ART. VIII. The History of Chichester. By Alexander Hay, M. A. Vicar of Wisborough Green, &c. 8vo. 10s. Longman and Co.

1804.

To thofe perfons who are fond of gratifying their curiosity by refearches into the antiquities of their own country, the prefent will prove a valuable acquifition.

Mr. Hay, we are informed, has refided above thirty years in the city, whofe history he has now given to the world.

From the proofs adduced by Mr. Hay, it appears that Chichefter may juftly lay claim to an antiquity equal perhaps to any town in Great Britain, and that it contains feveral objects well worthy of the attention of the Antiquary: of this nature are-its Cathedral, the Crofs in the Marketplace, and feveral antient edifices within its walls.

The author's ftyle is plain and perfpicuous, without any attempt at that florid and impofing mode of narration which many historical writers have fallen into.

The hiftory of this very antient city is neceffarily much connected with that of England in general, and the reader will therefore find a confiderable portion of the general hiftory of our island, immediately connected and interwoven with that of the city of Chichefter.

As a fpecimen of the ftyle of this work we fubjoin the following:

"About the year 45 or 46 of the prefent æra, Claudius, the Roman Emperor, fent Aulus Plautius with a confiderable armament into Britain to reduce the refractory inhabitants to due fubjection.

Plautius defeated them in feveral engagements, partly by the fuperior difcipline of the Romans, though then in its decline, but principally by means of the divifions which prevailed among the Britons. The next year Claudius followed his General, and ftaid in Britain not more than fifteen or fixteen days, during which time he fent Flavius Vefpafian, the fecond in command under Plautius, into the maritime part of the country to reduce the inhabitants to fubjection.

Vefpafian fixed his head-quarters at the place now called Chichefter.

"The inhabitants of the western parts of Suffex were called Regni: what the name of the city was does not clearly appear. The feite of the Roman camp is plainly to be traced on the Broil near the city to this day. The Koman General made Cogidubnus Governor of the Regni, and honoured him with the title of King, and friend and ally of the Roman people.

"From

"From one of the oldeft infcriptions in England, which the workmen in digging to lay the foundation of the council chamber dug up in 1731, it appears that a temple was built on or near that fcite, dedicated to Neptune and Minerva, in the reign of Claudius, the Roman Emperor.

"The ftone, with the infcription in the Roman character of that time, was a few years ago, and I believe is at prefent, at Goodwood, in the poffeffion of the Duke of Richmond." P. 15.

We give the infcription of this ftone, as we think it may be acceptable to many of our readers.

"The infcription is, Neptuno et Minerva Templum, pro falute domus divina, ex auctoritate Cogidubni regis legati, Tiberii Claudii Augufti in Britannia. Collegium Fabrorum, et qui in eo facris vel honorati funt, de fuo dedicaverunt. Donante aream Pudente Pudentini Filio."

The late Sir William Burrell spent a confiderable time in viewing and making drawings of the most curious and ancient defigns of architecture, which are to be found in and near the cathedral of Chichester, and which were added to his valuable collection of the antiquities of Suffex, but which, unfortunately for the world, he did not live to com. plete.

Although there are no plates to the prefent work, yet as far as the hiftorical part is capable of gratifying the curiofity of those who lament the want of Sir William Burrell's publication, the prefent may in a great measure supply the deficiency.

ART. IX. Memoirs of Charles Macklin, Comedian, with the Dramatic Characters, Manners, Anecdotes, &c. of the Age in which he lived: forming an Hiftory of the Stage during almoft the whole of the laft Century; and a Chronological Lift of all the Parts played by him. 8vo. 444 pp. 8s. Afperne.

1804.

THE principal part of this narrative, has, it seems, before

appeared in the European Magazine, but it has fuch an air of authenticity, is written with fo much vivacity, and communicates fo many interefting anecdotes of the principal characters of the drama, that we are glad to fee the whole collected in this form. We well remember Macklin, and

have

have often been delighted with his forcible reprefentations of Shylock, as well as of other characters. These memoirs appear to do him ample justice in his private as well as his theatrical exhibitions.

Our readers will not be fatisfied without fome specimen of the work, which we felect from one of the most whimsical and eccentric of all the parts that Macklin afted.

"What induced him to quit the Stage in the full vigour of fame and conftitution, was one of thofe fchemes which he had long previously indulged himfelf in, of fuddenly making his for tune by the èftablishment of a tavern and coffee-houfe in the Piazza, Covent-garden; to which he afterwards added a school of oratory, upon a plan hitherto unknown in England, founded upon the Greek, Roman, French, and Italian Societies, under the title of "The British Inquifition."

"The first part of this plan was opened on the 11th of March, 1754, by a public ordinary, (which was to be continued every day at four o'clock, price three fhillings,). where every perfon was permitted to drink port, claret, or whatever liquor he should choofe. A bill of fare, we must confefs, very encouraging, even in thofe times, and which, from its cheapnefs and novelty, drew a confiderable refort of company for fome time.

