; another chalice similarly described; another similar to first
+      chalice; and two others, with a crucifix on the foot and a vernicle, or <i>vera
+      icon</i> (a representation of our Lord&rsquo;s face miraculously
+      delineated on the napkin of St. Veronica). All these vessels were made of
+      silver or silver gilt. Nor were these all the treasures. There were
+      several reliquaries of silver gilt containing parts of the holy cross; a
+      gridiron, with a bone of St. Lawrence, and other articles contained in
+      silver boxes; and many books bound with silver clasps. The total weight of
+      silver in this church amounted to seven hundred ounces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Village churches were, of course, less sumptuously furnished than this
+      important town church, which being situated under the shadow of one of the
+      largest and most important abbeys in the kingdom, would receive many
+      costly gifts and benefactors. But the inventories of village churches show
+      that there was no lack of plate, rich altar hangings, copes, and
+      vestments, which helped to swell the goodly heap of spoil. In country
+      churches in Oxfordshire there were silver chalices and patens, pyxes,
+      censers, candlesticks, chrismatories, crosses, sanctus bells, and other
+      articles of plate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the practice in mediaeval times to place in the coffin of a bishop
+      a chalice and paten; hence some of the earliest specimens of church plate
+      which we possess have been recovered from episcopal graves.[<a
+      href="#linkb3">3</a>] The Rites of Durham enjoin that on the death of a
+      bishop he was to be buried &ldquo;with a little chalice of silver, other
+      metal, or wax&rdquo; aid upon his breast within the coffin.[<a
+      href="#linkb4">4</a>] Most of these were made of pewter or lead, but some
+      have been found of silver gilt, latten, and tin. It is perhaps scarcely
+      necessary for our present purposes to describe these early specimens of
+      sacred vessels, as the number of them is so limited; and few of my readers
+      will be able to discover any mediaeval examples amongst the plate of their
+      own church. However, I will point out a few peculiarities of the plate of
+      each period.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The earliest chalice, used in the church of Berwick St. James, Wilts,
+      until a few years ago, and now in the British Museum, dates from the
+      beginning of the thirteenth century. Its bowl is broad and shallow, the
+      stem and knot (by which the vessel was held) and foot being plain and
+      circular. Then the makers (from 1250 to 1275) fashioned the stem and knot
+      separately from the bowl and foot, and shaped them polygonally. During the
+      remaining years of the century the foot was worked into ornate lobes. Then
+      the bowl is deepened and made more conical. About 1350 the custom arose of
+      laying the chalice on its side on the paten to drain at the ablutions at
+      Mass; and as the round-footed chalices would have a tendency to roll, the
+      foot was made hexagonal for stability. Henceforth all the mediaeval
+      chalices were fashioned with a six-sided foot. By degrees the bowl became
+      broader and shallower, and instead of the base having six points, its form
+      is a sexfoil without any points. Several old chalices are engraved with
+      the inscription&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Calicem salutaris accipiam et nomen Domini inbocabo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link223" id="link223"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="223.jpg (15K)" src="images/223.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In one of the compartments of the base there was a representation of a
+      crucifix, or the Virgin, or ihc, or xpc.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The usual devices on ancient patens were the <i>Manus Dei</i>, or hand of
+      God, in the act of blessing; on later ones the vernicle, or face of our
+      Lord; the Holy Trinity; the Holy Lamb; the sacred monogram. The oldest
+      paten in existence is that found at Chichester Cathedral in a coffin, and
+      its date is about the year 1180. In the centre is a rude engraving of the
+      <i>Agnus Dei</i>, and it bears the inscription&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi miserere nobis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link224" id="link224"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="224.jpg (33K)" src="images/224.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The grave of Bishop Grostete at Lincoln yielded up an ancient paten
+      (1230-53), which has the figure of a bishop vested, the right hand raised
+      in the act of blessing, the left holding a crozier. The oldest piece of
+      church plate still in use is a remarkable paten at Wyke Church, near
+      Winchester, the date of which is about 1280. It bears an engraving of the
+      <i>Agnus Dei</i> holding a banner, and around the rim is the legend&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      CUNTA: CREO: VIRTUTE: REGO: PIETATE REFORMO.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another favourite inscription was <i>Benedicamus patrem et filium cum
+      spiritu sancto</i>; but on the paten in the church of Great Waltham,
+      Essex, the important word <i>spiritu</i> is omitted for want of room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link225" id="link225"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="225.jpg (37K)" src="images/225.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have already mentioned several of the important pieces of church plate
+      which were in use in mediaeval times. Censers, or thuribles, were common
+      in all our ancient parish churches, sometimes of gold or silver, more
+      usually of brass or latten, and were in the shape of a covered vase or
+      cup, perforated so as to allow the fumes of burning incense to escape.
+      Most of our English censers are now in museums, but several ancient ones
+      are still in use in the private chapels of Roman Catholic families.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old inventories always mention a pyx, a box or vessel of gold or silver,
+      in which the Host was reserved for the sick and infirm. It often resembles
+      a chalice, except that instead of the bowl there is a covered receptacle
+      for the Host. A beautiful specimen was dug up a few years ago in the
+      churchyard of Yateley, Hants. Another vessel was the monstrance, in which
+      the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession, and exposed on the altar.
+      The form varied. Sometimes monstrances were made in the shape of a tower,
+      or a covered chalice; sometimes in the form of images carrying silver
+      pyxes, elaborately ornamented with many jewels. Processions were always a
+      great feature of mediaeval worship; hence the monstrance was frequently in
+      use, especially on such occasions as the celebrations of Corpus Christi
+      Day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Holy oil was much used in the services, as in the Roman Catholic Church at
+      the present time. It was blessed by a bishop on Maundy Thursday, and used
+      in Baptism, Confirmation, and Extreme Unction, as well as at the
+      Consecration of Churches, Ordination, and the Coronation of Kings. The
+      vessel for holding the oil was an important piece of church plate, and was
+      called a chrismatory. Usually there were three distinct vessels, one for
+      holding the oil for the sick, a second for use at confirmations, and a
+      third for the baptismal oil. Sometimes these vessels are labelled with the
+      words EXT. UNC., CAT., and CHR., according to the recommendation of St.
+      Charles Borromeo, in order that each oil might be kept for its proper use,
+      and that no confusion might arise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pax was a small tablet of silver or other precious metal, used for
+      giving the kiss of peace during High Mass. The celebrant kissed the
+      tablet, and held it aloft before all the people. It was usually adorned
+      with a representation of the <i>Agnus Dei</i>. Of the cruets containing
+      wine and water for the celebration we have already written. Then there was
+      a sacring bell, often made of silver, which was rung during the service at
+      the time of the elevation of the Host, and at the sound the congregation
+      knelt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We have now examined the aumbry, and noted its contents, upon which the
+      commissioners in the reign of Edward VI. made such shameful inroads.
+      Henceforth the plate was confined to a chalice and paten, alms-dish, and
+      usually a large silver flagon. The form of the chalice was entirely
+      changed. As we have noticed, the bowl of the pre-Reformation chalices
+      became smaller and shallower, on account of the gradually introduced
+      practice of refusing the wine to the laity. Now in the year 1562 the size
+      of the bowl was greatly enlarged, and the &ldquo;Communion cup&rdquo; took
+      the place of the &ldquo;Massing chalice.&rdquo; Some poor parishes were
+      obliged to content themselves with pewter vessels. St. Lawrence&rsquo;s
+      Church, Reading, had a curious bridal cup, which was carried before all
+      brides who were married in that church. The custom of drinking wine in the
+      church at marriages is enjoined in the Hereford Missal, and the Sarum
+      Missal ordered that the bread immersed in the wine, and consumed by the
+      company, should first be blessed by the priest. Some of these
+      post-Reformation vessels are extremely interesting. They record the
+      thankofferings of pious donors on the occasion of some great event in the
+      national annals, such as the Restoration, or of some private mercy
+      vouchsafed to the individual. They record the connection of some family
+      with the parish, the arms they bore; and the Hall marks tell us of their
+      date, which is often anterior to the date of the inscription.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hall marks were first introduced in 1300 by Edward I. in order to keep up
+      the purity of silver, and consisted of the lion&rsquo;s or leopard&rsquo;s
+      head crowned. This was called the king&rsquo;s mark. The maker&rsquo;s
+      mark was introduced in 1363, and was some initial or badge chosen by the
+      silversmith. To these were added in 1438 the year letter or assayer&rsquo;s
+      mark, a different letter being chosen for each year. When the alphabet was
+      exhausted, another with differently shaped letters was begun. In 1545 the
+      lion passant was introduced, and since 1784 the portrait of the reigning
+      sovereign has appeared. With the assistance of Mr. Cripps&rsquo; <i>Old
+      English Plate</i>, which contains a list of the alphabets used in marking
+      plate, it is not very difficult to discover the date of any piece of
+      silver. Inventories of church plate are being made in many counties and
+      dioceses, and no more useful work can be undertaken by our local
+      antiquarian societies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb3" id="linkb3"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [3] <i>Mediaeval Chalices and Patens</i>, by W.H. St. John Hope and T.M.
+      Fallow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb4" id="linkb4"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [4] Surtees Society, vol. xv. pp. 45, 49.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link16" id="link16"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      MONUMENTAL EFFIGIES AND BRASSES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Reverence for the dead&mdash;Cists&mdash;Stone coffins&mdash;Devices&mdash;Introduction
+      of effigies&mdash;Cross-legged effigies&mdash;Wooden effigies&mdash;Incised
+      effigies&mdash;Brasses&mdash;Essentially English&mdash;Vast number of
+      brasses&mdash; Palimpsests&mdash;Destruction&mdash;Costumes and fashions&mdash;Ecclesiastics&mdash;
+      Lawyers&mdash;Soldiers&mdash;Canopies and inscriptions&mdash;Punning
+      inscriptions&mdash; Contractions&mdash;Emblems&mdash;Heraldry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The pious care which we all love to bestow on the mortal remains of our
+      nearest and dearest, and the respect and honour with which all men regard
+      the bodies of departed heroes, kings, saints, and warriors, have produced
+      a remarkable series of sepulchral monuments, examples of which may be
+      found everywhere. The cairns and tumuli of the primitive races which
+      inhabited our island were the results of the same feelings of reverent
+      regard which inspired the beautifully carved mediaeval monuments, the
+      memorial brass, or the cross-shaped tombstone of to-day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have already mentioned the cromlechs and barrows and other memorials of
+      the early inhabitants of Britain. We have seen the cists of Saxon times,
+      the coffins formed of several stones placed together in the form of a
+      table. The Normans introduced stone coffins for the sepulchre of their
+      great men, many of which may be seen in our cathedrals and old conventual
+      churches. On the lids of their coffins they frequently cut a single cross.
+      When the style of architecture changed to that of the Early English and
+      Decorated periods, monumental slabs were ornamented with much greater
+      richness and elaboration, and inscriptions were added, and also some
+      device which showed the trade, rank, or profession of the departed. Thus
+      the chalice and paten denoted a priest; a sword showed the knight; an axe,
+      a forester; an ink-horn, a notary; shears, a wool merchant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the beginning of the thirteenth century it occurred to someone to
+      preserve the likeness of his departed friend as well as the symbols of his
+      rank and station. So effigies were introduced upon the surface of the
+      slabs, and were carved flat; but ere fifty years had passed away the art
+      of the sculptor produced magnificent monumental effigies. Knights and
+      nobles lie clad in armour with their ladies by their sides. Bishops and
+      abbots bless the spectators with their uplifted right hands. Judges lie in
+      their official garb, and merchants with the emblems of their trade. At
+      their feet lie animals, usually having some heraldic connection with the
+      deceased, or symbolical of his work&mdash;<i>e.g.</i> a dragon is trodden
+      down beneath the feet of a bishop, signifying the defeat of sin as the
+      result of his ministry. The heads of effigies usually rest on cushions,
+      which are sometimes supported by two angels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A peculiar characteristic of the military effigies in England is that the
+      knights are often represented with the legs crossed. Many speculations
+      have been made with regard to the meaning of this fashion of cross-legged
+      effigy. It is a popular superstition, in which for some years the writer
+      shared, that such effigies represented Crusaders. We were told in our
+      young days that when the knight had his legs crossed at the feet he had
+      gone to the Crusades once; when at the knees, that he had been to two
+      Crusades; and when crossed at the thighs, he had been thrice to rescue the
+      Holy City from the hands of the infidels. All this seemed very plausible
+      and interesting, but it is undoubtedly a myth. Many known Crusaders have
+      their effigies with uncrossed legs, and many who never went to the
+      Crusades have cross-legged effigies. Moreover, there are no such monuments
+      in any foreign country which swelled the army of Crusaders. Hence we must
+      abandon the pleasing superstition, and reconcile ourselves to the fact
+      that no particular signification can be assigned to these cross-legged
+      effigies, and that only fashion prompted the mediaeval sculptors to adopt
+      this attitude for their figures. This mode prevailed until about the year
+      1320.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the close of the fifteenth century the art of making monumental
+      effigies degenerated together with the skill of the architects of that
+      period. We see the husband and wife kneeling facing each other, with a
+      faldstool before each figure. A company of small figures below the
+      effigies represent the children, the boys on one side, the girls on the
+      other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early wooden effigies were also in use. There is one much battered by the
+      careless hands of former generations of villagers in the rural church of
+      my parish of Barkham. The artists often used much colour, gilding, and
+      enamel in making these effigies; and often rich canopies were erected over
+      them, containing fine tabernacle-work and figures of saints in niches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another form of effigy was commonly in use, in addition to the figures
+      just described. These are called incised effigies, which were cut in
+      outline upon flat slabs of stone, the lines being filled in with enamelled
+      metals. Thorton Abbey, Lincolnshire, and Brading, in the Isle of Wight,
+      have examples of this work. But the great expense of these enamels, and
+      also their frailty when exposed in the pavements of churches, led to the
+      use of brass; and hence arose the introduction of memorial brasses for
+      which our country is famous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We owe the application of brass to memorial tablets to the artists of
+      Flanders, and the date of their introduction is about the middle of the
+      thirteenth century. The execution of almost all of our English brasses is
+      due to native artists. Foreign brasses are usually of great size, and
+      consist of a quadrangular sheet of metal, on which is engraved the figure,
+      usually under a canopy, the background being ornamented with rich diaper,
+      foliage, or scrollwork, and the incisions filled with colouring. Several
+      brasses in England conform to this style of workmanship, and are evidently
+      the production of foreign artists. The English brasses, on the contrary,
+      consist of separate pieces, with an irregular outline, corresponding with
+      that of the figure. They have no brass background; and for delicacy of
+      engraving and general appearance the English brasses are by far the best.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The names of the makers of brasses have been almost entirely lost. Two
+      only bear marks which are supposed to be those of the engraver. No other
+      country can boast of so large a number of these memorials as England, in
+      spite of the hard usage they have received and their wanton destruction.
+      About four thousand remain; and constantly we find the matrices cut in
+      stone slabs, from which brasses have been torn; so that we may assume that
+      quite as many have been destroyed as those which survive. The southern and
+      eastern counties are most richly furnished with these monuments, whereas
+      the western and northern counties have but few brasses. Norfolk, Suffolk,
+      Essex, and Kent are the most rich in this respect. The earliest brass of
+      which we have any record is that of Simon de Beauchamp, who died before
+      1208. This is mentioned by Leland. The earliest brass now in existence is
+      that of Sir John D&rsquo;Aubernown at Stoke Dabernon, Surrey, which was
+      fashioned in 1277. In the fourteenth century a very large number of
+      brasses, remarkable for their beauty of form and execution, were made. The
+      artistic workmanship began to decline in the fifteenth century, and in the
+      following became utterly degenerate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not an uncommon practice for subsequent generations to appropriate
+      the memorials of their predecessors. Such brasses are called palimpsests.
+      By the carelessness of churchwardens, by fraud, or spoliation, brasses
+      were taken from the churches, and acquired by some maker in the town. When
+      a new one was required, the tradesman would take from his stock, and on
+      the reverse engrave the figure of the individual whose memory he was
+      called upon to perpetuate. Hence when brasses are taken up from the
+      pavements, frequently the remains of a much earlier memorial are found on
+      the reverse side. There is an example of this curious method of procedure
+      at St. Lawrence&rsquo;s Church, Reading, where on the reverse of a brass
+      to the memory of Walter Barton was found the remains of the brass of Sir
+      John Popham, who was buried at the Charterhouse, London. This monastery
+      was dissolved in 1536, the monuments sold, Sir John Popham&rsquo;s brass
+      among them, which was evidently soon converted into a memorial of Walter
+      Barton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes the original brass was appropriated as it lay, the figure being
+      slightly altered to suit the style of costume prevalent at the later date.
+      In other cases the engraver did not even trouble himself to alter the
+      figure, and simply added a new inscription and shield of arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wanton destruction and gross neglect of churchwardens, both before and
+      after the Reformation, were very great. At St. Mary&rsquo;s Church,
+      Reading, the accounts tell a sad tale of the disgraceful damage in the
+      year 1547:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Receyvid of John Saunders for iii cwt lacking ix&rsquo;li of metall
+      that was taken upp of the graves, and of olde candlestycks at vi&rsquo;s
+      the hundred xlvj&rsquo;s ii&rsquo;d.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evidently a clean sweep was made of most of the memorial brasses in the
+      church, and few escaped destruction. The tale is too familiar. Most
+      churches have suffered in the same way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The study of brasses throws much light upon the costumes and fashions of
+      the day when they were engraved. We see priests, who may be recognised by
+      the tonsure and vestments, amongst which we find the alb, amice, stole,
+      maniple, and chasuble. The pastoral staff, ring, mitre, sandals, tunic,
+      dalmatic, and gloves mark the graves of bishops and mitred abbots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A close skull-cap, a long robe with narrow sleeves, a hood, tippet, and
+      mantle buttoned on the right shoulder, compose the dress of judges and
+      officers of the law, as depicted on brasses. The changes in the fashion
+      and style of armour, which took place between the fourteenth and the
+      seventeenth centuries, are all accurately represented in these memorials;
+      and also the picturesque costumes of ladies with their curious headgear;
+      and the no less various fashions of the male civilian&rsquo;s dress. A
+      study of brasses is an admirable guide to the prevailing style of dress
+      during the periods of their construction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The beautiful canopies over the heads of the figures are well worthy of
+      attention, and also the inscriptions. These usually take the form of Latin
+      verses; and although many were written by learned abbots and scholars, the
+      classical knowledge displayed is somewhat faulty. Here are a few examples:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            Respice quid prodest precentis temporis aebum<br /> Omne quod est,
+            nichil est, preter amare deum.
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes the author of the inscription recorded his name, as did the
+      learned Dame Elizabeth Hobby on a brass at Shottesbrooke, which runs&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            O multum dilecte senex, pater atqz bocate,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Del quia
+            grandaebis, bel quia probus eras.<br /> Annos bixisti nobies decem,
+            atqz satelles<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Fidus eras regum, fidus erasqz tuis.<br />
+            Iam satis functus baleas, sed tu, deus alme,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Sic
+            mihi concedas bibere siqz mori.
