graph has not afforded a hint on the subject The author of " Eulogium Historiarum" (as quoted by Camden) reports, that Malmesbury, and the castles of Lacock and Tetbury, were built by Dunwallo Mulmutius, king of the Britons, and by him Malmesbury was called Caer Bladon; that when the town had been destroyed by wars, there arose out of its ruins a castle, as historians record; that at the same time, the Saxon petty kings had their palace at Caerdurburge, (Brokenborough) at present a village, about a mile from Malmesbury. It appears, that the ancient name of the river, which flows by this place, was Bladon. Is the variation difficult from Mulmutius, taking away the Latin termination, Mulmuts, to Malmes-the term bury raises no difficulty It may be thought, then, that as Mulmuts gave no name to his new building, but that of the "Castle on the river Bladon," the people might give it his name, "Mulmuts' byrig:" i.e. this might be the popular appellation, which has survived all others imposed at different periods. Malmesbury was burnt by the Danes in 878, but recovered from this calamity; and heroically assisted King Athelstan, in 939, for which the town received special favours in a new charter. We collect from the register, that there was a royal garrison in this place in 1643. Tradition has preserved the following anecdote of King Charles. That he passed through Malmesbury on his way to Cirencester, and spent part of a night in a building called "the Banqueting-House, "on the eastern side of the town. Having received intelligence that a detachment of the parliamentary forces was approaching, the King in the course of the night rode to Cirencester behind Prince Rupert: Cirencester had been taken by that Prince not long before this occurrence. The Prince, apprized of the King's danger, hastened from thence to Malmesbury to rescue him. This anecdote partly corresponds with a passage in the life of Lord Clarendon, viz. that King Charles, in 1643, lodged at Malmesbury one night. We confess, that although we expected to find in this volume the history of the origin of a monastry, we did not expect to find that of the origin of the monastic life; but the writer, it seems, had learning, and why should he not shew it? The following is a more particular history of the institution of this abbey, than most religious houses can produce as their origin. About 630, Meyldulph, a Scot, a man of singular piety and strict holiness of life, being persecuted in his own country, left it, and travelled from place to place till he came to Malmesbury, then called Ingelburne, which had been a town of note for many ages, and was at that time defended by a castle. Taken with the pleasantness of the spot, he obtained a piece of ground at the foot of the castle hill, where he raised an hermitage. Being a learned man, he established a school lected a number of persons disposed to live for his support. In process of time he colunder regular discipline, and built a small monastry. The members of this society were so indigent, that with much difficulty they procured their daily sustenance. After long consultation between Meyldulph and Aldhelm, a monk of the same place, it was determined to put this religious house under episcopal jurisdiction. An application was made to Lutherius, Bishop of Winchester, and Primate of the West-Saxons. By means of this prelate, the abbey was raised from a low to a magnificent estate. It is probable that Kenewalch, a king of Wessex, (over whom Lutherius had great influence) and Etheldred, king of Mercia, contributed towards the erection of the edifice. The town of Malmesbury, which belonged to Lutherius, was given by him to the abbey. The deed of Lutherius has this remarkable circumstance attached to it, that it was done in public by the side of the river Bladon." Sept. 8; 675. 66 What was the humble construction and materials of the original monasteries of England, may be inferred from the efforts made by King Edgar for their re-construction. King Edgar gave Escote to Malmesbury abbey, and it is supposed, that by him the conventual church was rebuilt. This is probable from his deed, which relates to the ejection of the secular priests from Malmesbury, and to the restoration of the regulars, in which he expresses himself to the following effect That having often attentively considered what return he should make to God for the extraordinary prosperity he enjoyed, he came to this resolution; that he would restore the sacred monasteries, which being composed of retten shingles and wormeaten boards, divine service was neglected in them, and they were almost deserted. That having expelled the illiterate clerks, who were subject to no rule of religious discipline, he had in most places constituted as pastors, persons of the holy order, &c. and had issued gifts from his treasury for the repairing of the ruined edifices. That he had appointed Ælfric, a man eminently skilled and pratised in ecclesiastical matters, to preside over the famous abbey of Malmesbury And that for the welfare of his soul, and for the honour of our Saviour, Mary his mother, mo ther of God, and always a virgin; the apostles Peter and Paul, and Aldhelm the holy bishop, he had restored to the use of the monastery the lands, meadows, and woods, which in the time of the clerks came unjustly into the hands of theinoth, who had been convicted of the fraud by his wise men in his presence.” William the Conqueror became a benefactor to Malmesbury. His charter contains heavy anathemas and curses against those of whatever degree or quality who should infringe or diminish the same, and a blessing to such as should increase or improve these gifts. But it is well known, that he was far from uniting zeal for religion with justice and humanity, which indeed he is said to have bitterly famented in a dying hour. The abbey, which was thus richly endowed, was built in the form of a cross. Ꭺ very stately structure. William of Worcester, in the reign of Henry VI, travelled through several parts of England; was at Malmesbury, and measured this church. These were the dimensions, according to his manuscript, preserved in Bennet-college library, in the University of Cambridge: "The length of the whole church of the monastery of St. Aldhelm of Malmesbury, with the choir, contains one hundred and seventy-two of my steps, and its breadth forty-two steps. The length of the chapel at the east end, dedicated to the blessed Mary, is thirty-six steps; the breadth of the sanie chapel four teen steps. The length of the cloister severy way. Each side of the cloisters contains about sixty-four steps. "The breadth of the principal nave of the church beyond the wings is twenty-two steps." Leland, who in the reign of Henry VIII visited Malmesbury, speaking of the abbey church, says, "It is a right magnificent thing; had two steeples. One that had a mightie high pyramis, and felie daungerously, in hominum memoria, (in the memory of man) and sins was not re-edified; it stode in the middle of the transeptum of the chirch, and was a marke to al the countric aboute. The other yet stondeth, a great square toure at the west ende of the chirch." The number of monks who resided in this abbey, of course varied at different periods. The rule observed in it was that of St. Benedict. At the dissolution of monasteries, in 1535, the abbot of Malmesbury was one of those who peaceably resigned their charge. Amidst the general devastation suffered by religious buildings, Malmes 86 was bury" abbey chirch," says Leland, made a paroche church;" of this Mr. Stump, a rich clothier, "was the chef causer and contributer." Not above one fourth of the original building is now standing; but the remains offer materials for learned remark, and some of the sculpture is good. Addison pronounced the porch to be the most complete work of the kind he had ever seen. We next meet with "some account of the different modes of architecture used in religious edifices, from the time that the Saxons embraced christianity:" with a few previous thoughts on the architecture of the Romans; of which, in our opinion, much might have been spared. This is followed by descriptions of antiquities in and near Malmesbury. The market cross is as remarkable as any. Dismissing the religious institutions of the place, the writer, in his sixth section, attends to the temporalities of Malmesbury and we learn, that the borough is among the most ancient in the kingdom, and dates its incorporation from Edward the Elder, about 916. The charter was confirmed by Athelstan in 939. The burgesses of Malmesbury, in early times, seem to have risen into considerable importance, as a trading company. We find that they had a Merchants' Guild, under the government of an alderman and two stewards. The Register Book of the convent of Malinesbury contains several deeds and conveyances between the abbet and convent, and the members of this guild; from whence it farther appears, that there was a pretty close connexion between the monastery and the corporation. It is worthy of remark, that the reformation does not appear to have met with any material opposition at Malmesbury. No alterations seem to have taken place in the state of the corporation during the reigns of Edward VI. and Queen Mary. In the following reign, the burgesses were probably possessed of considerable property and interest, derived from a successful application to the woollen manufacture. It has been discovered, that in Queen Elizabeth's time, a considerable addition was made to the landed possessions of this body corporate: in all probability, the most important acquisition of land which it could boast of, since the donation of its great benefactor, King Athelstan." This ancient corporation has undoubtedly undergone considerable alterations in its internal polity since its first establishment; notwithstanding which there are still some customs remaining, which point to those days, Malmesbury has always been noted as a clothing town. Leland is the earliest author who gives any particular information relative to the state of trade in this town. He informs us that when he visited Malmesbury, (towards the middle of the sixteenth century) every corner of the vast houses of office which had belonged to the abbey were full of looms to weave cloth in, that it was intended to make a street or two for clothiers, in the back vacant ground of the abbey; and that about three thousand cloths were annually made in this place. Camden says, that in Queen Elizabeth's reign, Malmesbury was in good repute on account of the clothing trade. But this manufacture was discontinued about 1750. It is, however, resumed within these ten or twelve years, and furnishes employment to great numbers of the lower classes. The other manufactures are, at present, brewing, tanning, lace-making, gardening, dressing of leather, making of gloves, parchment, glue, &c. Very few buildings for purposes of charity. The poor's rate in 1664 was £18 7 2; in 1801, £400; in 1806, greatly increased. We are afterwards presented with a list of the abbots of Malmesbury, and much miscellaneous information. The last section contains biographical notices of eminent persons connected with the town. It appears, that the author of this compilation had not the satisfaction of seeing it published: but, having prepared the materials, while they were at the press he died. We presume that the editor is his son; and think he has, in publishing this volume, very properly discharged a part of his filial duty. He appears, how ever, to have kept back some articles, which he proposes to comprise in a supplement. This detention we think illjudged, as these authorities would probably have completed a work, which now has the air of containing too much research for general readers, yet not enough for antiquaries. Our wishes are extremely favourable to authentic history of every kind, and to the topographical history of our Own Country especially. We know the labour it requires in preparation; the constant anxiety it produces that nothing surreptious may degrade its execution; the local reputation of the place, as well as the personal reputation of the author, is committed in such an undertaking; and after every exertion has been made, some omis◄ sions will be discovered and blamed, with reason or without. Captious critics may spy out defects; readers for amusement may complain of redundancies; those whose taste is gratified by elegant writing, only, may affect disgust with the stile; while a limited circulation is all which an author hopes for from his subject, and his expected reward can bear no proportion to his past labour. It is true, that in undertakings of this kind The labour we delight in physicks pain; and the enjoyments of the antiquary before he appears in public, have been a species of reward exclusively his own. No blame of any kind attaches to Mr. Moffat for the size in which he has chosen to print; but we wish that this matter were determined by an established convention among writers; as we confess, that the shelves of our library, under the title "Topography," have rather a heteroge neous appearance: they contain books of all dimensions, from the noble royal (quarto and octavo) to the demy, twelves, and even eighteens. How much more pleasant would the prospect have been, were this branch of English history printed uniformly, suppose in 8vo. demy. Several plates are attached to this volume, representing sundry antiquities. A good plan of the abbey, and of the town, would have formed a very desirable addition. Popular Ballads and Songs, from Tradi tion, Manuscripts, and scarce Editions; with Translations of similar Pieces from the ancient Danish Language, and a few Originals by the Editor. By Robert Jamieson, A.M. F.A.S. 2 Vols. 8vo. pp. 772. Price 21s. Edinburgh, Constable; London, Cadell and Davies. 1806. Ballads, which have retained popularity among a considerable body of people, and have been handed down by oral communication from seniors to juniors, generation after generation, may reasonably be supposed to inculcate sentiments, interesting by their sympathy with the general principles of the human mind. Or, may we attribute their preservation to their accurate description of events and of usages in ages past, to their powers of rousing curiosity, or of gratifying inquiry. They become, however, from their antiquity, independent of other considerations, valuable, as delineations of life and manners; and could we be certain that the best of the kind were preserved to our time, we might also consider them as specimens of that degree of merit which commanded the attention and applause of our predecessors. But we have no reason to conclude that the learner intreated to be taught only the most excellent, or that the tutor, if he possessed the power of discrimination, exerted it effectually in favour of the pupil: he taught others to retain what he himself had been in the habit of retaining; what he had received, that he delivered; his stores could not be very copious; and the question of comparative merit, if it ever occurred to his mind, had little room for exercise. Not the sober judgment of a critic, but the applause of a multitude was inevitably the criterion of excellence; and that which was most frequently called for by the auditors, would most likely become favourite with the performer also: certainly he would enjoy most satisfaction himself in that which gave the most satisfaction to others. mind contemplated, through a highly favourable mist, the character, the exploits, the bravery, every excellence of those ancestors for whom it had imbibed a veneration by means of tradition, and song, in addition to that affection which it derived from the common feelings of nature. As few, if any, of the ballads before us relate histocal events of public concern, we shall pursue these thoughts no further. They contribute to explain the interest which attended the transmission of similar compositions by means of recital; but it is extremely credible, that as a more effectual mode of preserving this kind of memoranda prevails, the employment of the memory for this purpose will be gradually, but effectually, superseded. A moralist who should view these com→ positions as pictures of antient manners, would behold the same passions inflaming the human breast in ages past, as in the present, and the same inflictions awaiting to punish their excesses. He would see youthful lovers contracting engagements in opposition to the wishes of their parents; and connections that should have softened rival families into complacency, become occasions of atrocious guilt. He would see jealousy, whether justly or unjustly founded, seldom appeased without sacrificing a victim to its rage; and where the unhappy subject of its suspicions has violated a plighted troth, he will not wonder at those extremes to which this passion transports the harassed mind. The law is usually taken by the sufferer into his own hand, and he executes vengeance, rather than punishment, not in the name of his country, but of himself and his house. Rival lovers, the struggles between affection and covetousness, the hard heart of