1831.] [ 41 ] REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. The History and Description of the Town and Borough of Ipswich, including the Villages and Country Seats in its Vicinity, more particularly those seated on the Banks of the Orwell. 8vo. pp. 504. EVERY commercial town of importance should have a local history, in matter and embellishment, worthy of it, and this we can truly say of the work before us. The inAluence and utility of such books are not indeed subjects of sense, but their indirect action may be, and often is of the most important consequence. To enter into an elucidation of this general position is unnecessary, because we have often done so ; and have no room to spare, on account of copious ex tracts. Our author has exhibited superior taste in the selection of subjects for his excellent plates. These, of course, under such guidance, apply to architectural remains of curious construction and probable demolition. The chief of these is the subject of the plate before us (see Plate II), viz. the interior of a room at the Tankard Inn. The history of this valuable relic is as follows. Pp. 220–223. "Sir Anthony Wingfield, K. G. ViceChamberlain, Privy Counsellor, and one of the Executors of Henry VIII. had a residence where the Tankard public-house and the Theatre now stand. In the former, some curious remains of the decorations of Sir Anthony's mansion still exist, particularly in a large room on the ground floor; the oak wainscot of which, beautifully carved in festoons of flowers, and a variety of devices, was formerly gilt, but is now painted blue and white. The cieling is, of groined work, carved and wrought something after the manner of Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster. In various compartments of this ceiling numerous coats of arms are sculptured, and have been emblazoned in their proper colours, most of which are defaced; but still several of those of the Wingfield family, encircled with the motto of the Order of the Garter, remain in tolerable preservation. This room is twenty-seven feet long, sixteen feet nine inches wide, and only nine feet five inches high. The ceiling is divided into pannels sixteen inches and a half square; there are twelve of these in' the length of the room, and eight in the GENT. MAG. January, 1831.... Whatever defect there may be in the description, has been amply compensated by the accurate and beautiful engraving (here given) from a drawing by Mr. H. Davy, which at once stanips him as a master of his profession. With regard to ceilings, it is known, that among our ancestors these were rare, and that they had only two ideas upon the subject: one, that if rooms were lofty they must be arched; and, if low (for they had no idea of high rooms, with horizontal ceilings), ornamented and cross-beamed. the beams were intended for ornament as well as use cannot be doubted, because they are often moulded and wrought, where they are crossed, in rooms which had ornamented fire That places. If the ceiling was carried up to the roof, the mere barn and stable rudeness was relieved by a succession of wooden arched timber couples, resting upon brackets, as at Westminster Hall, and the Grammar School here engraved (p. 281). And we are inclined to think that arched windows were essential to this plan, when correct, and not the square transom windows intruded in the school mentioned, for we must not condemn our Gothic. ancestors for want of taste in the pure An arched window, with a flat ceiling, must be out of keeping; to the barbarisms of the Tudor style. and the innovation condemned is due 2 By the favour of our author we are enabled to give an engraving of that well-known machine for curing scolds, the "ducking-stool." The cut is a spirited sketch, made by Mr. G. Campion, late of Ipswich, of a scene exhibiting persons preparing to carry this ceremony into execution. It was evidently a punishment intended by our ancestors for female delinquents, as the pillory was for males. In the Leges Scoticor. Burgor. c. 21 (quoted by Ducange v. Tumbrellum), we have, "If any man or woman be in blame concerning bread or beer, let the baker (pistor) be put upon the collistrigium, which is called pillorie, and the brewess (brasiatrix) upon the tumbrell, which is called castigatorium," the word tumbrel being a derivative from the French tomber. We have a loose recollection of having somewhere read, that among certain northern nations it was customary not to hang but to drown women, when under sentence of capital punishment; and at the present day 1831.] REVIEW.-History of Ipswich. the Turks use a similar practice. From hence might have been derived the distinction between the pillory and tumbrel.-To return: In an apartment of the Custom-house at Ipswich, is an original ducking-stool. "It is in the form of a strong backed arm chair, with a wrought iron rod, about an inch in diameter, fastened to each arm, in front, meeting in a segment of a circle above. There is also another iron rod affixed to the back, which curves over the head of a person seated in the chair, and is connected with the others at the top, to the centre of which is fastened an iron ring, for the purpose of slinging the machine into the river. In the Chamberlain's Book are various entries of money paid to porters for taking down the ducking-stole ;' and in the year 1597 three unfortunate females underwent this opprobrious ceremony. The fee for inflicting the punishment was 1s. 6d." Having now given illustrations of the engravings, with which the kindness of the author enables us to embellish this article, we proceed to other curious matters contained in this work. 11 Nothing is better known than the famous Corpus Christi_pageants. Hen. VIII. the great Court ordered, that every person absent from Corp. Chr. mass should forfeit a pound of wax.