here be recited, but my limits forbid the extension of this note. For the history of this eminent family I beg leave to refer my reader to Dugdale's "Baronage of England," Dodsworth's (Hatcher's)" Cathedral of Salisbury," and, especially, to the "Annals and Antiquities of Lacock Abbey," lately (1835) so well edited by my friend, the Rev. W. L. Bowles, and his able co-adjutor, J. G. Nichols, Esq.

NOTE 14-(p. 202.)

"St. Margaret." The origin of that mass of absurdities denominated the "Golden Legend" is thus given by D'Israeli in his "Curiosities of Literature," (first series,) vol. 1, p. 145: "Before colleges were established" (says he) "in the monasteries, where the schools were held, the professors in rhetoric frequently gave their scholars the life of some saint for a trial of their talent at amplification. The students, being constantly at a loss to furnish out their pages, invented these wonderful adventures. Jortin observes, that the Christians used to collect out of Ovid, Livy, and other Pagan poets and historians, the miracles and portents to be found there, and accommodated them to their own monks and saints. The good fathers of that age, whose simplicity was not inferior to their devotion, were so delighted with these flowers of rhetoric, that they were induced to make a collection of these miraculous compositions; not imagining, that, at some distant period, they would become matters of faith. Yet, when James de Voragine (so nick-named from a whirl-pool, as one who absorbs every thing,) Peter Nadal, and Peter Ribadineira wrote the Lives of the Saints, they sought for their materials in the libraries of the monasteries; and, awakening from the dust these manuscripts of amplification, imagined they made an invaluable present to the world by laying before them these voluminous absurdities. The people received these pious fictions with all imaginable simplicity, and, as the book is adorned with a number of cuts, these miracles were perfectly intelligible to their eyes. Tillemont, Fleury, Baillet, Launoi, and Bollandus, cleared much of the rubbish; the enviable title of Golden Legend,' by which De Voragine called his work, has been disputed; iron or lead might more aptly express the character of this folio.

"That the lives of the ancient philosophers are composed with more judgment than those of the Saints of Christianity has been painful to all sober persons; and, when indeed the world began to be more critical in their reading, the Monks gave another turn to their narratives, and became penurious of their absurdities."

Such is the curious account, which D'Israeli gives of the origin of the "Golden Legend." That the contents of that book of wonderful tales were piously believed by the credulous, and superstitious, Papists of the succeeding ages we may verily believe. That Caxton, our most early printer, and the translator of that absurd, and impious, farrago, gave implicit credence to the wonderful miracles therein contained, we may doubt not; and, to descend to modern times, the Rev. Alban Butler, the author of the "Lives of the Saints," &c., gives us no reason, from whence to infer his disbelief in the many strange tales, which he extracts from the "Golden Legend," as from his text-book. As he most likely regarded them as legendathings, worthy to be read --so may we unhesitatingly assume, that he doth lay them before his readers as credenda-things, worthy to be believed-as the pious traditions of his Church. Amongst the votaries of the Romish Faith, superstition, and (her sister attendant) credulity have ever walked, and ever will so, hand in hand, so long as that Church exists on earth. It is folly to exclaim, that belief in the miracles of the Saints, as detailed in the "Golden Legend," was the error of the dark ages alone. The Papists of the modern-nay-recent day, who yielded their faith to the asserted miracles of Prince Hohenlohe, would not refuse assent to those of the "Golden Legend," or of any legend.

The doctrine of miracles in the Romish Church is satirised, with equal strength and wit, in "A Conference between his Grace George, late Duke of Buckingham, and Father Fitzgerald, an Irish Priest, whom King James II. sent to his Grace in his sickness to endeavour to pervert him to the Popish Persuasion. Faithfully taken by his Secretary."*

I do not esteem it necessary to extract the history of Saint Margaret (so venerated by the papistical ladyes faire of former

This humorous, and clever, piece appears in the second volume of the "Works of his Grace, George Villiers, late Duke of Buckingham." 2 vols. 8vo. (third edition) 1715.

ages) from the "Golden Legend," the copy of which curious, but justly repudiated, work, belonging to the Cathedral Library of Salisbury, is now before me. It is of great length, and the language very antiquated both in style and orthography. The following extract, from the pages of Brady, is to the same purport:

"St. Margaret, whose festival (20th July) has been restored to our Calendar, after having been once expunged, was the daughter of an idolatrous priest at Antioch, in Syria, a person distinguished as having been one of the greatest enemies of his time to the Christian doctrine. Being remarkable for personal charms, Olybius, the president of the East, became enamoured of our Saint, and used every effort in his power, supported by the authority of her father, to make her abjure the Christian religion, to which she had recently been converted; but not being able either to induce, or to terrify her into such renunciation, he caused her to be put to the most cruel torments, and afterwards to be decapitated, about the year 275.

