curious and reflecting visitor of Chalfield Manor-house and its appurtenances, will feel his imagination somewhat excited, when they carry back his thoughts to the æra of their freshness; to the inartificial manners of that early age; and to the scenes of hospitality and merriment, which then gladdened the venerable pile. He will, for a moment, at least, feel inclined to believe, that these "good old times' teemed with joys, of which we, of the present day, have only the tradition:the simplicity of the rustic; the generosity of the lord; the feast in the hall; the Yule log, throwing a bright blaze through its vast extent; the harper and the mime in its gallery; and the stranger or beggar receiving his dole at the gateway; the charms of feudal privileges; and the dignity of local jurisdictions are images, which will naturally crowd upon his fancy, when he stands within this magic precinct. But the dream will be a transient one: for he will quickly advert to the shades of the brilliant picture to times, when the Hundred were tyrants, and the million slaves; when manners were fierce and coarse, and

pleasures were merely sensual; when prejudices were incorrigible, and superstition profound; when stupid ignorance was universal among the lower orders, and to write and read, were the accomplishments only of the gentry. Comparing this rude and disgusting outline, with the finished portrait of the age in which he lives, he will feel thankful to have been born in these latter and brighter days; when social intercourse is general, softened, and refined; when education is almost

as wide as our population, and daily becoming more universal; when the arts are reaching perfection; when latent and untried energies of nature, heretofore unknown to Man, are now administering to his use, convenience, or luxury; and when Science may triumphantly assert, that she can measure the distance of the furthest fixed star, from our own little planet; and detect the nebule, which float upon the confines of created space.

I am not one of those, who are scared at the much-ridiculed, but pregnant expression, "the march of intellect:" I gladly see the general mind progressing and developing; and I verily believe, that the issue will be good.

Major rerum mihi nascitur ordo.

Knowledge," says our immortal Bacon, "is power;" and he might have added, that sound knowledge is virtue also. But time must be allowed for its diffusion and establishment; and we should not feel alarmed, if its natural effects be not immediately apparent. Information-religious, moral, and useful-is now spreading itself through all civilized nations (more especially through our own country) with a breadth and rapidity, hitherto unexampled in the history of the world; and, assuredly, it ought not to be regarded as a vain hope, that this great fact, indicates an approach to that period, when mankind will be universally wiser and better than they now are; when they will feel and manifest, a practical conviction of that eternal truth1-TO BE VIRTUOUS, IS TO BE HAPPY.

Yours, &c. VIATOR.

Bradford, which latter was granted to the Abbess and Convent of Shaftesbury by King Etheldred, and confirmed to them by Richard the first and Edward the first; so that of its early history little or nothing can, at this remote period, be correctly ascertained. The first mention I find made of the place itself is in the Chartulary of the Abbey, Harl. MSS. No. 61; where it is stated that "Agnes de la Ferer," whose name occurs as Abbess in 1252, 1257, and 1267, "with the consent of the Convent conceded and confirmed to God and the blessed Mary Magdalene of Fernlegh, and to the monks serving God at that place, the gift which Martin chaplain of Wrekeshale made them, viz. a messuage which the same Martin held of them in the ville of Wrokeshale with half a hide of land, with pasture and appurtenances" for which they were to pay a certain rent.

4

2 See the Chartulary of the Abbey of Shaftesbury, Harl. MSS. 61.

3 On a plea of "Quo warranto" temp. Edw. I. the Abbess of Shaftesbury contended that her right to the Manor of Bradford was derived from a grant by Richard I. and the jury determined that her title was undisputed. Placita de Quo Warranto, Rot. 47 and 50.

4 Monkton-Farley, about a mile from Wraxhall.

Harl. MSS. 61. fol. 92.

