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." +

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 I believe, his great grand-daughters, lived at Hungerford, where they died some years since at an advanced age.

were,

+ 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 thus:

says

"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.

in this retreat, Alfred, Bishop of Winchester, administered the affairs of the See.

"Elfwold, Bishop of Sherborne, dying in a short time, he persuaded the King to fulfil a promise, which he had formerly made, of re-uniting the two Sees of Sherborne and Wilton."

"In 1076 a synod was held at St. Paul's Church, London, by Lanfrank, Archbishop of Canterbury. Among other things it was then resolved, that the episcopal sees, which were established in obscure villages, should be removed to considerable towns. Herman availed himself of this decree, and changed his residence from Sherborne to Searobyrig, or Sarum. He is said, by William of Malmesbury, to have begun a new Cathedral; but from the short period, which he lived after his removal, he could not have made great progress in the building. He died in 1078."

The interesting words of Malmesbury as to the removal of Bishop Herman from Sherborne to ancient Salisbury, and as to the beginning of the Cathedral (better known as the Cathedral of Bishop Osmond) are these: "Accepit ergo Hermannus Schireburnensem espiscopatum integrum, cum tribus pagis, Edwardo rege dante, viuacitatéque sua datoris annos transcendens ad Willielmi tempora durauit. Sub quo cùm ex canonum decreto edictum esset, vt sedes episcoporum, ex villis ad vrbes migrarent, tribunal suum transtulit a Schireburnia Salesberiam, quod est vice ciuitatis castellum locatum in edito, muro vallatum non exiguo, cæteris commeatibus vtcunque valens, aquæ penuriâ laborans, adeo vt miserabili commercio ibi aqua veneat. Illic inchoata noui operis ecclesia, morte senili tempus dedicationis præuenit." ↑

The fact, that Herman did begin the Cathedral, has been controverted; but the foregoing quotation from the accurate William of Malmesbury (who, if not then living, must have been born shortly afterwards, as he died in 1143) is decisive on the question. It is probable, however, from the short time, which intervened between his removal to the then Salisbury and his death, that Herman did little more than lay the foundations of that sacred edifice, which his successor, Bishop Osmond, completed. This Bishop was a Norman, and came in with William,

Dodsworth's Hist. of the Cathedral of Salisbury, p. 15.

+ De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum (1596), Lib. ij.