process; but there was no cause for fear if it was carried out with care, as he trusted it would be. When the piers were restored in the way he had done at two or three other places, the tower would be perfectly secure. The west front was also in a very dilapidated state, and had gone over to a great extent, and it must either be brought over again, or a buttress must be added, or they must under-pin the foundations. The mouldings, nearly the whole of the stringcourse, and a large portion of the capitals, were of plaster of Paris. Exteriorly they must under-pin the foundations, for the church was built upon a bad soil. A new roof was also wanted; and it was a question whether it would not be better to restore the aisles to their old form. The roof had dropped about four feet, but with a little contrivance they should be able to raise it to its old position, and make it fit the old weathering round the tower. If they did this they should do away with the present parapet.

The exterior of the building was then inspected.

After leaving the church, the party assembled in the Central Hall, when the Rev. J. G. Pearson, incumbent of St. Cuthbert's, read a paper on the history of that building. He said, the history and antiquities of the parish of Darlington had been so thoroughly investigated, and so ably treated upon by Mr. Longstaffe, of Gateshead, that very little further information could be afforded either as to the past or the present of that flourishing town, and its chief ornament, the parish church of St. Cuthbert. Darlington is supposed to have been one of the resting-places of the migratory remains of St. Cuthbert himself, either on their way from Westmoreland to Creyke, or on their return northwards. The first notice of Darlington upon which they could place any dependence was the statement that in 1003 and 1013, Styr, son of Ulphus, gave among other possessions Dearrington and its dependencies to St. Cuthbert. At that time it was probable that a little town or village, with its Saxon church dedicated to St. Cuthbert, already existed. The next notice they had of Darlington occurred in the history of the latter part of the twelfth century, when they were told that Bishop Carileph, having turned out the secular clergy from Durham, and placed therein a colony of monks, gave the obtruded priests an asylum and refuge in Auckland, Darlington, and Norton. This took place A.D. 1084. The probability of a church being in existence in Darlington was, the reverend gentleman thought, confirmed by our hearing nothing of the erection of any ecclesiastical edifice between 1080 and the latter end of the succeeding century; but as to whether it stood on the site of the present one, some light might be thrown on the matter when the building was denuded of its plaster and the necessary excavations had been made. In 1152-3 Bishop Pudsey ascended the palatial throne, and in 1164 he commenced the erection of the manor-house now known by the name of the Old Hall, and used as the parish workhouse. Bishop Pudsey kept a household at Darlington, whether permanently or not did not appear. The only direct testimony which they possessed as tending to shew that Bishop Pudsey built the parish church was that of Gaufridus de Coldingham, a monk of Durham, who wrote a history of Durham extending from 1152 to 1214, in which he said,-"In the midst of the vicissitudes of multiplied troubles, he (the Bishop) ceased not from the construction of the church of Darlington, and decreed the restoration to it of the order of priests who were formerly in Durham." The date assigned for the GENT, MAG, VOL, CCXIII.

K

commencement of the present church is not earlier than 1189 nor later than 1194. At this period a transition was taking place in architecture, from the Norman to the Early English, and in many buildings they found the two styles combined, as in the Temple Church and other edifices. He thought they might safely conclude, from the facts to which he had alluded, that Bishop Pudsey was alike the builder of the manor-house, the founder of the chapter of Darlington, consisting of a vicar and four prebends, and the erecter of St. Cuthbert's Church. After referring to the grant of the vicarage-house in 1309, by Bishop Anthony Bek,-that house is now called the Deanery, and is situated near the church gates, and the narrow escape which Darlington had in the wars with Scotland from sharing in the general destruction, the rev. gentleman passed on to the middle and latter part of the century, and said they had reason for believing that during the episcopal reign of Bishop Hatfield considerable alterations took place in St. Cuthbert's Church, and were probably carried on at the cost and under the superintendence of Prebend Ingleby, whose crest and estoile appeared on the sedilia-piscina. Originally the aisles corresponded with the roof, and were of high pitch, with either lancet or pointed Early English windows; while the tower rose no higher than the stringcourse at the bottom of the belfry. A mania for elevating church towers seems to have seized upon the church authorities at this period. Without any consideration whether the substrata would bear the superincumbent weight, belfries and spires and battlements were everywhere added-and Ingleby seems to have been touched with this dangerous species of infatuation. Accordingly the belfry, and subsequently the spire, were erected, but unfortunately this "top hamper" proved too heavy for the slender piers; consequently, externally, buttresses, discharging arches, and such further contrivances as the immediate necessities of the case required, were run up at the angles of the transepts and chancel. The beautiful east windows of the former were also closed up in order to give additional strength, and the same remedy was applied to the two windows north and south in the chancel nearest the tower. To prevent pressure inwards, and to strengthen the bases of the eastern piers, the arch was added which separates the nave from the chancel. Originally it was used as a rood-loft, and more recently as an organ gallery. Cade speaks of it as having been ornamented with coats of arms cut upon it." In any restorations care will be taken to preserve any traces remaining of either these or of frescoes which may probably exist under the plaster. Groined roofs, they knew, came greatly into vogue with the pointed arches, and the lantern in the centre tower would naturally lead one to suppose that it was at least the intention of the architect to have vaulted the tower with stone. A vaulting-shaft still exists in the nave; but very probably the "creep" and dislocation of the building from the undue pressure upon an insecure foundation terrified the projectors into giving up what would doubtless have been a great ornament to the building. The giving way of the fabric seems to have taken place very early-even previous to the addition of the spire and tower, though the crush in the arches was most probably subsequent to those additions. The aisles-which are square-headed and Decorated, are good of their kind, and correspond with the ornamental stonework of the sedilia-might also be looked upon as the work of Ingleby, who might seek to emulate the works of the princely Hatfield on a smaller

