516 Goodwin's Guile; or, the Nuns of Berkley. "Full sore we grieve to part so soon, And when they came unto the King, The other half be mine. "Methinks I hear the solemn choir Their awful anthem raise,— Methinks I see them all conspire To waft to Heav'n their praise. "Can there beneath this pious mask "Nor difficult the task, I ween, These flagrant facts to prove "To prove these facts, then (Edward Till faint before their Sovereign's feet While tears fast trickling flow; She ceas'd to speak,—and lo! a sigh And yet that suit be vain? [Dec. "Yet, yet awhile dispel that gloom Of sorrow (Edward cried); saw, "Revoke the doom! (cried be), Then give me all that's mine; Here Goodwin stands with truth im- By truth that doubt t' explain." How many ills affright! Nor dar'd he the bold claim deny, And sooth'd the sorrowing fair. But, ah! those walls where guile and The gentle Abbess bow'd her head, Yet nought avail'd the haughty Peer, Fate rear'd the scourge, and Heav'n's Forbade that scourge to spare; γου Mr. URBAN, Exeter, Dec. 5. VOUR intelligent Correspondent COLONEL MACDONALD has endeavoured to found an hypothesis, that "the Globe we inhabit is hollow," from the passage in the second verse of the first chapter in Genesis.The earth was without form and void." May we not, however, be per 1825.] On the Term Void'.-William the First. mitted to doubt whether this inference can be fairly drawn from these words; first, by recollecting that the rotundity of the earth was not a truth known at the time when Moses wrote the History of the Creation; and, secondly, because the term "void" appears to have a reference to the external state of the earth, before vegetation and animated Nature began to clothes adorn, and enliven its surface, and thus to fill up the chaotic void which had been previously described. 66 unoccu If the definition of this word by Dr. Johnson, as meaning pied," or unsupplied," is correct; the term will equally apply to the surface as to the interior of our Globe; independent of the circumstance before alluded to, that Moses was unacquainted with the globular figure of the earth he was then describing. Of what materials, a diameter of eight thousand miles is composed, no human being can form the least comprehension! and, as respects the " "Heavens above, and the Earth beneath," the penetration of weak mortals is indeed but very limited! EXONIENSIS. I BEG to acknowledge the satisfactory reply of Mr. Duke, in p. 223, in answer to my letter in p. 103, wherein the facts I maintain are fully elucidated and established, that England was not conquered by William I. and consequently that the appellation of Conqueror" is misapplied. Of the victory acquired over the forces of the undaunted Harold, there cannot remain a shadow of doubt, for the reasons so opportunely adduced and brought to bear upon this subject by Mr. Duke; yet, notwithstanding this victory, William could have little hopes of gaining the throne by right of quest;" he therefore pretended that he came to revenge the death of Prince Alfred, brother to King Edward; to restore Robert Archbishop of Canterbury to his see: and to obtain the crown as his right, on account of its being bequeathed to him by Edward the Confessor. He cannot, therefore, says the Rev. Mr. Cooper, be properly said to have obtained the crown by 'conquest," since these motives engaged many of the English in his favour. - See the Introduction Cooper's England, pp. 11, 12. "con 517 And as some satisfaction for the apparent disgrace of the "Battle of Hastings," I request to engage the attention of your readers to Mr. Andrewes' opinion in his "History of Grert Britain." "While we lament the fate of the gallant usurper Harold, and his brave, but undisciplined soldiers, we must not forget that, by this rough medicine, England was purged of a detestable Aristocracy, composed of noblemen too powerful for the King to restrain within the limits of decent obedience, and always ready to employ that power against their country, when interest, ambition, or cowardice, prompted them. This consideration (joined to that of the vast additional weight which England gained in the European scale, by the Norman discipline being joined to the native valour of the Islanders) affords ample consolation for the disgrace at Hastings, especially when we recollect, that the Saxon race remounted the English throne at the end of only four reigns.' Another fact confirms what I have advanced. I quote