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they may be compelled not only to make restitution, but also to feel the severity of the law.

In the course of our country rambles I have met with so many instances of destruction occasioned in a similar manner, that I must intreat the aid of your voice in stirring up a feeling for the preservation of these beautiful relics of the past. At Carshalton, Surrey, Gillingham, and Graveney, Kent, brasses have been stolen within the last three or four years by workmen; at Faversham, about ten years ago, the finest were almost entirely destroyed in the same way-in this case, however, not with impunity. Many brasses in Norfolk, engraved by Cotman, are not now to be found or heard of; but I will only particularize the splendid and well known one of Sir Hugh Hastings, at Elsing, which has suffered in its most interesting parts since Carter's time (for, although Cotman engraves it just as perfect, it is as probable he merely restored the lost parts by reference to the former engraving, the present clerk having only seen it in its existing state for many years).

The great cause of all this mischief, especially in country churches, is the too easy manner in which the building may be entered by visitors and workmen. No stranger or labourer should ever be permitted to remain in the church alone, unless locked in, a practice no one can object to who goes with honest intentions.

Having diligently studied these monuments in every particular, I maintain that they may be ranked in the very first class of interesting and useful memorials: whether we refer to them for the elucidation of costume, for heraldic and historical information, or as illustrations of the arts of design and engraving (points not sufficiently considered), brasses are invaluable in affording the necessary information; and yet they are daily disappearing, from the neglect of easy precautions on the part of those intrusted with their preservation. Nevertheless, one would have thought that Westminster Abbey, the grand

repository of national monuments, would in this age, at least, have been preserved from spoliation. Yours, &c. 1. G. W.

THE Family of DeVere, which came over to England with William the Conqueror, became one of the most illustrious in the English Peerage: it was supposed to have become extinct with the 20th Earl of Oxford, in the reign of Queen Anne, and it is not generally known that there appeared in the reign of George III. a claimant of the Earldom, in the person of a Vere, who kept a china shop on Tower Hill. The papers were laid before the Attorney-General, who was favourable to the claim; but the loss of his only son, whom he intended for the profession of arms, like the former possessors of that truly noble name, induced the father to abandon the prosecution of an empty title.

Some doubt has arisen as to the spot from whence the De Veres had their origin, there being two parishes in Lower Normandy of the name of Ver; but the learned antiquary, Mons.de Gerville of Valognes, decides in favour of Ver, near Gavray, in the arrondissement of Coutance, as he finds that, by the Red Book of the Exchequer, temp. Hen. II., "Rad'us de Ver debet

servit. 1 milit. in Ballivo de Gaveyro;" and in the book of the fiefs of Philip Augustus, occurs "Gulielmus de Ver, &......debent servitium trium milit. et dim. ad custodiam Gavray.'

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The De Veres, like other followers of the Conqueror, devoted part of the wealth acquired in England to the endowment of the monasteries of their native country, and in the catalogue of the "Chartes" lately published in the Memoirs of the Society of Antiquaries of Normandy, vol. 8, p. 187, No. 105, is the title of a charter, by which Alberic de Vere, Earl of Oxford, in 1239, grants to Juliana, abbess of the Holy Trinity, all the rights which he had in the land, in the parishes of Felsted & Holsted in England, on condition that the said Abbess should receive in that convent two young women as nuns, at the nomina

There is no pretence whatever for supposing that the de Veres came from Vire the castle in that town is known to have belonged to the Montgomerys. GENT. MAG. VOL. XII.

3 B

tion of the said Earl and his successors, Nos. 102 and 3 are a Bull of Pope Honorius III. in confirmation of the property of the said Abbess, in those lands in Felsted and Holsted. Another document, in the possession of Mr. Lechaude d'Anecis of Caen, is the "Receipt given by Madame George de

Mollay, abbess of St, Trinité at Caen, during her journey to England, 1360 and 1361, and a statement of the expenditure. This MS. throws some light on the mode of travelling, and price of different articles at that period, and may be considered to possess some historical interest.

ROLE DE ST. TRINITE.

De Sire Philippe Bonvalet quand Madame vint a Londres
Item, d'icelui a Felsted.