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Variety was added sometimes by jumbling together various languages,
+      Norman-French, Latin, and English being often oddly combined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      People in the Middle Ages loved punning and playing upon the sound of
+      words. Thus a brass to the memory of Thomas Hylle (or Hill) has some
+      verses beginning &ldquo;<i>Mons</i> in valle jacet.&rdquo; John Day, the
+      printer, had a very extravagant and jocular epitaph beginning&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &ldquo;Here lies the Daye that darkness could not blynd.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            &ldquo;He set a Fox to wright how Martyrs runne<br /> By death to
+            lyfe&rdquo;&mdash;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      alluding to his publication of Foxe&rsquo;s <i>Book of Martyrs</i>. His
+      widow probably married a man named Stone. Hence we read&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &ldquo;Als was the last encreaser of his store,<br /> Who mourning
+            long for being left alone,<br /> Sett upp this tombe, her self turned
+            to a Stone.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Orate pro anima,&rdquo; or &ldquo;of your charite pray for the soul
+      of &mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; were usual inscriptions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is somewhat difficult for the unpractised eye to read inscriptions on
+      brasses, owing to the contractions and omissions of letters. Thus <i>m</i>
+      and <i>n</i> are often omitted, and a line is placed over the adjoining
+      letter to indicate the omission. Thus a=ia stands for <i>anima</i>, leg=u
+      for <i>legum</i>. The letter <i>r</i> is also left out. Z stands for <i>que</i>,
+      and there are many other contractions, such as D=ns for <i>Dominus</i>,
+      D=s for <i>Deus</i>, E=ps for <i>Episcopus</i>, g=ia for <i>gratia</i>,
+      m=ia for <i>misericordia</i>, and many others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The study of the emblems and devices is full of interest. Of
+      ecclesiastical emblems we have the symbols of the Holy Trinity&mdash;God
+      the Father represented as an aged person, holding a crucifix on which the
+      dove, an emblem of the Holy Spirit, is alighting&mdash;representations of
+      our Lord, angels, saints,[<a href="#linkb5">5</a>] evangelists, the fylfot
+      cross, roses, and figures of Death. Sometimes the figure on the brass
+      holds a heart in his hand, which indicates a response on the part of the
+      deceased to the old invitatory &ldquo;Sursum corda.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The armorial bearings of the deceased are usually represented on brasses,
+      and also personal or professional devices. The founders of churches hold
+      representations in miniature of the churches which they founded. Bishops
+      and abbots have a pastoral staff; priests, a chalice, or a book; wool
+      merchants have woolpacks beneath their feet, and other tradesmen have
+      similar devices denoting their special calling. Merchants&rsquo; marks
+      also frequently appear; and the mediaeval taste for punning is shown by
+      frequent rebuses formed on the names of the deceased, <i>e.g.</i> a
+      peacock, for one named Pecok; a fox, for a Foxley; four tuns and a cross,
+      for Master Croston.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      England may well be proud of the brass memorials of her worthy sons and
+      daughters. It is, however, terribly sad to see the destruction which
+      fanatical and greedy folk have wrought on these beautiful monuments. As we
+      have already noticed, the spoliators of the Reformation period
+      accomplished much wanton destruction, and removed tombs &ldquo;for
+      greedinesse of the brasse.&rdquo; Cromwell&rsquo;s soldiers and
+      commissioners did a vast deal more damage, violating sepulchres and
+      monuments, and destroying brasses everywhere. A third cause of the
+      defacement and loss of these valuable memorials has been the gross
+      carelessness of churchwardens and incumbents, who during any alterations
+      or restoration of their churches have allowed them to be sold, destroyed,
+      or appropriated by the builders. Truly we have entered upon a diminished
+      inheritance. It behoves us to preserve with the utmost vigilance and care
+      the memorials which fanaticism, greed, and carelessness have spared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb5" id="linkb5"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [5] The following are the principal emblems of the Apostles:&mdash; St.
+      Andrew, a cross saltier; St. Bartholomew, a knife; St. James the Great, a
+      pilgrim&rsquo;s staff, wallet, escallop shell; St. James the Less, a
+      fuller&rsquo;s bat, or saw; St. John, a chalice and serpent; St. Jude, a
+      boat in his hand, or a club; St. Matthew, a club, carpenter&rsquo;s
+      square, or money-box; St. Matthias, a hatchet, battle-axe, or sword; St.
+      Paul, a sword; St. Peter, keys; St. Philip, a tau cross, or a spear; St.
+      Simon, fishes; St. Thomas, an arrow or spear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link17" id="link17"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE PARISH CHEST
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Contents of the parish chest&mdash;Parish registers&mdash;Effect of Civil
+      War&mdash; Burials in woollen&mdash;&ldquo;Not worth &pound;600&rdquo;&mdash;Care
+      bestowed upon registers&mdash; Curious entries&mdash;Astrology&mdash;Gipsies&mdash;Jester&mdash;Heart-burial&mdash;Plagues&mdash;Royal
+      visits&mdash;Licences for eating flesh, for to be touched for king&rsquo;s
+      evil&mdash; Carelessness of custody of registers&mdash;Churchwardens&rsquo;
+      account books&mdash;Their value&mdash;Curious entries&mdash;Sports and
+      pastimes&mdash;Paschall money&mdash;Brief books&mdash;Strange entries in
+      registers and account books&mdash;Dog-whippers&mdash; King&rsquo;s evil&mdash;Treating
+      bishops and poor scholars of Oxford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The parish chest in the vestry usually contains many documents, which are
+      of profound interest to the student of village antiquities. It contains
+      the old churchwardens&rsquo; account books, the parish registers, lists of
+      briefs, and often many other papers and records which bear on the history
+      of the parish. The old register books record the names of past generations
+      of villagers, and many curious facts about the parish and its people,
+      which are not found in the dull dry columns of our modern books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Parish registers were first ordered by Thomas Cromwell in the year 1538,
+      and from that date many of our registers begin.[<a href="#linkb6">6</a>]
+      But all vicars did not obey the injunctions of Viceregent Cromwell; they
+      were renewed by Edward VI. in 1547 and by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, and
+      most of our old register books begin with this date. James I. ordered that
+      the registers should be written over again in a parchment book, the
+      entries previously having been recorded on paper. Hence many of our books,
+      although they begin with the year 1538, are really copies of the paper
+      records made previous to 1603.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The disturbances of the Civil War period caused much neglect in the
+      keeping of the registers. The incumbent was often driven away from his
+      flock, and parish registrars were chosen by the parishioners and approved
+      and sworn before a justice of the peace. Here is a record of this business
+      taken from the books of this parish:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whereas Robtr Williams of the prish of Barkham in the County of
+      Berks was elected and chosen by the inhabitants of the same prish to be
+      there prish Register, he therefore ye sd Ro: Wms was approved and sworne
+      this sixteenth day of November 1653. Ri: Bigg, J.P.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henceforth the children are registered as having been <i>born</i>, not <i>baptised</i>,
+      until the Restoration brought back the clergyman to his flock again, and
+      the entries are written in a scholarly hand, and the disorder of the
+      previous years ceases.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1679 an Act was passed requiring that the dead should be buried in
+      woollen, the purpose being to lessen &ldquo;the importation of linen from
+      beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper
+      manufacturers of this kingdom.&rdquo; A penalty of &pound;5 was inflicted
+      for a violation of this Act; and as frequently people preferred to be
+      buried in linen, a record of the fine appears&mdash;<i>e.g.</i> at Gayton,
+      Northamptonshire, where we find in the register&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;1708. Mrs. Dorothy Bellingham was buryed April 5, in <i>Linnen</i>,
+      and the forfeiture of the Act payd fifty shillings to ye informer and
+      fifty shillings to ye poor of the parishe.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pope wrote the following lines on the burial of Mrs. Oldfield, the
+      actress, with reference to this custom:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Odious! in woollen! &rsquo;twould a saint provoke<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;(Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke);<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Wrap
+            my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes after the name in the register is added the words, &ldquo;Not
+      worth &pound;600.&rdquo; This refers to the Act of William III. in 1694,
+      which required that all persons baptised, married, or buried, having an
+      estate of that value, should pay a tax of twenty shillings. The money was
+      required for carrying on the war with France, and the Act was in force for
+      five years. This description of the personal estate was not intended to be
+      invidious, but was of practical utility in enforcing the Act.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The parish registers reflect with wonderful accuracy the life of the
+      people, and are most valuable to the student of history. Clergymen took
+      great pride in recording &ldquo;the short and simple annals of the poor.&rdquo;
+      A Gloucestershire rector (1630 A.D.) wrote in his book the following good
+      advice which might with advantage be taken in many other villages:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you will have this Book last, bee sure to aire it att the fier,
+      or in the Sunne, three or four times a yeare&mdash;els it will grow
+      dankish and rott, therefore look to it. It will not be amisse when you
+      find it dankish to wipe over the leaves with a dry wollen cloth. This
+      Place is very much subject to dankishness; therefore I say looke to it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A study of the curious entries which we occasionally find conveys much
+      remarkable information. Sometimes, in the days of astrology, in order to
+      assist in casting the nativity, it is recorded that at the time of the
+      child&rsquo;s birth &ldquo;the sun was in Libra,&rdquo; or &ldquo;in
+      Taurus.&rdquo; Gipsies were evidently numerous in the sixteenth century,
+      as we constantly find references to &ldquo;the roguish AEgyptians.&rdquo;
+      The domestic jester finds his record in the entry: &ldquo;1580. March 21,
+      William, fool to my Lady Jerningham.&rdquo; The suicide is &ldquo;infamously
+      buried.&rdquo; Heart-burial is often recorded, as at Wooburn, Bucks:
+      &ldquo;1700. Cadaver Edi Thomas, equitis aurati, hic inhumatum fuit
+      vicessimo tertio die Junii.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Records of the visitations of the plague are very numerous in all parts of
+      England, as at Egglescliffe, Durham: &ldquo;1644. In this year there died
+      of the plague in this towne one and twenty people; they are not all buried
+      in the churchyard, and are not in the Register.&rdquo; Sometimes masses of
+      human bones are found buried in fields outside towns and villages,
+      memorials of this devastating plague.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Parish clerks have not always had very musical voices when they shout out
+      the &ldquo;Amens.&rdquo; The Rector of Buxted, Sussex (1666 A.D.), records
+      with a sigh of relief the death of his old clerk, &ldquo;whose melody
+      warbled forth as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes royal visits to the neighbourhood are recorded, even a royal
+      hunt, as when James I. hunted the hare at Fordham, Cambridgeshire. The
+      register of Wolverton gives &ldquo;a license for eating flesh on
+      prohibited days granted to Sir Tho. Temple, on paying 13s. 4d.&rdquo;
+      Storms, earthquakes, and floods are described; and records of certificates
+      granted to persons to go before the king to be touched for the disease
+      called the king&rsquo;s evil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Civil War is frequently mentioned, and also caused the omission of
+      many entries. At Tarporley, Cheshire, there is a break from 1643 to 1648,
+      for which the rector thus accounts:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This intermission hapned by reason of the great wars obliterating
+      memorials, wasting fortunes, and slaughtering persons of all sorts.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Parish registers have fared ill and suffered much from the gross
+      carelessness of their custodians. We read of the early books of Christ
+      Church, Hants, being converted into kettle-holders by the curate&rsquo;s
+      wife. Many have been sold as waste paper, pages ruthlessly cut out, and
+      village schoolbooks covered with the leaves of old registers. The
+      historian of Leicestershire writes of the register of Scraptoft:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has not been a plaything for young pointers&mdash;it has not
+      occupied a bacon scratch, or a bread and cheese cupboard&mdash;it has not
+      been scribbled on within and without; but it has been treasured ever since
+      1538, to the honour of a succession of worthy clergymen.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>O
+      si sic omnes</i>!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The churchwardens&rsquo; account books are even of greater value to the
+      student of history than the registers, priceless as the latter are for
+      genealogical purposes. The Bishop of Oxford states that &ldquo;in the old
+      account books and minute books of the churchwardens in town and country we
+      possess a very large but very perishable and rapidly perishing treasury of
+      information on matters the very remembrance of which is passing away,
+      although their practical bearing on the development of the system of local
+      government is indisputable, and is occasionally brought conspicuously
+      before the eye of the people by quaint survivals.... It is well that such
+      materials for the illustration of this economic history as have real value
+      should be preserved in print; and that the customs which they illustrate
+      should be reclaimed by History from the misty region of folklore, whilst
+      they can.&rdquo; Many of these account books date from pre-Reformation
+      times, and disclose the changes which took place in the fabric of our
+      churches, the removal of roods and other ecclesiastical furniture, during
+      the Reformation. They are usually kept with great exactness, and contain
+      an accurate record of the receipts and expenditure for each year. Some of
+      the entries are very curious, and relate to the sports and pastimes of our
+      ancestors, the mystery plays, and church ales, which were all under the
+      patronage of the churchwardens. The proceeds of these entertainments were
+      devoted to the maintenance of the church, and were included in the
+      accounts, as well as the necessary cost of the merry diversions. Thus in
+      the books of St. Lawrence&rsquo;s Church, Reading, we find such items as
+      the following:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                                                  s. d.
+"1499. Paid for a coat for Robin Hood             5  4
+         "  for a supper to Robin Hood and
+               his company                        1  6
+         "  for making the church clean
+               against the day of drinking
+               in the said church                    4"
+
+"1531. Paid for five ells of canvass for a coat
+            for Maid Marian                       1  6-1/4"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bells for the Morris dancers,&rdquo; &ldquo;liveries and coats,&rdquo;
+      &ldquo;bread and ale,&rdquo; &ldquo;horse-meat of the horses for the kings
+      of Colen on May Day,&rdquo; are some of the items which appear in these
+      books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another book tells us about the &ldquo;Gatherings&rdquo; at Hock-tide,
+      when on one day the men stopped the women, and on the next the women the
+      men, and refused to let them go until they gave money. The women always
+      succeeded in collecting the most money.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                                                  s. d.
+"It'm.  receyved of the men's gatherynge          7  3
+   "       "       "    women's gatherynge       37  5"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Traces of this custom are still found in many country places. The practice
+      of &ldquo;hocking&rdquo; at Hungerford and &ldquo;lifting&rdquo; in
+      Lancashire subsist still, but the money collected is no longer devoted to
+      any pious uses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The item &ldquo;Paschall money at Easter&rdquo; frequently occurs. This
+      was originally a collection for the Paschal taper, which burned before the
+      high altar at Eastertide. When, in the reign of Elizabeth, the taper was
+      no longer used, the money was devoted to buying the bread and the wine for
+      the Easter Communion. Another item which often appears is a payment of
+      &ldquo;Smoke farthings&rdquo; to the bishop of the diocese at his
+      Visitation Court. This is another name for Peter&rsquo;s pence, formerly
+      given to the Pope. In the accounts of Minchinhampton we find the entry
+      under the year 1576: &ldquo;For Pentecost money, otherwyse peter pence,
+      sometyme payed to Antecryst of Rome xvi&rsquo;d.&rdquo; After the
+      Reformation the tax was collected, but given to the bishop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are very many other points of interest which a study of the
+      churchwardens&rsquo; books presents. In more recent times we find constant
+      payments for the slaughter of sparrows, and many other items which
+      scarcely come under the head of ecclesiastical charges.[<a href="#linkb7">7</a>]
+      But of course the vestry was then the council chamber of the parish, which
+      managed all the temporal affairs of the village community. Possibly, in
+      these days of Poor Law Unions, District and County Councils, our affairs
+      may be managed better; but there is much to be said in favour of the older
+      system, and Parish Councils are not much of an improvement on the old
+      vestries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another book which our parish chest contains is the Brief Book. Briefs
+      were royal letters which were sent to the clergy directing that
+      collections be made for certain objects. These were very numerous and
+      varied. The building of St. Paul&rsquo;s Cathedral after the Great Fire, a
+      fire at Drury Lane Theatre, rebuilding of churches, the redemption of
+      English slaves taken by pirates, the construction of harbours in Scotland,
+      losses by hail, floods, French refugees, Reformed Episcopal churches in
+      Great Poland and Polish Prussia, Protestants in Copenhagen, loss by fire,
+      colleges in Philadelphia&mdash;these and many other objects were commended
+      to the liberality of Churchmen. The sums collected were usually very
+      small, and Pepys wrote in his <i>Diary</i>, June 30th, 1661:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To church, when we observe the trade of briefs is come now up to so
+      constant a course every Sunday that we resolve to give no more to them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The granting of briefs gave rise to much abuse, and they were finally
+      abolished by the advice of Lord Palmerston.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The contents of the parish chest afford an unlimited mass of material for
+      those who love to study the curious customs of our forefathers and their
+      strange usages. Here is a record of a much-married person:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mary Blewitt, ye wife of nine husbands successively, buried eight
+      of ym, but last of all ye woman dy&rsquo;d and was buried, May 7th 1681.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the margin of the register is written, &ldquo;This was her funeral
+      text.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The register of Sparsholt, Berks, records an instance of the body of a
+      dead man being arrested for debt. The entry is:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The corpse of John Matthews, of Fawler, was stopt on the churchway
+      for debt, August 27, 1689. And having laine there fower days, was by
+      Justices warrant buryied in the place to prevent annoyances&mdash;but
+      about sixe weekes after it was by an order of Sessions taken up and buried
+      in the churchyard by the wife of the deceased.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A dog-whipper was an ancient parish official, whose duty was to drive out
+      all dogs from the church. The Wakefield accounts contain the items:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1616. Paid to Gorby Stork for whippinge          s. d.
+    doggs                                         2  6"
+
+"1703. For hatts shoes and hoses for sexton
+    and dog-whipper                              18  6"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Another official was the person appointed to arouse members of the
+      congregation from their slumbers during divine service. The parish
+      accounts of Castleton record:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                                                  s. d.
+"1702. Paid to sluggard waker                    10  0"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes the cost of a journey to London was defrayed by the parish in
+      order to enable a sufferer to be touched for the king&rsquo;s evil. The
+      Ecclesfield accounts contain the following entry relating to this custom:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1641. Given to John Parkin wife towards her
+    travell to London to get cure of his Majestie
+    for the disease called the Evill, which her   s. d.
+    Sonen Thorn is visited withall                6  8"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The clergymen were required to keep a register of all who were so touched,
+      in order that they might not again go to the king and receive the bounty
+      which accompanied the touch. Hence we read in the register of Hambleden,
+      Bucks:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1685. May 17, Mary Wallington had a certificate to goe before the King
+for a disease called the King's Evil."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The treating of bishops and clergy is often noticed in the accounts.
