the aulter, and after that he had taken hys leve and comanded the peple to God, he descended doun into the pytte or sepulture, and helde up hys handes to heven and said, 'Swete Lord Jhesu Cryste I yelde me unto thy desyre and thanke the that thou hast vouchedsauf to calle me to the, yf it plaise the, receyve me for to be with my brethern, with whom thou hast sumoned me, opene to me the yate of the lyf permanable, and lede me to the feest of thy wel and best dressed metes. Thou art Cryst the sone of the lyvynge God, whyche by the comandement of Fader hast saved the ye world. To the I rendre and yelde grace and thankynges world wythouten ende, thou knowest wel that I have desired the withal my herte. After that he had made hys prayer moche amerously and piteously, anon cam upon hym grete clerenes and light, and so grete brightness that none myght see hym.

"And whan thys lyght and bryghtnes was goon and departed, ther was nothynge founde in the pytte or grave but manna, whiche cam spryngyng from under upwards, lyke as fonde in a fontayn or spryngynge welle where moche peple have ben deliverd of many diseases and sekenesses by the merytes and prayers of thys gloryous saynt. Somme saye and afferme that he deyed without payne of deth, and that he was in that clerenes born into heven body and sowle, whereof God knoweth the certaynte."-From The Golden Legend.

St. Agnes's Name explained. "AGNES is said of agna, a lambe, for she was humble and debonayr as a lambe; or of agno, in Greke whyche is to saye debonayr and pyteous, for she was debonayr and mercyful; or Agnes of agnoscendo, for she knewe the waye of trouthe, and after thys Saynt Austyn saith, trouthe is opposed ayenst vanyte, falsenes and doublenes, for thyse thre thyngis were taken from her, for the trouthe that she had."- Golden Legend.

St. Patrick's Purgatory.

THE Golden Legend varies the discovery of St. P.'s Purgatory. "Thenne by the commaundement of God Saynt Patryke made in therthe a grete circle with his staffe, and anone therthe after the quantyte of the cercle openyd and there appyered a grete pytte and a deep, and S. P. by the revelacion of God understood that there was a place of purgatorye, into whiche who somever entred therein he shold never have other penaunce ne fele none other payne, and there was shewed to hym that many shold entre whiche shold never retourne ne come ageyn, and they that shold retourne shold abyde but fro one morne to another and no more."

Standard of the Dragon.

"WHEN Aurel. Ambros. the British king was in the way between life and death, there appeared a star of marvellous greatness and brightness, having only one beam, in which was seen a fiery substance after the similitude of a dragon, which Merlin who after his brother's death, obtaining the expounded to signify Uther Pendragon, crown, in remembrance of that star 1 jussit

fabricari duos dracones ex auro, ad draconis

similitudinem; quem ad radium stellæ inspexerat; qui ut mirâ arte fabricati fuerunt, obtulit unum in ecclesiâ primæ sedis Vuintoniæ, alterum vero sibi ad ferendum in prælio detinuit. Ab illo ergo, die vocatus est Uther pen dragon, quod Britannicâ linguâ caput draconis appellamus;' whom in like sort the Saxons called for the same cause, drak Hened, and this dragon was used "pro vexillo Mathew Westmonasteriensis, who lived in per regem usque hodiè," as saith the time of King Edward I., and this dragon, or not much unlike, is one of the regal supporters at present.

"When the Britons invited the Saxons, or ancient Westphalians, to their aid, Hen

those who dwelt on the west side of the river Visurgis or Weser; which arms their kindred that remained in Germany changed into contrary colours, and their posterity, which encreased in England forsook for other different arms upon their first reducing unto Christianity. For I find that "in bello apud Beorford in vexillo Æthelbaldi erat aureus draco," which is not unlikely to have been borrowed by imitation or challenged by conquest from the Britons."HEARNE'S Collection of Curious Discourses, from a paper by Mr. James Ley, on the antiquity of arms in England.

This dragon was used by Edward III., when was it laid aside?

Three Ranks of Poets.

