[ 288 ] METEOROLOGICAL DIARY, BY W. CARY, STRAND, Fahrenheit's Therm. 8 o'clock Day of Month. Morning. 11 o'clock Noon. Night. Old South Sea Ann. Sept. 1, 91. J. J. ARNULL, Stock Broker, Bank-buildings, Cornhill, late RICHARDSON, GOODLUCK, and Co. J. B. NICHOLS AND SON, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET. London Gazette THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. M. Chronicle-- Post Cheiten. 2.-Chest. 2 Essex-Exeter 5 Gloucest...Hants 3 OCTOBER, 1830. [PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 1, 1830.] Original Communications. .290 MINOR CORRESPONDENCE......... .........313 Defence of Clergymen farming their own ..........314-817 Classical Literature. ......ib. Beview of New Publications. Goldicutt's Anet Decorations from Pompeii..331 Guernsey 3 Scotland 37 Ireland 58 Historical Chronicle. Embellished with a View of ST. JAMES'S CHURCH, BERMONDSEY, Surrey; By SYLVANUS URBAN, GENT. Printed by J. B. NICHOLS and SON, CICERO'S HEAD, 25, Parliament Street, Westminster; where all Letters to the Editor are requested to be sent, POST-PAID. 2 [ 290 ] MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. A SUBSCRIBER would be glad to know where to find a paper called "Smith's Protestant Intelligencer, Domestic and Foreign," of Feb. 8, 1680; and any person having one to dispose of, would be handsomely remunerated. It contains the following extract, which the present Lord Grimston, Member for St. Alban's, is anxious to possess :-"We learn from St. Alban's, that the town having notice that their two late Members designed to come down from London thither, and judging it might be some expence and trouble to them, called a Hall the day before, and immediately proceeded to elect them, at which time some of the principal persons in the Borough collected about 40l. wherewith they treated the poorer sorts of the inhabitants, and then sent word to their two Burgesses that they had already chosen them for the succeeding Parliament, and would not put them to the inconvenience of a journey thither." The Members were Thos. Pope Blount, esq. of Tittenhanger, and Samuel Grimstou, esq. of Gorhambury. H. H. G. says, "The Thos. Frank, inquired after in p. 194, appears to have been the Rector of Cranfield, co. Bedford; he was also Archdeacon of Bedford, and Preb. of Langford Manor in Lincoln Cathedral. He was succeeded in the above-mentioned Rectory in 1781, by his son.-It is probable the register in question was a transcript made by Thomas Frank; for the gentleman alluded to above was only 68 years of age at the time of his decease in 1731. He was buried in Cranfield Church." J. T. says, "In your Magazine for December last, p. 508, is the weight of 'some of the heaviest bells now rung in peal,' and among them the tenor of St. Mary, Redcliff (not Radcliff), Bristol, which church is there stated to have a peal of eight. Being at Bristol lately, I had much pleasure in renewing my acquaintance with that venerable pile, the pride of Bristowe and the western land,' and on inquiry found the tower contains a peal of ten bells, two having been added about seven years since. Your Correspondent also states York Minster peal at ten. The Encyclopedia Metropolitana, under the article Bell, says it has twelve; and mentions three other peals of twelve besides those noticed, namely, St. Bride's, Fleet-street, London; Cirencester, and Paynechurch, Gloucestershire." S. S. A. R. would be obliged by any account of the origin of the little farce of Punch and Judy. He observes, "I find it is under some modifications acted, not only in our streets, but in those of nearly all Europe. I am told it is exceedingly ancient, and is to be found in India; at all events, it is common in Italy, France, England, Germany, and the northeru states of EuI remember well it used to be the rope. common subject of the raree shows that were exhibited in Moorfields before the alterations there, as early as the year 1795; and these exhibitions are still carried about the country in cases, and shown at the doors of houses in Essex and other counties." J. F. in an account of Lord Temple's family, finds mentioned the name of a Mr. Dayrell as being " the Counsel at Stowe," and requests information as to the family and connections of that gentleman. An OLD SUBSCRIBER says, "In book 7th of Pollok's Course of Time, the following line occurs:-'From those who drank of Tenglio's stream.' Where is this stream?" Any information respecting the Rev. William Howell, who in 1760 was appointed Chaplain to his Majesty's ship Dragon of 74 guns; and who resigned a living in Northamptonshire, or one of the neighbouring counties, when so appointed, will oblige a Constant Reader. Mr. J. F. RUSSELL is referred to our vol. XCIV. ii. 518, 602, for memoirs of Sir Philip Meadows, K. B. and his family. The letter of R. S. Y. in our next; also MATHETES, but not his severe remarks on a recent edition of Aristophanes, if unaccompanied by proofs. Vol. C. part i. p. 634, for Lambert read Lambart.