any degree of certainty, than that the Manor and Rectory of Lambeth were originally given to the Bishop and Church of Rochester jointly, by the Countess Goda, in the same full and ample manner as she herself held them, which is thus set forth in a very antient Record, intituled, Registrum Temporalium Roffensium; Domesday in Rotulo Wyntoniens' :-' Diebus illis dederat Comitissa Goda Manerium de Lambeth Ecclesie, retento jure patronatus Eccl'ie: et postea Wmus Rufus Rex Monachis concessit. (Fol. 11, n.) Quisquis Deo, seu pro Deo aliquid prestat non hoc ipsum a se alienat, set melius sibi ipsi in posterum reservat. Qua ipse ductus, ego Will'mus, Dei gratiâ, Rex Anglorum, trado de jure meo Ecclesie Roffensi S'ti Andree apostoli Eccl'iam S. Marie de Lambutha, de me semper, et de successoribus meis, cognoscendam et tenendam, cum omnibus que ad eandem Ecclesiam pertinent, tam in terris, silvis, aquis, pratis, quam in omnibus aliis rebus, tam intra burgum, quam extra, saca et socne, toll et theam, cum aliis consuetudinibus, quas Comitissa Goda prius habuit, et ego hactenus in meo Dominico habui. Et hoc concedo pro salute anime mee, Patris mei, et omnium Parentum meorum, et pro restauratione dampni quod eidem Ecclesie, licet invitus, intuli, pro conquirendis inimicis meis, qui intra jam dictam civitatem contra me, et contra Regnum meum injustè congregati erant, et de quibus Deus, sui gratia, victoriam mihi contulit. Hanc ergo donationem, propria manu signo et confirmo. Presentibus Testibus et assentientibus de Baronibus mei, Thoma Archiep'o*, Rogero Comite Scropesburiensi, Henrico Comite Warwicensi, Henrico de Ferrariis, Rogero Bigoto, Ivone Tailleboso, Will'mo Pevrell, et aliis pluribus.' (Fol. 17, a.) Hæc carta etiam verbatim ferè recitatur, in Textu Roffen. fol. 211, necnon in MSo a. x. 9, fol. 107, 108. Domitian, Bibl. Cotton.

66

Correspondent to this account are the following Extracts out of our Textus Roffensis, as published by T. Hearne : Willielmus Rex, filius ejus, dedit Lamthelam, ad victum Monachorum.' (p. 153.) To the same purpose is the determination and sentence of Imarus the Pope's Legate, between the years 1142 and 1147, upon a contest between the Bishop and Monastery of Rochester, concerning their respective claims and rights in the Manor and Church of Lambeth: 'Asserebant Monachi memoratum manerium sibi ad victum proprium a Rege Anglorum Willelmo juniore concessum rationabiliter, et donatum: et ad ejusdem rei evidentiorem probationem, cartas et confirmationes in medium proferebant. Contra quæ, cum Ascelinus Roffensis Ep'us nichil firmum, nichil validum responderet, nec se in pretaxato manerio jus habere probare posset, ipsum manerium, cum omnibus suis appendiciis, secundùm quod Cartæ Donationis et Confirmationis continebant, ipsis Monachis nos [Imarus, Dei Gra. Tusculanus Ep'us, Apostolicæ sedis Legatus] adjudicavimus, et ipsos possessores constituimus, ipso eorum Ep'o promittente, * Of York.

quod

quod deinceps sine vexatione, et in quietatione Monachos bona et possessiones suas habere permitteret, et pacem eis servaret; quod et ipsi firmiter observare præcipimus-et autoritate officij, quo fungimus, ipsis confirmamus.' (Fol. 204, 205, 206.)

"This instrument appears also in the Cotton Library, Domitian (A. X. 9, fo. 125 a.). Accordingly we find Lambeth among those manors which were confirmed to the Monastery of Rochester (A. D. 1103) by Henry I. Archbishop Anselm, and Bishop Gundulphus (Text. Roffen. p. 224-227.) However, I cannot forbear observing here, that the Manor of Lambeth went by different names, viz. Lamhetha, Lambetha, and Lamhytha, as Bishop Gibson remarks in his ' Explicatio nominum locorum,' at the end of his Saxon Chronicle, p. 34. Even those of Lamthyde, Lamhithe, Lambhitha, Lamhea, Lambethæ, Lamhee, Lamhed, Lamheth, i. e. (vertente Camdeno) Portus, sive navium statio lutea-Hodie Lambeth in agro Surreiensi ad ripam Tamesis, sedes Archiepiscoporum Cantuariensium.

