East and West, exceedingly pic turesque, and Otford has all the wild tranquillity of a village in the remotest part of the kingdom. The invincibility of Holmesdale naturally leads to the notice of, the great battle which obtained for it that proverbial character, between Edmund Ironside and Canute the Dane; the latter of whom was signally defeated, and pursued to Aylesford, where treachery alone, it seems, prevented his utter extermination. * Edmundus fer. reum latus exercitum fortem de tota Anglia congregavit, et in loco, ubi prius Tamesi fluvio transmeato, in Cantiam citus intravit, ac juxta Ottafordam cum Danis pugnam iniit, at illi non ferentes, terga verterunt, at cum suis in Scepeye fugerunt, et nisi perfidus dux Edricus Streona suis insidiis eum apud Eagleford, ne suos persequeretur hostes, retineret, ea die plena potiretur victoria.”—Roger de Hoveden, apud Decem Scriptores. In widening the road which leads through this village to Seven-oaks, about the year 1765, many supposed relics of the slain were discovered, and a place called Dane-field is pointed out by Topographers as the probable theatre of the contest. Indeed all along the interesting valley, which is watered by the "blood-stained Darent," vestiges have been found of battles. At Lullingstone, four miles Northward of Otford, three years since were discovered about 300 skulls. The Danes sailing into Dartford Creek might disembark their forces, ravage the country, and pursue their march of devastation up the valley till checked by the opposing Saxons. This may account for the number of castellated sites to be found within short distances of each other on the banks of the Darent, viz. Eynsford, Lullingstone, and Shoreham, all formerly surrounded by deep moats replenished by the river. I shall conclude this account by stating, for the information of the curious visitant of Otford, that he will find at the village Inn various remnants of the interior decoration of Warham's Palace ;--Gothic chimney-pieces elaborately carved, ornamented wainscotings, and an oaken chest adorned with grotesque and indecorous figures, all of his period. It may be further observed, that, to give the curse of Becket the lie, imine In the Court of the Palace there was erected a grand theatre, capable of containing 100 persons. Close to the wall was a very high throne, above which there was a canopy of cloth of gold, the seat destined for his Holiness. On the right hand, and on the left, were arranged several other seats a little lower, but magnificent, for the princes and the prelates to sit on. At 8 o'clock in the morning, the two Patriarchst, the twenty-two Cardinals, the Archbishops, the Bishops, the Mitred Abbots, entered the Court of the Palace on horseback, in poutifical habits. The Emperor and the other Princes followed on foot. When all the people were assembled, the Pope mounted the Theatre, preceded by the Clergy, carrying the Cross and waxen tapers. On the fore part of the Theatre there was an excellent choir of music, which sung and played on all sorts of instruments. The Pope had on his head a superb tiara, studded with gold crowns, with a golden cross on the top. At his right hand, a little behind, were Cardinal Viviers and a Patriarch; at his left, Cardinal Brancas, with another Patriarch. Then marched the other Cardinals, and the Grand Master of * Otho Colonna, a Roman and Cardinal Deacon of St. George, who was created Pope in 1417, in the stead of John XXIII. + Since the time of the Crusades, they had got the titular Latin Patriarchs in the Eastern patriarchal sees subdued by the Mahometans. There were no more then present. Rhodes, who were all received by the Emperor, the Electors, and Princes. The Pope being placed on the throne, the Patriarch of Antioch took his tiara, or crown, off his head, and kneeled before him, holding his crown in his hand. Near him other Cardinals kneeled also, one of whom carried some tow at the end of a stick, another a cross, and the rest wax tapers. At the Pope's right hand sat Cardinal de Brancas, with eight other Cardinals; at his left, the Grand Master of Rhodes, with eight Cardinals. Next them, on the right, the Empe ror; on the left, the Elector of Brandenburgh, both attended by Archbishops. Next them, Electors, Princes, Bishops, and other prelates, as many as the place could contain. The rest sat on the stairs, which had been made very wide for the purpose. There was beside these, in the Court, a great number of Archbishops, Bishops, and other great Lords, both ecclesiastic and secular, who surrounded the Theatre on horseback. There was likewise an immense crowd of people, who could not get into the Court. When the music had ceased, one of the Cardinals, who was kneeling before the Pope, and who