-P. 642, Lady Kilwarden's name was Ruxton, not Buxton. Part ii. p. 92, for Firkins read Filkins; for Caulfield read Caulfeild. P. 159. The total produce of Mr. Higgs's books was 1,8387. 1s. 6d.; and of his coins, 1,1661. 4s. 6d. P. 176. for Lord J. O'Brien read O'Bryen; the y is peculiar to the Inchiquin branch of the family (now Marquises of Thomond). The extinct Earls of Thomond were O'Briens; as is also Sir Edward O'Brien of Dromoland, the heir to the Barony (but not Earldom) of Inchiquin, after the present Marquis and his brother Lord James O'Bryen. P. 179, read Sir James Stratford Tynte, Bart. (not Tuite); the Baronetcy of Tynte created in 1778 is extinct. The family was founded in Ireland by Sir Robert Tynte, Knt. fifth son of Edmund Tynte, esq. of Wrexhall in Somersetshire. He died in 1663, and was buried at Kilcredan Church, co. Cork, where there is a monument erected to his memory. Ballycrenane Castle, in the neighbourhood of Kilcredan, was the seat of the Tyntes. P. 189. Lady Grey Egerton was daughter of Josias Dupré, esq. THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. OCTOBER, 1830. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. IN ON THE CLOTHING OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. MR. URBAN, Lambeth, Oct. 22. N the year 1783, some particulars were communicated to the Society of Antiquaries by the Countess of Moira, and published in the Archæologia, vol. vII. p. 90, relative to a Human Skeleton, and the Garments that were found thereon, dug out of a Bog in the County of Down, in the autumn of 1780. This circumstance was inost assuredly of a very extraordinary nature, and was calculated to excite much attention. But I am not aware that the public have yet been led to appreciate this discovery in its true light, or to the full extent of its importance. I think not. And it is under this impression that I take up my pen to offer you a few remarks, which I am inclined to hope may be acceptable. In order that the circumstances may be distinctly understood, I will first transcribe a statement which has lately appeared in the public prints, and then proceed with my remarks. "The Countess of Meira, in a letter published in the Archæologia, mentions that a human body was found under moss eleven feet deep, in an estate in Ireland, belonging to the Earl. The body was completely clothed in garments made of hair, which were quite fresh, and not at all decayed; and though hairy vestments evidently point to a period extremely remote, before the introduction of sheep and the use of wool, yet the body and clothes were in no way impaired." I regard this discovery as one of manifest importance, because it tends, and in a most remarkable degree, to establish the veracity of those mouldering remnants of the records of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, that are now rapidly hastening to decay. I mean the scattered remnants of the Scythio-gaelic manuscripts of ERI (Ire land), and the Celtic of the CYMRY (Welsh). Nor shall I despair of adverting, with some success, to the records of classic history, in support of those truths which our native histories afford us, so far as the limits of my cursory paper will allow. One of the first circumstances that occurs to my mind, in perusing the particulars of this communication, is the assumed idea that the vestments being composed of hair instead of wool, must point to a period long anterior to the use of wool, and consequently to the introduction of sheep into Ireland. In my work on British Quadrupeds, published a few years ago, I have entered into the history of that useful animal the sheep; and had the intended Supplements to those works appeared, the world, I conceive, would not have now remained in doubt as to the sheep being an aboriginal or indigenous quadruped of the British isles, and consequently that it did not owe its existence in Ireland, or in Britain, to any foreign introduction. Among the Isles of Britain, I comprehend the land of Ireland on the west, and Great Britain eastward, with many other lands once connected with them, that exist no longer, the remembrance of which is preserved, however, in the historical memorials of the ancient Britons, and the Irish as well as Saxons. It is not likely that those researches which I have now in manuscript, will be ever published; and if therefore the following observations, selected therefrom, should be the means of dissipating errors, or misconceptions, yourself and the public are perfectly welcome to them, and the object of my writing will