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palace. At this house, in 1183, Archbishop Richard, Becket's successor) had such a terrible dream, that the fright occasioned his death. The Manor annexed now belongs to William James, Esq.

9. At TEYNHAM was an ancient seat, where Archbishop Hubert died in 1221. The Manor is now Lord Teynham's. 10. KNOWLE (near Sevenoak) was left to the See of Canterbury by Archbishop Bourchier, who added much to its magnificence. Archbishop Morton also built here. It is now the seat of the Duke of Dorset.

11. OTFORD was a magnificent palace, built by Archbishop Warham, at 33,000l. expence, he having taken offence at the citizens of Canterbury, where otherwise he designed to have built such a stately palace as should have been a lasting monument of his great wealth and glory.

All the above, with the Manors belonging to them, (Bekesburn excepted) were exchanged by Archbishop Cranmer with King Henry VIII. for other lands, "To extinguish the passions of such as looked with regret and desire upon the patrimony of the church."

12. CANTERBURY-Palace, given to the See by ArchBishop Lanfranc, and afterwards rebuilt by Archbishops' Hubert, Boniface, Langton and Parker, was destroyed in the time of the usurpation.

So that the Archbishops have now no Palace or House remaining in their own Diocese, and only Lambeth and Croydon out of it, both of which are in the Diocese of Winchester.

* 1770, Νου.

LXVIII. On the ancient manner of taking refuge for Murder or Felony in the Cinque Ports. Extracted from Mr. James Hammond's Collections of the Antiquities of Dover, Folio 14 and 15. From the Customall of the Cinque Ports. Corrected and amended in the Reigns of Henry the 7th and 8th. AND when any shall flee into the church or church yard for felony, claiming thereof the privilege, for any action of his life, the head officer of the same liberty, where the said church or church yard is, with his fellow-jurats, or coroners of the same liberty, shall come to him, and shall ask him the cause of being there, and if he will not confess felony, he shall be had out of the said sanctuary; and if he will confess felony, immediately it shall be entered in record, and his goods and chattels shall be forfeited, and he shall tarry there forty days; or before, if he will, he shall make his abjuration in form following, before the head-officer, who

shall assign to him the port of his passage, and after his abjuration, there shall be delivered unto him by the headofficer, or his assignees, a cross, and proclamation shall be made, that while he be going by the highway towards the port to him assigned, he shall go in the King's peace, and that no man shall grieve him in so doing, on pain to forfeit his goods and chattels; and the said felon shall lay his right hand on the book and swear this:-"You hear Mr. Coroner, that I, A. B. a thief, have stolen such a thing, or have killed such a woman, or man, or a child, and am the King's felon; and for that I have done many evil deeds and felonies in this same his land, I do abjure and forsware the lands of the Kings of England, and that I shall haste myself to the port of Dover, which you have given or assigned me; and that I shall not go out of the highway; and if I do, I will that I shall be taken as a thief, and the King's felon; and at the same place I shall tarry but one ebb and flood, if I may have passage; and if I cannot have passage in the same place, I shall go every day into the sea to my knees, and above, attempting myself to go every day to my knees, and above, crying, Passage for the love of God, and King N his sake; and if I may not within forty days together, I shall get me again into the church, as the King's felon.

So God me help and by this book according to your judgment.

And if a clerk, flying to the church for felony, affirming himself to be a clerk, he shall not abjure the realm, but yielding himself to the laws of the realm, shall enjoy the liberties of the church, and shall be delivered to the ordinary, to be safe kept in the convict prison, according to the Laudable custom of the realm of England.

1771, Aug.

LXIX. Artifice of the Thong in founding Cities and Castle exploded.

MR. URBAN,

THE story goes, that Dido or Eliza, upon her arrival in Africa, after her flight from Tyre, purchased as much land of the natives of the former place as she could cover or ra ther inclose, with an ox's hide; and thereupon cut the hide into thongs, and included a much larger space than the sellers expected; and that from thence the place, which afterwards became the citadel of Carthage, was called Bursa, Bursa signifying an ox's hide. This tale, which is either related or alluded to by Appian and Dionysius the Geographer,

amongst the Greeks, and by Justin, Virgil, Silius Italicus, and others of the Latins, has no foundation, I apprehend, in the truth of history, and indeed is generally exploded by the learned. However, let us see how later writers have conducted themselves in respect thereof; it was a subtle pleasing artifice, and they were very unwilling not to make use of it, for the embellishment of their respective works. First, Sigebert, Monk of Gemblours, who flourished A. 1100, has applied it to Hengist, the first Saxon King of Kent, saying, that the place purchased of the British King, and inclosed by him, was called Castellum Corrigia or the Castle of the Thong; but now, there being several more of the name of Thong or Tong in England, as in Kent, Lincolnshire, Shropshire, and Yorkshire, (Doncaster being written in Saxon Thongeceaster,) the story has been applied to most, if not all of them;* and with equal justice, being probably false in regard to them all. It is true, Sigebert knew nothing of the Greek authors above-mentioned, but then he was well acquainted with Justin and Virgil; and the same may be said of Jeffrey of Monmouth, A. 1159, who has the same story, and, if he followed not Sigebert, which is highly probable, took it from one of the Latin authors.

