CHURCH BELLS OF LEICESTERSHIRE.*

IT was high time that Leicestershire, whose county town had for many centuries been famed for its bell foundries, should find an historian for its campanology. Few counties afforded a more interesting field for investigation, and few promised so rich a harvest waiting for the gathering, of curious bell marks and inscriptions, as it, and the wonder has been that of the many able antiquaries who reside in or near, or have been connected with the county, no one until now has taken up the subject. It has at length fallen to the lot of Mr. Thomas North, to whom the antiquarian world is indebted for many valuable contributions to its literature, to take up the subject, and this he has done in that masterly and satisfactory manner that characterises all his writings. It is well that the campanology of the county was left for him, for, in his hands, lovers of bell-lore might be sure of seeing it well done. The result of Mr. North's labours is now before us in the form of a handsome quarto volume beautifully printed, well illustrated, and full of valuable information.

The volume opens with a concise but well-written introductory history of church bells, and then passes on to a summary of those of Leicestershire. In that county, we gather, there are 998 church belis, of which 147 were certainly cast before the year 1600. Some of the churches contain complete rings of ancient bells; but the highest number of bells in any of these rings is three. Of the inscriptions upon these old bells two are dedications to the Trinity; seventeen either as invocations, or otherwise, to our Saviour; thirty-two to the Virgin Mary; thirty to various Saints; ten have letters of the alphabet; and the remainder have various inscriptions. The earliest dated bell is 1584. Next Mr. North gives us an excellent chapter on the Leicester bell-founders, which includes notices of John de Stafford, William Millies, Thomas Newcombe. Thomas Newcombe the younger, Robert Newcombe, Edmund Newcombe, William Newcombe, Francis Watts, Hugh Watts, George Curtis, Thomas Clay, Edward Arnold, and the Messrs. Taylor, an array of founders of which the county has reason to be proud. Next we have brief notes of other founders whose bells are met with in Leicestershire. These are John de Yorke, Austen Bracher, and others of London; Richard Mellour, the Oldfields, the Hedderlys, and Noon of Nottingham; Hedderly and Halton, of Bawtry; the Eldridges of Wokingham and Chertsey; the Rudhalls and others, of Gloucester; Norris and Rigby, of Stamford; Penn, of Peterborough; the Bayleys, of Chacombe; the Eayres, Osborn, and Arnold, of Kettering, St. Neots, and Downham Market; Briant, of Hertford; and the modern London and other foundries. Next we have a chapter on "Peculiar Uses" of bells, followed by a useful list of Latin inscriptions on Leicestershire bells, with translations. The remainder of the volume-176 pages-is devoted to the description of the bells themselves. The Churches are arranged by Mr. North alphabetically, and under each the inscriptions are carefully given, the founders' marks and ornaments (not in all cases) noted, and in many instances particulars as to the local uses of the bells, and extracts from registers regarding them, are added.

The book is beautifully printed, and the illustrations, which are numerous, are well arranged. We repeat that this is one of the best and most important additions to bell literature that has been made, and we congratulate the county of Leicester on having in its midst an author so well qualified for the task as Mr. North. May his health, which has long been failing, be speedily restored, and may he be spared to continue his antiquarian and other labours for many a long year to come

* Leicester: Samuel Clarke, 1 vol. 4to., 1876, pp. 310. Illustrated.

OLD CAMBRIDGE.*

UNDER the title of "Old Cambridge," Mr. W. B. Redfarn has succeeded in producing an Art-volume of extreme beauty, and of far more than average interest. The volume consists of a series of six-and-twenty folio plates, drawn by Mr. Redfarn, of old buildings and other objects in Cambridge, each of which is accompanied by descriptive letter-press. The drawings are sketches, but are so truly artistic in their treatment, so truthful in their detail, and so masterly in their execution, that they leave nothing to be desired; and they are printed on appropriate toned paper, and issued in a sumptuous volume. Mr. Redfarn has done good service to Cambridge by thus devoting his talents and his skill to the illustration of its architectural antiquities, and placing on record particulars connected with them. He is a gifted artist, and his sketches bear the impress of a master mind, and one deeply and keenly alive to the beautiful and the picturesque. The volume is issued by Mr. W. P. Spalding, to whom it is impossible to accord too much credit for the admirable and faultless manner in which it is produced. We cordially and emphatically commend "Old Cambridge" not only to Cambridge men, but to all lovers of the beautiful, and to all who take an interest in the old buildings of our country, now so rapidly passing away.