be fully answered. I should imagine it could be no matter of difficulty to define the animal of whose fur these vestments of hair is composed; and this known, would 292 On the Clothing of the Ancient Britons. assist conjecture, if not conduct to facts. The catacombs of Egypt furnish the remains of quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, and insects, all which at this remote distance of time enable us at once to speak with certainty as to the identi cal beings to which they have belonged; and a more explicit mention of the kind of hair of which these vestments are composed, would in like manner assist us in the elucidation of this remarkable object of curiosity. I have said enough to show that, if composed of the wool of sheep, these vestments, in my opinion, might be nevertheless of very ancient date, and even anterior to any fabrication composed of other materials the growth of Britain. It may be remembered that a writer of the last century, the celebrated Mr. Pennant, in accordance with popular prejudice, has advanced that the ancient inhabitants of Britain, if not absolutely destitute of clothing, had no other dress than a sheep's skin hung upon their shoulders; the fleecy side of which was worn next to the skin of the wearer in winter for the sake of warmth, and for coolness the reverse side in summer. Whence ideas so humiliating to the character of that hardy race of men, who were our forefathers, have arisen, it would be beneath us to inquire. I shall be content to say that the assertion is wholly destitute of truth. And if Mr. Pennant, the assertor of such absurdities, and who either did possess, or is believed to have possessed, an ample knowledge of the Greek and Latin writers, had read them with attention, he would have discovered abundant reason for withholding such assertions. The page of classic history will assure us, that at the very period to which such remarks allude, as to the destitute condition of the ancient Britons, the classic writers were reproaching the effeminacy of their own warriors for their indulgence in British and Gaulish luxuries. And we have a distinct reference to this fact in the woollen cloths or mats of British manufacture introduced by the Romans into their camps, because before that period it was said the Roman warrior was contented to rest his limbs stretched out upon the bare ground, or upon a few dried leaves. We have thus a decided indication of the woollen cloths of British fabrication, as mats [Oct. and carpets, and articles of bedding, among the Romans, and we have testimony enough of the use of woollen, as articles of dress among the Britons. Nor is Grecian history altogether silent as to the fabrication of felts made by the Britons, and to other circumstances of far more importance to the character of polished life. I cannot now enter upon quotations, or I should be under no difficulty in showing that a kind of cloth or felt, composed of hair, and hardened by being steeped in sour wine, was usually worn under the armour of brass or other metal by the Grecian heroes, and we have something like evidence that such felts were fabricated by the Britons. I further think I should be under no great difficulty in proving, that in very early ages, anterior to the invasion of Britain by the Romans, there were marts for the sale of woollen cloths, as well as tin, at a point of Ireland far more south than exists at present, and also in the western part of the principality of Dun-ma-niac, a track of land once situated to the west of the Lizard's Point, the present extremity of Cornwall, both which in the lapse of ages have been lost in the And something of the same kind may be identified from record to have existed on the Gaulish coast, the ancient Armorica, the Lower Brittany of our days (Basse Bretagne of the French); a track inhabited in ancient times by the Celtic Britons, or as now called, the Welsh, and which country was governed by the Welsh princes, as the ancient Cornwall was by those of Ireland. Thus in those remote days the Greeks and Romans were accustomed to resort to our shores for the sake of traffic, and this could not be for the purchase of sheepskins, since the sheep was an inhabitant of Greece and Italy as well as Britain, as every classic reader must be aware. Perhaps it may be less generally known that the arfang (or broad-tailed animal) of the Celtic Britons, the beaver of our days, was formerly an inhabitant of this country, and that the felt of the true beaver was among the ancients an article of much request, as it is among ourselves for hats to this day. The furs also of other quadrupeds were in use as articles of dress, as appears from the ancient laws of the Cymry, or Welsh; but the rank and condition of the wearer was to he sea. |