Secondly, Saxo Grammaticus, who wrote about A. 1170, has applied the story to Ivarus,† making him use the same artifice in respect of Hella, and by that means getting a footing in Britain, which he became master of for two years.‡ Saxo might take it either from Jeffrey or Sigebert; or Justin, if you please, as he made great use of this author. We can account very rationally, you observe, Mr. Urban, for the proceedings of these three authors, Sigebert, Jeffrey, and Saxo Grammaticus, but what shall we say, thirdly, to an affair of the like kind in the East Indies? "There is a tradition," Hamilton says, p. 136. " that the Portuguese circumvented the King of Guzerat, as Dido did the Africans, when they gave her leave to build Carthage, by desiring no more ground to build their cities than could be circumscribed in an ox's hide, which having obtained, they cut into a fine thong of a great length, &c." The Indians knew nothing of the authors above-mentioned, nor probably did those Portuguese who first made the settlement at Diu. I am of opinion, therefore, that as Hamilton calls it only a

* See Lambarde's Topograph. Diet. p. 16. Camdeni Col. 569.

It is a bad omen, that these authors do not agree in the person any more than others do in respect of the place.

Saxo Gram. p. 176.

Tradition, this Tradition was set on foot long after the time, and perhaps by some of the first missionaries that went thither, who, we may suppose, had often heard or read of the like fabulous narrations in Europe, and accord→ ingly invented this at Guzerat for the amusement of their countrymen.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient,

1771, Nov.

T. Row.

LXX. Account of the Burning and Rebuilding of the Church at Canterbury, in the year 1174. From the Latin of Gervase, one of the Monks, who was an eye-witness.

ON the 5th of September, in the year of Grace 1174, about nine o'clock, the wind blowing from the south with a fury almost beyond conception, a fire broke out before the church gate, by which three small houses were almost burnt down. While the citizens were there employed in extinguishing the flames, the sparks and ashes, whirled aloft by the violence of the storm, were lodged on the church, and, by the force of the wind, insinuating themselves between the joints of the lead, settled on the planks which were almost rotten, and thus, by degrees, the heat increasing, the decayed joists were set on fire; but the finely painted ceiling underneath, and the lead covering above, concealed the flame. Meantime, the three small houses being pulled down, the people returned home. No one being yet apprized of the fire in the church, the sheets of lead began, by degrees to melt; and, on a sudden, the flames just appearing, there was a great cry in the church yard,

Alas! alas! the church is on fire." Many of the laity ran together with the monks, to draw water, to bring axes, to mount ladders, all eager to succour Christ Church, now just on the point of destruction. They reached the roof, but behold! all was filled with a horrible smoak and a scorching flame. In despair, therefore, they were obliged to consult their own safety by retiring. And now, the joints of the rafters being consumed, the half-burnt timbers fell into the choir; the seats of the monks were set on fire, and on all sides the calamity increased. In this conflagration, that glorious choir made a wonderful and awful appearance. The flames ascended to a great height, and the pillars of the church were damaged or destroyed. Great numbers applied to the

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ornaments of the church, and tore down the palls and hang. ings, some to steal, others to preserve them. The chests of relics, thrown from the lofty beam upon the pavement, were broken, and the relics scattered; but lest they should be consumed, they were collected and laid up by the brethren. Some there were, who, inflamed with a wicked and diabolical avarice, saved the goods of the church from the fire, but did not scruple to carry them away. Thus the house of God, hitherto delightful like a paradise of pleasure, then lay contemptible in the ashes of the fire. The people, astonished, and in a manner frantic for grief, tore their hair, and uttered some enormous reproaches against the Lord and his saints, namely, the patrons of the church. There were laymen, as well as monks, who would rather have died than have seen the church of God so miserably perish; for not only the choir, but also the infirmary, with St. Mary's Chapel, and some other offices of the Court*, were reduced to ashes. The calamities of Canterbury were no less lamentable than those of Jerusalem of old under the tears and lamentations of Jeremiah. The grief and distress of the sons of the church were so great, that no one can conceive, relate, or write them; but, to relieve their miseries, they fixed the altar, such as it was, in the nave of the church, where they howled, rather than sung, matins and vespers. The Patrons of the church, St. Dunstan and St. Elphege, were, with incredible grief and anguish, taken from their tombs, and placed, as decently as possible, in the nave of the church, at the altar of the holy cross. Meanwhile, the brethren consulted how, and by what method, the ruined church might be repaired. Architects, both French and English, were therefore assembled: but they disagreed in their opinions; some undertook to repair, while others, on the contrary, affirmed that the whole church must be taken down, if the monks wished to dwell in safety. This, though true, overwhelmed them with grief. Among the architects there was one William of Sens, a man of great abilities, and a most curious workman in wood and stone. Neglecting the rest, him they chose for the undertaking. Patiently, though not willingly, they agreed to take down the ruined choir. Attention was given to the procuring stones from abroad. He made most ingenious machines for loading and unloading ships, for drawing the mortar and stones. He delivered, also, to the masons who were assembled, models for cutting the stones;

* Now called the Green Court, E

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