"You hence see that the Manor of Lambeth belonged in the Saxon times, even from Goda's days, to the Church of Rochester, till the Conquest, when it was seized into the Royal demesne ; but afterwards restored by King William Rufus, for a valuable consideration; and then assigned, ad victum monachorum, with no other reserve out of it, than some provision-rents, that were to be contributed to the Bishop, by way of an Exennium, or an hospitable entertainment (according to the Ordination of Gundulphus) on the Festival of St. Andrew every year, as is thus recorded in our Registrum Temporalium,' fol. 107, b. Gundulphus Ep'us dedit et discrevit (co-operante Lanfranco Archiep'o Cant.) eas possessiones Ecclesiæ, que prius ad solius Ep'i dispositionem pertinebant, ad victum Monachorum; insuper sibi et successoribus suis reservavit et retinuit de Manerijs Monachorum Echennium, proveniens de certis rebus ad festum S. Andree apti sine conditione singulis annis perpetuo solvendis.' This Exennium was then valued at 10l. which sum is still paid by the Dean and Chapter of Rochester, to their Bishop; and their contribution towards it out of their Manor of Lambeth, was thus proportioned: unum salmonem, et dimid' millen. de lampridis.' "In this way things went on till an exchange was made of this Manor, Mansion-house, and Rectory, for those of Darenth in Kent, with Archbishop Hubert Walter, about the year 1197, by the free and joint consent of Bishop Glanville of Rochester, and his Priory; which exchange was afterwards confirmed by King Edward the First, and the Pope, as may appear from original instruments, whereof I have copies at Vauxhall, as also from Rymer's Foedera, tom. I. p. 89. The view of it, no doubt, was the settling (Mat. Westmonast. fo. 444, and Hoveden) a College of Secular Canons at Lambeth, which were to have been the Chapter of the Archbishop, quite independent of the Monks of Canterbury; and with an intention to humble that whole Order, and prevent their interfering in the Civil or Ecclesiastical Constitution of this Kingdom.

"The

"The plan seems to have been concerted between that Prelate and his Sovereign; but was, after many struggles at the Court of Rome, set aside, and that College demolished by Pope Innocent III. by a Bull, in so haughty a style, as would have much better become an Eastern Emperor than a Christian Prelate. The whole history of this contest is worth reading, both in regard to the Colleges of Hackington and Lambeth, as it is set forth at large in Gervasii Chronicon, inter Decem Scriptores,' or the Abridgment of it in most of our Ecclesiastical Historians, particularly Dr. Inett's History of the English Church,' vol. II. pp. 332-374.

"Let this suffice for the contest about erecting a College at Lambeth; but as to the exchange of the manor, the palace, and rectory of it, I cannot forbear observing, that the rector was to pay what was due on the balance of the account by a perpetual pension of 31. 6s. 8d. to the Bishop of Rochester, in lieu of the separate rights of that Prelate, not only to provision-rents from this estate of the monastery; but also of his claim to reside in the mansion-house of it whenever his affairs should call him to London or Westminster, or to an attendance on Court, Parliament, or Convocation. He had moreover a demand for oats, hay, provender, and firing, during such his residence, out of the same manor.

"But of what kind Lambeth-house then was in the materials, fashion, or compass of its buildings, I have not learnt with the least certainty from any historical accounts within my searches; and from them, know as little about the changes, additions, and improvements, that may have since been made by its greater owners, according to their respective abilities, judgments, tastes, or fancies. But probably it was originally, and for some time afterwards, little better than a good mansion-house, though of an humbler kind than we can now descry of the Black Prince's Palace in the ruins of Long Barn in Kennington Lane, where he kept his Court; and after his return from conquering France, received and magnificently entertained, not only the nobility, but the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of London. It was, I apprehend, no other than a manor-house, the same as that on the manors of Kennington and Eltham, of the same sort with those capital messuages, which every Lord of a Manor had suitably to his rank, his estate, or family, and wherein they lived and spent their revenues, with honour, hospitality, and charity. Thus kings and nobles, barons, and prelates, had a variety of palaces and seats, or habitations, so that the poor Bishops of Rochester had no fewer in this Diocese than five, besides their Palace Court, within the precincts of their Cathedral, and Rochester Palace, their town-house in Lambeth. Accordingly they kept moving to and fro, as the number and nature of their manors required, and resided on each of them no longer, than whilst they consumed the annual produce of their respective demesnes, together with such provision-rents in kind as they had

reserved

reserved for their maintenance out of those lands and estates, which they had granted out on different tenures, to their villans and tenants, by way of cultivation and improvement. These rents, as also the several services they were to perform besides to their Lords, were in after times changed into pecuniary compositions, or quit-rents. What the rents and services were within the several manors or tenures belonging to the See or Church of Rochester, are described, and set forth most exactly and minutely, in two very antient and valuable manuscripts, which are still preserved, intituled, The Custumale Roffense,' and The Registrum Temporalium.'