carried the tow, lighted it, and twice said aloud, addressing himself to the Pope, "Sancte pater, sic transit gloria mundi." After which, three Cardinals, who had been selected for putting the Crown on the Pope's head, standing up with the Grand Master of Rhodes, and taking the Crown from the hands of the Pope, they all four kneeled on the highest step of the throne, whence, after saying a prayer, they arose, and put the Crown on the Pope's head; after which, resuming their former places, they heard the Te Deum, and the inusic. When they left the place, the Pope mounted his white horse, which was preceded by three led horses, that were also white, and had red capariSons. The inferior Clergy walked The Papal Crown is composed of a cap, or tiara, enclosed by three marquises coronets, having two pendants like the Bishops' mires; and on its top a mound of gold. These three Crowns represent the pretended triple capacity of the Pope, High Priest, supreme Judge, and sole Legislator of the Christians. before, followed by the Abbots, Bishops, Archbishops, and Cardinals on horseback. The Emperor, on foot, held the reins of the Pope's bridle on the right, walking in the dirt, whilst the Elector of Brandenburgh did the same on the left. Thus the Pope was carried in procession from the Cathedral to the Augustine Monastery, and thence re-conducted to the Episcopal Palace. Here ended the ceremony. Mr. URBAN, June 1. WHEN Great Earl of Warwick, George to was made Archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1470, in the 10th year of the reign of King Edward the IVth., he made a great Feast, in which was expended 300 quarters of wheat, 330 tons of ale, 104 tons of wine, one pipe of spiced wine, 80 fat oxen, 6 wild bulls, 1004 weathers, 300 hogs, 300 geese, 3000 capons, 300 pigs, 200 peacocks, 200 cranes, 200 kids, 2000 chickens, 4000 pigeons, 400 rabbits, 204 bitterns, 4000 ducks, 400 herrings, 200 pheasants, 500 partridges, 4000 woodcocks, 400 plovers, 100 curlews, 100 quails, 1000 egrets, 200 rees, above 400 bucks, does, and roebucks, 1056 hot venison pasties, 4000 cold venison pasties, 1000 dishes of jellies parted, 4000 dishes of plain jellies, 4000 cold custards, 2000 hot custards, 300 pikes, 300 breams, eight seals, four porpoises, 400 tarts, 1000 servants to attend, 62 cooks, and 515 kitchens; of which Feast the Earl of Warwick was steward, the Earl of Bedford treasurer, the Lord Hastings comptroller; with many more noble officers. This Feast exceeded all feasts of that time, and was thought more befitting a King than an Archbishop, and that he did it to let the publick see he was given to hospitality. But the surprise was not only at the extravagance of the cost, but where they could procure all the particulars both from sea and land, where they got kitchens and ovens to dress all this; where they found places to eat people to eat it all, unless they init in; and lastly, where they got vited all the nation: but this Arch *This circumstance is particularly noticed by the Historian l'Enfant, in his History of the Council of Constance. EDWAR Total...0 7 0 W. R. TOUR IN YORKSHIRE. (Continued from p. 421.) DWARD again submitted, again prevaricated, and the turbulentnobles had scarcely laid aside their arms, before they were provoked to resume them with resentments highly in flamed; and their hatred against the Favourite so much increased, that his destruction was inevitable. Lancaster was on this occasion supported by Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, a powerful nobleman; Humphry Bohun, Earl of Hereford, Coustable of England; Aylmer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke; and many other new confederates. Laucaster assembled his followers and marched to York, whence the King had removed to Newcastle; but was pursued thither, and had just time to escape to Tynemouth, and thence by water to Scarborough, where was then a castle deemed impregnable. Whilst the King, with a few forces, proceeded to York to recruit his army, and Gaveston was left at Scarborough; the Earl of Pembroke besieged the castle there, which being untenable, surrendered on conditions which it is probable were never intended to be observed by the confederates, who having thus seized the person of their principal enemy, seem to have resolved upon making him a sacrifice to their resentment; and, accordingly, having conducted Gaveston to a castle at Deddington in Oxfordshire, they left him under a feeble guard for a few days, until, by a concerted plan, Warwick took possession of the prisoner, and immediately carried him away to his own castle, where, being joined by the Earls of Lancaster, Hereford, and Arundel, they caused the head of the unhappy Favourite to be struck off by the hands