lish Traveller, fol. 1773, p. 361. from Spencer's Eng "At the Norman Conquest this town (Berkhamstead, commonly called Great Berkhampstead, in Hertfordshire, made a considerable figure; for the Conqueror having passed the Thames at Wallingford, marched towards this place; but Frederick, the Abbot of St. Alban's, employed a great number of men to cut down the trees in the neighbouring woods, in order to obstruct his passage, and before he could proceed any further, the lords and other great men of the realm came in a body, and demanded from William a confirmation of their an tient laws. The Conqueror, being intimidated, swore on the Gospels, to maintain inviolate the laws of Edward the Confessor, upon which they submitted quietly to his government." * It is related of William, that upon the death of "Edward the Confessor," he sent to demand the Crown, and made a descent soon after upon the Sussex coast, at Pevensey bay, and proceeding thence with a powerful army to Hastings, there built a strong fort. Qu. Could this have been the one now in ruins, and as we are not given the slightest information by history upon this subject, conjectures have been busy, in supriod that Arviragus threw off the yoke of posing it to have been coeval with the pethe Romans. It seems not a little extraordinary, that the present spirited investigation, commenced under the auspices of the "Earl of Chichester," should not have established some discoveries upon a surer basis than mere conjecture. On 518 : Curious Monument at Camberwell, Surrey. On the subject, however, of Kent bearing the arms of a rampant white horse, with the motto "Invicta" attached, which your Correspondent does not appear to have directly noticed, I confess myself hardly satisfied. Whether the whole county bears the arms, or only East Kent, I am at a loss to determine; but waving this question, certain it is, that the motto "Invicta" must be attributed for some motive or other and for what, but the reasons before assigned? I presume none. And here I cannot but remark, though it may be somewhat irrelevant, upon the peculiar good fortune of the Saxons, in particular, of all invaders of this Island; to which cause we must attribute, the greater body of the people being composed of that race, as they still continue to this period; and although their favourite form of government, known by the title of the "Heptarchy," was totally subverted and abolished by the Normans, still the great interest of the nation was hy no means united, till the period usually known by the title of the "Saxon 'line restored." It is an indubitable fact, that both the Norman and Saxon factions were entirely obliterated and effaced from the minds of both parties, by this wisest of provisions, viz. the marriage of Henry I. with Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III. King of Scotland, and niece of Edgar Atheling, the rightful heir to the throne. On the spot where Harold fell, it is a remarkable circumstance, that a tradition very generally prevailed, that an altar was erected; and upon investigation, it was actually discovered to be the case; the situation of which, if I remember right, is almost directly opposite the Dormitory, at Battel Abbey; from which a considerable degree of credit, in such cases, must be conceded to tradition, of course making, by deduction, reasonable allowance. Yours, &c. J. D OXON. Mr. URBAN, Camberwell, Oct. 8. [Dec. in he desires to be buried at Folkham in Norfolk "in my Church, where a monument is there made already.”.......... "And the next sabbath day," says he, "I would have Mr. Parson to make some good sermon to the auditory who came to Church." Amongst other benefactions to the Parish of Camberwell, he left the sum of 21. 13s. 4d. annually to be laid out in bread for the poor on Sundays *. He is nominated in the Letters Patent, as a Governor of "the Free School of Edward Wilson, clerk, in Camberwell," (which adjoins the Churchyard,) in connexion with "Thomas Grimes of the Parish of Camberwell in the county of Surrey, Knt." and many others of note in the village. The Lady commemorated by the monument alluded to was one of the daughters of Thomas Muschamp. The Muschamps, according to Mr. Lysons, came over to England with William the First. A powerful family of this name seems to have settled northward, shortly after the Norman Invasion; they bore " Azure, three butterflies Argent," which arms are widely different from those of the Camberwell branch. I am, however, inclined to think they have descended from one common stock, as the name appears to be Norman, and does not occur till after the arrival of William the First in Britain. Robert de Muskam was Seneschal to Gilbert de Gaunt, who had considerable possessions in various parts of England, temp. William I. Robert, his grandson, seems to have been a benefactor to Stanleigh Abbey (co. Derby), and though by inheritance from the father and grandfather (to whom it had been assigned by Gilbert de Gaunt), he held "manerium de Ilkeston, cum pertinentiis suis" in that county, either he or one of the same names must have been living in Durham, where he is de * I know not the terms of this bequest, but if the bestowment of it were not conditional on their coming every Sabbath day to the place where his wife lay, "saying the Lord's Prayer, and praying to God for the TChurch afford me an opportu- Lord and Queen then reigning over them," nity of transmitting you some account of a monument there, erected to the memory of Jane, the wife of Sir Thomas Grimes, and afterwards of "Sir Thomas Hunt, of Lambeth Dene, Knight," as he describes himself in his last will and testament," where as was the case in a similar testamentary donation to the poor at Folkham, who would perform the same ceremonies over his father's grave, I must charge the worthy knight with ingratitude, paralleled only by that of the man who " cried turnips," but cried not when his father died." scribed 1825.] Curious Monument at Camberwell, Surrey. scribed as occupying lands " super S. Cuthbertum circa 1150. Hugh his brother had issue Isabella, whose daughter Agnes married "Ralph, Lord of Gresley and Selleston." Thomas Muschamps married Maud, or Matilda, daughter of William de Vescy, and in 19 Hen. II. "took part with young Henry against the King his father." He left issue Robert, to whom Henry the First gave the barony of Wollover (Northumberland). His son, of the same name, appears to have made some noise in the world d; for Mat. Paris calls him "Vir magni nominis in partibus Anglia Borealibus ;" and Camden, "the mightiest Baron in all these northern parts." He died in 34 Hen. III. "circa festum Sanctæ Margaritæ." Robert de Muscampe and Isabella de la Ford, one of his heirs, are mentioned in 1255. She was his grandchild by Cecilie the wife of Odonell de Ford, and married Adam de Wageton. Besides this daughter, Robert had other two, Isabella married to William de Huntercombe, and Margarette the wife of Malisius Earl of Stratherne. Mr. Bray has traced their pedigree to Thomas Muschampe, to whose memory there was an inscription in the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, Milk-street;" and of whom, Weever in his "Funerall Monuments," says, he "was Sheriffe of this Citie (London) in the year 1463." The Magna Brit. et Hib. says of the Camberwell family, they were ranked among the Barons called to Parliament from the reign of King Henry 1. to that of King Henry III." Although Mr. Lysons says that a Branch of the Family had been long settled at Peckham, I think that Thomas Muschamp, whom we have noticed as the father of the lady commemorated by the monument, is the first on record, who is described as belonging to that place, though his father William was resident at Camberwell. A moiety of "Camberwell" manor was conveyed to Thomas Muschamp by Edward Scott in 1564. From him it passed to his daughter, who, as we have already stated, married Sir Thos. Grimes. Ralph Muschamp held the other moiety in 1588, and his grandson died seised of it in 1632. Mary his daughter married Edward Evers 519 field, who sold it to Sir Thos. Bond. He married a sister of Sir Thos. Grimes, and either by his means, or by purchase, became possessed of the other half. William, the father of this Thomas Muschamp, held a moiety of Bretynghurst manor (Peckham) in 1539. From him it passed to his son, grandson, and great grandson in succession. Mary, sister of the last-named, married Edward Eversfield, who in 1672 sold it to Sir Thomas Bond. Camberwell The North aile in Church was the burial-place of the Muschamps, and is still claimed by the Lords of the Peckham estate. An inscription, soliciting your prayers for the good estate of William Muschamp and Agnes his wife, once ornamented its East window a similar one occupied one of its North windows, and there yet remain two or three memorials for members of the family there. The monument which I have mentioned was, until recently, partly hidden by the gallery; but in the late repairs, a place above it has been appropriated to its reception. It is situate near the North-east corner of the Church, and consists of a niche containing the effigies of Jane the daughter of Thomas Muschamp, and wife of Sir Thomas Hunt, kneeling at a fald stool. The pilasters on either side are ornamented with carvings of fruit, flowers, and "emblems of mortality," gilt and coloured; the hands of the figure and the base of the stool are gone, but, with the exception of a few other "impressions of Time," the monument is in a perfect state. Over it are the arms of Hunt. Per pale Argent and Sable, a saltire counterchanged; on a canton of the second, a lion passant gardant of the first; and below, is a shield of lozenge form, probably once ornamented with the arms of Muschamp. The inscription is as follows: "Lo! Muscha's stock a fruitful braunche did bri'ge Adorned with vertves fit for lad's bright Sir Thomas Hunt o' may dayes pleasant springe Posest y' Frwe y' was his soules' delight- 520 Feudal Times.-City Library. Novem'r twelfth day then she was content This world to leave, and give to God his right Hir 60 three years full, complete and ended, Hir soule to God, to ear' hir corp' comended. 1604." Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, D. A. BRITON. Scale-lane, Hull, of a private nature, seems to throw The instrument is dated in the year 1239, and purports to be a convention made between Peter de Melsa and Nicholas de Burton; first, Peter demises to farm seven oxgangs of land in the town and territory of Hingerthorp (in Yorkshire), with the services of the men holding the same land, to Nicholas and his heus, and to such persons as he shall think proper to assign them, except the Lord Archbishop and his Bailiffs, and religious persons, for a term of 18 years; for which Nicholas pays 30 marks sterling, and agrees to pay a yearly rent of 12d. and also to perform so much service as pertains to oxgangs of land in the said town, where twenty ploughlands make one Knight's fee*. Coke, 2 Inst. 596, informs us that a Knight's fee always contains twelve plowlands: but from the above we find that in Hingerthorp at least, if not in other parts of the kingdom, the quantity of land constituting a Knight's fee varied as far as twenty plowlands. seven Our Conventio" next provides for the manner in which Nicholas was to treat the villeins attached to the land during the 18 years in which he was to be their Lord. The words of the original may be translated thus :"And be it remembered that when the aforesaid Nicholas may wish to levy an aid on the villeins of the said Peter, he shall exact it with such moderation that they lose not the furniture (or countenance,' as the word was anciently rendered) of their houses or their implements of husbandry; nor *Faciendo forinsecu' s'vitiu' q'ntum p'tinet ad septem bovatas t're in eadem villâ uude viginti carrucate t're faciunt feodum uni' militis." [Dec. Mr. URBAN, Lothbury, Dec. 11. T is now some months since (see Gent. Mag. Nov. 1824, p. 391) that I solicited your attention to a remarkable epoch in the History of this great City; namely, the establishment of a Library in its Guildhall. On enquiry I find that my expectations have not yet been realized, and that my wishes have only been met to a small extent in the number of its donors. I Committee, appointed to carry into efam happy, however, to find that the fect the unanimous vote of the Corporation, are indefatigably employed, and have, as far as the means have been entrusted to them, laid the foundation not only of a useful, but splendid Library. I have already given you my own sentiments, and expressed my hearty wishes for a full consummation of them; and I still entertain a confident expectation that no one who has an opportunity of adding to its stores, by any docunients connected with its History, will withhold the opportunity of doing so, and thereby enrolling their own names as contributors to the greatest monument of its fame, for such hereafter it will assuredly be. That the foundation of such a monument should have been so long delayed, is, and always must be, a "Et notand' q'd cum p'd'tus Nich's auxiliu' de hom'ib' d'ti Pet' cap'e voluerit. tali mod'amine capiat q'd non amittant contimentu' hospicior' suor' nec Wayniaturam t'rar' suar', n' p' aliquo delicto aliquod merciamentu' alit' ab eis capiet." |