+      Sometimes a sugar-loaf was presented, as at St. James&rsquo;, Bristol:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1629. Paid for a sugar loaf for the Lord Bishop 15's 10'd"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes items relate to their refreshment:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1593. Pd for a galland of beer given to the
+    Beishopp of Hereford                            iiii'd"
+
+"1617. Pd for a quart of wine and sugar bestowed
+    upon two preachers                                 x'd"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The status of students at the Universities was not so high in former days
+      as at present, and poor scholars used to beg their way to Oxford and
+      Cambridge, and receive the assistance of the charitable. Hence we read in
+      the Leverton accounts:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1562. Gave to a pore scholar at Oxford.            2s. 0d."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      With this record of &ldquo;a pore scholar&rdquo; we must leave our study
+      of the contents of the parish chest, which afford such valuable and
+      accurate information about village and town life of ancient times.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb6" id="linkb6"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [6] 812 registers begin in 1538, 40 of which contain entries prior to that
+      date. 1,822 registers date from 1538 to 1558, and 2,448 from 1558 to 1603.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb7" id="linkb7"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [7] In the Whitchurch books we find: &ldquo;1671. Paide for a coate and
+      wastcoate for good wife Clarke 13s., also for linen and shoes; to the
+      Chiurgeons for looking at Ezechiell Huller&rsquo;s legg &pound;3.&rdquo;
+      And such-like entries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link18" id="link18"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      STAINED GLASS, TILES, AND MURAL PAINTINGS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Destruction of old windows&mdash;Wilfrid&rsquo;s glass-window makers&mdash;Glass,
+      stained and painted&mdash;Changes in style&mdash;Work of foreign artists&mdash;Inlaid
+      tiles&mdash;Ironwork on doors and screens&mdash;Norman hinges&mdash;Mediaeval
+      plumbing work&mdash;Mural decoration, frescoes, and wall-painting&mdash;Cause
+      of their destruction&mdash;St. Christopher&mdash;Consecration crosses&mdash;Norman
+      art&mdash;Favourite subjects&mdash;Yew trees in churchyards&mdash;Lich-gates&mdash;The
+      churchyard&mdash;Curious epitaphs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No branch of archaeology is more interesting than the study of our
+      stained-glass windows, which illustrate so clearly the faith, history, and
+      customs of our ancestors. We have again to thank the fanatics of the
+      Reformation and Cromwellian periods for the shameful destruction of so
+      many beautiful windows. How great has been the loss to art and history
+      caused by their reckless demolition! And in addition to this miserable
+      violence our windows have suffered greatly from the ignorant indifference
+      of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which allowed priceless
+      examples of old glass to be removed and replaced by the hideous specimens
+      of the modern glass-painters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Saxon times this art found a home in England, the <i>artifices
+      lapidearum et vitrearum fenestrarum</i> having been invited to this
+      country by Wilfrid, Bishop of York, in 709. The earliest specimen of
+      ancient glass now in existence is in the choir-aisles of Canterbury
+      Cathedral, where it was probably fixed when the cathedral was rebuilt
+      after the fire in 1174.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Coloured glass is of two kinds: (1) <i>Stained glass</i>, made by mixing
+      metallic oxides with the glass when in a state of fusion, the colours thus
+      going through the whole mass; (2) <i>Painted glass</i>, in which colouring
+      is laid upon the white or tinted glass, and fixed by the action of fire.
+      As the style of architecture changed, so the art of the glass-painter
+      changed with it. In the Early English period the colours were very rich,
+      and the designs consisted of medallions containing subjects taken from
+      Holy Scripture, or the lives of the saints, upon grounds of ruby and blue.
+      Mosaic patterns form the groundwork of the medallions, and a border of
+      scrolls and foliage incloses the whole design. The outlines of the figures
+      are formed by the lead. In the Decorated period the medallions disappear,
+      and in their place we find single figures of large size under canopies.
+      Instead of the mosaic backgrounds diaper-work in whole colours is used.
+      Lights and shades are introduced in the dresses and canopies, and foliage
+      is painted on the panes. The artists of this period first introduced
+      heraldic devices into the windows. A border of white glass intervenes
+      between the window and the medallion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the Perpendicular style was in vogue the art of the glass-painter
+      degenerated, as did that of the architect. Stained glass was little used,
+      and the artists painted with enamel colours their designs upon the glass.
+      The figures were larger than before, and the canopies of great size and
+      with much architectural detail, landscapes and buildings appearing in the
+      background. During this period inscriptions began to be used. In the
+      sixteenth century the progress of the art was in the same direction. Large
+      figures, and groups of figures, fill the whole window, and the existence
+      of mullions is disregarded in the execution of the design. Glass-painting
+      flourished until the Civil War period, and then died out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      English churches benefited much by the work of foreign artists. The great
+      Florentine Francesco di Lievi da Gambassi visited this country. There is a
+      letter dated 1434, written &ldquo;to the master glass-painter Gambassi,
+      then in Scotland, and who made works in glass of various kinds, and was
+      held to be the best glass-painter in the world.&rdquo; How much must we
+      regret the destruction of the windows made by this excellent artist in
+      Holyrood chapel and elsewhere by fanatical mobs! The Fairford windows are
+      perhaps the finest and most interesting in England. The story runs that
+      they were made in Germany for a church in Rome, and that the vessel
+      conveying them was captured by an English ship; and as the noble church at
+      Fairford was then being built, the glass was sent there and given to it.
+      Shiplake Church, Oxfordshire, has some of the beautiful glass which once
+      adorned the ruined church of St. Bertin at St. Omer, plundered during the
+      French Revolution.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some good work was accomplished in the seventeenth century by English
+      artists, who practised enamel painting, notably by Jervais, who in 1717
+      executed from designs by Sir Joshua Reynolds the beautiful west window of
+      New College Chapel, Oxford.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The floors of our churches were enriched with inlaid tiles. Various
+      patterns and designs were impressed upon them when the clay was moist, a
+      metallic glaze covered the surface, and then the tiles were placed in the
+      furnace. Many designs are found on ancient tiles, such as heraldic
+      devices, monograms, sacred symbols with texts, architectural designs,
+      figures, and patterns. The age of the tiles may be determined by comparing
+      the designs imprinted upon them with the architectural decorations
+      belonging to particular periods. In the sixteenth century many Flemish
+      tiles were brought to England, and superseded those of English
+      manufacture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the Middle Ages no branch of art was neglected. Even the smith, who
+      made the ironwork for the doors, locks, and screens, was an artist, and
+      took pains to adapt his art to the style of architecture prevailing in his
+      time. Norman doors are remarkable for their beautifully ornamented hinges.
+      They have curling scrollwork, and a large branch in the form of the letter
+      C issuing from the straight bar near the head. Early English doors have
+      much elaborate scrollwork, with foliage and animals&rsquo; heads. During
+      the Decorated period the hinges are simpler, on account of the carved
+      panelling on the doors, and they continue to become plainer in the
+      subsequent period. The knockers on the doors often assume very grotesque
+      forms, as at Durham Cathedral. The mediaeval plumber was also an artist,
+      and introduced shields of arms, fleur-de-lis, and other devices, for the
+      enrichment of spires, and pipes for carrying off water from the roof.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link254" id="link254"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="254.jpg (40K)" src="images/254.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No part of the ancient decoration of our churches has suffered more than
+      the paintings and frescoes which formerly adorned their walls. In the
+      whole of the country there are very few of the ancient edifices which
+      retain any traces of the numerous quaint designs and figures painted on
+      the inner surfaces of their walls during the Middle Ages. Our ancestors
+      used to make free use of colour for the purpose of architectural
+      decoration, and employed several means in order to produce the effect.
+      They sometimes used fresco, by means of which they produced pictures upon
+      the walls covered with plaster while the plaster was wet. Sometimes they
+      employed wall-painting, <i>i.e.</i> they covered the walls when the
+      plaster was dry with some pictorial representation. The distinction
+      between fresco and wall-painting is frequently forgotten. Most of the
+      early specimens of this art are monochromes, but subsequently the painters
+      used polychrome, which signifies surface colouring in which various
+      colours are employed. The vaulted ceilings, the timber roof, the screens
+      and canopies, the monuments with their effigies, as well as the surface of
+      the walls, were often coloured with diaper-work. Colour and gilding were
+      marked features in all mediaeval buildings, and even richly carved fonts
+      and sculptural monuments were embellished with this method of decoration.
+      The appearance of our churches in those times must have been very
+      different from what it is now. Then a blaze of colour met the eye on
+      entering the sacred building, the events of sacred history were brought to
+      mind by the representations upon the walls, and many an unlearned rustic
+      acquired some knowledge of biblical history from the contemplation of the
+      rude figures with which his village church was adorned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Even the very walls of this dread place,<br /> And the tall windows,
+      with their breathing lights,<br /> Speak to the adoring heart.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The practice of painting the walls of our churches dates as far back as
+      Saxon times; but very few fragments of pre-Norman art remain. Of Norman
+      work we have numerous examples, and sometimes it is found that the early
+      specimens of the art have been painted over in later Gothic times, and
+      ruder and larger figures have eclipsed the more careful work of previous
+      ages. An example of this was discovered in the church of St. Lawrence,
+      Reading, where no less than five distinct series of paintings were
+      discovered, painted one over another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link256" id="link256"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="256.jpg (27K)" src="images/256.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several circumstances have combined to obliterate these specimens of the
+      art of former days. It was not the intention of the Reformers themselves
+      to destroy them. They distinguished carefully between &ldquo;an embossed
+      and gilt image, and a process of a story painted with the gestures and
+      action of many persons; and commonly the sum of the story written withal
+      hath another use in it than one dumb idol or image standing by itself.&rdquo;
+      It was left to the Puritans, impelled by fanaticism and ignorance, to make
+      &ldquo;a slanderous desolation of the places of prayer,&rdquo; and it is
+      to them we owe much of the destruction of the old mural paintings. At the
+      end of the eighteenth century there was a prejudice against these works of
+      art; for in 1773 we find the Bishop of London refusing to allow Reynolds,
+      West, and Barry to clothe the naked walls of St. Paul&rsquo;s Cathedral
+      with pictures painted by themselves. Coated over by layers of plaster, or
+      whitewashed until all traces were obliterated, these relics of ancient art
+      have remained for generations, and it is only when an old church is being
+      restored, and the coats of plaster and whitewash removed, that their
+      presence is revealed; and then too often the colours fade away on exposure
+      to the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link257" id="link257"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="257.jpg (43K)" src="images/257.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the favourite subjects of mural decoration was a figure of St.
+      Christopher with the Infant Saviour on his shoulder.[<a href="#linkb8">8</a>]
+      He usually has a staff, and strange-looking fish swim about his feet as he
+      crosses the river; on one side there is a hermitage, with the figure of a
+      hermit holding a lantern to guide the saint, and on the other a windmill.
+      This figure usually was painted on the wall opposite the principal
+      entrance, as it was deemed lucky to see St. Christopher on first entering
+      a church. Moreover the sight of the saint was a preservative against
+      violent death during the day, and also a preventive against drowsiness
+      during the service, as the following verses show:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Christophori sancti speciem quicunque tuetur &nbsp;&nbsp;Illo
+      namque die nullo languore tenetur.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Churchwardens&rsquo; accounts record the painting of these figures&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+"1503-4.  It. payd to mylys paynter for payntyng
+              of Seynt X'fer viii's iiii'd"
+
+"1521.    It. payd to John Payne for payntyng
+              of Sent Leonard left by the wyffs
+              onpaynted xx'd"
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      A curious order was issued by Edward III. for arresting painters to work
+      in St. Stephen&rsquo;s Chapel at Westminster, to which artists of every
+      description were liable to surrender as often as the king required their
+      services.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link259" id="link259"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="259.jpg (40K)" src="images/259.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Saxon times Consecration crosses were painted on the interior walls,
+      twelve in number, on the spots where the bishop marked the cross with holy
+      oil; and sometimes twelve crosses were carved or painted on the exterior
+      walls. During Norman times the art made progress, and there are many
+      specimens of mural decoration of this period, which correspond with the
+      mouldings generally used then; but not many scenes and figures were
+      depicted. Representations of bishops, <i>Agnus Dei</i>, scenes from the
+      life of our Lord, the apostles, the Last Judgment, St. George, scenes from
+      the life of St. Nicholas, St. John writing the Apocalypse, were favourite
+      subjects. At Copford the painter evidently tried to make the chancel
+      figuratively to represent the glories of heaven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the reign of Henry III. great progress was made, and travelling
+      monks roamed the country leaving behind them in many a village church
+      traces of their skill in artistic decoration. The murder of St. Thomas of
+      Canterbury now became a favourite subject, also the lives of St. Catherine
+      of Alexandria, St. Nicholas, St. Margaret, St. Edmund, the Seven Acts of
+      Mercy, and the wheel of fortune. In the fourteenth century the Doom was
+      the usual decoration of the space over the chancel arch, and scenes from
+      the New Testament, legends of saints, &ldquo;moralities,&rdquo; etc., were
+      depicted on the walls. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the
+      artists paid little respect to the work of their predecessors, and
+      frequently painted new designs over the earlier mural decorations. They
+      also adorned very beautifully the roofs and screens. The arrival of the
+      Flemings in the eastern counties is shown by the portraying of subjects
+      and saints not usually worshipped in England. The figures of St. George
+      become more numerous and also of St. Christopher, who were regarded with
+      much superstitious reverence by all classes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The vanity of human greatness is taught by the morality, &ldquo;Les Trois
+      Rois Morts et les Trois Rois Vifs,&rdquo; representing three kings going
+      gaily hunting meeting three skeletons, the remains of kings once as
+      powerful as they. &ldquo;The Dance of Death,&rdquo; so popular abroad,
+      also appears in some English churches. The wholesale destruction of so
+      many specimens of mediaeval art cannot be too strongly condemned and
+      deplored. If any of my readers should be fortunate enough to discover any
+      traces of colouring hidden away beneath the coats of whitewash on the
+      walls of their church, I would venture to advise them to very carefully
+      remove the covering, and then to consult Mr. Keyser&rsquo;s book on <i>Mural
+      Decorations</i>, where they will find an account of the best methods for
+      preserving these valuable specimens of early art.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link261" id="link261"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="261.jpg (38K)" src="images/261.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the churchyard stands the old weather-beaten yew tree, looking like a
+      sentinel keeping watch over the graves of our forefathers. Some of these
+      trees are remarkable for their age; the yews at Fountains Abbey, in
+      Yorkshire, were probably in a flourishing condition so long ago as the
+      year 1132, and some are older still. Why they were planted in churchyards
+      it is difficult to ascertain. It has been conjectured that they were
+      planted in so secure a spot in order that the men might provide themselves
+      with bows, as all the bows used by the English, with which they did such
+      execution against their enemies, were made of yew. Others contend that its
+      green boughs were used instead of palms on Palm Sunday, or for funerals.
+      But I think that they were regarded with veneration by our forefathers
+      when they were still heathen, and that some religious symbolism&mdash;such
+      as of immortality&mdash;attached to them; and that when the Christian
+      teachers came they made use of this religious sentiment of the people,
+      planted the Christian cross by the side of the yew, and under its shade
+      preached lessons of true immortality, of which the heathen ideals were
+      only corrupt legends and vain dreams.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the entrance of the churchyard there is often a lich-gate, <i>i.e.</i>
+      a corpse-gate, where the body may rest while the funeral procession is
+      formed. <i>Lych</i> is the Saxon word for a dead body, from which
+      Lich-field, &ldquo;the field of dead bodies,&rdquo; is derived. Bray, in
+      Berkshire, famous for its time-serving vicar, is also famous for its
+      lich-gate, which has two rooms over it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God&rsquo;s acre&rdquo; is full of holy associations, where sleep
+      &ldquo;the rude forefathers of the hamlet.&rdquo; There stands the village
+      cross where the preachers stood in Saxon times and converted the people to
+      Christianity, and there the old sundial on a graceful stone pedestal.
+      Sometimes amid the memorials of the dead stood the parish stocks. Here in
+      olden days fairs were held, and often markets every Sunday and holiday,
+      and minstrels and jugglers thronged; and stringent laws were passed to
+      prevent &ldquo;improper and prohibited sports within the churchyard, as,
+      for example, wrestling, football, handball under penalty of twopence
+      forfeit.&rdquo; Here church ales were kept with much festivity, dancing,
+      and merry-making; and here sometimes doles were distributed on the
+      tombstones of parochial benefactors, and even bread and cheese scrambled
+      for, according to the curious bequests of eccentric donors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then there are the quaint epitaphs on the gravestones, of which many
+      have made collections. Here is one to the memory of the driver of a coach
+      that ran from Aylesbury to London:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Parker, farewell! thy journey now is ended,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Death has the whip-hand, and with dust is blended;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Thy way-bill is examined, and I trust<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Thy
+            last account may prove exact and just,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;When He who
+            drives the chariot of the day,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Where life is light,
+            whose Word&rsquo;s the living way,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Where
+            travellers, like yourself, of every age,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And every
+            clime, have taken their last stage,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The God of
+            mercy and the God of love,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Show you the road to
+            Paradise above.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Here is another to the memory of a once famous Yorkshire actor, buried at
+      Beverley:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In memory of Samuel Butler, a poor player that struts and frets his
+      hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. Obt. June 15th, 1812, Aet.
+      62.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here is a strange one from Awliscombe, Devon:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here lie the remains of James Pady, brickmaker, late of this
+      parish, in hopes that his clay will be remoulded in a workmanlike manner,
+      far superior to his former perishable materials.
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Keep death and judgment always in your eye,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Or else the devil off with you will fly,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And
+            in his kiln with brimstone ever fry;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;If you neglect
+            the narrow road to seek,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Christ will reject you
+            like a half-burnt brick.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Those interested in the brave mortals who go down to the sea in ships will
+      like to read the following verses which appear on the tomb of William
+      Harrison, mariner, buried in Hessle Road Cemetery, Hull:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Long time I ploughed the ocean wide,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A
+            life of toil I spent;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;But now in harbour safe
+            arrived<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;From care and discontent.<br />
+            &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;My anchor&rsquo;s cast, my sails are
+            furled,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And now I am at rest;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Of all the ports throughout the world,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sailors,
+            this is the best.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      The following original epitaph in a neighbouring churchyard compares very
+      favourably with the flattering and fulsome inscriptions prevalent at the
+      beginning of the nineteenth century, written in what has been called
+      &ldquo;lapidary style &rdquo;:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;He was&mdash;&mdash;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But
+            words are wanting to say what;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Say what is just and
+            kind,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And he was that.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb8" id="linkb8"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [8] At Sedgeford the Infant is portrayed with three heads, illustrating
+      the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link19" id="link19"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      CHURCH BELLS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Bell customs and village life&mdash;Antiquity of bells&mdash;Christening
+      of bells&mdash;&ldquo;Ancients&rdquo;&mdash;Inscriptions&mdash;Dedications&mdash;Inscriptions
+      of praise&mdash;Leonine verses&mdash;Curious inscriptions&mdash;Historical
+      events recorded&mdash;Uses of bells&mdash;Passing bell&mdash;Pancake bell&mdash;Curfew&mdash;Guiding
+      bells&mdash;Names of benefactors&mdash;Great bells&mdash;Sanctus bell&mdash;Sacring
+      bell&mdash;Frequent ringing of bell&mdash;Change-ringing&mdash;Care of
+      bells.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bells play an important part in village life, and there are few more
+      interesting branches of the study of village antiquities than bell-lore.
