Angles, and whose exile and despondency are so minutely described by Bede, was the monarch who honoured this place by his presence." Alas, for the theories and conjectures of our elder antiquaries! The representation which Mr. Wardell now publishes of this fragment of stained glass, shows that it is merely one of a series of the heavenly host, for the "king" is winged, though in armour and wearing a coronet, and the three crowns upon his surcoat and his shield are intended, not for the kingdom of East Anglia, but for the Holy Trinity. He is evidently one of the nine orders of Angels,-the principalities and powers in heavenly places; and, from his costume, was delineated in the early part of the fifteenth century.

The castle of Leeds is said to have been besieged and taken by Stephen, in his march towards Scotland, A.D. 1139. It is also mentioned (says Mr. Wardell) as the place of imprisonment of the dethroned Richard II. in the following quaint and oft-quoted extract from Hardyng's Chronicles.

The kyng then sent kyng Richard to Ledis, There to be kepte surely in previtee; From thens after to Pykeryng went he nedes, And to Knauesburgh after led was he, But to Pountfrete last, where he did die. But, though Pickering, Knaresborough, and Pontefract be all in Yorkshire, we believe it is no less certain that the first place of king Richard's imprisonment was Leeds castle in Kent. Therefore the people of Leeds need not be surprised that they hear nothing else of their castle after the time of Stephen.

Among the relics of antiquity in the Church is an inscription to a vicar who died in the reign of Edward IV. in the following terms: "Ecce sub hoc lapide humatur dominus Thomas Clarell quondam hujus Ecclesie venerabilis vicarius, qui eandem pluribus decoravit ornamentis, Cancellumque ejusdem nova historia fabricavit, et jo die mensis Marcij A° d'ni M°CCCClxixo diem clausit extremum, cujus anime propicietur deus amen." What was the nova historia with which we are here told that Clarell built his chancel? Mr. Parker in his glossary informs us under the word "Story" that it was "in monkish Latin written Istoria and Historia, as in William of Worcester," but explains the term as a single floor of a building." Did the munificent vicar raise his chancel to a higher elevation than before, with a range of what were called clere-story windows,-which at the period in question is not improbable; or did he embellish it with a new series of painted history? Had the word applied to the latter clause been decoravit, we should

66

have inclined to this latter interpretation; but fabricavit seems to apply more strictly to architectural work, and, in connection with a circumstance we have next to notice, determines us to decide in favour of the former.

A very remarkable monument of ancient Leeds, though not at present preserved there, is the obeliscal Cross which is represented in the lithographic plate of which we are favoured with impressions. "It was found in fragments, in the walls of the belfry and clerestory of the nave and chancel of the parish church, on its demolition in the year 1838. This interesting relic, no doubt, originally stood in the churchyard, and was broken in pieces and used as materials for repairs shortly after the reformation [or rather, we should say, when the nova historia was built by Thomas Clarell in the reign of Edward the Fourth.] A pagan, and consequently a very remote origin, is ascribed by some antiquaries to remains of this description, but I think without any sufficient authority. This cross, with the exception of the base, which is lost, is in the possession of the architect of the new church of St. Peter's, now resident in the Shanie' metropolis. It is, in its present state, between nine and ten feet in height, and, being the only vestige of Early-Norman sculpture connected with the borough, it is to be deeply regretted that it should not have been placed on or near to its ancient site." We earnestly second this suggestion of Mr. Wardell. After leaving casts in London for the Architectural Museum and the National Museum at Sydenham, this cross should certainly be restored to its own locality in Leeds. It appears to have represented on one side a half-length of the Saviour, and on the other full-length figures of two saints, perhaps Peter and Paul. At the foot, on the former side, is a nobleman, with his sword and hawk, who defrayed the cost of its sculpture; and on the other the sculptor has apparently represented himself, entangled in the meshes of his favourite serpentine scrollwork; whilst at his head, seen as it were in perspective, is a fellowworkman refreshing himself after his labours with a horn of old English ale. We make no doubt that Mr. Le Keux, in his projected work on English Crosses, will publish more elaborate representations of this very curious example.