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Lib. Sol. D.
XV
·

Du Bailiff de Felsted tant en argent qu'en mises, comme il paroit par cedule

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De Sire Pierre du Cellier et de sa reeepte

Du Bailly de Holstede du même

D'une livre de son vendue a Jehan Allemore à sa vie
Item, argent emprunté à sire Philippe Bonvalet

Item, à Jehan Öxenge

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vii

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Pour le fret du vaissel garni de Caen a Londres
Pour portages de caretes et chevaux loués de St. Pierre de
Thenet b jusqu'à Londres, et de Londres jusqu'à Felsted
Pour la depense Madame et ses gens de bouche de sa des-
cente jusqu'à Felsted ou elle arriva le vendredi après St. Bar-
tholome

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Pour dons et courtoisies faictes de la descente de Madame en
Angleterre jusques à Felsted

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Pour despens fais de Londres à Felsted pour deux chevaux achetés a Londres pour Maistre Roger et Tourques

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Pour offrandes pour Madame de sa descente en Angletere jusqu'à
Felsted
Pour une pipe de vin achetée a Londres pour porter à Felsted
et pour un tounelier et brumaus pour carger et relierd la dite
pipe

Pour un cheval acheté a Londres pour maitre Roger et pour
une selle neufue

Pour un cheval acheté a Felsted et pour lequel out Henry Le
Guillard et une selle neufue

Maitre Roger pour le

Pour deux chevaulx achetés a Felsted par
car à Madame et pour le vuiage d'iceulx
Pour un char acheté a Londres pour Madame par Sire Philippe
et Jehan Oxenge et Maistre Roger, et pour despenses d'iceulx
Pour l'apparel du dit char faite à Felsted tant en cuir, cannevas,
tuile, drap, peinture et couleurs

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Pour une selle au sommier, un sac, un bahust achetés à Lon-
dres

Pour despense faite a Londres pour draps par Du Celtier à
Tourques et les vallets qui vindrent guerrer le dit char à
Londres et le harnas

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Pour despense faite par Tourques drappier et semmaquer en
allant, hors depens que Madame fut venue à Felstede et qu'elle
en partit pour deux fois à Horstede
Pour despense faicte par Madame et ses gens en manor de Fel-
stede sans les bleds et estors tant comme elle y demoura
Argent bailli à Henry Le Guillard en quatre nobles

Pour dons faicts par Sires Philippe et Torques, es gens du Duc
de Lancastre

Argent bailli à Maistre Richard de Brase en quarante Phillippe pour sargesi blanches et noires et blanches

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Pour espiceries et torches acheteés par Torques quand il alla à
Felsted

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Pour argent perdu par les Navarres

Lib.

XXX

lx

Note. The Navarrons being then at war with the Duke of Normandy, this may apply to the capture of some vessel, or the ransom of the same paid to privateers of that nation, during the voyage from Caen to the Isle of Thanet.

MR. URBAN, Greenwich, Aug. 17. BEFORE I offer any further remarks in reply to the letters of A. J. K. on the Bayeux Tapestry, it may be desirable to return for an instant to the meta prima of the argument.

Half a century has elapsed since Mr. Gough declared it to be a reproach to us as a nation that we had not procured accurate drawings and illustrations of the Tapestry at Bayeux; and the reproach is still in part applicable. Now, to fix the date of its execution on the best evidence, appears to be an important step in illustration of it. The evidence may either be historical, or traditional, or internal; or it may be a combination of the three species of evidence.

The historical evidence is defective. The Inventories of 1369 and 1476 (Mr. Kempe has incorrectly stated that I have cited the first record of its existence in the latter year,) prove the existence of the monument at those periods; but they furnish no information on its origin. The traditional evidence is still more unsatisfactory. The tradition which ascribes it to Matilda has been adopted, without sufficient caution, by some of our eminent antiquaries; but is, in fact, mere modern chit-chat. The internal evidence presents a much wider field of inquiry. Its conformity with the ancient historians—the language of the inscriptions-the forms of the letters - the architecture, armour, weapons, dress, &c. represented the character of the ornaments, the style of execution, &c. should be carefully considered. The process would require artistical assistance; modern art should be invited to contribute towards the illustration of ancient art.