"The History of ST. MARGARET, in the earliest Breviaries of the Romish church, was so fraught with impious and absurd anecdotes, that they have been from time to time so much altered and amended, as scarcely to retain any part of her original legend; though, as she has been worshipped with extreme fervor by both the Eastern and Western churches, for her supposed power in assisting females in child-birth, one miracle was necessarily preserved, until nearly the end of the 17th century, as an explanation of the cause of that peculiar province having been assigned to her: Neither Olybius nor her father having been capable of diverting her from her steady adherence to the Christian faith, recourse was had, say her monkish historians, to the assistance of Satan himself, who, in the shape of a dragon, swallowed her alive, though she speedily burst from her horrid confinement, and effected her escape. So miraculous a circumstance naturally pointed out the peculiar powers over which Providence designed her to have empire; for who could so well be capable of aiding the struggles of the yet unborn infant, as one, who had extricated herself, even from the body of the arch enemy.

"The Eastern church records this Saint under the appellations of St. Pelagia, or St. Marina, while the Western church

pays reverence to her by the name of St, Geruma, or, as our calendar retains it, St. Margaret."

NOTE 15-(p. 203.)

"A countour." There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the precise meaning, which Chaucer attached to the station of the Frankelein (see note, p. 510.) I there considered the Frankelein to be the independent country gentleman, whose landed property (towards the close of the feudal system) was freed—i. e. franked from the exaction of personal services to his superior Lord-who was no longer required to attend him to the wars. The Frankelein, it seems, had been "a shereve" (sheriff) and " a countour." The office of "shereve" needs no remark, but what is that of "a countour?" For the explication (however unsatisfactory) of this word I will cite the following note of Tyrwhitt-the learned editor of Chaucer :

"Ver. 361. a countour.] This word has been changed in Ed. Urr.† upon what authority I know not, to Coroner. The MSS. all read Countour, or comptour. At the same time it is not easy to say what office is meant. I have a notion, that the Foreman of the inquest in the Hundred-Court was called a Countour; but the Law Glossaries do not take notice of any such sense of the word, and I cannot at present produce any thing stronger in support of it than the following passage of Robert of Gloucester, p. 538. Speaking of an Hundred-Court summoned by the Constable of Gloucester Castle, he says, that

'He hald this hundred mid gret folk and honour,
And Adam of Arderne was is (his) chef countour.'”

Though this may possibly mean, that Adam acted as accomptant or steward of the court."

Tyrwhitt here, I hesitate not to say, is correct in his doubting supposition, that Adam was the accomptant, i. e. that, at the Court of the Hundred, he, as Steward, received the rents; and, as the period, referred to, was prior to the introduction of the Arabic Numerals, he did, with the aid of the jettons, or Nuremberg Tokens, cast up, and receive, the several sums due

"Clavis Calendaria," Vol. ii. p. 98. + Urry's Edition.-E. D.

For the use of these in the calculation of sums of money, when the Roman Numerals were known alone, brevity compels me to refer the reader to the several numismatic works.-E. D.

to the Lord of the Manor. The word countour, as it occurs in the above couplet, does not explain this passage of Chaucer. You, gentle reader, must agree with me, that this endeavour, on the part of Tyrwhitt, to enlighten, leaves us still in the dark. Chaucer clearly does not mean to place the frankelein, who "a shereve had he ben," in the humble, and discrepant, situation of an accomptant.

It is, I acknowledge, with some confidence, therefore, that I submit the following suggestion of my own mind. Prisons for debtors, even to the present day, are, not unusually, denominated Compters. From hence we have in London the Giltspur-street Compter, and the Poultry Compter, and, in the Borough of Southwark, we have, also, the Tooley-street Compter. Of such a prison thus saith Minshieu : "The Counter or Contor. It is the name of a prison in London, wherein debtors, and others, for misdemeanours, are imprisoned: so called from the French word Compter, which comes from the Latine Computare; because whosoeuer slippeth in there must be sure to account, and pay well too, ere hee get out againe." I, therefore, cannot but hold this word "countour" to be in close connexion with the office of "shereve" mentioned in the same line; and, from thence, I maintain, that Chaucer did not mean here a distinction of offices. The Sheriff, even in the present day, has his Court, and a peculiar cognizance over certain debts. The custody of all prisoners for debt is, also, by the law reposed in the Sheriff, and, therefore, the prison for debtors is said to be-the Sheriff's prison-the Compter. On these grounds, then, I am of opinion, that our descriptive poet meant to point out, that the frankelein had, in his turn, held the honourable office of "shereve," and that, during this period, he had his prisonthat he was a countour"-in other words, that, by his office, he held in durance vile, and called to account those, who, without seeking to pay, had eaten the bread, and consumed the goods, of other men.

NOTE 16-(p. 203.)

"Vavasour." The exact meaning of this term is enveloped. in mist. That the frankelein was of a high grade in society is most apparent from the words of Chaucer; and that these may be seen in their full force, I beg leave thus to repeat them: