Grevil" and his wife; he died in the year 1401, and is in the recorded inscription described as "quondam Civis London. & flos M'cator. lanat. totius Anglie," i. e. " formerly a Citizen of London, and the flower of Wool Merchants of all England." John Grevil, the grandson of the above William Grevil, resided at Charlton Kings in the same County; he died in the year 1480, and was, probably, the "Greville" alluded to by Aubrey. His son, Thomas, died without issue, and the family property reverted to John, a descendant of Lodowick, the second son of the above-mentioned William Grevil of Campden. One of his descendants, Fulke Greville, married the heiress of Lord Willoughby de Broke, and his son was created Lord Brooke, (of Brooke House in the parish of Westbury, Wilts,) which title is now held conjointly with that of Warwick by the present Earl of Brooke and Warwick.

The family of Wenman were, in a subsequent age, ennobled under the same name; and the title has been recently revived in a descendant in the female line. Miss Wykham, of Thame Park, in Oxfordshire, was, in 1834, created a Peeress in her own right under the title of Baroness Wenman.

Chrystian, the daughter of John Halle, married Sir Thomas Hungerford, Kt.; and, the ultimate heir of his family, Joan, the daughter of William Halle, his son, married Sir Thomas Wriothesley, Garter King of Arms, which family (he dying without issue) became ennobled in the person of his nephew, Thomas, Lord Wriothesly, of Tichfield in the County of Southampton.

The respectable family of Webb is yet extant in the person of Sir Henry Webb, Bart. This family, after possessing the honour of Knighthood, was raised to the Baronetcy in the year 1684, and was long resident at Odstock, near Salisbury. From a parchment roll, which was in the possession of the late muchrespected Dr. Maton, it appears, that King Henry, the Seventh, was at Salisbury in the year 1486; and Aubrey says, that he paid a visit to Webb, who was a "Merchant of the Staple."

Thus is my assertion amply proved, that merchants of the staple were men of eminence in station"-" of affluence""inhabiting mansions, and living in splendour, and whom even Kings deigned to visit." Well may I repeat ""Oh! terque, quaterque beatus!' happy the man, who is, perchaunce, descended from the affluent wool-stapler, or manufacturer, of the fifteenth century!"

NOTE 3-(p. 3).

"Camden." This learned man was born in the year 1551, and died in that of 1623, being 73 years of age. By his great work, the "Britannia," he well earned for himself the title of "The Father of English Topography." I should have thought it unnecessary to have devoted a note to so well-known, and estimated, a character, were it not to mention a fact, interesting to the inhabitants of Wilts, which is, that he was a Prebendary of the Cathedral Church of Salisbury, he having been presented in the year 1589 by his friend, Bishop Piers, to the lay prebend of Ilfracomb, in Devonshire, at that time pertaining to the establishment.

NOTE 4-(p. 6.)

"Conquestor." The question, whether William, the First, took his title of "Conqueror" from the Conquest of England in the modern acceptation of the term, raised a controversy (in which the author of this work took a part on its negative side) in the Gent. Mag. for Sept., 1825. In elucidation of this subject I beg leave to make the following extract from my letter of Sept. 13 in that year: "The accidental death of Harold impressed the minds of the English, superstitious as they were in those early ages, that the designs of his rival were favoured by Divine Providence, and they were more reluctant to uphold a vigorous opposition. William, pursuing a wily policy, approached London, and, by his conduct, intimated his intention of besieging it, justly concluding, that the possession of the capital, whether by siege, or by voluntary surrender, would be followed by the submission of the whole kingdom. The cautious fear, by which he was actuated, was balanced by a similar cautious, and prudent, timidity in the opposite party. The result was, that the Citizens of London, unsanctioned by the State, proffered him the Crown, which he accepted as a gift, and the example of the Metropolis was followed by a general, and silent, submission. The coronation of William took place shortly afterwards; and, so far from taking on himself, as a victor, to dispense with the accustomed oaths, or, on the other hand, binding himself to govern his newly-organised possessions by the laws of

his own country, he confirmed the laws then in existence, the code of Edward, the Confessor. It is very true, that we call him, by way of contra-distinction, William, the Conqueror, and for ages he has borne this appellation; but he never so denominated himself, nor was he so called until after his death."

After citing a series of arguments in support of the foregoing opinion from a scarce work attributed to the illustrious Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke I agreed to his conclusions in the following terms: "To the foregoing conclusions I cannot but cordially assent; and, I think, there is no doubt, but that William gained the throne, not from absolute conquest, but by mutual compact arising from mutual fear."

Sir Henry Spelman, I must here repeat, in his Glossary, expressly says, "Willielmus Primus Conquestor dicitur, quia Angliam conquisivit, id est, acquisivit, non quod subegit, not that he subdued it." And, again, Harold, the predecessor of William, who came to the throne by the choice of the people, was yet denominated, in like manner, by an ancient author: "Heraldus, strenuus Dux, Conquestor Angliæ."