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It is possible, I conceive, to produce an instance in very close connexion with the subject of the Tapestry. Robert, eldest son of William the Conqueror, died in 1134. "In coenobio,' says Orderic Vital, "Monachorum S. Petri Apostoli Gloucestriæ tumulatus quiescit." Sandford gives a view of the monument as it existed in 1665;4 and Stothard gives an etching of the oak effigies. The costume (a suit of chain mail with a plain surcoat) is that of the twelfth century; but the air of the figure, and its style of execution, are much more modern. Gough conceives that "its materials bespeak its antiquity;" but that is no valid argument. Sandford says, that the monument bore the arms of France and England quarterly, which would prove it to be of the fourteenth century; and Leland says, "Robtus Curthoise, sonne to K. William the Conquerour, lyeth in the midle of the Presbitery. There is on his tombe an image of wood paynted, made longe since his death."8

"It is no evidence, as Mr. Corney thinks it may be, against the antiquity of the Tapestry, that there are, in its ornamental borders, some allusions to the

1 Sepulchral Monuments, 1786, vol. i. Preface, p. 3. > Historiæ Normannorum Scriptores Antiqui, p. 893. 4 Genealogical History, 1677, fol. p. 15.

• Monumental Effigies, No. 22.

7 Regal Heraldry, 1821, sm. 4to. p. 15. Itinerary, Oxford, 1745, 8vo. iv. 76.

2 Mag. p. 467.

Sepulchral Monuments, i. 19.

Fables of Æsop, but on the contrary another confirmation of its age." A. J. K.

1

I merely stated it to be a suspicious circumstance. Æsop is cited by Isidore, of Seville; but, I believe, by no French or English writer before John of Salisbury, who died in 1180.3 At whatever period Æsop became known, he certainly did not cease to be known; witness Marie de France, Corrozet, La Fontaine, &c. The representation of Æsopian fables in the relic could therefore be no confirmation of its antiquity.

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With respect to "the Franci de Kent,' &c. Mr. Kempe avoids the real state of the question. Would the Normans, before the union with France, have called themselves Franci? On that point I have produced ample evidence. The English, if I may advance a new conjecture, called the Normans, the French, &c. Franci-on account of the identity of their language. So we call the Saxons, the Bavarians,

&c. Germans, but a native of Saxony

would call himself a Saxon.

Mr. Kempe censures my practice of writing Odon. The bishop was a Norman by birth, but is a conspicuous character in English history. We may, therefore, with equal propriety, adopt the Norman or the English mode of writing his name.

:

Odo is neither it is the name Latinized. The Norman mode, which I have adopted, is Odon. Robert of Gloucester had Ode, which is the true "English historic style;" but it might sound rather ludicrous to talk of the celebrated Ode. The inference which Mr. Kempe draws as to the name of the Conqueror is overstrained. The Conqueror, in his Anglo-Saxon charters, calls himself William.4

"They [the chroniclers of the conquest] deal for the most part in poetic generalities and exaggerations. Thus we find, in William of Poictou, the statement that the army of Harold was so numerous that it drank up rivers and rooted up whole forests in its march! In ejus transitu

* Idem, p. 95.

flumina epotata, silvas in planum redactas fuisse.' How different this from the matter-of-fact style of the Tapestry." A. J. K.

Mr. Kempe, in the above remarks, has been very unjust towards William of Poitiers-1. by misnaming him; 2. by misrepresenting him; and 3. by misquoting him.

1. William of Poitiers was a native called William of Poitiers because he of Normandy, not of Poitou. He was had studied at Poitiers. "Pictavinus," says Orderic Vital, "autem dictus est, quia Pictavis fonte Philosophico_ubertim imbutus est.” 5

2. I contend, in opposition to Mr. Kempe, that William of Poitiers is the

best and most minute historian of the William of Jumièges, and of Orderic Conquest. Such was the opinion of Vital; and I believe there is no historian of that age who would be more dress. I shall give a specimen of his acceptable to the public in an English the purpose, but the very paragraph narrative, not a passage selected for which contains the words cited by Mr. Kempe. He is describing the army of Duke William :—

"Hac autem commodissima ordinatione

progreditur, vexillo prævio quod APOSTOcavit, sagittis armatos et balistis, item pe

