1825.] ·Present state of Wilsdon Church, Middlesex. Genealogist in your next Number to inform me how the first four of the above are descended from the Princess Mary. If he does, he will command my thanks for adding to my stock of information on a subject which has occupied much of my leisure; if he does not, he must allow me to conclude that he cannot, and to recommend him in future to be more sure of his own assertions before he censures others. The mistake about Lord Bayning is hardly worthy of serious notice. If the Genealogist should ever have to correct an annual Peerage, he will know from experience the difficulty, and often the impossibility of obtaining accurate information respecting the present state of families. It is a pity, however, that the Genealogist should have suffered the same error to run, as this has, through six Editions of the Work before he condescended to denounce it. That the whole arrangement of the Work has in my hands been completely transposed; or that any partial spirit has led to curtailment or amplification, I most positively deny ; whether the alterations I have judged it expedient to make are for the worse or otherwise, I am very well content to leave the publick to judge. I must be more sure of the Genealogist's friendly intentions, and of his capacity to advise, than the specimen before me will authorize, before I consult his opinions upou the subject. THE EDITOR OF DEBRETT'S PEERAGE. Mr. URBAN, Westminster, Oct. 7. THE HE following additional particulars respecting Wilsdon, co. Middlesex (see vol. xcII. ii. p. 577) may be acceptable. The Church has lately been shut up and whitewashed, &c. About twenty years ago, and also in 1821, the Church underwent repairs. During these reparations the buttresses were ornamented with flat tiles; the windows of the nave modernised with common sash frames, and rounded in the interior. The tower (which contains six bells) has a very venerable appearance; the window on the upper story is very much decayed; and the tower is finished 423 by a low pyramidal roof. One or two narrow single-light openings have been made on the basement story, to admit light to the stairs leading to the organ gallery. The doorway at the West end has a neat weather-cornice, not shewn in your view. About twenty years ago the Church was new pewed, with one or two exceptions; the repairers having carefully preserved the pew opposite the reading-desk, on the door of which are carved the arms of Roberts,—a family, which, though now extinct, was once of some consequence in this sequestered village. The organ gallery was erected about 1821, and is the only gallery in the Church. To a pew under this gallery, the beautiful Saxon font, unnoticed by Lysons, has been removed since your Correspondent "T. W. J.".communicated a representation of it. This situation is extremely inconvenient, owing to the want of light: indeed so dark is this part of the Church, there being no West window, that it is almost impossible to distinguish any of the sculpture on the font. This removal is much to be regretted, as the former situation was far preferable. If removal was necessary, care should have been taken to place it in a more advantageous position (it being the most interesting relic in the Church), rather than thus shamefully to hide its beauties. On the South side of the Chancel is a door-way, for many years blocked up, but which, being re-opened, has all the appearance of a modern entrance. In the nave, against each of the archivaults, dividing it from the South and only aile, is a hatchment, the arms on which I regret not having time to copy, as they are unnoticed by Lysons. The chancel is very plain; the East window contains a few pieces of painted glass, with the letter W. and two coats of arms, which I could not distinguish. The altar-screen is decorated with Corinthian pilasters, and other unsuitable ornaments. On the North side, immediately under a window, is a small piece of sculptured stone, probably the remains of a table monument or stone stall; the former of which I think most probable. The window above contains some plain pieces of painted glass. Adjoining this, a doorway leads to a neat square room, used as a vestry. In the Chapel at the East end of the South and only aile are the Brandsbury pews, and in the win dows 424 Speed on Stonehenge.-Portrait of Bp. Hooper. dows are the arms and quarterings of the family of Roberts, as follow. In the South window are these six coats: I. Argent, six pheons Sable, on a chief of the second a greyhound of the first gorged Or. II. quarterly of 'six; 1, 3 and 5, Argent à demi-griffin Sable, crowned with an eastern crown Or. 2, 4, and 6, Gules. III. Azure three leopards' heads caboshed Argent, langued Gules. IV. Argent, a chevron between three Cornish choughs. V. Gules, a chevron Ermine, between three lions rampant Argent. VI. as I. Crest, on a wreath, Argent and Sable, a greyhound Argent, gorged Gules. Motto, Nec cursus veloci-Nec victoria forti. In the East window of this chapel the arms of Roberts impaling, Argent, a demy-griffin Sable, crowned as before Or. The entrance to the South aile from the Churchyard is through a Gothic doorway under an attached wooden porch, in which are seats. In the Church-yard are numerous grave-stones and memorials; many of the latter are wooden tablets supported by upright wooden posts. On the South side are several small houses. In the village, at the junction of the two roads, leading to Wilsdon Church and the Harrow-road, is a plain small brick Chapel, erected in 1818 by the Home Missionary Society. Nearer the Church is Wilsdongreen; between this and the Church