and Reynelmbald

my

Against this inscription two objections have been made; First, That inscriptions on brass plates are anachropical. * To this objection one reply only is necessary. "Habetur et hodie Welliæ in ædibus D. Thomæ Hugonis equitis aurati, tabula ænea, columnæ Glastoniensis ecclesiæ olim affixa; cui incisum legitur: Anno post passionem Domini xxxi.duodecim sancti (ex quibus Joseph ab Arimathia primus erat) huc venerunt, qui ecclesiam hujus regni primum in hoc loco construxerunt, &c. &c.-Usserii Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, p. 9, edit. fol. 1698.

The second objection is, that the inscription is a forgery by Warburton; but Renebald is made ancestor of the Clinton family by Vincent, who died before Warburton was born; and Renebald is further named as such in a pedigree written in the end of the 17th century, and to be found in the Harleian MS. No. 4029, fol. 65.

The object of this communication is to solicit from your learned Correspondents the most probable emenda

Lynelme Kynelm

tions of errors, which I conceive to have been committed by Warburton's friend in supplying the lacunæ of Hackluyt's copy.

The errors appear to me to be these, which follow:"

Ic foprecan-This is an infinitive mood, made to follow the nominative Ic. The same objection applies to Ic ne ropsyran.

Nir, which follows ropsyran, is non est; and is apparently a wrong word introduced.

Reynelmebald by yr (i. e. Reynelmbald↑ be is) is a pleonasm, and by is apparently some word connected with Reynelmebald ;-possibly gið; for Githa, or Gith, was the name of a brother of King Harold.—We have in Domesday a Wido de Reynbudcurt; but this is out of the question, Reynbudcurt implying only Reinbald's court, and the name of Reynelmebald's residence could not be that by which he himself was designated. Yours, &c.

S. Y. E.

the Q's of their private correspondence, much more so than when a man or a woman writes a paper which is intended for publication, or to suffer the torments of a critical examination.

In some letters which are in my possession, for I am one of the junior class of collectors, I read some very interesting conjugal prattle in matrimonial scenes, and animated uxorious effusions, written by a very learned Divine, and almost feel my bosom flutter with a sympathetic rapture: but if this theologian had dreamt that these letters were to be preserved as an autograph in future days, would he have so expressed himself? I boldly answer, No! He would sooner have written a treatise on the duties of husbands and wives, however difficult the task might be, and thus not expose the

playfulness of amorous youth against the dogmatical preaching of the other man. Again, I find in an original letter, written by a King of England, some very minute directions given to a menial attendant, that he should examine a certain leaden pipe at the back of the Royal residence at Weymouth, which his Majesty remembers, during his late visit to that favourite spot, was very much out of repair. This seems scarcely to be a fit subject for the consideration of a Royal head, engaged in settling the affairs of one half the world, in a political point of view; but yet it is interesting and consoling to learn, under the sign manual, that we once had a King who looked after his own pipes! Surveyors-General, beware!

It is an old saying, but not the less true for being a trite one, that two men vary not more from each other, than one man does from himself at different times. Of the truth of this aphorism, we have nothing more to do than to read a few parliamentary speeches, or to take a peep into a collection of autographs, where we shall find the motions of men's souls as irregular as a weathercock. This irregularity, however, amuses me, and perhaps may do so to others, particularly when we examine a series of letters written by some ci-devant public character, perhaps too, a man of learning. How often do we experience great difficulty in believing that two letters are written by the same person within a very short period. In the one, he is the jolly Bacchanal or a jovial Freemason, and in the other, the fond lover or the pious husband. What various and what opposite lights, and how changed the characters in which he appears! Some may reprobate the College Club, or call the mystical Lodge a preposterous jargon, and even ridicule attachment; but I contend, that to search after and collect original letters of distinguished and literary men, dated from wherever they may be, and therein read the various humours, opinions, lucubrations, and thoughts expressed very often in the strongest and most elegant language, because they were written in moments of hilarity, and without the precaution so often adopted of weighing each word in the trembling scale of criticism, and consequently more naturally expressed, is, humble opinion, a most inno

in my

cent, amusing, and recreative pleasure.

Letters such as these, flowing from the heart, are the letters which give the highest entertainment, and are as much superior to the elaborate squeezings and distillations of a nervous brain, as the naiveté of an, innocent villager is to the meretricious deportment of an abandoned woman of fashion. How much more beautiful are the trees which throw out their branches, and spread away in all the luxuriance of nature, than those which are checked in their growth, and tortured into regularity by the clippers of art, or the pruning cavillers of criticism. The result of the latter style must be many stiff sentences, pompous periods, and cold deceits: while in the former, we find masculine thoughts musically delivered, which on being repeated are as a concert to the ear, and leave a lasting impression on the mind.