LICUS transmiserat. Pedites in fronte lo

dites in ordine secundo firmiores et loricatos; ultimo turmas equitum, quorum ipse fuit in medio cum firmissimo robore, unde in omnem partem consuleret manu et voce. Scribens Heraldi agmen illud veterum aliquis, in ejus transitu flumina epotata, silvas in planum redactas fuisse memoraret. Maximæ enim ex omnibus undique regionibus copiæ Anglorum convenerant."'8

as a

3. Now comes the serious part of the charge. How could Mr. Kempe venture to produce the MUTILATED sentence, in ejus transitu, &c. specimen of William of Poitiers? Why, the historian, who had just before commented on one of the embellishments of ancient history, is merely exercising his pleasantry at the expense of some imaginary ancient! He

! Petit-Radel, Recherches sur les Bibliothèques, Paris, 1819, 8vo. p. 49. 3 Pastoret, Hist. Littéraire de France, xiv. 97. Chronicle, Oxford, 1724, 8vo. 384, 5, 6, etc. 5 Sir H. Nicolas, Chronology of History, 2nd ed. p. 365. H. N. S. A. p. 521. 7 Ibid. p. 291.

8 Ibid. p. 521. 9 Ibid. p. 201.

immediately resumes his own minute and instructive narrative.

It has pleased Mr. Kempe, in the course of this controversy, to question the accuracy of several of my statements, and pointedly to condemn my inferences. To the charge of inaccuracy I have sufficiently replied, and hope to bear with true philosophical patience his other censures :

""Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own."

A theory is not to be appreciated by fragments, but should be surveyed in all its parts and bearings; and I flat

ter myself that if Mr. Kempe should ever succeed in divesting himself of his antipathy to marginal references and new conjectures, he may come to another conclusion. I can assure him that the Patriarch of French historical literature has lately pronounced my essay to be "un écrit fort judicieux.'

Pardon me, Mr. Urban, if I now conclude without the promised remarks on certain works which may tend to illustrate the history and pictorial composition of the Tapestry.

Yours, &c. BOLTON CORNEY.

RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW.

Old French Poetry. The Carlovingian Romances.*

AT the present day, we conceive, it is hardly necessary to tell any of our readers that the greater portion of the early metrical romances may be ranged in two distinct classes, those which have for their subject the exploits of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and those which celebrate the deeds of Charlemagne and his family. But many learned men have discussed, and still discuss, without any satisfactory result, the barren question of the priority in point of origin of one of these classes over the other. The question has, indeed, in itself something incongruous; a slight acquaintance with the early history of the people is enough to convince us that these two romance cycles were engendered simultaneously by the aboriginal mythic traditions of different races; and it finally resolves itself into the secondary question as to which of these cycles, in its present form, first became widely popular. Setting aside the want of documents to clear up such a point, the question is perhaps not more congruous than the other: in all probability, the two cycles were formed nearly contemporaneously among the different races to which they belonged, and the superior popularity of either depended upon accidental circumstances, and varied in different places. In France, the national traditions were entirely those of their own royal races; the Carlovingian romances were for ages almost exclusively popular. In England, after the conquest, this cycle seems to have been introduced by the Normans, and that of Arthur by the Bretons, nearly at the same time; but the latter became located here, owing to the affinity claimed by the Welsh with the Bretons, and it almost excluded the others from our island. In France, as far as we can now trace them by the monuments which remain, these romances first took their place in literature in the Latin story of Roncevaux, which goes under the name of Turpin ;

* Li Romans de Berte aus Grans Piés, précédé d'une Dissertation sur les Romans des douze pairs; par M. Paulin Paris, de la Bibliothèque du Roi. (second impression) 12mo. 1836. Paris, Techener. London, Pickering.

Li Romans de Garin le Loherain, publié pour la première fois et précédé de l'Examen du Système de M. Fauriel sur les Romans Carlovingiens. Par M. P. Paris. 12mo. ii. vols. 1833, 1835. Paris, Techener. London, Pickering.

Li Romans de Parise la Duchesse, publié pour la première fois d'après le Manuscrit unique de la Bibliothèque Royale; par G. F. de Martonne, etc. 12mo. 1836. Paris, Techener. London, Pickering.

La Chanson des Saxons, par Jean Bodel, publiée pour la première fois, par Francisque Michel. Vol. i. 12mo. 1839. Paris, Techener. London, Pickering.

Printed uniformly, under the title Romans des Douze Pairs de France, Nos. 1.-v.

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