+      Ringing customs throw much light upon the manners and doings of our
+      ancestors. Bells rang to commemorate the great events in history, news of
+      which was conveyed to the quiet village; they sounded forth the joys and
+      sorrows of the parishioners in their generations, pealed merrily at their
+      weddings, and mourned for them at their funerals. As the bell &ldquo;Roland&rdquo;
+      of Ghent seemed endowed with a human voice, and was silenced for ever by
+      Charles V. lest it should again rouse the citizens to arms, so these bells
+      in our village steeples seem to speak with living tongues and tell the
+      story of our village life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bells have great antiquity. Odoceus, Bishop of Llandaff, in 550 A.D., is
+      said to have taken the bells away from his cathedral during a time of
+      excommunication. Bede mentions them in the seventh century. In 680
+      Benedict, Abbot of Wearmouth, imported some from Italy, and in the tenth
+      century St. Dunstan hung many. Ireland probably had bells in the time of
+      St. Patrick, who died in 493, and a bell that bears his name is preserved
+      at Belfast. The earliest Saxon bells were not cast, but were made of
+      plates of iron riveted together, and were probably used as hand-bells.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bells were usually christened. Those of Crowland Abbey were named Pega,
+      Bega, Tatwin, Turketyl, Betelin, Bartholomew, and Guthlac. A fire in 1091
+      destroyed this peal. Those of the priory of Little Dunmow, Essex,
+      according to an old chartulary, were new cast and baptised in 1501.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Prima in honore Sancti Michaelis Archangeli.&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;Secunda
+      in honore Sancti Johannis Evangelisti.&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;Tertia in honore
+      S. Johannis Baptisti.&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;Quarta in honore Assumptionis
+      beatae Mariae.&rdquo;<br /> &ldquo;Quinta in honore Sanctae Trinitatis et
+      omnium sanctorum.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tenor bell at Welford, Berks, has the inscription, &ldquo;Missi de
+      celis habeo nomen Gabrielis 1596.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bells dating from before the year 1600 are called &ldquo;ancients,&rdquo;
+      and it is a very pleasant discovery to find one of these in our church
+      tower; and still more so if it be a pre-Reformation bell. Unfortunately a
+      large number of &ldquo;ancients&rdquo; have been recast, owing chiefly to
+      the craze for change-ringing which flourished in England between 1750 and
+      1830. The oldest bell in this country is said to be St. Chad&rsquo;s,
+      Claughton, which bears the date 1296. Pre-Reformation bells are very
+      seldom dated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mediaeval bells have many curious inscriptions on them, which record the
+      name of the donor, the bell-founder, together with heraldic and other
+      devices. The inscriptions are often written in the first person, the bell
+      being supposed to utter the sentiment, as it sends forth its sound. A
+      study of the inscriptions on bells is full of interest. The earliest are
+      simple dedications of the bell to our Lord, or to some saint. The
+      principal inscriptions of this class are: &ldquo;Jesus,&rdquo; &ldquo;Jesus
+      Nazarenus Rex Judeorum,&rdquo; &ldquo;Sit nomen IHC benedictum,&rdquo;
+      &ldquo;Sum Rosa Pulsata Mundi Maria Vocata,&rdquo; &ldquo;Sum Virgo Sancta
+      Maria.&rdquo; The invocation, &ldquo;Ora pro nobis,&rdquo; very frequently
+      is inscribed on bells, followed by the name of some saint, and almost
+      every saint in the Calendar is duly honoured in some bell inscription.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bells were always rung on joyful occasions; hence inscriptions expressing
+      thankfulness and praise were appropriate. Consequently we find such words
+      as &ldquo;Laus et Gloria Deo,&rdquo; &ldquo;Laus Deo Gratia
+      Benefactoribus,&rdquo; &ldquo;Alleluja,&rdquo; &ldquo;Praise God,&rdquo;
+      and other similar inscriptions of praise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some old bells have Latin hexameter verses inscribed on them, composed by
+      monks, which are called Leonine verses, from one Leoninus, a monk of
+      Marseilles, who lived in the early part of the twelfth century. A few
+      examples of these will suffice:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Est michi collatum ihc illud nomen amaetum.&rdquo;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Protege Virgo pia quos convoco Sancta Maria.&rdquo;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Voce mea viva depello cunta nocina.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      This refers to the belief that the ringing of bells drives away all demons
+      and tempests, storms and thunders, and all other hurtful things. One bell
+      proudly asserts:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Me melior vere non est campana sub ere.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Inscriptions in English are often quaint and curious. Here is one from
+      Somerset:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;My treble voice<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Makes hearts
+            rejoice.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Another self-complacent bell asserts&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;If you have a judicious ear,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;You&rsquo;ll
+            own my voice is sweet and clear.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Loyal inscriptions are often found, such as&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;For Church and King<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;We always
+            ring.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;I was made in hope to ring<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;At
+            the crownacion of our King.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Ye people all that hear me ring<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Be
+            faithful to your God and King.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      A bell that has been recast sometimes praises the merits of its new
+      founder at the expense of its first maker, as at Badgworth, Gloucester:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Badgworth ringers they are mad,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Because
+            Rigbe made me bad;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;But Abel Rudhall you may see<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Hath made me better than Rigbe.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes all the bells which compose a peal tell their various uses. Thus
+      at Bakewell we find some verses on each bell:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            1. &ldquo;When I begin our merry Din<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This
+            Band I lead from discord free;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And for the
+            fame of human name,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;May every Leader copy Me.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            2. &ldquo;Mankind, like us, too oft are found<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Possess&rsquo;d
+            of nought but empty sound.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            3. &ldquo;When of departed Hours we toll the knell,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Instruction
+            take and spend the future well.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            4. &ldquo;When men in Hymen&rsquo;s Bands unite,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Our
+            merry peals produce delight;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But when Death
+            goes his dreary Rounds,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We send forth sad and
+            solemn sounds.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            5. &ldquo;Thro&rsquo; grandsires and Tripples with pleasure men
+            range,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Till Death calls the Bob and brings on
+            the Last Change.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            6. &ldquo;When Vict&rsquo;ry crowns the Public Weal<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With
+            Glee we give the merry Peal.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            7. &ldquo;Would men like us join and agree<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They&rsquo;d
+            live in tuneful Harmony.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <p>
+            8. &ldquo;Possess&rsquo;d of deep sonorous Tone<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This
+            Belfry King sits on his throne;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And when the
+            merry Bells go round,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Adds to and mellows ev&rsquo;ry
+            Sound;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;So in a just and well pois&rsquo;d
+            State,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Where all Degrees possess due Weight,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One greater Pow&rsquo;r one greater Tone<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Is ceded to improve their own.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      A Rutland bell has the following beautiful inscription:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei.&rdquo;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;(&ldquo;Not noise but love sings in the ear of God.&rdquo;)
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Historical events are sometimes recorded, as at Ashover, Derbyshire, where
+      a recasted bell states:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;This old bell rung the downfall of Buonaparte and
+            broke, April 1814.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      The uses of bells are often shown by their inscriptions. People were
+      aroused by their sound each morning in many places, as at St. Ives, where
+      a bell is inscribed&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Arise and go about your business.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      The villagers were summoned to extinguish fires by ringing of bells. Thus
+      Sherborne, Dorset, has a bell inscribed&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Lord, quench this furious flame:<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Arise,
+            run, help put out the same.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Bell-ringing customs are very numerous.[<a href="#linkb9">9</a>] The
+      passing bell has many variants. In some places three times three strokes
+      are sounded for a man, three times two for a woman, and three times one
+      for a child. Out of the first-named of these practices probably arose the
+      phrase, &ldquo;Nine tailors make a man,&rdquo; which is usually explained
+      as more properly signifying &ldquo;nine tellers make a man.&rdquo; Then we
+      have a pancake bell, which formerly summoned people to confession, and not
+      to eat pancakes; a gleaning bell, an eight hours&rsquo; bell rung at 4
+      a.m., noon, and 8 p.m. The curfew bell survives in many places, which, as
+      everyone knows, was in use long before William the Conqueror issued his
+      edict. Peals are rung on &ldquo;Oak Apple Day,&rdquo; and on Guy Fawkes&rsquo;
+      Day, &ldquo;loud enough to call up poor Guy.&rdquo; Church bells played a
+      useful part in guiding the people homewards on dark winter evenings in the
+      days when lands were uninclosed and forests and wild moors abounded, and
+      charitable folk, like Richard Palmer, of Wokingham, left bequests to pay
+      the sexton for his labour in ringing at suitable times when the sound of
+      the bells might be of service to belated travellers. Names of benefactors
+      often find a permanent memorial on the bells which they gave; as at
+      Binstead, Hants, where a bell has the inscription&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Doctor Nicholas gave five pound<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;To
+            help cast this peal tuneable and sound.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      And another bell in the same tower records the name of our famous
+      Berkshire bell-founders, the Knight family. The inscription runs:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Samuel Knight made this ring<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;In
+            Binstead steeple for to ding.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link271" id="link271"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="271.jpg (71K)" src="images/271.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The story of our great bells, of &ldquo;Great Toms,&rdquo; &ldquo;Big
+      Bens,&rdquo; &ldquo;Great Peters,&rdquo; need not be told here. They wake
+      the echoes of our great cities, and are not heard among the hills and
+      dales of rural England. Outside the church at the apex of the gable over
+      the chancel arch there is sometimes a small bell-cote, wherein the sanctus
+      or saunce bell once hung. This was rung during the service of High Mass
+      when the <i>Ter Sanctus</i> was sung, in order that those who were engaged
+      at their work might know when the canon of the Mass was about to begin, in
+      order that they might kneel at the sound and pray to God. At Bosham
+      Harbour the fishermen used to so join in the service of the sanctuary, and
+      it is said that when George Herbert&rsquo;s sanctus bell sounded for
+      prayers, the ploughmen stopped from their work for a few moments and
+      prayed. The sanctus bell differed from the sacring bell, which was a
+      hand-bell rung inside the church at the elevation of the Host.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old churchwardens&rsquo; accounts record the very frequent ringing of
+      bells. In addition to the Great Festivals, Corpus Christi Day, Church
+      feasts and ales, the occasions of royal visits, of episcopal visitations,
+      victories, and many other great events, were always celebrated by the
+      ringing of the church bells. In fact by the fondness of English folk for
+      sounding their bells this country earned the title in the Middle Ages of
+      &ldquo;the ringing island.&rdquo; Peal-ringing was indeed peculiar to
+      England. It was not until the seventeenth century that change-ringing
+      became general, and our old bells suffered much at the hands of the
+      followers of the new fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In recent years the study of our church bells has made great progress, and
+      many volumes have been written upon the bells of various counties. Too
+      long have our bells been left to the bats and birds, and the belfry is
+      often the only portion of a church which is left uncared for. We are
+      learning better now, and the bells which have sounded forth the joys and
+      sorrows of our villagers for so many generations are receiving the
+      attention they deserve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb9" id="linkb9"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [9] A collection of these will be found in my book on <i>Old English
+      Customs Extant at the Present Time</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link20" id="link20"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE MEDIAEVAL VILLAGE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Local government&mdash;Changes in the condition of villeins and labourers&mdash;
+      Famine and pestilence&mdash;Effects of the Great Plague&mdash;Spirit of
+      independence&mdash;Picture of village life&mdash;Church house&mdash;Church
+      ales&mdash; Pilgrimages&mdash;Markets&mdash;Old English fair&mdash;Wars&mdash;Hastings&mdash;Hereward
+      the Wake&mdash;Great Civil War&mdash;Restoration&mdash;Beacons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Let us try to imagine the ordinary life and appearance of a mediaeval
+      English village in the &ldquo;piping times of peace.&rdquo; Of course, no
+      two villages are quite alike; each has many distinguishing features; but a
+      strong family likeness is observable. In the Middle Ages a village was
+      much more independent than it is now. Then there were no Acts of
+      Parliament to control its affairs, and it regulated its own conduct much
+      to its own satisfaction, without any outside interference. Of course,
+      sometimes things were managed badly; but the village knew it had only
+      itself to blame, and therefore could not grumble at the Government, or the
+      fickleness of members of Parliament, or the unreasonable conduct of Local
+      Government Boards. Was not the lord of the manor quite capable of trying
+      all criminals? and did not the rector and the vestry settle everything to
+      the satisfaction of everyone, without any &ldquo;foreigners&rdquo; asking
+      questions, or interfering?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The position of the villeins and <i>cottiers</i> has changed considerably
+      since the days of William the Norman. The former were now free tenants,
+      who paid rent for their land to the lord of the manor, and were not bound
+      to work for him, while the latter worked for wages like our modern
+      agricultural labourer. There was thus in the twelfth century a gradual
+      approximation to modern conditions on many estates; the home farm was
+      worked by hired labourers who received wages; while the villeins had
+      bought themselves off from the obligation of doing customary work by
+      paying a quit-rent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We should like to know something of the way in which our ancestors farmed
+      their land, and fortunately several bailiffs have left us their account
+      books very carefully kept, and one Walter de Henley in 1250 wrote a book
+      on the <i>Art of Husbandry</i>, which gives us much information. The rent
+      of land was about sixpence per acre. They ploughed three times a year, in
+      autumn, April, and at midsummer, and used oxen for their plough-teams.
+      Women helped their husbands in ploughing and harvest work. An old writer
+      describes the farmer&rsquo;s wife &ldquo;walking by him with a long goad,
+      in a cutted cote cutted full high.&rdquo; Pigs and poultry were numerous
+      on a mediaeval farm, but sheep were the source of the farmer&rsquo;s
+      wealth. Large flocks of divers breeds roamed the hills and vales of rural
+      England, and their rich fleeces were sent to Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent
+      for the manufacture of cloth by the Flemish weavers. After the Black
+      Death, a great plague which ravaged the country in 1348, the labourers
+      were fewer in number, and their wages higher; hence the farmers paid
+      increased attention to their sheep, which yielded rich profits, and
+      required few labourers to look after them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Prior to the advent of this grim visitor, the Great Plague, the prosperity
+      of our villages had greatly increased. The people were better fed and
+      better clothed than any of their neighbours on the Continent. Moreover
+      they were free men, and enjoyed their freedom. There was much happiness in
+      our English villages in those days, and &ldquo;Merry England&rdquo; was
+      not a misnomer. There were, however, two causes of suffering which for a
+      time produced untold wretchedness&mdash;two unwelcome visitors who came
+      very frequently and were much dreaded&mdash;famine and pestilence. There
+      is necessarily a sameness in the records of these pestilences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief famine years were 1315 and 1316, but there is hardly any period
+      of five years from the death of Edward I. to the coming of Henry of
+      Richmond without these ghastly records of the sufferings of the people.
+      Disease not only arrested the growth of the population, but reduced it
+      considerably. It was mostly of a typhoid nature. The undrained soil, the
+      shallow stagnant waters which lay upon the surface of the ground, the
+      narrow and unhealthy homes, the filthy and neglected streets of the towns,
+      the excessive use of salted provisions and absence of vegetables,
+      predisposed the people to typhoid diseases, and left them little chance of
+      recovery when stricken down with pestilence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Great Plague arrived in England in 1348 from the shores of Italy,
+      whither it had been wafted from the East. It was probably carried to the
+      port of Bristol by travelling merchants, whence it spread with alarming
+      rapidity over the whole land. Whole villages were depopulated, and about
+      one-third of the people of England perished. It is difficult for us to
+      imagine the sorrow and universal suffering which the plague caused. Its
+      effects were, however, beneficial to the villagers who survived. Naturally
+      labourers became very scarce and were much sought after. Wages rose
+      enormously. The tenants and rustics discovered that they were people of
+      importance. Manor lords found it too expensive to farm their lands, and
+      were eager to hand them over to their tenants, many of whom became much
+      richer and more independent than formerly. The spirit of independence
+      pervaded all classes. There came to our village many wandering friars,
+      followers of Wiklif, who preached discontent to the labouring rustics,
+      told them that the gentry had no right to lord it over them, that they
+      were as good as their masters, who ought not to live in fine houses in
+      luxury supported by their toil and the sweat of their brows. And when
+      oppressive taxes were levied, the rustics revolted, and gained much for
+      which they strove. The golden age of the English labourer set in, when
+      food was cheap, wages high, and labour abundant. A fat pig could be bought
+      for fourpence, and three pounds of beef for a penny; and in spite of
+      occasional visits of the plague, the villager&rsquo;s lot was by no means
+      unhappy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here is a picture of village life in those days. The village church stood
+      in the centre of the hamlet, with a carefully made fence around it, in
+      order that no swine or foul beast might desecrate the graves. Surrounded
+      by the churchyard, with its yew tree and lich-gate, the church was very
+      similar to the old building wherein the villagers still worship. All the
+      houses had thatched roofs, and chief among the other dwellings stood the
+      lord&rsquo;s hall. Near the church was a curious building called the
+      church house, which has almost entirely passed away, except in the records
+      of old churchwardens&rsquo; accounts. It was a large building, in which
+      could be stored wool, lime, timber, sand, etc., and was often let to
+      pedlars, or wandering merchants, to deposit their goods during the fair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this building there was a long low room with a large fireplace and
+      hearth, around which a dozen or more could sit in comfort, except when the
+      wind blew the smoke down the wide, open chimney; but our ancestors were
+      accustomed to smoky chimneys, and did not mind them. In the centre of the
+      room was a large oak table. This was the scene of some very festive
+      gatherings. Aubrey thus describes the church house:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In every parish was a church house, to which belonged spits,
+      crocks, and other utensils for dressing provisions. Here the housekeepers
+      met. The young people were there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting
+      at butts, etc., the ancients [<i>i.e.</i> old folks] sitting gravely by,
+      and looking on.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The churchwardens bought, and received presents of, a large quantity of
+      malt, which they brewed into beer and sold to the company. Hence these
+      feasts were called &ldquo;church ales,&rdquo; and were held on the feast
+      of the dedication of the church, the proceeds being devoted to the
+      maintenance of the poor. Sometimes they were held at Whitsuntide also,
+      sometimes four times a year, and sometimes as often as money was wanted or
+      a feast desired. An arbour of boughs was erected in the churchyard on
+      these occasions called Robin Hood&rsquo;s Bower, where the maidens
+      collected money for the &ldquo;ales,&rdquo; and &ldquo;all went merry as a
+      marriage bell&rdquo;&mdash;rather too merry sometimes, for the ale was
+      strong and the villagers liked it, and the ballad-singer was so merry, and
+      the company so hearty&mdash;and was it not all for a good cause, the
+      support of the poor? The character of these festivals deteriorated so
+      much, until at last &ldquo;church ales&rdquo; were prohibited altogether,
+      on account of the excess to which they gave rise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link279" id="link279"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/279.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="279h.jpg (31K)" src="images/279h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> AN ANCIENT VILLAGE <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a large amount of gaiety in the old villages in those days. Men
+      were not in so great a hurry to grow rich as they are now. The Church
+      authorised many holidays in the course of the year; and what with May Day
+      festivities, Plough Mondays, Hocktide and Shrovetide sports, harvest
+      suppers, fairs, and &ldquo;ales,&rdquo; the villagers had plenty of
+      amusement, and their lives certainly could not be described as dull.
+      Sometimes the village would be enlivened by the presence of a company of
+      pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury, or to
+      Holywell, blessed by St. Winifred, in order to be cured of some disease.