-P. 18. Flagged pavements for pedestrians are recent, and formerly kennels were in the middle of the streets; and in 1663 was made the following order of Court, that "For the better preservation of children, which are walking or playing in the common streets of this town, every person coming with cart or tumbril shall, for the time coming, lead the horse of such team in such manner, that one wheel may roll on one side of the channel, and the other on the other side; and such as offend herein, shall forfeit 12d. for the use of the poor."-P. 49. So late as 1734, we find an election for Members of Parliament held upon a Sunday.-P. 91. Mr. Bailiff Sparrow presented George the First with a marchpane of extraordinary dimensions. Our author says, "This confectionary composition was made of cake, pistachio-nuts, sugar, sweetmeats, and comfits."-P. 92. Our author will see from Cotgrave (v. Pain d'Amande), that not pistachionuts but almonds were used. Percy, Ballads (i. 358), calls march-paine a kind of biscuit. Coles in his English 43 Dictionary says, "marche-pane, massepain, f. (q. massa panis) sugared paste made into little cakes. At the inthronization feast of Archbishop Warham, all his honours and offices were drawn, depicted, and delineated, in gilded march-paine, upon the banqueting dishes. (Weev. Fun. Mon. 232. ed. fol.) To make march-paine was a female accomplishment; for Drayton says (Ecl. iv.) "The silk well couth she twist and twine, And make the fine march-pane." It appears from Nichols's Progresses of James the First (i. 597), that certain cooks, and the apothecary of the King, sent each a marchpane, for a new year's gift, in 1605-6. The King sent his picture, in return, to Mr. Bailiff Sparrow; a custom which seems to have succeeded that of acknowledging such gifts by presents of plate. The following is a very extraordinary case: 66 May 7th, 1762. In the paper of this date is an account of a most extraordinary case of affliction in a family at Wattisham, attested by Dr. Wollaston of Bury, and various magistrates, in which a family, consisting of a mother and five children, being first seized with a pain in one of their legs, they all of them, in the course of a few days, lost the use of their lower limbs; a mortification ensued, and it was necessary to perform amputation upon the whole of them; and, what is remarkable, during this affliction, they all of them appeared to be in perfect health, and suffered very little pain." -p. 162. The first attempt here at a Horticultural Society was made in 1823, under the appellation of the "Gooseberry Society." The members were, in consequence, nicknamed "Gooseberry Fools;" and the result was, a change of denomination, and a more improved institution.-p. 183. Our author, speaking of Wolsey's birth, says, judiciously, "The occupation of Wolsey's father matters but little; for Cavendish, who was the servant of this mighty prelate, states that he was a poor man's son of Ipswich.”— P. 240. Cavendish must have known who and what he was, and if his extraordinary elevation as prime minister, and his ostentatious habits (the beggar on horseback) had not excited the bitterest feelings, he would, if an ascetic, 44 REVIEW.-English Monastic Libraries. have been deemed a martyr. Historical criticism should always go back to contemporary ideas. It is well known, that in those days few or no laymen were either sufficiently learned or intellectual to conduct the high offices of state; and that, in those days, the clerks were, in the main, lawyers also. In the present times, public business cannot be conducted in either house of parliament without a commixture of lawyers. Wolsey was a clever business man, useful to his sovereign, and valued by him because obsequious. In a clerk of those days pedigree was not regarded, because it was not expected. "Yeomen," says Holinshed, "sent their sons to the universities," and Thomas Cromwell and Wolsey were mere pet dogs of sovereigns, whom they could victimate when political necessity required, without any public feeling being interested in their behalf, unless they were saints also. It is certain that Wolsey raised himself, and that if he had favour he had also merit; Piers Gaveston, on the contrary, was a royal favourite, and it was evidently a preference to which office did not entitle him. an It has been observed by men who know the army and navy well, that, if mobs are scientifically managed, it has often been by deserters. We know such a man, who shot dead a constable in broad daylight, fled to a navigable river adjacent, unloosed an chored barge, landed on the other side, concealed himself in a large wood, and by nocturnal progresses reached a coalmine in Glamorganshire, where he lay secreted for weeks; and though three of his gang were hanged, as aiders and abettors, has eluded pursuit from that day to this. There can be little doubt, therefore, of the following story: April 21st, 1787, Richard Kedgson was hanged at Rushmere; when he made the extraordinary confession, that he had enlisted forty-nine times into different regiments in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and had obtained 397 guineas, as bountymoney, thereby."-p. 363. The mischief of pseudo-patriots is, that they make rascals wholesale by the hundreds, when they hold their tumultuous assemblages; and in like manner a deserter, like Robin Hood, will organize a gang of banditti with most annoying success, at least for a considerable period. [Jan. In p. 428, we have a wood-cut of au oaken chest of great antiquity, curiously carved, in bas-relief; which chest contains the corporation records. It is certain, that the costumes of the figures may be found in the fourteenth century; that two of them have the long pole-axe, which Dr. Meyrick makes the distinction of a general that one is an archer, with a quiver of arrows; and that all are soldiers, except one, who holds in his hand a large bird. From the principal figure being in the act of sheathing his sword, some victory may have been the subject, for he is plainly narrating news to the others. Perhaps it was some matter in which the Ipswich men had a concern. Our author states, p. 389, that Edward III. after the battle of Cressy, in 1338, confirmed at Walton, in the vicinity, the charters of Ipswich; and taking into consideration the uses to which the chest is applied, we conceive that the carving may have been intended to commemorate that event. We here leave this work, with feelings of high satisfaction; and warmly recommend it. English Monastic Libraries. I. A Catalogue of the Library of the Priory of Bretton, in Yorkshire. 