“THERE were three kinds of poets, the one was Prududd, the other was Teuluror, the third was Klerwr. All these three kinds had three several matters to treat of. The Prududd was to treat of lands, and praise of princes, nobles, and gentlemen, and had his circuit amongst them. And the Teuluror did treat of merry jests, and domestical pastimes and affairs, and had his circuit amongst the countrymen, and his reward according to his calling. And the Klerwr did treat of invective and rustical poetry, differing from the Prududd and Teuluror, and his circuit was amongst the yeomen of

1 VERSTEGAN says that Hengistus was o "Angria in Westphalia, vulgarly of old time called Westfielding," and that his " wapen or armes was a leaping white horse, or Hengst, in a red field."—Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, p. 120.-J. W. W.

2 Albertus Crantzius de Saxonia. Mat. West. p. 273.

Royal Mode of Burial.

"WE must not forget the auncyent manand how they have ben honored and adorned. ner of the sepulture of kings in this realme,

The

corps preciously embalmed hath been apparelled in royal robes or estate, a crowne and diadeame of pure gould put uppon his head, having gloves on his hands, howlding a septer and ball, with rings on his fingers, a coller of gould and precious stones round his neck, and the body girt with a sword, with sandalles on his leggs, and with spurrs of gould. All his atchevements of honor and arms caryed up and offered, and theyre tombe adorned therewith."-SIR WILLIAM DETHICK, Garter, in HEARNE'S Collection.

Noble Mode of Burial.

"Ir doth appeare by the white booke in Guildhall, that before the tyme of K. Edward III. at the buriall of barons, one armed in the armour of the defunct, and mounted uppon a trapped horse, should carrye the banner, shield, and helmet of the defunct. About that tyme begane the use of Herses, composed all of wax candles, which they by a Latin name called Castra Doloris."—LEY, in H.

4

By Sir W. Dethick's paper, the custom appears to have continued much later:"In the tyme of King Henry VIII. and in the third year of his reigne, I find that the Lord William Courteny had his majestys gracious letters patents to be Earle of Devon;

but he was not created. Neverthelesse the

K. would that he should be enterred as an

"HERCE. Tigilla fibulata. Piéces de bois qui sont dans les Eglises où l'on pose des chandeliers ou des cierges, quand on y veut mettre beaucoup de luminaires." RICHELET in v. Du CANGE explains it by "Candelabrum Ecclesiasticum ;" and "Castrum Doloris " by "Feretrum." I think that under the words "Herse" and "Hearse" there is some confusion in Todd's Johnson, Nares, and Richardson.-J. W. W.

The weak and sick, to entertain the poor, And give the dead a Christian funeral; These were the works of piety he did practise,

And bade us imitate; not look for lovers Or handsome images to please our senses." B. JONSON: A Tale of a Tub.

Wales, from the Polycronicon. "ENGLYSHED by one Trevisa, vycarye of Barklye, from the Latin of dan Ranulph, monk of Chestre, symply emprynted newe, and sette in forme by me, Wynkin de Woorde."

"Wales now is called Wallia,
And somtyme it hete Cambria;
For Camber, Brutus sone,

Was prynce, and there dyde wone.
Then Wallia was to mene,
For Gwalaes the quene,
Kynge Ebrayens chylde,
Was wedded thyder mylde,
And of that lorde Gwalon,
Withdraweth of the sonn
And put to 1. i. a.

And thou shalt fynde Wallia,
And though this londe

Be moche lesse than Englonde,
As good glebe is one as other,
In the doughter as in the moder."

"Of the commodytees of the londe of Wales:

"Though that londe be luyte,
It is fulle of corne and of fruyte,
And hath grete plente, I wys,
Of fleshe and eke of fyshe,
Of beestes tame and wylde,

Of horse, sheep, and oxen mylde;

Good londe for all seedes,

For corn, gras, and herbes that spredes.

There ben woodes and medes,

Herbes and floures there spredes.

There ben ryvers and welles,

Valeyes and also hylles.
Valeyes brynge forth flood,

And hylles metals good.

Cool groweth under londe,
And gras above at the honde.
There lyme is copyous,
And slattes for hous.
Hony and mylke whyte,
There is deynte and not lyte.
Of braket mete and ale,
Is grete plente in that vale;
And all that nedeth to the lyve
That londe bryngeth forth ryve.
And close many in shorte sawe.
But of grete rychesse to be drawe,
It is a corner small,

As though God fyrst of all
Made that londe so fele,
To be selere of all hele.
Wales is deled by

A water that hete twy,

North Wales from the southe
Twy deled in places full couthe;
The south hete Demecia,

And the other Venedocia.