+      Although these pilgrims were deemed to be engaged on a religious duty,
+      they certainly were not generally very serious or sad. Chaucer describes a
+      very joyous pilgrimage in his <i>Canterbury Tales</i>, how the company met
+      at the Tabard Inn, in Southwark, including the knight and the abbot, the
+      prioress and the shipman, the squire and the merchant, the ploughman and
+      sompnour (or summoner, &ldquo;of whose visage children were sore afeard&rdquo;),
+      and rode forth gaily in the spring sunshine&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;The holy blissful martyr for to seek,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;That
+            them hath holpen when that they were sick.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Pilgrim crosses are numerous all over England, where the pilgrims halted
+      for their devotions by the way, and sometimes we find churches planted on
+      the roadside far from human habitations, with no parishioners near them;
+      and some people wonder why they were so built. These were pilgrim
+      churches, built for the convenience of the travellers as they wended their
+      way to Canterbury. The villages through which they passed must have been
+      much enlivened by the presence of these not very austere companies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ordinary lives of the farmers were diversified by the visits to the
+      weekly markets held in the neighbouring town, where they took their fat
+      capons, eggs, butter, and cheese. Here is a curious relic of olden times,
+      an ancient market proclamation, which breathes the spirit of former days,
+      and which was read a few years ago at Broughton-in-Furness, by the steward
+      of the lord of the manor, from the steps of the old market cross. These
+      are the words:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O yes, O yes, O yes![<a href="#linkb10">10</a>] The lord of the
+      manor of Broughton and of this fair and market strictly chargeth and
+      commandeth on Her Majesty&rsquo;s behalf, that all manners of persons
+      repairing to this fair and market do keep Her Majesty&rsquo;s peace, upon
+      pain of five pounds to be forfeited to Her Majesty, and their bodies to be
+      imprisoned during the lord&rsquo;s pleasure. Also that no manner of person
+      within this fair and market do bear any bill, battle-axe, or other
+      prohibited weapons, but such as be appointed by the lord&rsquo;s officers
+      to keep this fair or market, upon pain of forfeiture of all such weapons
+      and further imprisonment. Also, that no manner of person do pick any
+      quarrel, matter, or cause for any old grudge or malice to make any
+      perturbation or trouble, upon pain of five pounds, to be forfeited to the
+      lord, and their bodies to be imprisoned. Also, that none buy or sell in
+      corners, back sides, or hidden places, but in open fair or market, upon
+      pain of forfeiture of all such goods and merchandise so bought and sold,
+      and their bodies to imprisonment. Also, that no manner of persons shall
+      sell any goods with unlawful mete or measures, yards or weights, but such
+      as be lawful and keep the true assize, upon pain of forfeiture of all such
+      goods and further imprisonment. Lastly, if any manner of persons do here
+      find themselves grieved, or have any injuries or wrong committed or done
+      against them, let them repair to the lord or his officers, and there they
+      shall be heard according to right, equity, and justice. God save the Queen
+      and the lord of the manor!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And besides the weekly markets there were the great annual fairs, which
+      lasted many days, and were frequented by all classes of the population.
+      These fairs were absolutely necessary for the trade of the country in the
+      days when few people travelled far from their own homesteads, and even the
+      towns with their small number of inhabitants did not afford a sufficient
+      market for the farmer&rsquo;s and trader&rsquo;s stock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The greatest of all English fairs was held in the little village of
+      Stourbridge, near Cambridge, now almost absorbed by the University town.
+      Hither flocked merchants and traders from all parts of Europe. Flemish
+      merchants brought their fine linen and cloths from the great commercial
+      cities of Belgium. Genoese and Venetian traders came with their stores of
+      Eastern goods. Spaniards and Frenchmen brought their wines, and the
+      merchants of the Hanse towns of Germany sold furs and flax, ornaments and
+      spices, while in return for all these treasures our English farmers
+      brought the rich fleeces of their sheep, their corn, horses, and cattle.
+      The booths were planted in a cornfield, and the circuit of the fair, which
+      was like a well-governed city, was over three miles. The shops were built
+      in streets or rows, some named after the various nations that congregated
+      there, and others after the kind of goods offered for sale. There were
+      Garlick Row, Bookseller&rsquo;s Row, Cook Row; there were a cheese fair, a
+      hop fair, a wool fair, and every trade was represented, together with
+      taverns, eating-houses, and in later years playhouses of various
+      descriptions. In the eighteenth century one hundred thousand pounds&rsquo;
+      worth of woollen manufactures was sold in a week in one row alone. A
+      thousand pack-horses were used to convey the goods of the Lancashire
+      merchants to this famous fair. Now railways have supplanted the
+      pack-horses; fairs have had their day; the trade of the country can now be
+      carried on without them; and their relics with their shows and
+      shooting-galleries and steam roundabouts have become a nuisance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The peaceful life of the villagers was sometimes disturbed by the sounds
+      and sights of conflict. The exciting tales of war are connected with the
+      history of many an English village, and many &ldquo;little Wilhelmines&rdquo;
+      and labouring &ldquo;grandsires&rdquo; have discovered &ldquo;something
+      large and round,&rdquo; traces of these ancient conflicts and &ldquo;famous
+      victories.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;For often when they go to plough<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The
+            ploughshare turns them out,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&lsquo;And many
+            thousand men,&rsquo; quoth he,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&lsquo;Were slain in
+            that great victory.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Many a lance and sword, and gilt spur, beautifully enamelled, which once
+      decked the heel of a noble knight, have been found in our fields, and
+      remind us of those battles which were fought so long ago.
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;The knights
+            are dust,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Their
+            good swords rust,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Their souls are with the saints,
+            we trust.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes the spectres of armed knights and warriors are supposed to haunt
+      these scenes of ancient slaughter, and popular superstition has handed
+      down the memory of the battles which were fought so long ago. It tells us
+      of the mythical records of the fights of King Arthur and his Knights of
+      the Round Table by the banks of the River Douglas, which ran with blood
+      for three days, so terrible was the slaughter. It tells us how stubbornly
+      the Britons resisted the Roman armies, so that on one occasion not one
+      Briton was left to tell the tale of their defeat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we visit the site of some battle with the history book in our hand,
+      it is possible to imagine the lonely hillside peopled again with the dense
+      ranks of English archers, or hear the clanging of the armour as the
+      men-at-arms charged for &ldquo;St. George and merry England&rdquo;; and
+      the air will be full again of the battle-cries, of the groans of the
+      wounded and the shouts of the victors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Visit the scene of the battle of Hastings. Here on the high ground,
+      flanked by a wood, stood the brave English, under the leadership of
+      Harold, with his banner, woven with gold and jewels, shining conspicuously
+      in the morning sunlight. Here they stood in the form of a wedge; there
+      they turned the Normans, and put them to flight. Then the Normans rallied,
+      pretended to fly, decoyed the brave English from their position, and by
+      stratagem succeeded in defeating them at last. Or go to the Madingley
+      Windmill, near Cambridge, and see the fifteen miles of rich drained
+      cornfields which intervene between &ldquo;Ely&rsquo;s stately fane&rdquo;
+      and the spot on which you are standing. Here read Kingsley&rsquo;s
+      well-known story of <i>Hereward; or, The Last of the English</i>, and
+      instead of the rich cornfields you will see that black abyss of mud and
+      bottomless slime into which sank the flower of Norman chivalry as they
+      tried to cross that treacherous bog to conquer the gallant Hereward and to
+      plunder the monastery of Ely, the last stronghold of the English. On they
+      came, thousands upon thousands, rushing along the floating bridge which
+      they had formed, until at last it gave way beneath the weight, and the
+      black slime swallowed up the miserable wretches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Or let us take our stand on the Round Tower, near the summit of the Edge
+      Hill, and see the site of the first battle between the troops of Charles
+      I. and the soldiers of the Parliament. The whole of that green lane was
+      lined with troops. In a cottage which stood at our feet the king
+      breakfasted before the battle; from that mound he surveyed the forces of
+      the enemy. Just as the bells in yonder church had ceased to ring for
+      service on Sunday afternoon the cannon began to roar, and the fight
+      commenced. There Prince Rupert charged with headlong fury, carrying all
+      before him. And so we can follow the fortunes of the fight until the brave
+      Cavaliers retired to rest&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      The memory of many a fight is recorded in the names of the fields, places,
+      and hills on which the battle raged. Lichfield (<i>i.e.</i> the field of
+      the dead), Battlefield, Battle, Battleflats, Standard Hill, Slaughterford,
+      and many others, all tell the tale of war and slaughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In some parts of the country, especially in Oxfordshire, there are fine
+      avenues of trees, which appear to lead to a large house; but when you have
+      walked to the end of the trees there is nothing to be seen. These avenues
+      tell the tale of war, of the destruction of the manor-house of some old
+      Royalist who fought for his king when the &ldquo;Roundheads&rdquo; and
+      Cromwell&rsquo;s &ldquo;Ironsides&rdquo; were more than a match for the
+      gallant Cavaliers. His house was destroyed, he and his sons killed, unless
+      they were fortunate enough to escape to France and wait the merry time
+      &ldquo;when the king should enjoy his own again.&rdquo; How many of our
+      uplands and gentle vales have been stained with blood, and seen the
+      terrible horrors of war, of which we in these favoured days know nothing
+      from our own experience! We read about the sad battles and sieges which
+      have taken place in other countries, but can hardly imagine the time when
+      hostile soldiers were riding through our village lanes, and the noise of
+      the cannon was booming in the distance, as on that famous Sunday morning
+      in October, 1642, when Richard Baxter was disturbed in his preaching at
+      Alcester by that strange sound, and knew that the terrible conflict had
+      begun between the king and Parliament. Our English villages suffered very
+      much. All farming was stopped, manor-houses destroyed, some of the best
+      blood in England spilt, and many a home made desolate. Indeed, in some
+      parts of the country the people had literally no bread to eat, and no
+      clothing to cover their nakedness; and Cromwell ordered collections to be
+      made in London for the relief of the distressed people in Lancashire. Then
+      the old clergyman was driven from his flock, and some commissioner
+      appointed who wrote in the register-books of the parish the names of the
+      children who were born, but did not record their baptism as the clergyman
+      did. And then some black-gowned Puritan, with his hair cut short, came and
+      took possession of the living, and preached very long sermons about
+      Cromwell &ldquo;girding his sword upon his thigh,&rdquo; and about blinded
+      Papists, and about Mahershalal-hash-baz, who made haste to divide the
+      spoil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But in the glorious year 1660 everyone began to throw up his cap and
+      welcome right royally the king from over the water; and the long-faced
+      Puritan disappeared, and the writing in the register-books changed into
+      that of a scholarly hand; and many of our churches were enriched by
+      thankofferings of plate and other gifts, because the good people of
+      England rejoiced exceedingly that their loved Church and her services were
+      restored to them; and &ldquo;the king at last enjoyed his own again.&rdquo;
+      The memory of the adventures of King Charles II., when he was endeavouring
+      to escape from England after the last crushing defeat of the royal troops
+      at Worcester, called by Cromwell &ldquo;the crowning mercy,&rdquo; still
+      lingers in many of the country villages through which the unfortunate
+      monarch passed. The king and a few faithful followers avoided the towns,
+      passed the ford of the Salwarp at Hemford Mill, and proceeded by Chester
+      Lane to Broadwaters and Kinfare Heath. Presently they reached Brewood
+      Forest, where there stood two old hunting-lodges, built by the Giffards in
+      troublous times as hiding-places for proscribed Papists. They were called
+      White Ladies and Boscobel, and were inhabited by staunch Royalists named
+      Penderel; so the king knew he would be safe there. He was disguised as a
+      forester with leathern jerkin and trunk hose, his long hair cropped, and
+      his hands blackened. All day he lay concealed in a coppice, and in the
+      evening, under the name of Will Jackson, he supped with the Penderels, and
+      then tried to cross the Severn, but all the fords and bridges were
+      guarded. The next day he and Colonel Carlos remained concealed in a large
+      oak near Boscobel, and the memory of Royal Oak day is still preserved. He
+      had other narrow escapes, and was saved by Mistress Jane Lane, the
+      beautiful daughter of Colonel Lane. A pass had been obtained for her and
+      her groom to go to Abbot&rsquo;s Leigh, near Bristol. The plan was
+      arranged that the king should act as groom; so Charles mounted his horse,
+      and Mistress Lane sat behind him on a pillion, and together they rode
+      through Warwickshire to Bristol. The king was nearly captured at Long
+      Marston, for some troopers of Cromwell suspected the party, and came to
+      examine the house where they rested. The cook, however, set Charles to
+      wind up the jack, and because he was awkward struck him with the
+      basting-ladle just as the soldiers entered the kitchen. Their suspicions
+      were thus removed; and in this old house the remains of the jack are still
+      preserved. The poor king was disappointed of his ship; the skipper
+      unfortunately told his wife that he was going to take the king to France,
+      and she was angry, and locked him up in his room, so that he could not
+      fulfil his engagement. At last Lord Wilmot procured a ship for the
+      fugitive king, who set sail joyfully from Shoreham, near Brighton, and
+      reached Paris in safety. There must have been great excitement in the
+      villages of England when the troopers were scouring the country in all
+      directions, and the unfortunate king was known to be wandering about
+      disguised as a servant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If there are any hills or high ground in your neighbourhood commanding an
+      extensive view of the country, it is probable that in olden days a beacon
+      was placed there, so that the country might be aroused in case of an
+      invasion, and frequently we find that the tower of a church was used as a
+      beacon, and occasionally the iron brazier remains, as at Little Budworth,
+      Cheshire. When the Spaniards determined to invade England in the reign of
+      &ldquo;Good Queen Bess,&rdquo; and sent the Invincible Armada, consisting
+      of an enormous number of ships and men and guns, bonfires were placed on
+      every hill; and when a gallant merchant vessel brought the news that the
+      Spaniards were coming, the bonfires were lighted, and everyone prepared to
+      resist their attack. Macaulay has told us in very stirring verse of how
+      the news spread, as each fire was lighted,
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to
+            Milford Bay&rdquo;;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      how Beachy Head caught the signal from St. Michael&rsquo;s Mount, and sent
+      it swiftly over the country from tower to hill-top,
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt&rsquo;s
+            embattled pile,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And the red glare of Skiddaw roused
+            the burghers of Carlisle.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Again, within the memory of the old inhabitants of your village, the hill
+      beacons were brought into use when Napoleon I. threatened to invade
+      England; and on January 31, 1803, by some mistake, the fire on Hume
+      Castle, in Berwickshire, was lighted; other beacons responded, and ere
+      morning dawned thousands were marching ankle-deep through the dense mud of
+      the winter roads to their appointed stations. The mistake was not without
+      its uses, as Napoleon saw that England was ready, and did not venture to
+      attack our shores. A similar accident took place in the reign of Henry
+      VIII. There was a conspiracy against the king by the Roman Catholics, who
+      did not like their monasteries being destroyed, called &ldquo;The
+      Pilgrimage of Grace.&rdquo; Beacons were erected on the heights of Pendel,
+      in Lancashire, and on the various hills of Yorkshire and Derbyshire; but
+      the beacon on Pendel was fired before the conspirators were quite ready
+      for action, and their plot came to nothing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once again in the history of our country were these beacon fires lighted;
+      but it was not to announce the approach of an enemy, but to reflect the
+      gladness of the nation which for so many years had enjoyed the reign of so
+      good a ruler as Queen Victoria, who has now passed away from us, and whom
+      the whole nation mourns. And as we witnessed the sudden blaze of the
+      beacons we thought, perhaps, of other occasions when they were used, and
+      were thankful that rejoicings and thanksgivings were the cause, and not
+      invasions or conspiracies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb10" id="linkb10"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [10] This is a corruption of the old Norman-French word <i>oyez</i>,
+      &ldquo;hear ye.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link21" id="link21"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      VILLAGE SPORTS AND PASTIMES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Decay of old sports&mdash;Twelfth Night&mdash;Shrovetide&mdash;Mothering
+      Sunday&mdash; Hocktide&mdash;May Day&mdash;Miracle plays&mdash;St. John&rsquo;s
+      Day&mdash;Rush-bearing&mdash;Beating the bounds&mdash;Archery&mdash;Quintain&mdash;Football&mdash;Christmas
+      games&mdash;Stocks&mdash; Cucking-stool.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is the custom of some writers to represent the lot of an English
+      villager in past ages as having been particularly hard and disagreeable;
+      to enlarge upon the scanty wages which he received; and to compare his
+      position unfavourably with that of the agricultural labourer of the
+      present day. I have already pointed out that the small wages which he
+      received are no test of his poverty, because he received so much more in
+      lieu of wages; and certainly he had far more opportunities of enjoyment
+      and recreation than the present generation has. Now we have scarcely any
+      village games or sports, except when some energetic rector or curate
+      starts a cricket club. Old social customs, which added such diversity to
+      the lives of the rustics two centuries ago, have died out. The village
+      green, the source of so much innocent happiness, is no more; and a recent
+      writer has observed that the ordinary existence of agricultural labourers
+      is so dull that in East Anglia they have almost forgotten how to laugh!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We will now try to realise how our village forefathers used to enjoy
+      themselves, how they used to spend their holidays, and to picture to
+      ourselves the scenes of happy social intercourse which once took place in
+      our own hamlet. Every season of the year had its holiday customs and
+      quaint manner of observance, some of them confined to particular counties,
+      but many of them universally observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the eve of Twelfth Night, January 5th, we see the good farmer and his
+      labourers in Devonshire joining hands round his apple trees, and singing&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s to thee, old
+            apple tree!<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Hence thou mayst bud, and whence thou
+            mayst blow!<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hats full! caps
+            full!<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bushel,
+            bushel, sacks full,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And my
+            pockets full too! Huzza!&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      A hearty supper followed, and with laughter, songs, and good wishes to the
+      farmer and his wife, the company passed a very joyous evening. In
+      Herefordshire, Yorkshire, and other parts of England similar customs
+      prevailed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link294" id="link294"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/294.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="294h.jpg (38K)" src="images/294h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> ANN HATHAWAY&rsquo;S COTTAGE <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then followed Twelfth Night, which was celebrated by great rejoicings and
+      merry-makings, a game called the choosing of kings and queens being
+      played, and Twelfth Night cakes consumed in plenty. The next Monday was
+      called Plough Monday, when the labourers used to draw a plough round the
+      parish and receive presents of money, favouring the spectators with
+      sword-dancing and mumming, preparatory to beginning to plough after the
+      Christmas holidays. The men were decked out with gay ribbons, and were
+      accompanied by morris-dancers. The Christmas holidays lasted these twelve
+      days, and during them it was customary for the gentlemen to feast the
+      farmers, and for the farmers to feast their labourers. Then came the
+      Shrovetide festivities, on Shrove Tuesday, when pancakes, football, and
+      cock-fighting, and a still more barbarous custom of throwing sticks at
+      hens, were generally in vogue. On Mid-Lent Sunday, commonly called &ldquo;Mothering
+      Sunday,&rdquo; it was the pleasing custom for servants and apprentices to
+      carry cakes or furmity as presents to their mother, and to receive from
+      her a cake with her blessing. This was called &ldquo;going a-mothering.&rdquo;
+      The old poet Herrick alludes to the custom in Gloucestershire in these
+      words:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll to thee a simnell bring,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&rsquo;Gainst
+            thou go&rsquo;st a-mothering;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;So that when she
+            blesseth thee,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Half that blessing thou&rsquo;lt
+            give me.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Then came the diversions of Hocktide, on the second Monday and Tuesday
+      after Easter, when the men and women intercepted the public on alternate
+      days with ropes, and boldly exacted money for pious purposes. There was a
+      Hocktide play, which was acted before Queen Elizabeth, and caused her much
+      amusement. She gave the players two bucks and five marks of money, which
+      delighted them exceedingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Very shortly afterwards the great rural festival of our forefathers took
+      place, the glad May Day, when, in the early dawn, the lads and lassies
+      left their towns and villages, and going into the woods to the sound of
+      music, gathered the may or blossomed branches of the tree, and bound them
+      with wreaths of flowers. At sunrise they returned, and decorated the
+      lattices and doors with the sweet-smelling spoil of their joyous journey,
+      and spent the rest of the day in sports and pastimes, and dancing round
+      the Maypole. The setting-up of the May-pole was a very joyous ceremony. A
+      long string of oxen, gaily decked with flowers, drew to the village green
+      the time-honoured pole, decked with streamers, flowers, and flags, where
+      it was raised amidst laughter and shouts; and the Queen of the May was
+      enthroned in an arbour and all danced round; and the morris-dancers, Robin
+      Hood, Friar Tuck, and Maid Marian performed wonderful antics as they led
+      the revels. Targets were set up at the other end of the green, and archery
+      formed an important part of the day&rsquo;s pleasures. The preachers at
+      the time of the Reformation thought the people made an idol of the
+      Maypole, and condemned the innocent amusements, which were revived again
+      when Charles II. came to the throne. After May Day our villagers had not
+      long to wait until the Whitsuntide holiday came round&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;A day of jubilee,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;An
+            ancient holiday;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;When, lo! the rural revels are
+            begun,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And gaily echoing to the laughing sky,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On the smooth-shaven green,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Resounds
