34 . Compendium of County History.-Wiltshire. PRESENT STATE AND APPEARANCE. [July, Rivers. Avon, Upper and Lower; Bourne; Brue; Colne; Deverill; Kennet; Marlan; Nodder; Stour; THAMES; Were; Wily. Inland Navigation. Kennet and Avon Canal; Thames and Severn Canal; Wilts and Berks Canal, with several branches. Lakes. Bowood; Charlton Common (the largest in the county); Shirewater; Earl Stoke Park, of considerable dimensions; Stourhead; Wilton Park. Eminences and Views. Beacon Hill, near Amesbury, 690 feet high; Bidcombe Hill, from which the sugar-loaf mountain, near Abergavenny, is seen; Bowood, the cascade truly picturesque; Box, a small village of great beauty; Bradford, very picturesque; Broxmore, highly picturesque; Cheril Hill Clay Hill, surrounded by ditch and rampart; East Knoyle, rich and beautiful prospects towards Dorsetshire; Hermitage Hill, Codford; New Park, charming and extensive view; Savernake Forest, peculiarly fine scenery; Silbury Hill, the largest barrow perhaps in Europe; Standlynch House, from the high grounds, the prospect one of the finest and most varied in the county; Earl Stoke Park, pleasure grounds, and fine prospects from the hills; Swindon Park; Stourhead Topwood Hill; Stourton Church-yard, beautiful prospect over a well-wooded and undulated scene thickly covered with laurel'; Westbury Down, 775 feet high. Natural Curiosities. Bowood, many petrifying springs; Chippenham chalybeate springs; Heywood mineral spring; Holt mineral spring; Malmesbury, Daniel's well, where Holy Daniel watched by night; Holy Well, in which St. Aldhelm bathed in all weathers; Melksham chalybeate and saline aperient springs; Middle Hill Spa; Stourhead, Paradise Well, from six fountains here the Stour rises; Weston Birt floods, called Shireburn. Public Edifices. Bradford Bridge of nine arches, very ancient; another of four arches; Charity School opened in 1712. Calne Free School, founded by J. Bentley, esq. by will dated 1660; Market House and Town Hall; Chippenham Bridge of 21 arches; Charity School. Corsham Hospital; Market House, erected in 1784 by late P. Cobb Methuen, esq. Cricklade Free School, founded by R. Jenner, esq. of London, who died 1651. Devizes Free Grammar School; House of Industry; Market Cross erected by Lord Sidmouth; New Gaol; Town Hall. Downton Borough Cross; Free School, founded by Giles Eyre, esq. Farley Hospital, erected 1678 by Sir Stephen Fox, with a Charity School. Froxfield Almshouse, founded by the widow of 4th Duke of Somerset (see vol. LXXI. p. 306). Heytesbury Hospital, founded by Robert Lord Hungerford and Margaret his widow, about 1472. MALMESBURY Cross, erected temp. Henry VII.; Free School; Town Hall, formerly St. John's Hospital. MARLBOROUGH Free Grammar School, founded by Edward VI. in 1651; Free School, founded in 1712; Market House; Prison. SALISBURY; Bleckyndon's Hospital, founded in 1683; Bricket's Hospital, founded in 1519; City School, founded by Queen Elizabeth; Close School, founded by Bishop Poore; College of Matrons, erected by Bishop Ward; Council House, erected 1794 by Earl Radnor; County Gaol; Crane Bridge, of stone; Eyre's Hospital, erected 1617; Fisherton Bridge, of Stone; Free Grammar School; Froud's Hospital, erected in 1750; Godolphin's Charity School; Harnham Bridge, first built 1244; Infirmary, erected 1767; Poultry Cross; Saint Nicholas Hospital; Sunday School; Taylor's Hospital, founded in 1698; Trinity Hospital, founded 17 Ric. II. by John Ellis. Trowbridge School. Tytherton, Calloways School for Moravian Children. Warminster Assembly Room; Free Grammar School; Markethouse. Westbury Town Hall. West Lavington Free School and Almshouse, founded by Wm. Dantsey in 1542; Wilton Free School; Town Hall. Seats. Wilton House, Earl of Pembroke, Lord Lieutenant. 1825.] Compendium of County History.