The exact spot upon which Charing-Cross stood is occupied by an equestrian statue of Charles I., in bronze, executed in 1633, by Le Sœur, for the earl of Arundel. During the civil wars it fell into the hands of the parliament, by whom it was ordered to be sold and broken up. The purchaser, John River, a brazier, produced some pieces of broken brass, in token of his having complied with the conditions of sale; and he sold to the cavaliers the handles of knives and forks as made from the statue: River deceived both the parliament and the loyalists-for he had buried the statue unmutilated. At the restoration of Charles II. he dug it up, and sold it to the government; and Grinlin Gibbon executed a stone pedestal, seventeen feet high, upon which it was placed and still remains. It has been customary on the 29th of May, the anniversary of the restoration, to dress the statue with oaken boughs.

Malmesbury Market-Cross, represented in the engraving, stands nearly in the centre of the town. Of this the late Mr. Cobbett says, in his "Rural Rides:" "There is a market cross in this town, the sight of which is worth a journey of hundreds of miles to see." Without going so far, however, it may be admitted to be an interesting architectural relic. It is an octangular stone building, with flying buttresses, and a richly-ornamented turret, which is also octangular, with a small niche on each side, filled with figures in basso-relievo, one of which represents the crucifixion. Leland says: "There is a right, fair, and costly piece of workmanship in the marketplace, made all of stone, and curiously vaulted for poor market-folks to stand dry when rain cometh. There be eight great pillars, and eight open arches, and the work is eight square. One great pillar in the middle beareth up the vault. The men of the town made this piece of work in hominum memoria,' that is, within the memory of man, or in the recollection of the existing generation." Leland wrote his "Itinerary" in the reign of Henry VIII. "The cross was substantially repaired," says Mr. Britton, "by the late earl of Suffolk and Lady Northwick, about twenty years ago," that is, prior to 1825.

The town of Malmesbury was one of the earliest of the incorporated boroughs of England, and was also early distinguished as a place of trade. It has produced several celebrated literary characters, among whom may be mentioned William of Malmesbury, so called either because he was born in the town (which is uncertain), or (which is the most probable supposition) from his connexion with the abbey, of which he was for many years the precentor and librarian. This monkish historian

is deservedly honored by our later historical writers, who draw largely from his works. The celebrated metaphysician Hobbes was a native of Malmesbury.

In the "Boundary Reports" (1833) it is stated, "Malmesbury is not a place of any trade, and not a considerable thoroughfare. There are no new buildings in the suburbs, nor any indications of increasing prosperity. A cloth factory was established about twenty years ago, but it is now abandoned, and has been converted into a cornmill. It contains very few houses which appear to be occupied by persons in independent circumstances, and has altogether the air of a place on the decline; it must now be considered as entirely an agricultural town." But in the municipal corporation report it is stated, that "a clothing establishment, recently revived, has given some stimulus to the demand for labor."

The late Mr. Cobbett was delighted with Malmesbury, because its ancient remains and present state supplied him with food for the absurd idea which he used so vigorously to advocate, viz., that England was formerly much more populous than it is now. "This town," he says, "though it has nothing particularly engaging in itself, stands upon one of the prettiest spots that can be imagined. Besides the river Avon, which I went down in the southeast part of the country, here is another river Avon, which runs down to Bath, and two branches or sources of which meet here. There is a pretty ridge of ground, the base of which is a mile, or a mile and a half, wide. On each side of this ridge a branch of the river runs down, through a flat of very fine meadows. The town and the beautiful remains of the famous old abbey stand on the rounded spot which terminates this ridge; and just below, nearly close to the town, the two branches of the river meet, and then they begin to be called the Avon. The land round about is excellent, and of a great variety of forms. The trees are lofty and fine, so that, what with the water, the meadows, the fine cattle and sheep, and, as I hear, the absence of hard-pinching poverty, this is a very pleasant place." In the municipal corporations report, it is stated that "a court of record, with jurisdiction over all causes of action not exceeding forty pounds, had fallen into disuse before the date of the governing charter," that is, before the eighth year of the reign of William III., or before the commencement of the eighteenth century. "There is," it is added, "no other court, and, consequently, no occasion for juries, except on coroner's inquests. There is no police in the town, except the parish constables, and no jail."

CHAPTER XV.

REGAL AND BARONIAL ANTIQUITIES.

PERHAPS the most striking features in the various landscapes which attract the eye of the traveller, at almost every mile of the tour through England, are the ruins of the castles of kings and barons. They are memorials of the feudal times, which, fortunately for the cause of peace, have passed, we hope for ever.

We shall proceed to notice some of the most prominent of these. We will premise that these ruins vary in extent and magnificence; some, too, are in much better preservation than others.

Close by the side of the Medway, and immediately above the bridge, stands Rochester castle; still, though now a bleak and roofless ruin, retaining many unobliterated features of its ancient vastness and magnificence. Its site is considerably elevated above the general level of the city; and, dilapidated as its walls are, they still tower far above all the other buildings in their neighborhood, the pinnacles of the cathedral only excepted. The principal part of the castle may indeed, it is said, be seen from a distance of twenty miles.

The fancy of the old chroniclers and legendary writers, which has adorned so many of the English cities and buildings with a fabulous antiquity, has not forgotten the castle of Rochester. In reference to the stories which have been invented with the view of giving it as illustrious an origin as possible, we may adopt the sensible

language of the antiquary William Lambarde, who says: "Some men (desirous belike to advance the estimation of this city) have left us a far-fetched antiquity concerning one piece of the same, affirming that Julius Cæsar caused the castle at Rochester (as also that other at Canterbury, and the tower at London) to be builded of common charge; but I, having not hitherto read any such thing, either in Cæsar's own Commentaries, or in any other credible history, dare not avow any other beginning of this city or castle than that which I find in Beda."

Bede's account is, that Rochester took its name from one Rof or Rhof, who was once lord of it; but there is, in all probability, no foundation for this etymology. As Rochester, however, was a military station in the latter times of the Roman empire in Britain, there is reason to believe that a fort occupied the site of the present castle, the position of which is exactly such as would have recommended it for such an erection. Many Roman coins have been found within the circuit of the castle, but none in any other part of the city; from which we may conclude that this was the only part of the city which existed in the time of the Romans. This supposition is still further confirmed by the language of the documents of the Saxon period, which speak of the place as sull merely a castle. Indeed, the name Rochester is an evidence that the station was originally merely a chester, castrum, or camp, and that the town has gradually grown up around the military fort.

The oldest portion of the present ruin is in the early Norman style of architecture. The building was probably the work of the Conqueror-one of the many strongholds which he erected in all parts of the country, to maintain his foreign dominion. Here it appears that his illegitimate brother, the famous Odo, bishop of Bayeux and earl of Kent, resided, and kept his court as a sort of petty sovereign of the county.