+            the voice of mirth.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      I have already given a description of these Whitsuntide rejoicings in a
+      preceding chapter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there were the miracle plays, or &ldquo;mysteries,&rdquo; as they
+      were called, in June, on Corpus Christi Day, which were performed before
+      the Reformation, principally in the neighbourhood of large monasteries;
+      Coventry, Chester, London, York being specially renowned for these
+      performances. The subjects were taken from Holy Scripture, or from the
+      lives of saints, and were intended to teach the people religious
+      knowledge, but the scenes were disfigured by many absurdities and
+      grotesque perversions. Their history is a curious one, too long to enter
+      upon in this chapter; but often in the open fields, at the bottom of
+      natural amphitheatres, were these plays performed, very similar in
+      construction to the famous passion play performed by the peasants, at Ober
+      Ammergau, in Bavaria, the last surviving specimen of the ancient religious
+      drama.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then there were the bonfires to be lighted on St. John&rsquo;s Day upon
+      the hillsides, and the dance of the young people around them, the more
+      venturesome youths leaping through the flames, all carrying home the
+      firebrands and forming a glad procession. Afterwards followed the busy
+      harvest-time, when everyone was too hard at work, and too tired at the end
+      of the day&rsquo;s labours, to think of holiday-making; but at length came
+      the harvest home, when the last sheaf was gathered in, and the harvest
+      supper was a very joyous occasion. With light hearts, smiling faces, and
+      cheerful shouts, the harvest labourers and their wives and children,
+      carrying green boughs, a sheaf of wheat, and rude flags, formed a glad
+      procession to the farmer&rsquo;s house, where they found the fuelled
+      chimney blazing wide, and &ldquo;the strong table groaning beneath the
+      smoking sirloin.&rdquo; The feast over, they retired to some near hillock,
+      and made the welkin ring with their shouts, &ldquo;Holla, holla, holla,
+      largess!&rdquo;&mdash;largess being the presents of money and good things
+      which the farmer had bestowed. Such was the harvest home in the good old
+      days, a joy and delight to both old and young. Shorn of much of its
+      merriment and quaint customs, it still lingers on; but modern habits and
+      notions have deprived it of much of its old spirit and light-heartedness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The floors of the old churches were formerly unpaved and unbearded, simply
+      made of clay, and were covered over with rushes. Once a year there was a
+      great ceremony, called &ldquo;rush-bearing.&rdquo; Rushes were cut in the
+      neighbouring marsh, and made up into long bundles, decked with ribands and
+      flowers. Then a procession was formed, everyone bearing a bundle of
+      rushes, or placing them in the rush-cart beautifully adorned; and with
+      music, drums, and ringing of bells, they marched to the church and strewed
+      the floor with their honoured burdens. Long after the rushes ceased to be
+      used in church the ceremony was continued, and I have myself witnessed a
+      rush-bearing procession such as I have described. A village feast,
+      followed by dancing round the May-pole, generally formed the conclusion to
+      the day&rsquo;s festivities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beating the bounds&rdquo; of the parish was another annual
+      ceremony, which often took place on Ascension Day and is still in use at
+      Oxford. Boundaries of property were not so clearly defined in those days
+      as they are now; and hedgerows, walls, and railings were scarce. The
+      bounds of the parish were often marked by trees, called &ldquo;gospel
+      trees,&rdquo; because the clergyman used to read the gospel for the day
+      under their shade. The people carried a processional cross and willow
+      wands, and boys were generally flogged at the boundaries, or ducked in the
+      river, if that constituted a boundary, in order to impress upon their
+      memories where the bounds were. The village feast afterwards made some
+      amends to them for their harsh treatment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The village sports were a great source of enjoyment, and were frequently
+      indulged in. The time-honoured archery developed the skill of our English
+      bowmen, and won for them many a battle before the days of gunpowder and
+      cannons. Then there was the very ancient game of the quintain, which
+      consisted of an upright post with a cross-post turning upon a pin. At one
+      end of the latter was a broad board, at the other a heavy sand-bag. The
+      play, which required skill and dexterity, was to ride against the broad
+      end with a lance, and pass by before the sandbag, swinging round, could
+      strike the player to the ground. This was a common sport at wedding
+      festivities. There were also the games of singlestick, cudgelling, and
+      wrestling, which had many votaries, and the famous game of quarter-staff,
+      so general in Berkshire, and so graphically described in <i>The Scouring
+      of the White Horse</i>, by Mr. Hughes. An old parishioner of mine was the
+      reputed champion of this game, which has now almost died out. Football is
+      an ancient sport, and the manner formerly in vogue most nearly resembles
+      the game authorised by the Rugby rules. The football was thrown down in
+      the churchyard, and the object was to carry it perhaps two or three miles,
+      every inch of ground being keenly contested. &ldquo;Touch-downs&rdquo;
+      were then unknown, but it is evident from old records that &ldquo;scrimmages&rdquo;
+      and &ldquo;hacking&rdquo; were much in vogue. Sack-racing, grinning
+      through horse-collars, running after pigs with greased tails, were some of
+      the lighter forms of amusement which pleased the villagers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then in the winter evenings there were &ldquo;carols&rdquo; to be
+      practised for Christmas, and each village boasted of its own musicians,
+      who played violins, flutes, clarionets, and other instruments in church,
+      before the days of harmoniums and organs. Their music might not be of a
+      very first-rate order, but they delighted in it, took an interest in it;
+      and how pleased they were to take part in the service, and to play over
+      their favourite hymn tunes, with a great many twirls and variations, to
+      their children during the winter evenings! Christmas brought its
+      accustomed merry-makings. In the north every farmer gave two feasts, one
+      called &ldquo;t&rsquo; ould foaks&rsquo; neet,&rdquo; and the other
+      &ldquo;t&rsquo; young foaks&rsquo; neet.&rdquo; Here is Sir Walter Scott&rsquo;s
+      description of an ancient Christmas:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;And well our Christian sires of old<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Loved
+            when the year its course had roll&rsquo;d<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And
+            brought blithe Christmas back again,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;With all its
+            hospitable train.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Domestic and religious rite<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Gave honour to the holy night:<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;On
+            Christmas Eve the bells were rung;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;On Christmas Eve
+            the Mass was sung;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;That only night in all the year<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Saw the staled priest the chalice rear.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The
+            damsel donn&rsquo;d her kirtle sheen;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The hall was
+            dressed with holly green;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Forth to the wood did
+            merry men go,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;To gather in the mistletoe.<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Then open wide the baron&rsquo;s hall,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;To
+            vassal, tenant, serf, and all;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Power laid his rod
+            of rule aside,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And Ceremony doft&rsquo;d his pride.<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;The heir with roses in his shoes,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;That
+            night might village partner choose;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The lord,
+            underogating, share<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The vulgar game of &lsquo;post
+            and pair.&rsquo;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;All hailed with uncontrolled
+            delight<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The general voice, the happy night,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;That to the cottage, as the crown,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Brought
+            tidings of salvation down.<br /> &nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;The
+            fire, with well-dried logs supplied,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Went roaring
+            up the chimney wide;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;The huge hall-table&rsquo;s
+            oaken face<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Scrubb&rsquo;d till it shone, the day of
+            grace,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Bore then upon its massive board<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;No
+            mark to part the squire and lord.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Then was brought
+            in the lusty brawn,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;By old blue-coated serving man;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Then the grim boar&rsquo;s head frowned on high<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Crested with bays and rosemary.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Well
+            can the green-garb&rsquo;d ranger tell<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;How, when,
+            and where the monster fell;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;What dogs before his
+            death he tore,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And all the baiting of the boar;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;While round the merry wassail bowl,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Garnished
+            with ribbons, blithe did trowl.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Then the huge
+            sirloin reek&rsquo;d: hard by<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Plum-porridge stood,
+            and Christmas pie;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Nor fail&rsquo;d old Scotland to
+            produce<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;At such high time her savoury goose.<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Then came the merry maskers in,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And
+            carols roared with blithesome din;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;If unmelodious
+            was the song,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;It was a hearty note, and strong.<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Who lists may in this mumming see<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Traces
+            of ancient mystery;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;White shirts supply the
+            masquerade,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And smutted cheeks the visor made;<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;But, oh! what masquers, richly dight,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Can
+            boast of bosoms half so light!<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;England was merry
+            England when<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Old Christmas brought his sports
+            again.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&rsquo;Twas Christmas broach&rsquo;d the
+            mightiest ale;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&rsquo;Twas Christmas told the
+            merriest tale.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;A Christmas gambol oft would cheer<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;A poor man&rsquo;s heart through half the year.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+          <br />
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Such was the manner of keeping Christmas in olden times; and if &ldquo;the
+      mightiest ale&rdquo; was sometimes too mighty, and although the
+      intemperance of our forefathers was a vice much to be deplored, at any
+      rate their hearty manner of keeping this annual feast was effectual in
+      promoting &ldquo;goodwill amongst men,&rdquo; and in cheering the hearts
+      of the poor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this chapter I have attempted to show the varied amusements and
+      recreations in which our village ancestors took part. On the old village
+      green, which in too many of our villages has been inclosed and become a
+      thing of the past, many of these sports and pastimes once took place.
+      There stood the village stocks, in which the refractory paid the penalty
+      of their misdeeds; and sometimes, too, a pillory was added, which held
+      fast the head, arms, and legs of the culprit, while the villagers, rude
+      vindicators of the law, threw stones, rotten eggs, and other missiles at
+      the unhappy victim. At the edge of the pond you might have seen a long
+      plank which turned on a swivel, with a chair at the end overhanging the
+      water. This was called a &ldquo;cucking-stool,&rdquo; and was used to duck
+      scolds or brawlers. The culprit was placed in the chair, and the other end
+      of the plank was raised several times, so that the ardour of the culprit
+      was effectually cooled by frequent immersions. These were rough methods of
+      administering justice, but often very effectual in checking vice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The social customs which formerly existed in each village, the sports and
+      pastimes associated with the village green, the May Day festivals, and the
+      Christmas carollings were of great value, inasmuch as they tended to
+      infuse some poetical feeling into the minds of the people, softened the
+      rudeness of rustic manners, and gave the villagers simple pleasures which
+      lightened their labours. They prevented them from growing hard, grasping,
+      and discontented with their lot. They promoted good feeling between the
+      farmers and their labourers. The customs of the town were a poor exchange
+      for the ancient country manners and amusements; and it was a sad day for
+      our country when the villagers lost their simplicity and the power of
+      appreciating the primitive pleasures of rural England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link303" id="link303"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/303.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="303h.jpg (22K)" src="images/303h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br />OLD STOCKS AND WHIPPING-POST <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <a name="link22"
+      id="link22"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE VILLAGE INN
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Monastic inns&mdash;Village inns&mdash;Highwaymen&mdash;Inn signs&mdash;Famous
+      inns&mdash; Man-traps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In almost every village in England there is an inn. Before the Reformation
+      there were very few of these hostelries, as travellers were always
+      accommodated at the monasteries, each of which, as we have seen, had a
+      hospitium, or guest-house, where their wants were attended to by special
+      officers appointed for the purpose, and where they could remain for
+      several days. But the destruction of the monasteries produced many changes
+      in the condition of the country; it introduced the necessity of a poor
+      law, for the poor were always relieved by the monasteries; it required the
+      erection of schools and places for education, as all the education of the
+      country had been carried on in these monastic buildings; and when the old
+      guesthouses ceased to exist, travellers, merchants, and pedlars required
+      some place in which to lodge when they moved about the country, and inns
+      became plentiful as time went on. Hence in almost every village in England
+      there is an inn, which is generally a landmark; and if you wish to direct
+      a stranger to some place where he desires to go, you doubtless tell him to
+      turn to the right by &ldquo;The Bull,&rdquo; or to keep straight on until
+      he comes to &ldquo;The Magpie.&rdquo; Indeed, a friend of mine, who is a
+      strong teetotaler, asserts that the only good use inns have is to help
+      people to find their road. But old inns have a great history. In former
+      days they used to be meeting-places of plotters and conspirators. All the
+      distinguished people in the country used to pass through the villages and
+      towns on the great roads through the country, and when the horses were
+      being changed they used to partake of the good fare which the landlord
+      provided. Those were busy times for the old inns, when there was stabling
+      for fifty or sixty horses, and the coaches used to rattle through the
+      village to the inn door long before the iron horses began to drag their
+      freight of passengers along the iron roads, and the scream of the engines
+      took the place of the cheerful notes of the posthorn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes a gentleman would ride to an inn door on a beautiful,
+      fleet-looking steed, and receive a hearty welcome from the landlord; but
+      the pistols in his belt looked ominous, and presently some soldiers would
+      steal noiselessly into the inn where the gentleman was refreshing himself,
+      and there would be heard the sounds of vigorous fighting; and often, in
+      some wonderful way, Claude Duval or the noted Dick would fight his way
+      out, whistle to his steed, jump into the saddle, and ride away before his
+      less nimble pursuers had recovered from their astonishment. Very many
+      exciting scenes have taken place in our old inns, but in these days
+      railways have changed all things; and in many streets where the coaches
+      used to rattle along, and the place was alive with merry sounds, the moss
+      now grows, and all is silence and desolation. We should certainly think it
+      inconvenient to take three days to travel from London to Bath, and it
+      would not be pleasant to have a visit from Dick Turpin on the way, and to
+      have all one&rsquo;s valuables appropriated by that notorious highwayman;
+      but in these days of worry and busy bustling it would be refreshing to
+      catch a glimpse of those quiet times when people were not so much in a
+      hurry, and to hear the sound of the posthorn once more instead of the
+      whistle of the steam-engine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The quaint-looking pictures and curious names which attract our notice as
+      we pass an inn door have some queer stories to tell. We notice a very
+      curious collection of animals sometimes, and a strange assortment of
+      things; and the reason why our ancestors put some of these curious things
+      together is somewhat difficult for us to find out. In olden days, other
+      houses of tradesmen besides inns had signs. Grocers, tailors,
+      candlestick-makers, all had signs; but most of these have disappeared,
+      except one belonging to a certain sweep of my acquaintance, whose house is
+      adorned with the figure of a man coming out of a globe, with the motto,
+      &ldquo;Help me through the world.&rdquo; Over their doors barbers still
+      have their poles, which represented once the fact that the barber was
+      prepared to bandage up wounded arms and legs, and to perform the office of
+      blood-letting; the stripes on the pole were intended to represent the
+      bandages, and the barber was the surgeon of the town. We do not seem to
+      have so much blood to spare as our forefathers, as the barber always bled
+      his customers once or twice a year, especially in the springtime, the
+      operation being considered very beneficial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One reason for the curious mixture of animals and other things which we
+      see on signboards is that an apprentice, when he had finished his time and
+      begun to set up for himself, adopted some sign, and then joined with it
+      the sign of his old master. This will account for such curiosities as
+      &ldquo;The Lamb and Dolphin,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Goose and Gridiron,&rdquo;
+      &ldquo;The Fox and Seven Stars,&rdquo; combinations of things for which it
+      would otherwise be difficult to account. Another reason is that signs were
+      taken from the armorial bearings, or crests, of some popular character, or
+      of some great family in the neighbourhood. For example, I may mention
+      &ldquo;The Bear with the Ragged Staff,&rdquo; which was the crest of
+      Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, commonly called &ldquo;The Kingmaker,&rdquo;
+      who was slain in the battle of Barnet, 1471 A.D. &ldquo;The Blue Boar&rdquo;
+      was one of the badges of the House of York. &ldquo;The Bull&rdquo; is a
+      very common sign, because it was a very common crest, and we have them in
+      all colours&mdash;black, red, white; lions also rage in blue, white, and
+      red attire. Sometimes we meet with &ldquo;The Cross Keys,&rdquo; the
+      keeper of which was probably an old servant or tenant of an abbey or
+      monastery, and chose his sign from that of the monastery with which he was
+      connected. Frequently, in olden times, a cross was erected at the meeting
+      of two or three roads, or where the pilgrims to Canterbury used to pass;
+      afterwards an inn was built near it, and was, in many cases, called the
+      Cross Inn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One very common cause of curious signs is the way in which the original
+      word has been corrupted by ignorant people frequently repeating words
+      which they did not understand, and thus changing their whole meaning. You
+      may have seen an inn described as &ldquo;The Swan with Two Necks&rdquo;&mdash;a
+      very rare bird indeed. But it was never intended to disfigure the bird by
+      giving it two necks; the original sign was &ldquo;The Swan with Two <i>Nicks</i>&rdquo;
+      and nicks were the marks which were cut on a swan&rsquo;s bill to
+      distinguish it from other swans, so that it might be known to whom the
+      bird belonged. But <i>nicks</i> became <i>necks</i> in course of
+      conversation, until at last a fabulous creature with two beautifully
+      curved necks appeared on the signboard. This same cause will account for
+      the two strange signs, &ldquo;Bull and Gate&rdquo; and &ldquo;Bull and
+      Mouth.&rdquo; The original signs were &ldquo;Boulogne Gate&rdquo; and
+      &ldquo;Boulogne Mouth,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i> the gate and harbour of the town
+      of Boulogne, in France, which was captured by the English under King Henry
+      VIII. in the year 1544. The English were very pleased to hear of the
+      defeat of the French, and of the taking of that important town, and
+      several inns were named in honour of the event; but the French &ldquo;Boulogne&rdquo;
+      was too much for our good English mouths to speak, so it became &ldquo;Bull
+      and.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another name which puzzled our forefathers was &ldquo;<i>La Belle Sauvage</i>&rdquo;
+      (&ldquo;the Beautiful Savage&rdquo;), which was named after a noted savage
+      beauty who was the rage at Paris. Others assert that the name of the
+      landlady was Isabella Savage, shortened into Bella Savage. However, in
+      course of time the name was altered into &ldquo;Bell and Savage,&rdquo;
+      and a picture representing this odd combination stood over the door. In
+      the same way the original sign, &ldquo;Whip and Nag,&rdquo; between which
+      there is often a very close connection, became &ldquo;Whip and Egg&rdquo;;
+      and the reason why these two articles should be placed together is not so
+      evident. So also there does not seem any reason for an inn to be called
+      &ldquo;Bag o&rsquo; Nails&rdquo;; but when we are told that the original
+      word was &ldquo;Bacchanals,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i> followers of Bacchus, the
+      old god of wine, we can understand how the corruption, &ldquo;Bag o&rsquo;
+      Nails,&rdquo; arose. Before the days of licensing, when everyone could
+      sell liquor who chose without obtaining any licence from the magistrates,
+      it was the custom to put a bush over the doorway, in order to inform the
+      passers-by that liquor could be purchased there. This is the origin of the
+      saying, &ldquo;Good wine needs no bush.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link310" id="link310"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/310.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="310h.jpg (37K)" src="images/310h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> VILLAGE INN WITH OLD TITHE BARN OF READING ABBEY <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Catherine Wheel&rdquo; tells us the sad story of St. Catherine,
+      who was born at Alexandria, and for converting fifty heathen philosophers
+      to Christianity was sentenced by the Emperor Maxentius to death on a
+      wheel, devised by most ingenious cruelty, armed with knives, saws, and
+      nails. It is recorded that she was rescued from this fate, but was
+      afterwards beheaded (305 A.D.). It is curious that this instrument of
+      torture and the story of St. Catherine&rsquo;s heroism should be recorded
+      on a signboard. But it may have been brought before the public by a
+      certain miracle play, founded on the life of St. Catherine, which used to
+      be performed on festival days. However, the Catherine wheel appears
+      frequently on the coats-of-arms of several families, and it may be that
+      the sign was taken from these.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The George,&rdquo; also, is a very popular sign; and the &ldquo;St.