"As curiofity muft not be a little excited to know fomething of Macklin in this new light of a tavern-keeper, we have it in our power, partly, to gratify them [it], on the authority of a literary Gentleman now living, who often formed one of the ordinary during the courfe of the first feafon; and his relation is as follows:

"Dinner being announced, by public advertisement, to be ready at four o'clock, juft as the clock had ftruck that hour, a large tavern bell, which he had affixed to the top of the houfe, gave notice of its approach. This bell continued ringing for about five minutes: the dinner was then ordered to be difhed; and in ten minutes afterwards it was fet upon the table: after which the outer room door was ordered to be fhut, and no other gueft admitted.

"Macklin himself always brought in the firft difh, dreffed in a full fuit of clothes, &c. with a napkin flung acrofs his left arm. When he placed the difh on the table, he made a low bow, and retired a few paces back towards the fideboard, which was laid out in a very fuperb ftyle, and with every poffible convenience that could be thought of. Two of his principal waiters flood befide him; and one, two, or three more, as occafion required them. He had trained up all his fervants feveral months before for this attendance; and one principal rule (which he laid down as a fine qua non) was, that not one fingle word was to be spoken by them whilst in the room, except when asked a question by one

of

of the guefts. The ordinary, therefore, was carried on by figns previously agreed upon; and Macklin, as principal waiter, had only to obferve when any thing was wanted or called for, to communicate a fign, which the waiters immediately understood, and complied with.

"Thus was dinner entirely ferved up, and attended to, on the fide of the house, all in dumb fhew. When dinner was over, and the bottles and glaffes all laid upon the table, Macklin, quitting his former fituation, walked gravely up to the front of the table, and hoped that all things were found agreeable;' after which, he paifed the bell-rope round the back of the chair of the perfon who happened to fit at the head of the table, and making a low bow at the door, retired.

"Though all this had the fhew of a formality feemingly touching too much on the freedom of focial meeting, it appeared to have a general good effect: the company not only faw it as a thing to which they had not been accustomed, but it them gave by degrees, from the example of taciturnity, a certain mixture of temper and moderation in their discourse; and it was observed, that there were fewer wrangles and difputes at this ordinary, during the time Macklin kept it, than could well be expected in places which admitted of fo mixed an affembly of people.

"The company generally confifted of wits, authors, players, templars, and lounging-men of the town."

We are much furprised, and not a little difappointed, as much is faid of Macklin's cotemporaries, that these memoirs contain no account or anecdotes of Mr. and Mrs. Yates, both of whom were eminently diftinguifhed in their time, and bore no unimportant parts in the hiftory of the Theatre. A candid hiftory of thefe perfonages we cannot but confider. as a defideratum in our Dramatic Biography.

ART. X. The Hiftory of the Anglo-Saxons, from their fir Appearance above the Elbe to the Norman Conquest. By Sharon Turner, F. S.A. 4 vols. 8vo. 11. 13s. 6d. Longman and Co. 1799-1805.

WHEN we reflect on the, obfcurity with which all history is involved in its beginnings; the paucity and concifeness of its early writers; the fufpicious mediums of its

* We purpofely delayed our account till the conclufion of this work, though not inattentive to its progrefs.

occafional

occafional defcent, and the frequency with which rational evidence and fober truth are facrificed by later chroniclers to vanity, fiction, or exaggeration; we cannot but express our gratitude to any writer who may be careful to inveftigate original fources for himself; and by wading through the obfcure monuments of former times, at once correct, enJarge, and embellifh the knowledge of our early hiftory. Mr. Turner his executed this important tafk with confiderable judgment; and though the fources of knowledge from which he has drawn may not be always uncontaminated, we readily commend both his labour and his zeal. For the importance of his undertaking we fhall quote his own words, when fpeaking of the feizure of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons, from the defcendants of the Roman fettlers.

"This mighty revolution, than which hiftory prefents to us hone more complete, has made the fortunes of the Saxons during every period interefting and inftructive to us. Though other invaders have fhaded the island with the banners of conqueft, yet the effects of the Anglo-Saxon fettlements have prevailed beyond every other. Our language, our government, and our laws, difplay our Cimbric ancestors in every part: they live not merely in our annals and traditions, but in our civil inftitutions and perpetual difcourfe. The parent tree is indeed greatly amplified by branches engrafted on it from other regions, and by the new fhoots, which the accidents of time, and the improvements of fociety, have produced; but it difcovers yet its Saxon origin, and retains its Saxon properties, though more than thirteen centuries have rolled over, with all their tempefts and viciffitudes.". P. 2.

On the wild and inconfiflent fictions which have been framed in explanation of the Anglo-Saxon origin, and on the etymology of the name, this author has been perhaps too minute. But the reafon he affigns why Tacitus feems to have omitted the Saxons in the enumeration of the German tribes, deferves attention.

"It has been much wondered that Tacitus, who wrote a particular defcription of Germany many years before Ptolemy, hould have omitted to name the Saxons. Every author has been unwilling to fuppofe that they came to the Elbe in the short in terval between thefe authors; and therefore it has been very generally imagined, that the nation to whom Tacitus gave the denomination of Fofi were the warriors who acquired afterwards fo much celebrity under the name of Saxons.

"Before fuch violent fuppofitions are admitted, it feems neceffary to ask, if Ptolemy mentions any other people in his Geogra phy of Germany, whom Tacitus has not noticed? if he does, the

omiffion