* Cambridge: W. P. Spalding, 43, Sidney Street. 1876.

MR. HAIGH'S PORTRAITS OF H.R.H. PRINCE LEOPOLD.

Ir will be remembered by our readers that only a very short time back H.R.H. Prince Leopold was installed Provincial Grand Master of Oxfordshire in the Order of Free and Accepted Masons. The occasion was a very brilliant one, and following so closely upon the installation of his brother, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, as Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Order, was an event to be remembered and chronicled in the annals of Masonry. From the first moment when Prince Leopold became a Mason, he has, by his kindness, his thoughtfulness, and his studious habits, endeared himself to the Brethren, and has won not only the golden opinions, but the love of all with whom he has come in contact. It was a happy thought of Mr. E. M. Haigh -(himself a P.M. and P.G.S.)-the eminent photographer of 213, Regent Street, to commemorate this occasion by the preparation of a series of portraits of the Prince in full Masonic costume, and this thought he has carried out in the most satisfactory manner. To Mr. Haigh, H.R.H. Prince Leopold gave a special sitting, and the result has been the giving to the world of a number of portraits which are brilliant as specimens of artistic photography, and matchless as truthful and striking portraits. Those which have been submitted to us are both of cabinet and carte-de-visite sizes, and exhibit both three-quarter seated, and standing, figures. The Prince is represented in full masonic costume, and wears the jewels of Nos. 1 and 10 Lodges; the Worshipful Master's chain of the Antiquity Lodge; as well as the sumptuous collar and badge pertaining to his high office of Provincial Grand Master of Oxon.

The pose of the figure in each case is excellent, and the accessories are well and wisely, and with good taste, introduced; the tone of the pictures is rich, full, soft, and mellow; and the effect of light and shade artistically managed. As portraits they are faultless. All who have met H.R.H. at Oxford or elsewhere, will recognise these as being "him to the very life"-even to the thoughtful, somewhat sad, but eminently gentle and kindly expression that is so characteristic of his nature. Mr. Haigh is an artist of the highest standing in his profession, and these portraits are amongst his greatest achievments. No"Mason's" albumor, indeed, no album of any loyal Englishman-can be complete without these portraits.

LICHENS FROM AN OLD (PAISLEY) ABBEY.*

UNDER the poetical title of "Lichens from an Old Abbey," Messrs. Parlane, of Paisley, have recently issued a very gracefully written volume of historical lore, whose subject is the history of the Abbey of Paisley, and of the various historical events and personages at one period or other connected with it. Usually a title page, except in the case of novels, indicates, to some extent, the nature of the book itself, but in this case no one, reading the words, "Lichens from an Old Abbey," could form the slightest idea of the store of valuable information that follows, or of the pleasant way in which that information is treated. It is a charming book, and does credit to the head, the heart, and the pen of the writer, and to the publishers who have issued it in such a faultless manner. A brief recapitulation of the subjects of the various chapters is all we can find space to give, but that will be amply sufficient, we opine, to send our readers to the book itself. First we have a brief historical sketch of the history of the "Monks of Clugny," followed by "The First Lord High Steward," his gifts and charters; "Robert de Croc," the foundation of "the Fair Abbey; ""the Lady of Molla," "the Shadowy Knight," "the Gift of Dalmulin," "Kyle," "Alexander, the Crusader," and "Scotland's Sorrow." Then we have delightful chapters on Sir William Wallace," "Walter and Marjory," Walter being the Young Lord Steward, and Marjory the only daughter of the Bruce; "King and Queen," and "Monks as Historians." Another good historical chapter or two on the "Chronicus Clugnieuse, and the Abbot Jarvis, brings the reader to the "Lord of the Isles," and the troublous times which brought him to the cloister to waste away, the " Schawes of Sauchie," and the "Abbot's Charter." The Chapel of St. Mirrinus" is next described, and we are then treated with pleasant "Visions," and charming wordpictures of James IV. as a "royal recluse" at Paisley, and of his wife, "Queen Margaret's Pilgrimage." The "Year of Flodden" comes next, to be succeeded by "Abbot Johns," the "Two Harps," and a "Warning of John Knox. The remainder of the volume is of equal interest, and each chapter is full to overflowing with historical lore, gracefully and chattily told. Altogether this is a charming book; it is the poetry of history, or rather history recounted and gilded by a poetical mind.