beauty, subjects which at this day employ the poet, formerly employed the minstrel. We find, moreover, that then, as now, beauty drove lovers to extremities, re The artificial arrangement of poetry is of infinite assistance to the memory ; addition is almost impossible, especially when rhythmical measures are combined with music; omission is less perceptible, but probably not frequent. When historical fact was the subject of a ballad, truth was in danger chiefly from the licences of poetry, which, always depicting an adversary to his disadvantage, and deriving aid from amplification, hyperbole, comparison, and exclamation, combined the fury of poetic rapture with description of the original event; nor would the mens divinior fail to magnify those chiefs to whom it was partial: it would exalt alented barely in time, and that after a commander to a hero, a hero to a demigod; and we have every reason to conclude, that this progress not infrequently terminated, after a lapse of ages, in established deification, and national worship. But, where the nation was not concerned, a clan or a family took literally what poetry transmitted as descriptive of its progenitors; and holding now, by their valour, those fields which every native views with a natural partiality, the swain had made up his mind to “rid himself from all care," by the friendly help of a tree, His Phillis by chance stood close in a bush, And as the clowne did sprawle, she streight to him did rush: She cut in two the rope.— convinced, no doubt, by his depair of his unfeigned affection, and determined to return it, by proposing a noose of a gentler description. We think that both " tales," and tunes "of other times" have their value, and acknowledge our obligations to Mr. Jamieson for preserving some antiquities which are new to us in this collection; and for better readings of various others, or more complete and perfect copies, than we formerly possessed. As our readers may not be deeply smit with the love of antiquarian "lore," or versed in All such reading as was never read, we shall particularize the contents of these volumes but cursorily. The first part is tragic; and each poem of any consequence is introduced by a learned proemium, several are also followed by notes: this part contains twenty-nine subjects. The second part is humourous, and comprizes thirteen subjects; with five songs. In this division we have Lidgate's "London Lick-penny:" wherein he describes, having no money, how little he could get for love, in London. Since his days, London is greatly enlarged: but, we believe, if the old bard were to traverse the metropolis now, as formerly he did, he might meet with as many kind offers of sales, and greater variety of wares to be sold, yet he would retain the burden of his ditty, 66 For lacke of money, I could not spede." His description of the businesses then carried on in various parts of the city, differs greatly from what a modern perambulator would observe. The third division of Mr. Jamieson's work is miscellaneous; with songs, selected from both sides of the Twced: this occupies the second volume. There is something amusing as well as terrible in the stories of the Mer-men, who seized damsels on their native shore, and carried them to islands where they had no communication with home for many years. We know that this savage custom subsisted between Greece and Asia; and we find it equally prevalent between the shores of Scotland and Norway. Some of these, of the female sex, (mermaids) as Prophetesses rivalled Cassandra. But it appears, pretty clearly, that all Mer-men were not conjurers; for we are told that Proud Ellen-lille, (K. Viser, p. 161) the King of leeland's daughter, was stolen away from her mother. A ship was built, and in it sails Young Roland, who lands on a green island where was a castle, in which he finds his sister. She tells him, if he had a hundred and a thousand lives, they will all be lost when the Merman Rosmer comes in. Young Roland hides himself in a corner. Rosmer hame frae Zealand came, And he took on to bann; " I smell fro' well, by my right hand, As fast as e'er I couth." But wilyly she can Rosmer win, And clapping him tenderlic: "It's here is come my sisters son, Gin I lose him, I'll die!" Frac baith our fathers land: Frae thy fathers land to thee? He's drce nae skaith frae re." Rosmer, accordingly, treats Roland with a kindness, which though clumsy is hearty, and Ellen obtains a reprieve for the youth by reminding Rosmer, that " he has not small fingers, to lap so little a child." After this, Ellen discovers symptoms which manifest her too great intimacy with Roland: she persuades the Merman to dismiss their visitor with a chest of gold; in this chest she secretes herself; and Rosmer carries the whole to land. Afterwards, on discovering how he had been deluded, "his tears flowed, like a stream down his cheeks" and he became "a whinstane gray." The basis of this story is probably true: and the Merman was nothing more than the head of a clan, or of an island, perhaps among the Orkneys, who carried off a female prize from Iceland; but she quitted him at a subsequent opportunity. We have sometimes been surprised at the lively strains in which the power and qualities of beer were formerly sung. The liquor must have been superior to what now bears this name, or the abilities of the poets of those days were more easily called into exercise. Rowe says, indeed, Your ancient venerable song enditers, Soar'd many a pitch above our modern writers; Whether this be correct or not, Mr. Jamieson favours es with several copies of our old friends Sir John Barleycorn, Sir Allan a Mault, and others, to which we may safely appeal in support of our suggestion. |