66

scale at Darlington. Whether Bishop Skirlaw, who built the tower at
Howden, may have erected the spire at Darlington, is unknown. We
learn from his crest that it was Cardinal Langley who gave the stalls
and misereres in the choir. Now this he would hardly have done be-
fore the church was placed in a state of safety. Ingleby died in 1373;
Cardinal Langley was made bishop in 1437; Skirlaw reigned between
1388 and 1405. During this interval therefore the church would have
time to get its "settlements" brought to a final completion; and from
that time until the fall of the east end of the chancel in the early part
of the last century, the church seems to have been left in statu quo,
except that the Easter sepulchre appears to have been added somewhere
about the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Cardinal Langley's stalls are among the finest specimens of wood-carving
of their date, and were complete till very recently, when about twenty
years ago a certain Irish curate, of the name of Davis, with his own
hands chopped down three of these fine old stalls in order to make room
for two hideous pews of the very worst description. Thanks to the attach-
ment of the people of the northern diocese to the old religion, there was
here very little of the iconoclastic spirit which broke down the carved
work of our southern churches; but since the Reformation neglect has
too often been allowed to do that from which violence abstained. Cuth-
bert Marshall was the last Dean of Darlington. The prebends were
suppressed and a perpetual curacy substituted. The last time Mass
was said in St. Cuthbert's was on the 17th Nov., 1567, "sadly deficient
in
pomp
from lack of vestments." This was in the presence of the
Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, then in arms for the old
religion, and since that time the sacring bell has never tinkled in the
choir of the parish church. After adverting to various repairs and
alterations, the paper went on to state that in Andrew Wood's time
(1748) the east end of the transept was rebuilt, and the evil example of
the parishioners in lowering the pitch of the roof was improved upon by
the lay rector, who sold off the lead and laid the beams horizontally,
rebuilding the east end in the debased style in which it at present
exists.

Mr. Longstaffe then read a paper, in which the great architectural works of Bishop Pudsey were minutely described.

Mr. G. G. Scott suggested that the paper should be illustrated with views of the edifices described in it, when published in the Society's Transactions. The suggestion was favourably received by the meeting. After luncheon at an hotel, Mr. Longstaffe and Mr. Abbott described the collections of coins and seals in their respective possessions, some specimens of which were exhibited. A visit was then made to the church of St. Andrew, at Haughton-le-Skerne, in their inspection of which they were accompanied by the rector, the Rev. E. Cheese. It is a plain, unpretending-looking edifice, in the Romanesque style, with insertions of a late period. The bench-ends are very curiously carved in oak, similar in style to those at Brancepeth Church. After leaving Haughton-le-Skerne, several gentlemen visited the Darlington Iron Works, and thus filled up the time remaining before the train started for the north. The excursion was a most successful one in all respects.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. May 7. J. HODGSON HINDE, Esq., in the chair.

A fragment of an amphora and the upper portion of a stone figure were laid before the meeting, and a letter respecting them was read from Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Carlisle, where the fragments had been found. A photograph of the figure had been sent to Mr. Roach Smith, who, in a letter read to the meeting, offered some explanations respecting it.

Mr. Longstaffe read a paper by Mr. James Clephan on the famous apocryphal letter of General Lesley to Sir Thomas Riddell. The historian Surtees, in a letter of 1807 to his friend Sharpe, says of it :"The original, or what is termed such, but which I suspect to be a waggish imposture (perhaps of date not much less ancient than the supposed transaction), is now in the hands of William Ward Jackson, Esq., of Normanby, Yorkshire (gentleman commoner of Christchurch), whose father was once a dealer in corn, hops, &c., in Newcastle, and rescued the said letter from a parcel of waste paper, or the wrappings of a parcel, which came to him in the way of business. He shewed it to an uncle of mine, Ambler, a lawyer, Recorder of Durham, a man of great wit and humour, who sent a copy to the editor of the Newcastle paper, and bid Jackson preserve it as an inestimable treasure. It appears to be half of a letter-back, torn off; pale ink; no seal; strong, coarse hand."