"But you, dear Sir, know as well, or better than I do, these things, and can tell when and how mansion-houses on Baron's manors grew to be palaces, seats, or castles; and can, I dare say, trace (for instance) through your copious treasure of antiquarian collections, how that humble house at Lambeth, which heretofore belonged to the Priory and Bishoprick of Rochester, became in time to be clothed with archiepiscopal dignity and grandeur in its edifices, apartments, and offices. The pittance I have found and laid up hereof, will, I suspect, be of little use to you, who have already gone through (nay, drained of each curious or valuable article) all the wills and acts of our Metropolitans, that are extant on record, or in manuscripts, or in printed books. Few, indeed, to the best of my memory, are those Notitia that have occurred to me in that branch of your design, wherein, as you inform me, you have confined yourself entirely to the History of that Palace, in its architecture, with such additions and alterations as have at any time been made to the fabrick, whereupon I have only to remind you of what is said in the Antiquitates of Archbishop Parker, under the lives of his predecessors, and his own; or of what Strype has added to it, more particularly in pp. 305, 332.

However, give me leave here to intimate to you, as by the bye, that when this manor-house, belonging to the Bishoprick and Priory of Rochester was made an Archiepiscopal Palace, there was at the same time another Palace erected for our Bishop by way of exchange, of whose particular dimensions and environs I have an exact account (if my memory fail not) some where or other among my papers. It took thence the name of Rochester Place, or retained it till it was changed for the modern name of Carlisle House, as being granted to the Bishops of that See in the 27th of King Henry VIII. after the attainder of Bishop Fisher, through a parliamentary authority.

"However, the Bishops of Rochester were no losers by this alienation, for in lieu thereof they had, and still enjoy the mansion-house of the Prior of St. Swithin in Winchester, situated near St. Margaret's Hill in Southwark. This was indeed taken from them in those days of civil troubles, when Monarchy, Episcopacy, and Cathedrals, all met with the same fate; and under this disaster Rochester-house was sold, with all its other possessions,

sessions, by an usurped power, to lay purchasers, who erected on it, with its precincts, several tenements, that have (ever since the Restoration) been held by leases under the Bishops of that See, on a reserved rent, with the usual fines upon any renewal of them.

"But it is, dear Sir, high time to put an end to this long rhapsody, that may be quite impertinent to you, in the present plan of your proceedings *; but if I shall find (at my return to Vauxhall) among my papers, any collections or hints, that shall seem more to your purpose, they will with pleasure be at your command and disposal, as a grateful though slight acknowledgment of those great and sundry obligations I have to you, both as an Antiquary, and your very faithful friend and obedient servant, JOHN DENNE."

"SIR,

From Dr. FRANCIS DRAKET.

York, June 30, 1753. "I received your agreeable letter, and am glad to find by it, that there is likely to be an union in our Fraternity; but from another hand [Dr. Stukeley's] 1 learn that there still remains great wranglings about powers from your new Charter.

"I have purchased you both the books you wrote for, from the Author himself §, who happens to be a Printer in this City, and was my predecessor also in a History of York; but indeed I stole little out of him. You may see a further account of him in the Preface to my Book. I doubt you will think them very dear when you have read these volumes; for this Author, like old Tom Hearne (spare the comparison), when he has done with his subject, prints every thing else that comes to hand to swell his volume. (Hull 5s. Ripon 4s. 6d.) I believe the towns of Newcastle and Manchester have been both described; and if you have a mind to have them, I will endeavour to get them for you.

"When you see Dr. Ward, pray my compliments to him, and ask if he did not receive a letter from me lately, with an impress of the Malton stone. I shall impatiently wait for his explananation of the inscription. I hope he will also send me a few Prints of Doncaster Cross.

Dr. Ducarel made considerable use of this Letter of Dr. Denne, in his "History of Lambeth Palace." See also the "History of Lambeth Parish," Appendix.

The Historian of York; of whom see the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. II. p. 87; and vol. VII. p. 115.

The Society of Antiquaries.

Thomas Gent; of whom, and of his various publications, see the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. I. p. 103; vol. III. p. 721. Mr. Gough (Brit. Top. vol. II. p. 422) gives the copious title of Gent's "History of York," which he calls "an useful Compendium, the work of an industrious Printer, containing some things not in larger Histories." He compiled in 1762, when sinking under age and necessity," the most delectable, scriptural, and pious History of the famous and magnificent Eastern Window (according to beautiful portraitures) in St. Peter's Cathedral, York; and died May 19, 1778, in his 87th year.

"I readily