+      George of merry England&rdquo; is the patron saint of this country, and
+      the battle-cry of her knights and yeomen of ancient days. Who does not
+      remember that stirring scene on St. George&rsquo;s Mount during the
+      Crusades, described in Sir Walter Scott&rsquo;s <i>Talisman</i>, when King
+      Richard tore down the Austrian banner, which the Austrian monarch had
+      dared to erect beside the Royal Standard of England? St George is
+      generally represented as slaying a dragon. He was a soldier who served
+      gallantly under the Emperor Diocletian, and commanded a legion of
+      soldiers; he was a Christian, and by the dragon whom he slew is meant the
+      devil, red with the blood of the Christians. So popular a personage as St.
+      George, whose name inspired our ancestors with courage, and was often
+      borne by them into the heart of the foe, would soon be recorded in
+      paintings and become a general sign. &ldquo;The Goat&rdquo; is a common
+      sign, and is taken from the crest of the Duke of Bedford; but &ldquo;The
+      Goat and Compasses&rdquo; has puzzled many people as to its origin. It
+      appears to be a corruption of a pious expression, &ldquo;God encompasseth
+      us&rdquo;; and this shows how strangely words may be twisted and converted
+      by ignorant and careless usage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are some very noted inns where great events have taken place,
+      amongst which I may mention the Bull Inn at Coventry. Here Henry VII. was
+      entertained the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, when he won for
+      himself the English crown. Here Mary Queen of Scots was detained by order
+      of Elizabeth. Here the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot met to devise
+      their scheme for blowing up the Houses of Parliament. And when the
+      citizens refused to open their gates to Charles I. and his soldiers, no
+      doubt there were great disputings amongst the frequenters of &ldquo;The
+      Bull&rdquo; as to what would be the result of their disloyal refusal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the inns in remote country places did not enjoy a very enviable
+      reputation, and were little better than man-traps, where the unfortunate
+      traveller was robbed and murdered. At Blewbury, in Berkshire, there was an
+      inn, the landlord of which was suspected of murdering his guests with
+      great secrecy and mystery, and no one could tell what he did with the
+      bodies of the victims he was supposed to have murdered. A few years ago an
+      old tree in the neighbourhood of the inn was blown down, and on digging up
+      the roots a skeleton was found among them. People wondered how it could
+      have been placed there, but at last a very old inhabitant told the story
+      of the mysterious disappearance of the bodies of the late landlord&rsquo;s
+      guests, and the mystery was at length accounted for. Whenever he slew a
+      man he planted a tree, placing the body of the murdered victim beneath it.
+      The constables never thought of looking there; and probably under every
+      tree which he planted (and there were several), when their roots are dug
+      up, the bones of his numerous victims will be discovered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another story is connected with the old &ldquo;Hind&rsquo;s Head&rdquo; at
+      Bracknell, which was another of these mantraps, where many travellers
+      slept to rise no more. One winter&rsquo;s night a stout-hearted farmer
+      stayed there, and joined several jovial companions round the kitchen fire.
+      They ate and drank merrily, and at last the serving-maid showed the
+      traveller to his chamber. She told him that he was surrounded by robbers
+      and murderers, showed him a trap-door at the side of the bed, on which if
+      he stepped he would tumble headlong into a deep well. She directed him to
+      tie the bed into a bundle, put it on the trap-door, and escape by the
+      window. He did so; down went the bundle, instead of the farmer, into the
+      well, and he managed to effect his escape. Rousing the neighbourhood he
+      captured the villains, who were all executed, and the bones of many of
+      their victims were found in the well. Happily such inns were rare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To describe the conditions of the old inns for which England was famous,
+      of the good fare which awaited the travellers by the coach, of the
+      spacious corridors, of the comfortable beds hung with silk and smelling of
+      lavender; to tell of all the great folk who entered their doors&mdash;kings,
+      queens, poets, generals, highwaymen, statesmen, grooms, conspirators,
+      coachmen&mdash;all this would require much space to relate. When railways
+      came in, their ancient glory departed; the old stables are destroyed;
+      grass grows in the courtyard; and the object of their existence has almost
+      ceased to be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="link23" id="link23"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      VILLAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Belief in witches&mdash;Survival of water ordeal&mdash;Witches turned into
+      hares&mdash; Cruelties practised on witches&mdash;Bishop Jewel on the
+      &ldquo;evil eye&rdquo;&mdash; Fairies&mdash;Berkshire popular
+      superstitions&mdash;Field-names&mdash;Homes of famous men&mdash;Washington
+      Irving&rsquo;s description of an English village&mdash;Rural exodus&mdash;Conclusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is yet another class of subjects connected with old village life, of
+      absorbing interest and importance. I refer to the old superstitions and
+      folklore which still linger on in the recollections of the &ldquo;oldest
+      inhabitant,&rdquo; and which ought to be at once treasured up, lest they
+      should be altogether lost. The generation of those who believed firmly in
+      the power of the &ldquo;evil eye&rdquo; of the witch, and who feared to
+      disturb the revels of the fairies on their rings and mounds, is only just
+      passing away. An old gipsy has told me some strange stories of the
+      superstitions of former days. He has told me of the witch at Farnham who
+      made the cows wild and prevented them from giving milk; of another witch
+      who lived at Henley-on-Thames, and who when thrown into the river &ldquo;floated
+      like a cork.&rdquo; Here we have a survival of the old Saxon method of
+      trying culprits by the water ordeal, often used in examining witches. This
+      particular witch could turn herself into a hare, so my venerable gipsy
+      friend, aged one hundred and six years, informed me, and the dogs hunted
+      her. He told me of the Tadley witch, who &ldquo;wished&rdquo; several
+      people, and greatly injured them. It seems to have been a common practice
+      of the old witches to turn themselves into hares, in order to vex the
+      squires, justices, and country parsons, who were fond of hunting, as the
+      old dames could elude the speed of the swiftest dogs. An old writer states
+      &ldquo;that never hunters nor their dogs may be bewitched, they cleave an
+      oaken branch, and both they and their dogs pass over it.&rdquo; Mary Dore,
+      a witch of Beaulieu, Hampshire, used to turn herself into a hare in order
+      to escape detection when caught in the act of wood-stealing, to which she
+      was somewhat addicted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old women were rather harshly used in the days when people believed in the
+      power of witches. If any farmer&rsquo;s cattle died, it was immediately
+      concluded that the animals were bewitched; and some wretched old woman was
+      singled out, and summarily tried and burnt. If anyone fell ill, some
+      &ldquo;witch&rdquo; had evidently a waxen image of the sufferer, and stuck
+      needles into it; and such was the power of the witch that, wherever the
+      person was, he felt the stab of the cruel needle. Hence the witch had to
+      be found and burnt. If the corn crops failed, was not witchcraft the
+      cause? for had not old Mother Maggs been heard to threaten Farmer Giles,
+      and had not her black cat been seen running over his fields? Even good
+      Bishop Jewel did not disbelieve in the power of the evil eye. In preaching
+      before Queen Elizabeth he said: &ldquo;It may please Your Grace to
+      understand that witches and sorcerers are marvellously increased within
+      Your Grace&rsquo;s realm. Your Grace&rsquo;s subjects pine away even unto
+      the death, their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is
+      benumbed, their senses are bereft. I pray God they never practise further
+      than on the subject.&rdquo; To so great an extent did faith in the witches&rsquo;
+      fatal power prevail. Our forefathers used to believe in the existence of
+      other, and more pleasant little companions than the old toothless witches&mdash;the
+      bright little fairies who, on account of the neglect which they have
+      received from the present generation of Englishmen, have, so it is
+      reported, left our shores in disgust, never to return. The previous
+      inhabitants of our villages did not so treat them; and did not the fairies
+      always bring them luck? They nailed the horseshoe to the stable door to
+      keep out the witches, lest the old beldams should ride their steeds by
+      night to the witches&rsquo; revels; but no one wished to exclude the
+      fairies. Did not the dairymaids find the butter ready churned, and the
+      cows milked by these kind assistants? Was there not an old lady in
+      Yorkshire who knew all about the fairies, had often heard them making
+      butter, and had seen the butter smeared all over the gate by a little
+      green man with a queer cap who had been seen slipping under a culvert?
+      Canon Atkinson told us of this lady who knew all these strange things, and
+      of the Hart Hall &ldquo;Hob&rdquo; who worked so hard with his flail, and
+      of many other curious folk who frequented the Yorkshire moors in olden
+      days. The last witch had just died before he went to Danby, but he found
+      the whole atmosphere of the folklore firmament so surcharged with the
+      being and work of the witch, that he seemed able to trace her presence and
+      her activity in almost every nook and corner of the neighbourhood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wells all over England were haunted by fairies, and is it not
+      confidently asserted that &ldquo;the good people&rdquo; (as the fairies
+      are called) live in wilds and forests, and shun great cities because of
+      the wickedness which exists therein? Have they never appeared to the
+      lonely traveller, clothed in green, with long hair floating over their
+      shoulders, and with faces more blooming than the blush of a summer
+      morning? Then there were the fairy rings formed by the dancing of their
+      merry feet.
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Some say the screech-owl, at each midnight hour,<br />
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;Awakes the fairies in yon ancient tower.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Their
+            nightly dancing ring I always dread,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;Nor let my
+            sheep within that circle tread;<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;When round and
+            round all night, in moonlight fair,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;They dance to
+            some strange music in the air.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      Then there were brownies; and knockers, who worked in mines, and showed
+      rich veins of silver; and elves&mdash;all of whom were included in old
+      village superstitions, and many were the tales told of the good deeds they
+      did, and the luck they brought. Nor must we forget the story of the
+      invisible smith who inhabited Wayland Smith&rsquo;s Cave, in Berkshire.
+      Whenever a farmer tied up his horse in the cave, and left the money on a
+      particular stone, on his return he found his horse shod by the kind
+      efforts of the invisible smith. There is also the old Berkshire story of
+      the old witch who lived in a cave by the roadside, and who, by the power
+      of her &ldquo;evil eye,&rdquo; could stop the strongest team of horses, so
+      that, however much the carters lashed and swore at them, the animals would
+      not budge an inch until she permitted them to go. Here are a few of the
+      common superstitions current in Berkshire. If a corpse be kept over a
+      Sunday another death will occur before the week is out; should a big
+      bumble-bee enter the window, a guest may be expected; and when the
+      woodpecker, commonly called the yaffle, laughs, they say the rain is
+      coming. When the thick mist lies in the valley, the people say it is the
+      White Lady, a belief closely akin to the Dame Blanche, who is said in
+      Normandy to haunt streams. If one row of freshly sown seeds or potatoes
+      does not come up, it foretells a death in the family. If a girl mends her
+      clothes on her back, she risks having a drunken husband. A screech-owl is
+      unlucky, and so also is it if a bird fly against the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A woman came to the rectory a few years ago for a drop of sacramental
+      wine, which she wanted for an infant who had &ldquo;the graspings.&rdquo;
+      This complaint I discovered to be a craving for something, accompanied by
+      restlessness; and it was supposed that a drop of sacramental wine would
+      cure an infant so troubled. If the mother before the child was born craved
+      for drink, this craving was communicated to the child, and could only be
+      remedied by a drop of wine used in Holy Communion. This superstition,
+      which I have met with elsewhere, probably is a relic of pre-Reformation
+      days, and of sacramental Reservation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A tramp was passing through a Hampshire village a short time ago, and
+      calling at a house, begged for a glass of water. The woman who lived there
+      said that she was sorry she could not give him water to drink, as there
+      was a child in the house unbaptised, and therefore it would be unlucky.
+      The origin of this superstition it is difficult to trace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These are some of the legends and superstitions which linger amongst us.
+      Every neighbourhood has its stories, its legends, and romantic histories.
+      It is a sad pity that these should pass away without any record being
+      made. Many curious customs and ceremonies relating to christenings,
+      marriages, and burials linger in remote hamlets; and charms, curious
+      remedies, and other relics of the quaint superstitions of our forefathers,
+      are full of interest to the lover of our English villages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we walk in the fields, or study the old map of the parish, the names of
+      the fields invite our attention. These are full of interest, and often
+      tell us about matters which would be entirely forgotten. Some names tell
+      us of the great forests which used to exist all over the country, when
+      kings and noblemen, outlaws and poachers, used to hunt the deer and the
+      wild boars in many a successful run. These forests were large tracts of
+      country in its natural state, partly wood, partly heather and grass, which
+      were owned by the king, and were especially brought under the harsh forest
+      laws of the Norman sovereigns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of our field-names remind us of the existence of these old forests
+      where corn now grows, and also of swamps and islands where everything now
+      is dry and far removed from water. Sometimes they tell us of the old
+      common lands which used to be farmed by the villeins and borderers, and of
+      the strange way in which they used to manage their farming. Each man used
+      to keep one or more oxen for the village plough until they made up the
+      team into eight; then they ploughed the land in strips of an acre or
+      half-acre each, divided by a bit of unploughed turf called a balk. Each
+      strip was a furlong, <i>i.e.</i> a &ldquo;furrow long,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i>
+      the length of the drive of a plough before it is turned. This was forty
+      rods, or poles, and four of these furrows made up the acre. These pieces
+      of land were called &ldquo;shots,&rdquo; and there were &ldquo;headlands,&rdquo;
+      or common field-ways, to each shot; and &ldquo;gored acres,&rdquo; which
+      were corners of the fields which could not be cut up into strips, and odds
+      and ends of unused land, which were called &ldquo;No Man&rsquo;s Land,&rdquo;
+      or &ldquo;Jack&rsquo;s Land.&rdquo; It is curious, too, that all the
+      strips belonging to one man did not lie together, but were scattered all
+      over the common land, which must have been a very inconvenient arrangement
+      for farming purposes. There were also in each village community a
+      blacksmith, whose duty it was to keep in repair the ironwork of the
+      village ploughs, a carpenter for the woodwork, and a pound-keeper, or
+      punder, who looked after the stray cattle. Many of the &ldquo;balks&rdquo;
+      still remain on the hillsides where these old common lands existed, and
+      the names of the fields bear witness to the prevalence of this old field
+      system.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They tell us, too, of the way in which attempts were made to force the
+      growth of particular crops, and in many parishes you will find a &ldquo;flax
+      piece,&rdquo; which reminds us of a foolish Act of Henry VIII. ordering
+      the cultivation of that plant. Metals, too, which have long ago been
+      worked out, and trades which no longer exist, have left their traces
+      behind in the names of our lanes and fields. Also they speak of the early
+      days when the wolf or the bear might be seen in our woods or fields, or of
+      the beaver which loved the quietude of our streams, of the eagle which
+      carried off the lambs undisturbed by sound of the keeper&rsquo;s gun.
+      Sometimes he was disturbed in his thefts by the flight of a good strong
+      English arrow, which came from a sturdy English bow drawn by a good strong
+      English arm. The English archers were famous everywhere, and many a battle
+      has been won by their valour and their skill. A law was passed in the
+      reign of Edward IV. that every Englishman should have a bow of his own
+      height, and that butts for the practice of archery should be set up in
+      every village; and every man was obliged to shoot up and down on every
+      feast-day, or be fined one halfpenny. Consequently, in some villages we
+      find a field called &ldquo;The Butts,&rdquo; where this old practice took
+      place.[<a href="#linkb11">11</a>]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many villages are associated with the lives of distinguished men&mdash;authors,
+      soldiers, and statesmen. Perhaps your village may have bred other poets
+      besides &ldquo;the mute inglorious Milton&rdquo; of Gray&rsquo;s <i>Elegy</i>.
+      Not far from where I am writing was Pope&rsquo;s early home, the village
+      of Binfield, which he calls&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <table summary="poems">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p>
+            &nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;My paternal home,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;A little
+            house, with trees arow,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;And, like its master, very
+            low.&rdquo;
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      On the other side lies the village of Three Mile Cross, where Miss Mitford
+      lived and wrote &ldquo;Our Village&rdquo;; and Arborfield, called in her
+      book Arborleigh, about which she tells some pleasant stories, is the
+      adjoining parish. Sometimes, as I ride down a grassy lane, a favourite
+      haunt of the distinguished authoress, I seem to see her seated on a fallen
+      tree weaving her pretty romances, while her favourite dog, which she often
+      describes, plays and barks around her. A few miles in another direction
+      lies Eversley, the loved abode of Charles Kingsley, about whom many
+      stories linger in the countryside. To visit the uncomfortable brick-paved
+      study where he wrote, the garden where he used to pace and think out his
+      great thoughts, is delightfully refreshing and invigorating to a jaded
+      writer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link323" id="link323"></a><br /> <br /><br /> <a
+      href="images/323.jpg">ENLARGE</a>
+    </p>
+    <div class="fig" style="width:80%">
+      <img alt="323h.jpg (34K)" src="images/323h.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
+    </div>
+    <p>
+      <br /> OLD COTTAGES <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These are only instances of places which have become interesting on
+      account of the famous men who once lived in them; and England has many
+      heroes of the sword and pen whose lives each Englishman should study; and
+      when you visit their dwelling-places you will recall their achievements,
+      and perhaps endeavour to imitate their examples. Here is an instance of
+      how little the villagers know of the distinguished men who once lived
+      amongst them. The great Duke of Wellington did not live a very long time
+      ago, and yet some friends of mine who were staying at Strathfieldsaye,
+      near the Iron Duke&rsquo;s house, and made inquiries amongst the villagers
+      about their recollections of the hero of Waterloo, could obtain no
+      information. At last one venerable rustic vouchsafed the extraordinary
+      intelligence, &ldquo;I believe as &rsquo;ow &rsquo;e were very good at war&rdquo;!
+      What a thing it is to be famous!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Much more remains to be said upon the various subjects which this history
+      of our village suggests. But the day is closing, and our walk through its
+      sequestered lanes and our thoughts about the various scenes which yonder
+      venerable oaks have witnessed, must cease. But enough has been said to
+      show what a wealth of interest lies beneath the calm exterior of ordinary
+      village life. An American truly observes that everything in the rural life
+      of England is associated with ideas of order, of quiet, sober,
+      well-established principles, of hoary usage, and reverent custom&mdash;the
+      growth of ages of regular and peaceful existence. The impression which the
+      appearance of an English village left on his mind is beautifully described
+      in the following passage:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The old church of remote architecture with its low, massive portal,
+      its gothic tower, its windows rich with tracery and painted glass, its
+      scrupulous preservation, its stately monuments of warriors and worthies of
+      olden times, ancestors of the present lords of the soil; its tombstones,
+      recording successive generations of sturdy yeomanry, whose progeny still
+      plough the same fields, and kneel at the same altar; the parsonage, a
+      quaint, irregular pile, partly antiquated, but repaired and altered in the
+      tastes of various eyes and occupants; the stile and footpath leading from
+      the churchyard, across pleasant fields, and along shady hedgerows,
+      according to an immemorial right-of-way; the neighbouring village, with
+      its venerable cottages, its public green sheltered by trees, under which
+      the forefathers of the present race have sported; the antique family
+      mansion, standing apart in some little rural domain, but looking down with
+      a protecting air on the surrounding scene. All these common features of
+      English landscape evince a calm and settled security, and hereditary
+      transmission of homebred virtues and local attachments, that speak deeply
+      and touchingly for the moral character of the nation.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the most distressing features of modern village life is the
+      continual decrease of its population. All our young men flock to the
+      towns, attracted by the greater excitement which town life offers, as
+      compared with the more homely pleasures of the country. The rural exodus
+      is an alarming and very real danger to the welfare of social England.