66

Lichens from an Old Abbey; being Historical Reminiscences of the Monastery of Paisley. Paisley: J. and B. Parlane, 1 vol., 4tc., pp. 320. 1876. Illustrated.

TAMWORTH CHURCH,* AND THE MARMION FAMILY.†

Ir is always a pleasure to us to call attention to books upon topography, and especially so when those books give evidence, as the one before us unmistakably does, of extreme industry, deep research, and enlightened treatment on the part of its author. The volume we now desire to notice is devoted to the history and description of the fine old Collegiate Church of St. Eadgetha, or Edith the Virgin, at Tamworth, and it is, assuredly, one that may well be taken as a model for other writers on similar subjects to follow. Commencing with a chapter on the introduction of Christianity into this country in 597, and following with another on the virgin-saint Eadgitha, the foundress of Tamworth Priory, and its first Abbess; we next have the "earlier and the "later" histories of the Collegiate Church, from the time of Edgar (who re-founded it in 963), through the Marmions and others to its destruction by fire in 1345, and from that time downwards until the dissolution. These chapters show how carefully, how unweariedly, and how intelligently Mr Palmer has sought out and weighed every tittle of information that can be procured which can throw light on his subject, and these he has skilfully digested and summarised, and woven into a narrative poem of conspicuous excellence.

The remainder of the volume is devoted to an architectural description of the Church and its surroundings. One of the peculiarities of the tower is its double spiral staircase, consisting of two separate and distinct flights of stone steps, winding round the same newel; the floor of the one flight forming the roof of the other, and the whole being enclosed within a cylinder six feet in diameter, and lighted from without by loopholes. Thus one party of people may be going up the tower while another party is coming down, without either meeting or seeing each other. "One flight of steps," says Mr. Palmer, "begins in the Churchyard at a doorway above which was once an image in a large canopied niche. About two-thirds up these stairs is a blind passage in the S. wall, where three large splayed loopholes, with trefoiled heads, overlook the town, castle, and surrounding country. The stairs, of 106 steps, then end a little above the door to the top of the tower. These stairs would have been very useful if the tower was designed for beacon-fires and signals in times of trouble and warfare. The other flight begins at a plain doorway within the tower, and leads into all the rooms; "this flight is of 101 steps, and ends at the door at the top of the tower. Of this staircase we are enabled, through the courtesy of the learned author, to re-produce an engraving, as also the one of an interesting relic of the old wall-painting in the Church (Plates VII. and VIII.) It bears the inscription in Latin verse :

"O dominus dives

Non omni tempore vives

Fac bene dum vivis

Post mortem vivere si vis.
Miserere Jesu Christi."

Of the seal of the Collegiate Church, engraved on Plate VIII., Mr. Palmer says that only one very broken impression of the seal as used before 1500 has come under his notice, and that it apparently bore the figure of St. Edith, with the surrounding inscription illegible except the words ...... rum commune ec...... "Thomas Parker,

who was Dean from 1525 to 1538, had a seal made up for this Church by changing the lettering and arms in a fine large oval [vessica] seal, which had been made after the reign of Henry IV. for some other foundation. It bears five canopied figuresthe Blessed Virgin and Child; an Archbishop; a Bishop; St. Catherine with the wheel; and a Bishop praying. The debased lettering is out of character with the rest, S. COMMVNE. COLLEGIATE. DE. ToWORTH. On one escutcheon, where may still be traced the original arms in the three fleurs-de-lis of the 1st and 4th quarterings of England and France, and the initials T. P. [Thomas Parker]. On the other escutcheon the arms of Parker."

Well, indeed, would it be if other towns and other Churches met so able, so truthful, so reliable, and so earnest an historian as Tamworth has in the Rev. C. F. Palmer, who in addition to this admirable book, has compiled and issued an exhaustive and erudite history of the grand old family of Marmion, † Lords of the Castle of that town. To this book we direct special attention, as one of the best of family histories, and as one treating of the hereditary champions of England, before that office passed to their successors the Dymokes. It is full of historical and genealogical interest. By

The History and Antiquities of the Collegiate Church of Tamworth. CHARLES FERRERS R. PALMER, O. P. Tamworth: J. Thompson. 1 vol. 8vo. 1871, pp. 144. Illustrated.

History of the Baronial Family of Marmion, Lords of the Castle of Tamworth. By CHARLES FERRERS R. PALMER, O. P. Tamworth: J. Thompson. 1 vol. 8vo. 1875. pp. 138.