Is the Charity-school, a plain brick building, in which above 20 boys, and a nearly equal number of girls, are educated, and a public-house, the sign of the six bells, is the village post-office. Near the Kilburn Wells, about two months ago, the foundation was laid for a chapel of ease; and is already roofed in. It is expected to be opened at Christmas. I. T. S. [Nov. of Wiltshire, round which are these three sentences: "Aurelius Ambrosius, buryed at Stoneheng, anno 500." Anno 516, Uterpendryon, buryed at Stoneheng." "Anno 546, Constanc, king of britanie, buryed at Stonheng." The account is as follows: "This ancient monument was erected by Aurelius, surnamed Ambrosius, King of the Brittaines, whose nobility in the raigne of Vortiger (his countryes scourge), about the yere of Christ 475, by treachery of ye Saxons on a daye of parley, were there slaughtered, and their bodyes there interred. In memory whereof, this king Aurel. caused this trophye to be set up. Admirable to posterityes both in forme and quantytye. The matter thereof are stones of great bignes, conteynyng twenty-eighte foot and more in length, and tenn in breadth; these are set in ye ground by towe and 2, and a third laide gatewise over thwart, fastned with tenons and mortaises wrought in the same, wch seeme very dangerous to all that passe thereunder. The forme is rounde, and as it semeth hath bene circulated with three rankes of these stones, many whereof are now fallen downe, and the uttermost standing conteyneth in compass three hundred foot by measure of assise. They all within a trench that hath bene much are roughe and of a graye colour, standing deeper. In this place this foresayd king Aurelius, with 2 more of ye Britishe kings his successors, have bene buryed with many more of their nobilitye, and in this place under little bankes, to this daye are founde by digging bones of mighty men, and armoure of large and ancient fashion, Not farr hence is sene the ruines of an ould fortresse, thought by some to be built there by the Romaines when this kingdom was possessed by their emperours." J. S. Mr. URBAN, Scremby, near Spilsby, Nov. 6. BSERVING that much interest has papers respecting that illustrious martyr Bishop Hooper, who suffered for the Protestant faith in the reign of Queen Mary, I beg leave to say that I have in my possession an original half-length brated prelate, by Holbein, in good preservation. It is on board, and is marked J. H. 1551. It formerly belonged to my father the late Rev. Robert Uvedale, D. D. Rector of Langton near Spilsby, in whose family it had been from time immemorial. Yours, &c. W. UVEDALE. 1825.] [ 425 ] REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 75. Modern Wilts, Part III. Hundred of Branch and Dole. Folio. pp. 232. Nichols and Son. TH HE history of this fine County proceeds regularly and annually; and we have now before us the complete history of the Vale of the River Wily. We cannot expect that in the local description of an extensive County, each Hundred should be equally interesting in history and anecdote; but hitherto our Author has been fortunate in his two preceding Hundreds, and this Third Portion is rendered valuable by the records of the Royal Monastery at Wilton, which has hitherto been but partially noticed by former historians. In the Preface our Author pays a just tribute to the memory of his late coadjutor the Rev. Mr. Offer, who lived only to complete his valuable account of Wilton, and to overthrow the opinion of Camden and his followers, that this place was formerly called Ellandune." (See p. 57.) Alluding to the loss of his able assistant, Sir Richard Hoare says, "In a work of great enterprize, the aid of a friendly hand may be absolutely necessary to complete the labours of the projector, who has neither the courage, the leisure, uor all the acquisitions for performing the favourite task which he has other wise matured. (Pursuits of Literature.) And such (says our Author) were his feelings immediately after the decease of his worthy friend and coadjutor, to whom the most important article in this Hundred (i. e. Wilton) is solely due." We cannot expect much genealogical matter in a district which belong ed for the most part to the rich Monastery of Wilton, and now to the family of Herbert, whose noble mansion-house, with its valuable contents, must ever command the attention of the publick. Of this there is a most excellent engraving by Higham, from a drawing made by Turner, previously to the alterations made by James Wyatt, when many of its beautiful appendages were destroyed. The Parish of Wilton, from its antiquity and local importance, occupies a considerable portion of the Hun dred of Branch and Dole, and many GENT. MAG. November, 1825. interesting particulars are recorded by our industrious Author. (says Sir Richard) can lay a higher claim to "Few places in this part of the kingdom antiquity, or is more worthy of the notice As a of the local historian than Wilton. Borough, we find from the Hundred Rolls, that by its early charters it enjoyed the now almost obsolete, but then important privileges of return of writs, pleas de namio vetito, view of frank-pledge, right of pit and gallows, assize of bread and ale, the liberty of appointing its own coroners, and other royalties, as fully and freely as the citizens of London and Winchester; and its ancient churches, hospitals, and other religious or and wealthy Abbey of Benedictine Nuns, its charitable establishments; and, lastly, the splendid mansion of Wilton House, with its treasures of ancient and modern art, will each claim our attention and require separate and careful investigation. "It