-Wiltshire. Bowden Park, Mrs. Dickenson. Bowood, Marquis of Lansdowne. Box Hall, W. Northey, esq. Boyton, A. B. Lambert, esq. Bradley House, Duke of Somerset. Brickworth House, Lord Lisle. J. M. Eyre, esq. Britford, P. Jervoise. esq M. P. --- Conholt Park, Sir W. Meadows, bart. Dinton House, Wm. Wyndham, esq. Doddington Park, Sir Christopher B. Codrington, bart. Donhead Hall, J. G. Kneller, esq. 35 Liddiard or Lydiard Park, Visct. Bolingbroke. Littlecote Park, Major-Gen. E. L. Popham. Lucknam, Sawyer, esq. Melchett Park, John Osborne, esq. Farley House, John Long, esq. Neston Park, J. Fuller, esq. Nether Avon, M. Hicks Beach, esq. Norman Court, Charles Baring Wall, esq. Old Warren Cottage, Wanley Sawbridge, esq. Pyt House, John Benett, esq. M.P. M. P. Palace, Bishop of Salisbury. Everleigh House, Sir J. D. Astley, bart. M.P. Salthorpe Lodge, Mrs. B. Pye Bennet. Farley House, Lient.-col. Houlron. Fern House, Thos. Grove, esq. Park, Michael Joy, esq. bart. Heywood House, Westbury, A. Ludlow, esq. Lackham House, James Montagu, esq. Sandridge Park, Lord Audley. Lodge, Mrs. Schomberg. Stourhead, Sir R. C. Hoare, bart. Studley Hill, J. B. Angell, esq. Studley 36 Compendium of County History-Willshire. Studley House, Edward Hortock Mortimer, [July, Warneford Place, Sevenhampton, F. Warne- Westbury, Sir M. M. Lopes, bart. Whetham, Rev. Money. Wick-house, Trowbridge, T. Bythesear, esq. Peerage. Calne and Calstane Viscountcy to Petty, Marquis Lansdowne. Charleton Barony to Howard Earl of Suffolk. Clarendon Earldom to Villiers. Crudwell Barony to Campbell Countess Grey. Foxley Barony to Fox Lord Holland. Grinstead Barony to Cole Earl of Enniskillen. Hindon Barony to Villiers Earl of Clarendon. Longford Barony to Bouverie Earl of Radnor. Lydiard Tregoze Barony to St. John Viscount_Bolingbroke. Malmsbury Earldom and Barony to Harris. Marlborough Dukedom and Earldom to Churchill. Salisbury Marquisate and Earldom to Cecil. Stourton Barony to Stourton. Tottenham Barony to Brudenel Earl of Aylesbury. Wardour Castle Barony to Arundel. Warminster Barony to Thynne Marquis of Bath. Willoughby de Broke Barony to Verney. Wiltshire Earldom to Marquis of Winchester. Members of Parliament for the County 2; Calue 2; Chippenham 2; Cricklade 2; Devizes 2; Downton 2; Great Bedwin 2; Heytesbury 2; Hindon 2; Ludgershall 2; Marlboro' 2; Malmsbury 2; Old Sarum 2; Salisbury 2; Westbury 2; Wilton 2; Wootton Bassett 2; total 34. Produce. Chalk; free-stone. Orcheston grass, wheat, barley, oats, pease, beans, turnips, potatoes. Sheep, pigs, &c. Manufactures. Butter, cheese. Cutlery and steel goods. Parchment, leather, glue. Flannels, carpets, broad-cloths, kerseymeres, linen dowlas and bedticks, cotton, gloves, serges. POPULATION. Hundreds 29. Liberties 5. Whole Parishes 304. Parts of Parishes 13. Market Towns 25. Inhabitants, Males 108,213; Females 113,944; total 222,157. Families employed in agriculture, 24,972; in trade 16,982; in neither 5,730; total 47,684.-Baptisms. Males 29,841; Females 29,004; total 58,845.Marriages 15,654.—Burials. Males 16,263; Females, 17,726; total 33,989. Places having not less than 1000 Inhabitants. 1825.] [ 37 ] REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 1. The History and Antiquities of the Tower of London, with Memoirs of Royal and Distinguished Persons, deduced from Records, State Papers, and Manuscripts, and from other original and authentic Sources. By John Bayley, Esq. F. R. S. and F.S.A. of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, &c. In Two Parts. Part II. 4to. pp. 671. Append. cxxviii. ENGLAND of Government, but NGLAND in our early periods not a Constitution. The Sovereign was in point of fact despotic, provided he was popular, or had the Nobles in subjection. The Commons were persons merely assembled to sanction unpleasing necessities, or cruel measures. No evidence more illustrative of this state of things exists, than the subject of the first part of the present volume, viz. the history of the State