Of the seals of Kirkstall and its abbats much more might be collected than is given in p. 26. The other relics from that once tranquil and still impressive ruin are but few: they consist chiefly of pavement tiles, representations of which occupy seven of Mr. Wardell's plates. The area has

not hitherto been excavated, but the factories of Leeds now closely approach its walls, and Mr. Wardell gives a lamentable account of the desecration and wilful damage to which this venerable fabric has been subjected, "and at no period more than the present, without any effort being made, either in accordance with the general features of the building, or even by an ordinary surveillance, to save it from the decay to which it is rapidly hastening. The wanton ravages it has undergone during the present year, if allowed to continue, will in a very short time entirely destroy a pile which, on account of the associations connected with it, extending over a period of eight hundred years, is regarded alike with reverential feelings, not only by the antiquary and historian, but by every person of taste and education." Are the burgesses of Leeds too busy, we are sure they are not too poor, to extend to their own Kirkstall some little regard, in point of purification and exploration, in accordance with the excellent example that has been recently shown at Fountains and some others of the more fortunate ruins of Yorkshire?

Notes and Records of the Ancient Religious Foundations at Youghal, co. Cork, and its Vicinity. By the Rev. SAMUEL HAYMAN, B.A. 8vo. pp. 60.-We have here presented to us in the form of a closely printed pamphlet, materials which in other quarters might have been dilated into a volume of far greater pretensions. Mr. Hayman has diligently compiled, from every available source, the annals of the religious foundations which he had selected for illustration, and has completed his task by the results of personal examination. The district embraced in the work is situated at the mouth of the river Blackwater, in Munster, comprising portions of the counties of Cork and Waterford, and including the ancient city of Ardmore and the important town of Youghal. Besides the several religious foundations of those places, the others which are included are the Abbey of Molana, Kilcoran, or the Shanavine Monastery (hitherto unnoticed by topographers), and the Preceptory of Knights Templars at Rhincrew. In the account of each house, the founder, and the purpose of the foundation, are first stated; historical and local occurrences are arranged in chronological order; and the present state of the remains is fully described. Remarkable monuments are noted, and their inscriptions given at length. The burials of distinguished personages are recorded. The grants made at the dissolution are derived from the

patent rolls; and altogether, every feature of information is brought together that can be expected in a Monasticon.

Ardmore is especially memorable as one of the mother cities of Christianized Ireland, first converted by the labours of Saint Declan, in the early part of the fifth century. Declan, as depicted by Colgan, was "in person handsome, in birth illustrious, in garb and gait humble, in language sweet, in counsel mighty, in discourse powerful, in charity ardent, in behaviour cheerful, in gifts profuse, in life holy, in wonders and miracles frequent and eminent.' The lord of Nan-Deisi granted him a sheep-down, which acquired the name of Ard-more, or "the great eminence." Here Declan is supposed to have founded his seminary about the year 416, and he was confirmed Bishop of Ardmore at the synod of Cashel in 448. The ancient oratory of Saint Declan is still standing with a pillar-tower by its side. "In all probability, it is the very place where Declan ministered during his life, and where his remains were deposited when he rested from his labours. The building is of small dimensions, 13 feet 4 inc. by 8 feet 9 inc. in the clear. The two side-walls extend about 2 feet 6 inc. beyond the gables, and form in this way a set of four square buttresses to the building. The original entrance was at the west end; but it is now rendered useless by an accumulation of soil on the outside to the very lintel. It is 5 feet 6 inc. in height, and its lintel is formed by a single stone more than 6 feet in length. The doorway tapers in width, from 2 feet at lintel to 2 feet 5 inc. at base. The east window has a semicircular head formed in one stone, and displays the same tapering construction with the door. There were windows also in the north and south walls. The south window is now built up; and the only entrance into the building is through the north window, which has been opened down for this purpose. The roof is modern: it was erected in 1716, for the preservation of the oratory, by Dr. Thomas Milles, Bishop of Waterford. The interior presents no feature of interest, save that a large open excavation is shown as Declan's grave. The walls of this vault are of masonry, and the descent is by a few steps. The earth taken from it (and which is often put into it, that it may be consecrated by lying there) is superstitiously reverenced by the peasantry, and is considered efficacious in protecting from disease.

"The Round Tower, or Cloiy-theach of Ardmore, is, owing to its beauty and fine preservation, one of the best-known structures of its kind in Ireland. It is built of a hard sand-stone, chiselled to