has been conjectured, and with every appearance of probability, that this town derived its name from the river, and afterwards communicated it to the county, Wiltunescire; as being not only the occasional residence of the West Saxon Kings, but the place where the County Court in all early times was regularly and statedly assembled; nothing indeed can be more natural than this derivation. Rivers, mountains, and forests, must ever be matters of important consideration to a newly settled people, sequently we shall find, that to these great or one emerging from barbarism; and connatural features of a country, or to some circumstance or situation with reference to them, may be traced most of the names of primitive settlements." Of the celebrated Monastery of Wilton, the Author has presented some interesting notices. Tanner says that it owes its origin to Weoxstan or Wulstan, the famous Earl or Duke of Welstan, who first instituted a chantry or college of secular priests; but it appears from Dugdale and other ancient historians, that King Alfred having routed the Danes not far from this place, A. D. 871, built a nunnery on the site of the Royal palace here for an Abbess and twelve Religious, and caused the Nuns of St. Mary, twentysix in number, to come to this new house. King Edward, senior, and King Edgar, were great benefactors to this Monastery, the latter for the sake of 426 REVIEW.-Hoare's Modern Wiltshire, Part III. of his natural daughter St. Edith, a nun, and, as some state, Abbess here; she was afterwards canonized, and became the patron of this Abbey, which was of the Benedictine order. The following notices of this saint and her mother Wulfryth may be amusing to the admirers of legendary lore. "Wulfryth or Wultrude, the mother of St. Edith by King Edgar, was educated here, and after her return to the convent rose to the dignity of Abbess, which she appears to have retained a considerable time. According to the Legendary writers, she brought up her daughter in the strictest rules of monastic discipline, and made herself such progress in all virtues, that after her death she also was honoured as a Saint. During her rule the Monastery was placed under that of St. Benedict, namely, about the year 972; since which time it was always of the Benedictine Order, as indeed were all the most ancient religious establishments in this kingdom. About this period also the bones of St. Iwius or Yweg were deposited in this church, the occasion of which by the Monkish writers attributed to miracle. This saint was a Welchman by birth, the son of Bravo, and pupil of Cuthbert Bishop of Lindisfarne. After his death, some clerks who bore the sacred reliques were kindly received by the Abbess Wulfryth, and entertaiued for the night. The reliques had been deposited on the altar, and in the morning when about to depart, the unfortunate priests found their casket so firmly fixed in its situation that no force was sufficient to remove it. The Abbess, we are informed, gave them two thousand shillings by way of consoling them for their loss, and they departed sorrowful. If we may venture to divest this story of its miraculous appendage, the fact most plainly was, that the Abbess purchased the bones of St. Iwins, and added them to the treasures of her monastery; for that this is his depositum is allowed on all hands. Here also, as Leland informs us from an ancient MS., was interred St. Wulfryth herself under a sumptuous marble tomb. "ST. EDITH has frequently been called Abbess of Wilton; but as she died young, and during the life-time of her mother, this could not have been the case. We are informed indeed by the historians, that when only 15 years of age, her father King Edgar appointed her Abbess of Winchester, of Berking, and of a third monastery, the name of which has not been preserved, but that she humbly declined all superiority, and chose to remain in her own community, subject to her mother. She was born at Kemsing in Kent, A. D. 961; the year, therefore, in which she refused these honours must be A. D. 976, about which time it is evident by the charters of Edgar already cited, that Wulfryth was Abbess. It [Nov. is asserted also in her Legend, that on the murder of Edward the Martyr by the ambitious Elfrida, A. D. 978, many of the nobles proposed to take her from the convent and place her on the throne. But considering her sex, her illegitimacy, and her profession, I can scarcely think that such a proposal was seriously made by any except Dunstan, who now felt his power declining, and who was as remarkable for his ambition as his sanctity. Elfrida had excited hatred by her cruelty, and her son Ethelred the Unready was notoriously incapable, yet St. Edith shewed full as much prudence in rejecting the Crown, as her flatterers did in offering it. From the Legend of St. Dunstan we learn that she built the church of St. Dennis in Wilton, to the dedication of which she invited that Archbishop, and pointed it out to him as the place of her future rest. She survived this ceremony only forty-three days, and dying Sept. 16, A. D. 984, in the 28d year of her age, was buried by St. Dunstan in the new church which she had founded.", Wilton has been the theatre of great events in the early periods of our history; and as it is the first object of the Topographer to give consequence to the places he undertakes to describe, Sir Richard has minutely detailed many important occurrences connected with this ancient Borough. "During the violent contests between Stephen and the Empress Maud, this place, from its opulence and importance, could scarcely avoid feeling some of the effects of civil dissension. Gervase