The fyrst shotheth and arowes beres;
That other deleth all with speres.
In Wales how it be,

Were somtyme courters thre.
At Carmarthyn was that one,
And that other was in Mone,
The thyrde was in Powysy.

In Pengwern that now is Shrowsburyl
There were bysshops seven,

And now ben foure even,

Under Saxons all at the honde

Somtyme under

prynces

of the londe."

excellent verses written in golden letters, containing his greatest and most glorious atchievements; as his victory against the Sicilians, his conquering of Cyprus, the sinking of the great galeasse of the Saracens, the taking of their convoy, which in the East parts is called a Carvana, and the defending of Joppe in the Holy Land against

them:

On Richard II.

KING Richard II. had for his kingdom a tomb erected at Westminster by King Henry V., with this rude glosing epitaph: "Prudens et mundus Richardus jure secundus,

Per fatum victus jacet hic sub marmore pictus;

Corpore procerus, animo prudens ut Ho

The weak and sick, to entertain the poor, And give the dead a Christian funeral; These were the works of piety he did practise,

And bade us imitate; not look for lovers Or handsome images to please our senses." B. JONSON: A Tale of a Tub.

Wales, from the Polycronicon. "ENGLYSHED by one Trevisa, vycarye of Barklye, from the Latin of dan Ranulph, monk of Chestre, symply emprynted newe, and sette in forme by me, Wynkin de Woorde."

"Wales now is called Wallia,
And somtyme it hete Cambria;
For Camber, Brutus sone,

Was prynce, and there dyde wone.
Then Wallia was to mene,
For Gwalaes the quene,
Kynge Ebrayens chylde,
Was wedded thyder mylde,
And of that lorde Gwalon,
Withdraweth of the sonn
And put to 1. i. a.

And thou shalt fynde Wallia,
And though this londe

Be moche lesse than Englonde,
As good glebe is one as other,
In the doughter as in the moder.”

"Of the commodytees of the londe of Wales:

"Though that londe be luyte,
It is fulle of corne and of fruyte,
And hath grete plente, I wys,
Of fleshe and eke of fyshe,

Of beestes tame and wylde,

Of horse, sheep, and oxen mylde;

Good londe for all seedes,

For corn, gras, and herbes that spredes.

There ben woodes and medes,

Herbes and floures there spredes.

There ben ryvers and welles,

Valeyes and also hylles.
Valeyes brynge forth flood,

And hylles metals good.

Cool groweth under londe,
And gras above at the honde.
There lyme is copyous,
And slattes for hous.

Hony and mylke whyte,
There is deynte and not lyte.
Of braket mete and ale,
Is grete plente in that vale;
And all that nedeth to the lyve
That londe bryngeth forth ryve.
And close many in shorte sawe.
But of grete rychesse to be drawe,
It is a corner small,

As though God fyrst of all
Made that londe so fele,
To be selere of all hele.
Wales is deled by

A water that hete twy,

North Wales from the southe

Twy deled in places full couthe;
The south hete Demecia,

And the other Venedocia.

The fyrst shotheth and arowes beres;
That other deleth all with speres.
In Wales how it be,

Were somtyme courters thre.
At Carmarthyn was that one,
And that other was in Mone,
The thyrde was in Powysy.

In Pengwern that now is Shrowsbury1
There were bysshops seven,

And now ben foure even,

Under Saxons all at the honde
Somtyme under prynces of the londe."

"Of maner and rytes of the Walshmen :
"The maner lyvynge of the londe
Is well dyverse from Englond
In mete and dryke and clotynge
And many other doyng.
They be cloteth wonder well
In a sherte and in a mantell.
A crysp breche well fayne
Bothe in wynde and in rayne.

1 See BLAKEWAY's History of Shrewsbury, vol. i. p. 5. He quotes Gir. Cambrensis, "Locus ubi nunc castrum Slopesburiæ situm est, olim Pengwern, i. e. caput alneti, vocabatur."-Cambria Descriptio.-J. W. W.