11. Notices of the Libraries belonging to other Religious Houses. By the Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A. 4to. pp. xii. 30. Nichols and Son. IF it were proper courtesy to speak so of a small tract like the present, compared with the larger works of an eminent author, we should say that the elegant manner in which a subject that seems to possess a confined interest, has been treated by Mr. Hunter in the tract before us, is highly creditable to his acknowledged abilities. 66 The former of the articles described in the title, is taken from the Chartulary of the Priory of Bretton, preserved in the library of a neighbouring family;" and being printed for insertion in a topographical work nearly ready for publication, the editor has acted wisely in subtracting from that book which has a different general subject, the valuable facts and observations with which he was able to illustrate it; and thus to contribute a considerable body of information on an important part of Literary History, which has not yet received sufficient attention from the learned. 1831.] REVIEW.-English Monastic Libraries. This Catalogue was made fourteen years after the dissolution of the monastery, when the books were at the village of Worsborough, in the custody of some of the members of the dissolved institution. Like most other ancient Catalogues, it describes the distinct works separately; several of which being sometimes bound in one volume, and others consisting of several volumes, though the whole number of volumes may be uncertain, it may be generally estimated equal to the number of articles. Thus the Bretton books were 143; of which 31 were in the house of William Brown late Prior, on the 21st of July, 1558; 29 in the chamber of Thos. Wilkinson and Ric. Hinchclyf, formerly purchased and given by Thos. Frobyseer, late sub-prior; 15 in the chamber of the same T. Wylkynson alias Bolton; 52 in the chamber of R. Hynchclyff alias Woollay, some of which, it seems, were written by his own hand (sumptibus ejus et manu adquisiti); there were also 10 books on Physic, and 6 on Grammar, belonging to the same studious person. The following are some of the most original and remarkable books, Page 3, "Liber Introductorius pro Novitiis, de ritu et ceremoniis religionis; collectore Thoma Frobisher, sub-priore R. Tyckyll."-4." Explanationes Roberti Holcote, in Proverbia Salomonis.”—5. "Polleantheon: opus suavissimis floribus exornatum, tam de novo quam de veteri testamento, et Dicta Doctorum."-" Dictionarius Pauperum, et Figuræ Biblia; ambo in uno libro." "Consolatorium Theologicum Johannis de Tambaco."-7. " Musica Monachorum Johannis Norton, Prioris de Monte Gracia."-" Seneca moralissimus cum commento."* Many of the books were evidently printed, and some of them were in English; and from the account of their proprietors, it seems that few could have been antiently the property of the monastery, which was established so early as the middle of the twelfth century. The following emendations are suggested, as not interfering with the barbarous phraseology of the Catalogue. P. 6, line 23, "Cronica cronicorum," read—arum; p. 6, 1. 10, supply morali [tatibus]; last line, for "usibus" read versibus (u'sibus), the "Aurora" being a poetical version of the Scriptures in hexameter verse; p. 7, 1. 14, 66 tractatus de Vivis a Mag. Arnoldo de Media Villa [Middleton ?] editus," read Vinis. 45 Turning from this Catalogue to examine the accompaniments produced by the pen of Mr. Hunter, we observe that his preface is interesting and elegant, and the remarks which it contains, on the probable losses caused by the destruction of monastic libraries, and the uses to which the MSS. might be now applied, are very just and striking. He has given a judicious analysis of the kinds of books whereof those collections were mostly composed, in sixteen classes. But we cannot assent to the remark, that "complete Catalogues of the Libraries of the English religious houses, are very rare remains of the middle ages;" because we perceive that Mr. Hunter's information on this subject, just and accurate as it is, is very limited, in proportion to what we know to be accessible. He seems to be aware of the existence of only eight Catalogues, including that which his book contains; those of Glastonbury, Peterborough, Leicester, Reading, and Deping, being in print, and those of Ramsey and Dover in MS. The accounts of the ancient Libraries which form the second part of this work, are drawn from "the invaluable notices of Leland," in whose Collectanea were recorded the chief books that he observed in his monastic researches. The scattered notices in that great man's work, "De Scriptoribus Britannicis," are incorporated, and some valuable facts from other sources. The names of the Libraries being arranged alphabetically, afford a convenient reference to any particular one; and the whole is closed by a beautiful contrast of the state of York library, in the respective times of Leland and of Alcuin, from whose poem on that city is given an interesting account of its pristine literary treasures. It will, we conceive, afford pleasure to Mr. Hunter to be assured, that he is in error where he observes, that "beside what we can learn from Leland and the existing catalogues [afore mentioned], there is little to be recovered the whole of what could be now collected on this sub ject, would lie in a small compass.”(p. vii). A considerable mass of information relative to those ancient treasures of learning, and a great number of Catalogues of them, have been collected by one of our Correspondents, who has for several years pursued the investiga |