Lest it should be said, that, in the previous opinions, I am somewhat at variance with myself, as I have elsewhere stated, (pp. 11, 124, 262,) that the Normans endeavoured to impose on the Britons, and Saxons, "their own language, their laws, their manners, and customs;" I beg permission to say, that I am perfectly consistent. William, on his admission to the regal power, was actuated by, and pursued, a course of policy widely different from that, which he adopted, when he saw himself firmly seated on the throne.

NOTE 5-(p. 8.)

"On the fifth of April, 1092, Osmond, assisted by Walkeline, Bishop of Winchester, and John of Bath, solemnly dedicated his new church.Ӡ

Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke owned the estate of Chilton Park (in the parish of Chilton Foliot) in this County, where he died July 28, 1675. He was the author of "Memorials" of the Rebellion, and other estimable works. His four last lineal descendants, (whom I well knew,) and who were, I believe, his great grand-daughters, lived at Hungerford, where they died some years since at an advanced age.

+ Dodsworth's "Cathedral of Sarum," p. 101.

The dedication of this Norman Cathedral was quickly followed by a signal misfortune. On the fifth day subsequently to this event the roof of the tower was struck by lightning, and the Cathedral sustained great injury; and this we may well believe, when we find from the recently (1835) developed plan of the building, that the tower stood nearly over its centrical portion, dividing the transept ailes, and the nave and choir. This fact is noted in the rhyming chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, who says thus:

"So gret lytnynge was the vyfte yer, so that al to nogt
The rof of the chyrch of Salesbury it broute,

Ryte euene the vyfte day that he yhalwed was."

But let us refer to an Historian, who was living at the time. William of Malmesbury, after citing a violent tempest, which in the fourth year of William, the Second, destroyed more than 600 houses in London, proceeds to say: "Quinto anno eadem violentia fulminis apud Salesberiam tectum turris ecclesiæ omnino disiecit, multúmq; maceriam labefactauit, quinta sanè die postquam eam dedicauerat Osmundus præclaræ memoriæ episcopus." The word maceria, used in this passage, is of rare occurrence, and is here meant to denote the general walls of the building, proving, that the whole Cathedral was much shattered. The situation of this building has been long known, as its site has, at various times, been clearly seen in dry summer seasons, when, in concurrence with these, the field has, casually, been under a grass crop. In that event the failure of the plants, immediately over the foundations, has ever developed the exact plan, and extent, of the edifice.

Ledwich, in his "Antiquitates Sarisburienses," (p.14,) says, "In an angle to the North-west stood the Cathedral and Episcopal Palace; the foundations are at present (1771) so conspicuous, that I could easily mark out the ground-plot of it."

Dr. Stukeley, in his "Iter VII." of his "Itinerarium Curiosum," made in the year 1723, visited Old Sarum, and gives us many interesting remarks on it; he also says: "In the angle to the north-west stood the cathedral and episcopal palace the foundations are at present, so conspicuous, that I could easily mark out the ground-plot of it, as in the fiftysixth plate." And, in that plate, he actually does give, in a

bird's-eye view of Old Sarum, the plan of the Cathedral in the same spot, and very nearly in the same form, as it has been developed in the recent researches of Mr. Hatcher of Salisbury, who has communicated a very interesting memoir, accompanied with a plan of the "restored Cathedral," to the Gent. Mag. for August, 1835.

As I am now writing of the former Salisbury, I am induced to extend my remarks on its situation, extent, &c. The public will give that weight to the following lucubrations, which they may think them deserving of. They may be ycleped mere inferences; yet I shall endeavour to show, that they are, at least, founded on the basis of facts.

It is unnecessary to go into the history of ancient Salisbury prior to the time of William, the First. Let it, then, suffice to say, that it certainly was a Roman Town under the name of Sorbiodunum; and, afterwards, successively possessed by the Saxons and Normans. In the time of William, the First, the summit of Old Sarum was crowned with a stately fortress, which was in the hands of the King himself; and its keeping was occasionally then, as well as subsequently, delegated to others. I must here premise, that I consider all the ground within both the inner, and the second, or outer, rampart to have pertained to, or have been within, the castle, as the outer rampart was surmounted by a wall, in which, at certain intervals, were situate towers, guarded, as we may suppose, by the military under the Commandant of the Castle. Prior to the days of the Normans it appears, that the then Salisbury had its Dean. The Monarch of that æra had there a free chapel, 66 as Windsor has at this day, wherein the Dean, under the King, had more than episcopal jurisdiction."*

"Herman, the last Bishop of Wilton, was a native of Flanders, and is first mentioned as chaplain to Edward the Confessor, by whom he was advanced to the episcopal dignity. Dissatisfied with his place of residence, he was desirous of removing to Malmesbury, then in a flourishing state; but his design was strenuously opposed by the abbot and monks, and finally defeated by the powerful influence of Earl Godwin, whom they interested in their behalf. Herman, accordingly, quitted his bishopric in disgust; and retiring to the celebrated monastery of St. Bertin, in France, assumed the monastic habit. While he continued "Account of Old Sarum." 1774.