Prisoners confined in the Tower of London, a banqueting house of the Devil, where he was gluttonously feasted with misery. However, in so saying, we ought not to particularize this spot with pre-eminent infamy, the said prince of darkness having various haunts, where he has ever been and now is kindly treated in other parts of that enormous forest of houses, the Metropolis of Great Britain. In our preceding review of Mr. Bayley's Work, we had occasion to notice with warm approbation his judicious manner of treating the subjects which came before him. We have, therefore, opened the book with great impatience, and have diligently investigated those lives which concerned very obscure and difficult parts of the history of England. So plausible does this appear in our popular Historians, that general readers conceive that there is nothing but a plain story to relate. They are contented with superficial narrative. Not so literary men and philosophers. They see no accession of knowledge in a mere succession of events, no more than in the accustomed revolution of the earth round the Sun; but if they know the principles by which it is actuated, they are able to calculate eclipses, and make discoveries useful to society. The prisoners in the Tower of London consisted of traitors, real or pre tended, martyrs, heroes, and other victims of faction or cruelty. Trial in those days was merely a form; and how gross were the proceedings, may be estimated from the following fact, recorded by Mr. Bailey. Dabbling in human blood made human butchers, and to keep possession of power, or to obtain it, they had no other mode of life. The fact to which we allude is action but depriving their enemies of this. When Clarence was brought to the Bar of the House of Lords in 1478, Edward [the King] pleaded in person against his unhappy brother, and to such an advocate none dared to answer but the prisoner. (p. 336.) This monstrous violation of common decency, and the holiness of natural affection, was only equalled by the extraordinary charges brought against him, of which one was, that he had called the King a conjuror, who wrought by necromancy. All this appears odd to many; but Antiquaries know that the Clergy were in the habits of getting rid of enemies by charges of sorcery; that the Barons seriously believed King Edward II. to have been attached to Piers Gaveston, through witchcraft practised by the latter; and that the age was taught to consider it the greatest of criminalities. It is, however, impossible for us to discuss the histories of all the murdered people who, if their ghosts in vindictive resentment haunted the Tower and Tower-hill, would depopulate the whole place in less than five minutes, without the slightest possibility of any human power effectWe shall, ing further habitancy. therefore, take such parts of Mr. Bayley's valuable Work as tend to throw light upon dubious parts of history, and enable us to do the Author justice. The first point we shall take is the Death of Henry VI. Mr. Bayley thinks with some historians, that he was not assassinated by the Duke of Gloucester, but died naturally of grief. The original arguments are too lengthy to be copied. We shall therefore abstract them. "It 38 REVIEW. Bayley's History of the Tower. "It is certain (says Mr. Bayley) that Henry was of a most weakly constitution, and had long suffered under an ill state of health; and, therefore, when we reflect on his melancholy change of fortune; the entire ruin of his house; the slaughter of his friends at Barnet and at Tewkesbury; the murder of his only child, and the captivity of his queen; can any thing appear to us more natural than that the baneful effects of grief should by course of nature have terminated his unhappy life?" P. 329. The arguments by which Mr. Bayley supports this opinion are, 1. The propensity of common fame to attribute foul means, in regard to State offenders who die under imprisonment. (p. 329.) 