I trust, however, that the fact being known, that such collections are now very much in vogue, will not operate to abridge the humorous tenor of future epistolary writers, or drive from their pages the natural wit and humour, satire, and other pre-eminent qualities that adorn the letters of a Garrick and a Sheridan; or lessen the more useful labours of our future Humes, Robertsons, and Johnsons: sed ubi sunt?

Let us, however, hope that the spirit of collecting autographs will continue, notwithstanding the threats of the

death-dealing Laureat;" let us rescue from dark and dusty garrets all the treasures that lie there concealed, and preserve them from the rapacious mouse, who, like the glutton, only devours to gratify an unceasing appetite, without either taste or judgment. Let us thus save from inevitable decay the most precious morsels; and we shall continue to be enriched, as we of late years have been, by the indefatigable discoverer of the Letters of an Evelyn, a Thoresby, a Clarendon, and a Garrick.

S.

"An Old Subscriber" is informed, that Bawdwen's translation of Domesday Book comprises only the County of York, Amounderness, Lonsdale, and Furness in Lancashire, parts of Westmoreland and Cumberland, the Counties of Derby, Nottingham, Rutland, Lincoln, Middlesex, Hertford, Buckingham, Oxford, and Gloucester,

attaches to History, because actions and events cannot be determined by opinions. As soon as these interfere, they become, where there is ignorance of archæology, prejudices, and of course are unjust modes of ratiocination. At the same time, a knowledge of the history of man is, in certain points, indispensable, and there Antiquaries fail; for instance, Sir William Dugdale never considered superstition, popery, and folly, but as matter of praise, and had no enlarged views whatever.

The work before us, edited anonymously, but excellently, by Mr. Nicolas, partakes both of the philosophical inferences and archæological inforination, to which we have alluded in our preceding remarks, and which will be duly appreciated by those who read such works as history ought to be read, namely, for instruction in the knowledge of men and manners. We shall endeavour to notice, according to our limits, some curious historical matters. The following passage occurs concerning Owen Tudor:

"This same yere (1436), on Oweyn, no man of birthe nother of lyflode, brak out of Nengate ayens nyght at serchynge tyme, thorugh helpe of his prest, and wente his wey, hurtynge foule his kepere; but at the laste, blessyd be God, he was taken ayeyn; the whiche Oweyn hadde prevyly wedded the quene Katerine, and hadde iij or iiijor chyldren be here, unwetyng the comoun peple tyl that sche were ded and beryed."

P. 123.

As this affair of Owen Tudor and Queen Catharine is an entertaining piece of gossip in English history, we shall, for the entertainment of our readers, give some curious traditions concerning it, collected by Mr. Hutton on the spot of Owen's residence, Penmynidd in Anglesea. The chief that is said of Owen in history is, that he was an accomplished and handsome Welsh gentleman. His private estate was not quite 400 acres, which he occupied himself. It must have been then about 15. a year in value; now 150l. The house is stone unhewn, the walls of which are three feet thick, and consists of only two stories, four rooms on a floor, all low and little. By what means Owen found his way to court is uncertain, but at his first introduction, being unacquainted with the English tongue, he was called "The Dumb Welshman." The tra

66

ditions which Mr. Hutton obtained from elderly people born on the premises, and firmly believed by them, are these. While Owen with others was dancing with Queen Catharine, his knee happened to touch her. He tied a ribbon about his knee. "Why do you use that ribbon, Sir?" "Please your Grace, to avoid touching you.” Perhaps you may touch me in another." Tradition does not say that her eyes spoke in plainer language than her tongue, language which could not be mistaken. Here we shall suspend our narrative to notice a curious coincidence. Henry's courtship of Queen Catharine is among the most indelicate parts of Shakspeare, and these advances of the Queen herself are of no better character. That courtship in those days was conducted in a very coarse manner we believe (see Encyclopedia of Antiquities, ii. p. 530); but our readers will see the oddity of the coincidence, that Henry should be made in Shakspeare to woo indelicately, and his Queen to do the same in Welch traditions, where our great poet was unknown. To resume. The Queen sent privately into Anglesea, to inquire into particulars. Owen bribed the messengers, and apprised his mother of their errand. Arriving at Plas Penmynidd, they found the mother dining on a dish of potatoes upon her knee. To their interrogatories she replied, "She fed upon roasted and boiled (potatoes cooked two ways), that she would not take a 100/. for her table (her knees), and that she kept six male and six female servants constantly under arms for her defence (goats with horns)." Potatoes were then unknown, and this tradition may be ascribed to Welch wit. Catharine married Owen in 1428, and the Chronicle before us states that the marriage was kept secret (at least as to the public) till after the Queen's death, when Owen was persecuted for his presumption. We have seen a petition by her, complaining of neglect in the payment of her dower, and it is very probable that her character, perhaps from its levity, was held in great disrespect, because, when Henry VII. her grandson, built his chapel, her body was taken up (for she had been buried at Bermondsey), and never interred after, but lay neglected in a shabby coffin near her husband's monument in Westminster.

Concerning the interment of Sir