+      Agricultural machinery has greatly diminished the number of labourers
+      required on a farm. Agricultural depression and the decreased value of
+      land have caused many old country families to close their old
+      manor-houses, as they cannot afford to live on their estates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Let us hope that those whose happy lot it is to live in the quiet hamlets
+      of our native land, afar from the noise and din of busy towns, will learn
+      to love more deeply their village homes, and interest themselves in their
+      surroundings. To those who read the history of their native place, each
+      house and field, each stone and tree, will tell its story, and recount the
+      wonders it has witnessed. And as the stories of wars and fights, of
+      superstition and of crime, fall on our ears, we shall be thankful that our
+      lot is cast in more peaceful days, when no persecutions, religious or
+      political, disturb the tranquillity of our village life. And when we read
+      of the piety and simplicity of our forefathers, their veneration of their
+      church, their love of home, their innocent joys and social customs, we
+      should strive to imitate their virtues which have materially helped to
+      make England a great and powerful nation. It is hoped that these chapters
+      upon the old life of our country, and the manners and customs of our
+      forefathers, may induce many of my readers to read and study history more
+      deeply, may serve to create an interest in the relics that remain to us of
+      the past, and to preserve the fleeting traditions that Time doth
+      consecrate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="linkb11" id="linkb11"></a><br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [11] In many cases the name &ldquo;Butts&rdquo; refers to the fact of the
+      land, under the common-field system, <i>abutting</i> on meadows or roads,
+      <i>e.g.</i> &ldquo;Butt-close,&rdquo; in the parish of St. Mary Bourne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="linkappendix" id="linkappendix"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      APPENDIX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village,
+      the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the
+      name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and old
+      county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor&rsquo;s <i>Words
+      and Places</i>, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in <i>Domesday</i>
+      and old documents. Bede&rsquo;s <i>History</i>, the <i>Anglo-Saxon
+      Chronicles</i>, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may
+      contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also Kemble&rsquo;s
+      <i>Saxons in England</i>. The <i>Domesday Book</i> is, of course, a mine
+      of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many documents which will be
+      of great service&mdash;the <i>Testa de Neville</i> (Edward II.), <i>Marshall
+      Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls,
+      Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem</i>, and the <i>Feet of Fines</i>.
+      The <i>Manor Court Rolls</i>, if they still exist, in the custody of the
+      lord of the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local
+      antiquarian societies and county histories will of course be examined. The
+      history of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The
+      British Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of <i>Heralds&rsquo;
+      Visitations</i>, and Burke&rsquo;s <i>Landed Gentry</i> and Dugdale&rsquo;s
+      <i>Baronage</i> are the chief sources of information. Old <i>wills</i>
+      will yield much information, many of which are in course of publication by
+      the Index Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House
+      and many diocesan registries contain the original documents. The
+      Historical Manuscripts Commission has published many volumes of borough
+      records which are of great service, and the lives of any great men
+      connected with the parish may be studied in the <i>Dictionary of National
+      Biography</i>. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains
+      valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and its
+      contents should be carefully examined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The registers of the diocese contain many documents relating to the
+      ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a list
+      of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any monastery,
+      Dugdale&rsquo;s <i>Monasticon</i> will furnish some information. The
+      Public Record Office contains the documents <i>Taxatio Ecclesiastica P.
+      Nicholai IV.</i> and <i>Valor Ecclesiasticus</i>, which give an account of
+      the value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the
+      sale of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the
+      saint to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in
+      spite of years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some
+      early will of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which
+      usually gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ
+      in stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the
+      help of Rickman&rsquo;s <i>Gothic Architecture</i> or Parker&rsquo;s <i>Glossary
+      of Gothic Architecture</i>. If there has ever been a monastery in the
+      parish, Dugdale&rsquo;s <i>Monasticon</i> should be consulted; and if
+      there are any remains of a castle, Clark&rsquo;s <i>Mediaeval Military
+      Architecture in England</i> will be useful. Prehistoric remains, such as
+      barrows, earthworks, pit dwellings, and caves should be described; also
+      any Roman roads and villas; the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood,
+      geology, folklore, and dialect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The following books are recommended:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evans&rsquo; <i>Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain</i>.<br /> Evans&rsquo;
+      <i> Ancient Bronze Implements</i>.<br /> Boyd Dawkins&rsquo; <i>Cave
+      Hunting</i>.<br /> Boyd Dawkins&rsquo; <i>Early Man in Britain</i>.<br />
+      Greenwell&rsquo;s <i>British Barrows</i>.<br /> Fergusson&rsquo;s <i>Rude
+      Stone Monuments</i>.<br /> Cox&rsquo;s <i>How to Write the History of a
+      Parish</i>.<br /> Wright&rsquo;s <i>Essays on Archaeological Subjects</i>.<br />
+      Parker&rsquo;s <i>Mediaeval Domestic Architecture</i>.<br /> Sims&rsquo; <i>Manual
+      for the Topographer and Genealogist</i>.<br /> Burn&rsquo;s <i>History of
+      Parish Registers</i>.<br /> Seebohm&rsquo;s <i>English Village Community</i>.<br />
+      Toulmin Smith&rsquo;s <i>English Gilds</i>.<br /> Haine&rsquo;s <i>Manual
+      of Monumental Brasses</i>.<br /> Bloxam&rsquo;s <i>Principles of Gothic
+      Architecture</i>.<br /> Tanner&rsquo;s <i>Notitia Monastica</i>.<br /> Cutts&rsquo;
+      <i>Middle Ages</i>.<br /> Lee&rsquo;s <i>Glossary of Liturgical and
+      Ecclesiastical Terms</i>.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <a name="linkindex" id="linkindex"></a><br /> <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      INDEX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Akeman Street, 60<br /> Aldhelm, church-builder, 103<br /> Alfriston
+      clergy-house, 180<br /> <i>Alignements</i>, 46<br /> Allington rectory, 180<br />
+      Almshouses, 181<br /> Altars, 191<br /> Amphitheatre, Roman, 67<br />
+      Anchoresses, 183<br /> Anchor-hold, 183<br /> Anglo-Saxon villages, 74-89<br />
+      Archery, 277, 298<br /> Architecture, English, 102-24<br /> Arresting a dead
+      body, 227<br /> Arrow-heads, 20<br /> <i>Art of Husbandry</i>, 255<br />
+      Astrology, belief in, 222<br /> Aumbry, 192<br /> Avebury cromlech, 46
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      B
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ball-flower moulding, 118<br /> Barkham in <i>Domesday</i>, 128<br />
+      Barnack Church, 106<br /> Barrows or tumuli, 23-3<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;long
+      and round, 25<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;near churchyards, 23<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Saxon, 90-3<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;their
+      contents, 24, 29<br /> Basilica, Roman, 66<br /> Beacons, 268<br /> Beating
+      the bounds, 276<br /> Bede, 75<br /> Bell-ringing customs, 250<br /> Bells,
+      245-53<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;christening of, 246<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;inscription on, 247-50<br /> Benedict
+      Biscop, 103<br /> Benedictine monks, 161<br /> Bewcastle cross, 98<br />
+      Bishops, treating of, 229<br /> Black Death, 255<br /> Blood-letting, 167-9<br />
+      Blowing Stone, 52<br /> <i>Bordarii</i>, 131<br /> Border castles, 140<br />
+      Brachycephalic race, 21<br /> Brasses, monumental, 212-18<br /> Bridal cup,
+      207<br /> Brief Book, 226<br /> Brighthampton, pit dwellings at, &nbsp;33<br />
+      British Church, 93<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;oppida, 34<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;roads, 60, 61<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;saints
+      and martyrs, 94<br /> Bronze Age, 21, 40<br /> Budworth hermitage, 182<br />
+      Burial urns, 29, 30<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;urns in woollen,
+      220
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      C
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Caesar&rsquo;s camps, 50<br /> Camps, 50-52<br /> Carthusian monks, 162<br />
+      Castles, 135-53<br /> Cave men, 16<br /> Celts, 21, 34, 37, 56<br />
+      Cemeteries, Saxon, 92<br /> Censers, 205<br /> Chancels, 190<br /> Charles
+      II., adventures of, 267<br /> Chaucer&rsquo;s satire on monks, 160<br />
+      Chepstow Castle, 140<br /> Chest, parish, 218-29<br /> Chivalry, 143, 148<br />
+      Chrismatory, 206<br /> Christmas in olden time, 278<br /> Chun Castle, 51<br />
+      Church ales, 258<br /> Church bells, 245-53<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;house,
+      258<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;plate, 200-8<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;"
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;yard, 243<br /> Churches, parish, 184 99<br />
+      Churchwardens&rsquo; account books, 223-6<br /> Cistercian monks, 114, 161<br />
+      Civil War, effects of, 153, 220, 265<br /> Cloister of monastery, 163<br />
+      Cluny, monks of, 161<br /> Consecration crosses, 239<br /> Conversion of
+      Saxons, 94, 95<br /> Crannogs, 38<br /> Cremation, 28, 29, 92<br />
+      Cromlechs, 46-9<br /> Crosses, Saxon, 95-101<br /> Cross-legged effigies,
+      211<br /> Cucking-stool, 280
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      D
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Decay of old sports, 271<br /> Decorated architecture, 117<br /> Desecration
+      of monasteries, 159<br /> Devil&rsquo;s Highway, 61<br /> Dog-tooth
+      ornament, 116<br /> Dog-whipper, 228<br /> Dolichocephalic race, 19<br />
+      Dolmen, 49, 50<br /> <i>Domesday Book</i>, 125-34<br /> Donnington Castle,
+      152<br /> Druids, 48, 50
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      E
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early English architecture, 115-17<br /> Earthworks, 50-6<br /> Easter
+      sepulchre, 193<br /> Edge Hill, battle of, 264<br /> Edwardian castles, 140<br />
+      Emblems on brasses, 217<br /> Enstone, menhir at, 45<br /> Eslithic man, 14<br />
+      Epitaphs, curious, 243<br /> Ermyn Street, 60<br /> &ldquo;Evil eye,&rdquo;
+      291-3
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      F
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fairford windows, 232<br /> Fairies, 56, 293<br /> Fairs, 261<br />
+      Feudalism, 141<br /> Field-names, 296-8<br /> Flint implements, discovery
+      of, 11<br /> Flint implements, 15, 20<br /> Fonts, 186<br /> Food in barrows,
+      24, 25<br /> Football, 277<br /> Force-pump, Roman, 68<br /> Frescoes, 234<br />
+      Friars, preaching, 161<br /> Future life, belief in, shown by barrows, 24
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      G
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gambassi, glass-painter, 232<br /> <i>Geburs</i>, 82<br /> Gentleman,
+      accomplishments of a, 149<br /> Geological changes, 11-13<br /> Glaciers in
+      Britain, 12<br /> Glass, stained, 230-3<br /> Glastonbury, pit dwellings at,
+      37, 41, 42<br /> Green, village, 8, 280<br /> Grims-dike, 54, 55<br />
+      Grosmont Castle, 141<br /> Guizot on castles, 141
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      H
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hagioscopes, 194<br /> Hall marks, 208<br /> Harvest homes, 275<br />
+      Hastings, battle of, 264<br /> Heart burial, 222<br /> Hedsor, pile
+      dwellings at, 37, 38<br /> <i>Hereivard the Wake</i>, 264<br /> Hermits, 181<br />
+      Hexham church, 104<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;crosses, 99<br />
+      Highwaymen, 283<br /> Hocktide sports, 225, 273<br /> Homes of famous men,
+      298<br /> Hospitium of monastery, 169<br /> House, evolution of country,
+      172-7<br /> Hundreds, origin of, 87<br /> Hurstbourne, Hants, pit dwellings
+      at, 34
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ice Age, 12, 13<br /> Iknield Street, 60<br /> Ilkley cross, 99<br /> Inigo
+      Jones, 176<br /> Inns, 7, 282-90<br /> Inventories, 201<br /> Iron Age, 21<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;work in churches, 233<br /> <i>Itinerary</i>
+      of Antoninus, 59
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      J
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jervais, glass-painter, 232<br /> Johnson, Dr., on monasteries, 159
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      K
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Keep of Norman castle, 137<br /> Kelvedon rectory, 179<br /> Kenilworth
+      Castle, 151<br /> King&rsquo;s evil, 228<br /> Knaresborough hermitage, 182<br />
+      Knighthood, admission to, 145
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      L
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laindon reclusorium, 183<br /> Lammas lands, 79<br /> Lecterns, 191<br />
+      Legends, 44, 55, 263<br /> &ldquo;Lepers&rsquo; windows,&rdquo; 195<br />
+      Lich-gate, 242<br /> Local Government, 254<br /> Low side windows, 195
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      M
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Manor-house, 172-7<br /> Manors, 79, 133<br /> Man-traps, 289<br /> Markets,
+      260<br /> May Day, 225, 273<br /> Mediaeval village, 254-70<br /> Menhir, 45<br />
+      &ldquo;Merry England,&rdquo; 256<br /> Milestones, Roman, 61<br /> Miracle
+      plays, 274<br /> <i>Misereres</i>, 191<br /> Monasteries, Saxon, 102<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;154-71<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;charity
+      of, 159<br /> Monastic day, 166, 167<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;inns,
+      282<br /> Monks, benefits conferred by, 155<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;corruption
+      of, 160<br /> Monstrances, 206<br /> Monumental effigies, 209-12<br />
+      Mothering Sunday, 273<br /> Mouldings, Decorated, 118, 120<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;"
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Early English, 116<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Norman,
+      112<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Perpendicular, 123<br /> Mural
+      paintings, 234-41
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      N
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Neolithic man, 15, 18, 20, 37<br /> Norman architecture, 109-15<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;"
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;castles, 135-53<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;place-names,
+      132<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;villages, 125-34<br /> Normans,
+      coming of, 125
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      O
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ockwells manor-house, 173<br /> Ogee arch, 118<br /> Organised condition of
+      society among prehistoric races, 31<br /> Ornaments, Saxon, 91<br /> <i>Osculatorium</i>,
+      192<br /> Oxford, poor scholar of, 229
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      P
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pageants, 149-52<br /> Paleolithic man, 14<br /> Palimpsests, 213<br />
+      Parish chest, 218-29<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;registers,
+      218-23<br /> Paschall money, 225<br /> Pastimes, 271-81<br /> Pavements,
+      Roman, 71, 72<br /> Pax, 192, 206<br /> Perpendicular architecture, 120<br />
+      Pews, 187<br /> <i>Piers Ploughman</i>, 165, 174, 181<br /> Pile dwellings,
+      37-43<br /> Pilgrimages, 259<br /> Piscina, 192<br /> Pit dwellings, 33-7<br />
+      Place-names, 76, 101<br /> Plague, 255-7<br /> Plate, church, 200-8<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;in bishop&rsquo;s
+      coffin, 202<br /> Ploughman&rsquo;s lament, 84<br /> Plough Monday, 272<br />
+      Porch, 185<br /> &ldquo;Pot-boilers,&rdquo; 36<br /> Pre-Reformation plate,
+      202-5<br /> Pulpits, 188<br /> Pytheas of Marseilles, 10<br /> Pyx, 191, 206
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Q
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Quintain, 277
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      R
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Raglan Castle, 141<br /> Reading Abbey, 171<br /> Reading-pews, 197<br />
+      Reclusorium, 183<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;at Rettenden, 183<br />
+      Rectories, 177-81<br /> Registers, parish, 218-23<br /> Religion of Saxons,
+      93<br /> &ldquo;Restoration,&rdquo; 199<br /> Rollright Stones, 46, 47<br />
+      Roman relics, 57-73<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;rig, 54<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;roads, 58-62<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;villas,
+      70-3<br /> Rood-loft, 188<br /> Royal arms in churches, 190<br /> Rural
+      exodus, 300<br /> Rush-bearing, 276<br /> Ruthwell cross, 97<br /> Ryknield
+      Street, 60
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      S
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sacring bell, 252<br /> St. Christopher, 238<br /> Salisbury Cathedral, 115<br />
+      Saltways, 61<br /> Sanctus bell, 252<br /> Saxon architecture, 106-9<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;house, 172<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;monasteries,
+      102<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;place-names, 76, 77<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;"
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;relics, 90-101<br /> Saxons, coming of, 74, 75<br />
+      Screens, 189<br /> Secret chambers, 177<br /> Settle, Victoria Cave at, 17<br />
+      Shires, origin of, 88<br /> Shrovetide sports, 273<br /> Signs of inns,
+      284-8<br /> Silchester, 54, 62-70<br /> Slavery under Saxons, 84<br />
+      Sluggard waker, 228<br /> Smoke farthings, 226<br /> <i>Socmen</i>, 83, 131<br />
+      Spenser&rsquo;s description of hermitage, 182<br /> Sports and pastimes,
+      271-81<br /> Stocks, 280<br /> Stonehenge, 46<br /> Stone monuments, 44-50<br />
+      Stourbridge Fair, 261<br /> Sudeley Castle, pageant at, 149-51<br />
+      Sun-worship, relics of, 27<br /> Superstitions, 44, 295<br /> Switzerland,
+      pile dwellings in, 38-41
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      T
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Terraces,&rdquo; 19<br /> <i>Tesserae</i>, 65, 71<br /> Thanes, 80<br />
+      Thane&rsquo;s house, 81<br /> Thuribles, 205<br /> Tiles, 233<br />
+      Tournaments, 146-9<br /> Tudor arch, 121<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;houses,
+      175<br /> Tumuli, <i>see</i> Barrows<br /> Turf monuments, 53, 54<br />
+      Twelfth Night, 272<br /> Tympana, Norman, 110
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      U
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Uffington, 52-4<br /> Ufton Court, Berks, 176, 178
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      V
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Vernicle, 201<br /> Vestry, contents of, 196<br /> Vicarages, 177-81<br />
+      Villas, Roman, 70-3<br /> Villeins, 130, 255
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      W
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wars, 262-70<br /> Watling Street, 60<br /> Wayland Smith&rsquo;s Cave, 27,
+      294<br /> Whalley cross, 96<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;reclusorium,
+      184<br /> White Castle, 141<br /> White Horse Hill, 53<br /> Whittenham
+      Clumps, 52<br /> Wilfrid, St., 96, 104, 108, 230<br /> Witches, 291<br />
+      &nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;turned into hares, 292<br /> Woollen,
+      burials in, 220<br /> Worlebury, pit dwellings at, 34
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Y
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yeomen, 83, 131<br /> Yew tree in churchyard, 241
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of English Villages, by P. H. Ditchfield
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH VILLAGES ***
+
+***** This file should be named 9197-h.htm or 9197-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.net/9/1/9/9197/
+
+Produced by Brendan Lane, Beth Trapaga and Distributed Proofreaders.
+Illustrated HTML version by David Widger
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.net/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.net
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>