of the executioner ; -not, however, without some show of a military trial, as the sentence was carried into effect with great parade upon an eminence called Bledlow Hill, about one mile distant from Warwick Castle, on the road leading to Coventry. However active the Earl of Lancaster appeared at the head of the confederate Barons, or bold in the reduction of the power of the Crown, he is said to have been deficient in the talents requisite for a military commander, and even in personal courage and perhaps it may have given some countenance to this notion, that he seems to have taken no part in the Scottish war, to which it might have been imagined that the martial ardour of the age would have invited him. Another reason may indeed be assigned for his declining to attend the King on the occasion alluded to ; for on the return of Edward, after the tremendous and decisive battle of Bannockburn, the Ministry, new modelled by the direction of Lancaster, and the command of the army entrusted to him, seemed to afford an opportunity of holding a secret correspondence with the King of Scots, which he eagerly embraced, and thereby secured a powerful ally in the event which he may be presumed to have already anticipated, of another quarrel with his own Sovereign. Notwithstanding the high offices to which Lancaster had been appointed, he must have been perfectly aware of having little deserved the confidence of Edward; and the daily advances which the two Spencers were making in the King's favour, the countenance shown to them upon every occasion, and the bounty which was continually lavished upon them, filled his mind with jealousy and disgust, which soon broke forth in acts of open violence. An irregular transfer of property which had given rise to a quarrel between the younger Spencer and one of the confederate Barons, was deemed a sufficient excuse for again taking up arms. Lancaster and Hereford demanded of the King the punish ment of Spencer, or threatened to renounce their allegiance. Without waiting the result, they fell upon the offenders, pillaged and destroyed their estates, murdered their servants, and burned their houses. Flushed with the success of these exploits, they marched to London, and by menaces, procured of the Parliament then sit ting, the attainder of the Spencers, and sentence of perpetual banishment. They then once more retired to their castles in all the plenitude of feudal independence; but the interval of a few months had only elapsed before an accidental circumstance having afforded to the insulted Monarch the prospect of gratifying his resentment, Edward recalled both the Spencers, reinstated them in their former power, and seized upon the domains of those of the factious Barons whose estates lay most exposed to an attack. Lancaster again assembled his vassals, openly avowed having entered into an alliance with the King of Scotland, from whom he had received a promise of assistance in case of emergency, and being joined by Bohun, Earl of Hereford, posted the insurgent forces at Burton-uponTrent in Staffordshire, to dispute the passage of the river, and interrupt the march of the King's forces into the North. The King advanced at the head of his army, amounting, it is said, to thirty thousand men; and Lancaster, deficient in military skill, and disappointed of the reinforcement which he had expected from Scotland, fled before him, retreating Northward, until at Borough-bridge, the forces under Sir Andrew Harcla, a brave and loyal officer, who had before signalized himself by a gallant defence of Carlisle against the Scots, intercepting his passage over the river Eyne, the insurgents were repulsed, the Earl of Hereford slain, and Lancaster, incapable, it is said, of flight or defence, surrendered himself a pri soner. Harcla immediately conducted him to the King, who without any hesita tion determined upon his fate. Few forms were in those times observed; and a subject taken with arms in his hands, in open rebellion, could expect but little favour. His repeated treasons had long before rendered him odious, not only to the Sovereign, but to all the adherents to the Royal cause; and being sentenced to die, he was, as if by way of retaliation for his behaviour in the case of Gavaston a few years before, subjected to the most mortifying indignities which the rudeness of the age suggested. He was placed on a miserable horse without a bridle, a hood put on his head, and in mean attire, conducted amidst the insulting accla mations of the populace, to his own castle at Pontefract, and there beheaded. Thus perished one of the most powerful of the English Nobility, whose public conduct and private life, the former marked by continual turbulence, and the latter by arrogance and