of Canterbury informs us, that the Empress, having received homage and benediction at Winchester, proceeded thence to Wilton; where Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, came to meet her, and salute her as Queen. So great a multitude of people, adds he, had flocked together, that even the approach to the gates could scarcely contain them. She staid here during the festival of Easter, and then proceeded to Reading. But shortly after, namely, in 1143, according to the same author, King Stephen, after many plunderings of churches, and burnings and devastations of villages, arrived in this town with his brother the Bishop of Winchester, and a large force, intending to convert the monastery into a place of military defence, to restrain the excursions of the garrison of Salisbury, which had done much for the Empress, in opposition to his interests. He does not seem to have proceeded far in the projected work, when Robert Earl of Gloucester, hastily collecting his forces, came upon Wilton suddenly about sun-set, and set fire to the town on every side. The King, who had taken up his residence within the precincts of the monastery, and expected no danger, was so alarmed at the sudden attack, that he took to a disgraceful flight; and leaving behind him his troops, 1825.] REVIEW.-Sherburne's Life of Paul Jones. his baggage, plate, and every thing valuable, reached Winchester, with the Bishop his brother, under the cover of darkness." In a little valley branching off from the Wily, we have some interesting examples of Norman architecture, in three different churches, which have been well engraved by Basire; and also a fine monument at Great Wishford of its ancient inhabitant, Sir Richard Grobham Howe. 76. The Life of Paul Jones, from original Documents in the Possession of John Henry Sherburne, Esq. Register of the Navy of the United States. 8vo. pp. 320. Murray. BEFORE entering upon the review of this work, we beg to lay down certain premises. 1. That Paul Jones was not an American. 2. That the American war was a civil war. 3. That American war naval-fighting was, with very few exceptions, not spirit-proof. 4. That our American war ministry was a feeble one. 5. That the merit of Jones, and of all the officers in the American service, is and must be English, and is not greater nor so great as that of many gallant warriors who fought under the British flag in the subsequent revolutionary war. John Paul [Jones] was the son of John Paul, a gardener, and was born July 1747, at Abergland in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright in Scotland. He received the rudiments of his education at the parochial school of Kirkbean. The contiguity of his residence to Solway Firth, gave him an early predilection for a seafaring life; and at the age of twelve he was apprenticed to a merchant in the American trade. When his apprenticeship was expired, he made several trading voyages, and suffered from the ill conduct of his partner. In 1773 he was arranging the affairs of a brother who had died intestate in Virginia, and was (probably through pecuniary difficulties) then living in a very retired manner in America. About the time mentioned he adopted the name of Jones. In the 28th year of his age, he offered his services to Congress, and was appointed a first Lieutenant in the American Navy. The Alfred, in which he was employed, proved unsuccessful, but the courtsinartial held in consequence were so advantageous to the reputation of Jones, that he was appointed to the command 427 of the Providence, a sloop of 12 sixpounders. When Congress directed the building of thirteen frigates, he was, however, disappointed in obtaining the command of one. He was not discouraged, but wisely exhibited zeal, by memorializing the American Government concerning the improvement of their Navy, and cruizing very successfully against our trade. He also planned expeditions against the Newfoundland fishery, coast of Africa, &c. Such was American war fighting on our part, that he escaped in his humble sloop two frigates, after a sharp contest with one of them. In 1776 he commanded a squadron against Isle Royal, made several captures, and soon after was promoted to the rank of a Captain. In his command of the Ranger, he made a descent upon Whitehaven, spiked the cannon in the fort, landed a boat's crew in St. Mary's Isle (which crew without his approbation carried away the Earl of Selkirk's plate), and captured the Drake of twenty guns, off Carrickfergus, the Captain and Lieutenant of the Drake being both killed. That a single frigate could effect all this in the very chops of the channel, was evidently neglect in our Government. The steed was stolen, because they did not lock the stable-door. But there was another error. The treatment of the American prisoners of war in England was so impolitically harsh*, that every American sailor was thus stimulated to prefer death to captivity; and as the naval tactics of the two countries were the same, and as locality of birth was the only distinction between English and Americans, it is not to be wondered at that the latter were successful: but could they have been so, if they had not been of English character and habits? The merit of success is due to Great Britain, if the answer to this question be the just one. It appears also, that they would have been much more mischievous to us, if there had not existed in their Navy the very evil which certain of our popular Reformers want to introduce into our own, and which would have the same result, as their pretended amelioration of the Combination Laws.-We allude to the proposed Trials by Jury, and |