the curve, and brought from the mountains of Slievegrian, about four miles distant. The tower is about 15 feet in diameter at the base, from which it gradually tapers to the apex, 97 feet above the surface of the ground, and terminates in a conical roof now half thrown over by injuries from lightning. Four string-courses divide the exterior into five stories. The entrance is in the east side, at the distance of 13 feet from the ground. It is circularheaded, and tapers from 1 foot 11 inches at springing of the arch to 2 feet 7 inches at base. The full height of this fine doorway is 5 feet 9 inches. Around the outer edges is cut a bold Norman bead; and inside are bar-holes, two at each side of the entrance, for securing the door. Access to the interior is now rendered easy, by means of the ladders and floors provided by Mr. Odell, the lord of the soil. The lower stories are lighted by splaying spikeholes, some square, some with circular heads; and as the visitor ascends he meets grotesque corbels at intervals, staring at him from the concave walls. The highest story has four tapered windows, facing the cardinal points. Each of these presents on the exterior a triangular arch, and on the interior a trefoil head. In height they are respectively 3 feet 9 inches. The stone lintels remain over the openings where the beam for the bell rested, which tradition says was of so deep and powerful tone that it was heard at Glaun-mor, or The Great Glen, 8 miles distant. The apex of the roof was once surmounted by a cross of stone; but this was some years since shot down by a person firing at birds. "Excavations were made, in the year 1841, within the base of this tower, under the superintendence of Messrs. Odell,

Windele, Hackett and Abell, and led to the discovery of two imperfect human skeletons at a considerable depth of earth. This circumstance induced some to think that the interments took place at a period subsequent to the erection of the tower, and was advanced as an argument for the Pagan origin of these structures. But there was no little misconception here. Instead of having been interred, with care, within the basement of the tower, these human remains had been interfered with at the time of its erection. A foundationstone occupied the place of one of the crania, and the skeleton evidently had been decapitated and otherwise injured by the workmen who cut the circular trench for the foundations of the tower. We have no hesitation in assigning this noble structure to the ninth or tenth century; for the mouldings of the doorway, the grotesque corbel-heads in the interior, and the square trefoil-heads of the windows of the upper story, all belong to this period. And, perhaps, we may find the reason for the erection of the Cloig-theach at this time in the unsettled state of the country owing to the predatory landings of the Dubh-Galls, Fin-Galls, and other searovers."

Another memorial of the first evangeliser of Ardmore is the Teampul Deiscart, or Church of the South. "Few situations could be more romantically chosen for a place of worship. A steep precipitous cliff, overhanging the ocean, is its nest ling-place; and just on the verge of the frightful chasm stand the grey weatherbleached ruins of the old church. The ecclesiastical details belong to the thirteenth century. There are now standing the west gable, with portions of the south

side wall. The east gable was blown down by a storm about thirty years since; and where the north wall stood, right over the sea, is a pile of the loose stones of the ruin. The entrances were two, both in the south wall, at its east and west extremities. Of the door to the west one jamb alone remains. The door towards the east gable is nearly perfect, and is 8 feet in height by 4 feet 3 inches in width. The key-stone of the flat arch of its head is apparently inverted-a matter which has given rise to much speculation; but the result of a keen scrutiny will show that it was so cut to the depth of a few inches only, and that then it is constructed as usual to meet the laws of gravitation. The church measures within walls 66 feet by 18. It was lighted by a large lancet window of two lights in the east gable, a narrow window (now built up) in the south wall, and a square tapered window high up in the west gable. This last is now broken through at the base, and affords a modern passage into the ruins. At the east end is a square piscina, close to which is a rude modern altar. At the west end, on the outside, is a famous Holy

Well, the place of resort for pilgrims on the pattern day.

"The festival of St. Declan is kept, with many superstitious observances, on the 24th of July, when multitudes resort to this well, as well as the Saint's burial-place in the oratory already described, and to a large boulder-stone lying among the rocks on the beach, which is called by his name."

We have come to the extent of our space, but before concluding we must point out the interesting notices which Mr. Hayman has collected relative to the aucient Light Tower, at the west side of the harbour of Youghal, which was entrusted to the care of the nuns of St. Anne's-an appeal, it is suggested, at once to the religion and the gallantry of the native Irish. It was an Anglo-Norman structure of the 12th or 13th century; and was placed on a site so admirably chosen, that when, in 1848, it was determined to erect a new Harbour Lighthouse, it was found desirable to fix upon nearly the same spot, and the demolition of this remarkable monument of the Norman invaders of Ireland became inevitable.