2. That it is improbable to suppose a brother of the King, only a youth of eighteen, to have been employed by the latter as an assassin, or that brother to have committed the murder on his own account, when Clarence, with every prospect of a family from his recent marriage, barred him (Richard) from any prospect of the Crown. 3. That the Duke of Gloucester was not in London at the time of Henry's decease. (pp. 330-334.) The second point is the drowning of Clarence in a bult of malmsey. Mr. Bayley says, "The Duke was privately put to death in the Tower, but the precise manner of his end has never been satisfactorily discovered; though it was the vulgar report that he was drowned in a butt of malmsey,—a tale which in all probability owed its origin to the Duke's great partiality for that liquor. The historian of Croyland Abbey [a contemporary], who gives a circumstantial and very feeling account of all the measures pursued against him, only speaks of his execution having been private, without a word respecting the malmsey." p. 337. Mr. Bayley observes, that during the reign of Henry VII. it was the fashion to blacken the house of York, and that Sir Thos. More imputes this and other crimes to the Duke of Gloucester (afterwards Richard III.), without even a shadow of reason. (pp. 327, 338.) There can be no doubt but that Henry VII. was full as great a mur derer as Richard III. Warwick, son of Clarence, the last male of entire blood of the Royal line of Plantagenet, without a crime, and without a fault but his high birth, was slaughtered in cold blood, from political motives. It is stated that Ferdinand, King of Spain, had refused his daughter in (July, marriage with Prince Arthur, on the ground of Warwick's title to the Crown. The third point is the identity of Perkin Warbeck and Richard Duke of York, brother of Edward V. and, with him by Richard III. in the said to have been murdered together Tower. It is certain that the story of Perkin Warbeck, told by Fabian, Polydore Vergil, Hall, Grafton, and Lord certed tale. We regret that the length Bacon, bear every aspect of a conof Mr. Bayley's excellent reasoning on the subject obliges us again to abstract the account, pp. 347-352. there was a strong impression on the In the first place, it is certain that minds of the people, that one at least of Edward the Fourth's sons was still alive (p. 347); that Perkin Warbeck likeness of the Duke of York,-poswas acknowledged by all to bear the sessing courteous and princely man language, so thorough a knowledge ners, a perfect acquaintance with the of every circumstance and particular respecting the person of the young prince, his family, and the affairs of the English nation, that "no man," by company or conversation, was ever as admitted by Lord Bacon, " either able to detect him ;" and, in fact, identified with his person by the testimony of Sir Rob. Clifford and other credible witnesses." It is further to be observed, 1st. that Tirrel, the supposed murderer of the young princes, stood high in Henry's favour, probably on account of the pretended confession. 2d. That the story of Perkin's imposture was, by the confession of Lord Bacon, a story derived from the Court. 3d. That Archduke Philip refused to give Perkin up, because he did not believe that he was an impostor. 4. That the pretended discoveries concerning Perkin's parentage were unknown in Flanders, and if they had been known, would have been familiar to the Duke. 5th. That the whole story is full of inconsistencies and absurdities. 6th. That the earlier chronicles, and the account of Lord Bacon, are at variance with Perkin's pretended confession. After these premonitions, we shall introduce Mr. Bayley's excellent account in his own words; commencing with the Duchess of Burgundy's presumed share in the plot. "How the Duchess could have selected |