This, however, I imagine refers to a small building which still exists in a field adjoining the Manor House, possessing evident marks of great antiquity; and from an immense chimney coeval with the building, which is of early-English character, seems to have been a Hospitium as the one at Chapel Plaster. And in the valuation taken temp. Henry VIII. the tenement at Wraxhall is valued at 11. 38. per ann. It is next mentioned in the 25th year of the reign of Edward III. when the Abbess and Convent of Shaftesbury manumitted Thomas Scathelok their Villain of the Manor of Bradford, and granted to him and Editha his wife, daughter of Roger le Porter, one messuage and two virgates and nine acres of land and four acres of meadow with appurtenances in Lyghe and Wrokeshale, within the Manor of Bradford, and common of pasture for their cattle upon 116 acres of land in the said ville within the aforesaid manor, and upon 100 acres of pasture within the township of Lyghe. It came into the possession of the family of Longe or le Long prior to the reign of Henry Vl. but by what means I have not been able to discover. Camden in his Re

6 See Gent. Mag. for Feb. 1835, p. 143. 7 Escaet. de anno vicesimo quinto Edwardi III. 53, 2nd Nos. in Turri Lond.

maines says, "a young gentleman of the house of Preux being of tall stature, attending on the Lord Hungerford, Lord Treasurer of England, was among his fellows called Long H. who afterwards preferred to a good marriage by his Lord was called H. Long, that name continued to his posteritie, knightes and men of great worship."s

The building forms three sides of a quadrangle, and the entrance gateway, which faces the south, occupies the centre of one side; buildings, which are now pulled down, supposed to have been stables, formed, as it were, one wing to the left, as represented in the woodcut vignette; and other offices, extending a great length, formed another wing to the right. On entering the court through this gateway, on the right is the hall, the most antient portion, and the with-drawing room, added in the time of Elizabeth (see the Plate); and facing is a long range of offices built and added to at various times.

The house is situated on a gently rising ground about half a mile from the present parish church or rather chapel, as it is an attached chapel to the Vicarage of Bradford.

The first known possessor of South Wraxhall was Robert Long, who was in the commission of the peace in 1426, and M.P. for Wilts in 1433. He is stated to have married Alice, daughter and heiress of Reginald Popham, of North Bradley in the county of Wilts, and, from the armorial bearings in the hall, I presume him to have been the projector of the Manor House; but, since the first foundation of this ancient pile, many additions and alterations have been made, some to the detriment, and some to the improvement, of the edifice. His son and heir Henry, although thrice married, died without issue, Oct. 20th, 1490, leaving a widow Joane; when the estate devolved on his nephew Sir Thomas Long, whose father had married Margaret, daughter of Edward Wayte by the heiress of Draycot Cerne. This Sir Thomas Long, I presume, added the entrance gateway, as on one of the terminations of the label over the archway (which

"Camden's Remaines," by J. Philipot, p. 142.

is a very flat four-centred pointed arch of late date) is the fetterlock, a badge borne by the possessors of Draycot Cerne, on account of their being marshalls at the coronations, and on the other was the Stag's-head, now destroyed, but which was perfect when Aubrey visited South Wraxhall. He also, I am of opinion, erected the Altar Tomb, now in the Church at South Wraxhall, which is engraved in your Magazine for June 1835, to the memory of Joane, relict of his uncle Long Henry mentioned above, who I think must have been a daughter of Thomas Berkeley by Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Thomas Seymer.10 This opinion, I find, is at variance with that expressed in your Mag. for June 1835; but I am induced to adopt it from the late style of mouldings, and the circumstance of the fetterlock being so profusely scattered on the monument, which badge, I believe, was not borne by the Longs until Sir Thomas Long became the possessor of Draycot Cerne. Aubrey thus mentions it: "In the church here (S. Wraxall) in Longs chapelle, an old altar monument of freestone on wh lies a figure with a robe, but so coved wth a deske not well to be discerned. I guess it to be of a woman. The south

side was as the north, but now almost defaced."

The armorial bearings on the brackets supporting the ribs of the elegant, oak roof of the hall, now obscured by a modern ceiling, would lead one to imagine that these brackets were put up by the same person, and the late style in which they are carved would certainly strengthen such a supposition; but the roof itself, which is richly ornamented with quatrefoils between the principals, is certainly of the same date as the exterior, which I consider was built very early in the reign of Henry VI., and from the great similarity of the plan to that of Great Chalfield, which is only distant 3 miles, I am induced to think that it served as a model for that magnificent fabric,"

9 See "Le Neve's Baronets," p. 46. Gent. Mag. for June 1835, p. 590. 10 See Le Neve's Baronets," Vol. I. Coll. Arms.

11 See Gent. Mag. for Aug. 1833, p. 139 and plate; also Walker's History and Antiquities of . the Manor House and