Tour

Supplement to "Vacation Rambles," consisting of Recollections of a through France, to lialy, and homeward by Switzerland, in the Vacation of 1846. By T. N. Talfourd. 12mo. From the date on this title-page it might be supposed that this supplemental tour of the late gifted Justice of the Common Pleas had not been intended by himself for publication, but was now brought forward by his family on their own suggestion. Such is not exactly the case. It appears that, though it was chiefly at the solicitation of

his own family, the companions of his tour, that the book has been prepared for the press, yet it is the actual (though now posthumous) production of Mr. Justice Talfourd himself. In fact, the book was not written during the journey, but partly during the following year, and only arranged in shape for the press during the last vacation. In spirit and in substance it has the advantage of Tours written by way of diaries, which have usually in their composition too large a proportion of the personal adventures of the writers, which

are generally of little if any interest except to the parties concerned. The intellectual spirit of Talfourd could not write but with a higher aim. Whilst a tour to Paris, Italy, and Switzerland forms the ground-work of this book, its essence consists in the recollections and reflections suggested in retracing the course of his travels. It was a tour which he describes himself to have enjoyed more intensely than he ever could another, inasmuch as he had not then retired from the arduous labours and feverish excitements of his forensic life, whereas he had "since been blessed by Providence with the attainment of a position which is visited with no sharper anxieties than those which attend the endeavour to discharge its duties.”

The more we become acquainted with the inner mind of this highly amiable and conscientious man, the more we are constrained to admire and love him: to esteem him not merely for his genius and his appreciation and creation of the beautiful, but for his enlarged benevolence and his sober piety. He was not, like other ardent and enthusiastic spirits, dazzled by the pompous splendour of the Roman church, nor deceived by the fantastic freaks of a spurious Liberalism. The last Republican reign in France, and the pseudo-triumph of Liberty at Rome, which were contemporaneous with the tour, did not prevent the accuracy of his political perceptions, attached as he ever enthusiastically was to all that was truly liberal and free. The course of subsequent events has fully confirmed the accuracy of his anticipations. There are few passages throughout this little volume with which the reader will not sympathise. As a brief specimen, and one in accordance with the spirit of the whole, we transcribe the following lines. After describing his three days' passage from Marseilles to Genoa as "an enchanted voyage of delicious indolence," "At noon on Wednesday, the charm was interrupted by the vessel sweeping into the port of Genoa, and the image of that pictorial city, so suddenly exhibited, so swiftly withdrawn, glistens in the past, as if it were an air-drawn fancy breaking through an enchanted slumber. Perhaps a visitor, fugitive as we, seeking to recall it after it has been obscured by the concerns of busy life, will recognise at first only a confused rainbowstreak in his memory; but that streak will gradually expand in gorgeous colours, those colours will settle into shapes, and gresently the radiant semicircle will appear complete, blazing in the sun; and Genoa la Superba will be clearly reflected in the intellectual mirror. first impression on the spectator is rather GENT. MAG. VOL. XLII.

The

that of a wilderness of flowers than of clustered fabrics made with hands. Around the circle, palaces, churches, villas, rise, tufted with bright orange trees, or garlanded with the red oleander in long streaks, as if all had sprung into life together; even the light-house looks as if it had been cast out of the rock far towards the clear blue sky by an effort of nature, in sudden perfection. Our guide conducted us through the Goldsmiths' Street, which is one of the broadest alleys of the steep ascent of the city, radiant with painted walls, resounding with constant hammers, and enriched by a picture of the Holy Family in stone, worthy of Raphael's hand, and now preserved beneath a canopy by the brotherhood of working goldsmiths, as the last relic of the departed glory of their guild. Besides its association with an ancient and once powerful community, now reduced to a society of craftsmen, this picture is invested with the dearer interest which belongs to genius extinguished by death in the brilliant uncertainty of its dawn; for its author, Pellegrino Piola, died in his twenty-second year, leaving, in his successful attempts at various excellence, a problem never to be solved-in what style he would have excelled in protracted life or whether he would have developed for himself a style of art embracing the finest qualities of several styles. The story associated with the Apprentice's Pillar at Roslin, of the murder of an extraordinary pupil by an envious master, is applied to this picture, as it is to several other works of precocious desert in different places; but its verity in this instance is not required to deepen that awe with which every Christian observer must contemplate the exhibition of rare powers just shewn to our species, and suddenly withdrawn to baffle its earthly anticipation, and add confirmation to the faith which teaches that this world is not the final home of genius."

Magazine for the Blind. No. 1. June 1854. (Chapman and Hall).-We have before spoken of the value of the endeavours now making to add to the resources of the Blind. It is cheering too to see that these efforts are made on the sensible plan of preserving as far as possible a common type for the Blind and the seeing. The present attempt at commencing a Magazine is a very promising specimen. It is in the lower-case Roman type, and we are assured by those who have taught the blind to read by means of that type, that it is a great improvement on the system of using capital letters only. This might indeed be suspected, previous

H