In 1820 Surtees gave a version of the letter in the second volume of his "History of Durham" (page 127), preceding it with the words:"I much fear that the following epistle from John Lesley to Sir Thomas Ridel, during the leaguer of Newcastle, is not genuine;" and he adds at the foot: The above notable epistle is said to have been found amongst some old papers in the warehouse of Mr. Jackson, hopmerchant, in Newcastle."

In 1848, it was reprinted in the second volume of "The Fairfax Correspondence," the editor (Mr. G. W. Johnson) remarking,-"Careful as the generals were to prevent any rapine upon the country people, yet some of the officers managed to effect a little pillage on their own account, either in return for protection promised, or other favours. The following curious letter, written during the investment of Newcastle, affords an example of this." And we are told, in a note, that it is "preserved among the MSS. of the Riddell family."

In the Memoirs of Surtees (1852), the editor, the late Rev. Dr. Raine, of Durham, observes (page 14):—“I have reason to believe that Mr. Ambler was the writer of the letter said to have been sent by Sir John Lesley to Sir Thomas Riddell, of Gateshead, during the siege of Newcastle in 1640. Mr. Surtees printed this letter in his History (ii. 127) — fearing, however, that it was not genuine. The humour which it displays is of a high order, but there is more than enough of internal evidence to prove its modern origin."

Ambler died about the year 1780; and it is in the "Newcastle Chronicle" of 1764 that we find the letter suspected by Dr. Raine to have had its origin in the head of the Durham lawyer. The "Chronicle" had made its first appearance on the 24th of March, and on the 16th of June there is this intimation to a correspondent:

"The original letter, written at the siege of Newcastle by the general of the Scots army, received: our thanks are due to the gentleman who favoured us with it, and the public may expect it next week." Next week, accordingly, on the 23rd of June, the letter appears, taking the lead among the "Literary Articles" of the paper, and the following is an exact copy of it as originally printed :—

"For the Newcastle Chronicle.

"Sir JOHN LESLEY'S Letter to Sir THOMAS RIDDLE of Gateshead, upon the siege of Newcastle by the Scots, in the Reign of Charles I.

BE

"SIR THAMAS,

Etween me and Gad it makes my heart bleed bleud, to see the wark gae thro' sae trim a gairden as yours.—I ha been twa times wi my cusin the general, and sae shall I sax times mare afore the wark gae that gate: But gin aw this be doun, Sir Thomas, ye maun mack the twenty punds throtty, and I maun hae the tagged tail'd trouper that stands in the stawe, and the little wee trim gaying thing that stands in the newk of the haw, chiriping and chirming at the newn tide of the day, and forty bows of beer to saw the mains with awe.

"And as I am a chivelier of fortin, and a limb of the house of Rothes, as the muckle main kist in Edinburgh auld kirk can well witness for these aught hundred years bygaine, nought shall scaith your house within or without, to the validome of a twa penny chicken.

Major general, and captin over sax-score and twa men and some maire, crowner of Cumberland, Northumberland, Marryland, and Niddisdale, the Merce, Tiviot dale, and Fife; Bailie of Kirkadie, governor of Brunt Eland and the Bass, laird of Liberton, Tilly and Whooly, siller tacker of Stirling, constable of Leith, and Sir John Lesley, knight, to the bute of aw that. "O."

One of the variations in Surtees is "faw the mons," and in the Fairfax Correspondence "saw the mons;" and in both the phrase is interpreted to mean "strike the bargain;" but the original, it will be seen, is "saw the mains," and no explanation is needed.

Some discussion took place as to the excursion of the Society, but the decision was left for a future meeting.

June 4. JOHN CLAYTON, Esq., in the chair.

Mr. William Pears, of Fenham-hall, was elected a member.

The Rev. Edward Hussey Adamson read two letters from Dr. Thomlinson, to Vicar Ellison of Newcastle, one of them going into details of his experience of the Bath waters. "They are a palliating medicine in my case, as Sir John Floyer told me the constant use of common water would be."

Mr. Longstaffe reported that in consequence of Mr. Clephan's paper on Lesley's Gateshead letter, he had put himself into communication with the present Mr. Riddell, of Felton-park, who kindly answered that he had the letter, and would submit it to the Society's notice on his return from town.

Owing to the small number of members present, the question of the country meeting was again postponed.

The Society has received a present, from the Corporation, of a stone coffin, found in the precincts of St. Mary the Virgin's Hospital, in Westgate, during the excavations for the Stephenson monument.