hypocrisy, may be truly said to have deserved no better fate. His revenues were immense, being at once in possession of no less than six Earldoms, with all their immuaities and jurisdiction. After his decapitation, his estates being seized for the Crown, it was reported that abundance of plate and jewels, and what is still more extraordinary, part of the rich wardrobe of Gavaston were found amongst his treasures. Thus it appears, that even amongst the highest nobility, the predatory attacks often made upon each other by these feudal chiefs, were not merely influenced by the more independent, however detestable, passions of revenge or resentment, but accompanied with the odious and selfish practices of rapine and robbery. How horrible a picture is thus presented of the state of society, when tyranny on the one hand, and rebellion on the other, alternately desolated the land, and crushed the lower classes of its inhabitants by continual oppressions! Force and violence superseded the mild and benign operations of the laws, and the natural protectors of the poor were in fact their insolent oppressors and cruel destroyers. The greater part of those immense estates which the higher nobility had accumulated, were undoubtedly culti vated by a rude sort of husbandry, but for themselves alone. Their vassals, wholly dependent upon them, were without any incitements to in dustry, or encouragement to moral virtues. virtues. In the short intervals between those conflicts, in which they were compelled to bear a part, and in which undistinguished thousands annually perished; idleness rendered them useless and burthensome, or habits of violence and outrage rendered them dangerous to their lords. The latter indeed were "a kind of independent potentates," who took upon themselves the redress of wrongs and the maintenance of privileges, by open force and the strong arm of power; by the exercise not of mild and impartial distributive justice, but by the domination of authority, and the terms of superior strength. Let us rejoice that we live in happier times; when the rights of the great and of the bumble are equally under the protection of the Laws; and when the sword of Justice is not wielded by caprice, but upheld by mercy. Yours, &c. FEW VIATOR. unac Mr. URBAN, Warminster, May 11. NEW things appear more countable to the young Topographer than the very irregular manner in which the Hundreds and Tythings are laid out in our Western Counties. In troubling you with a few remarks upon this intricate subject, I beg leave to say, that I have no particular claim of originality to make, and that I shall be happy to see the subject discussed in your pages by some abler pen. One of the first ideas which must occur to any one, on inspecting a County Map, is, that the Hundreds and Tythings could not have been laid out with any respect to the quantity of land they contained; and the great difference of extent, as well as the general neglect of every thing like a right line or a natural bound. ary, clearly indicates that we ought to look elsewhere for an explanation of the principle upon which these antient divisions were made. It is well known to those who are conversant in Saxon Antiquities, that the people, and not the land, were chiefly considered in this arrangement; but it has not yet been so clearly decided what number or description of persons constituted the original Hundred and Tything. Some bave imagined that the Hundred was made up of one hundred Thanes whose lands lay adjacent; but this hypothesis swells the number of these knights or petty nobles to an incredible amount: others have supposed that it consisted of an hundred families only, which is equally objectionable, because it diminishes the population far below probability.To take Wiltshire for an example: in the former case we should have in that county at least four thousand Thanes; and in the latter, not more than sixteen thousand people. That conjecture, therefore, seems the only probable one, which makes the Hundred to have consisted of one hundred FREE families of whatever rank; - supposing the slaves or bondmen, which constituted about three-fourths of the whole population, as being the property of their masters, and incapable of holding lands, not to have been taken into the account. This would make the population of Wilts about sixty thousand, or nearly onethird of its present amount, which is perhaps very rear the truth. A division of land, made up in this manner from the union of many smaller properties, must necessarily be very irregular in its boundaries, but there are other anomalies which even thus are not accounted for.-It is not uncommon, for instance, to find part of one hundred in the very middle of another, or several parts of a hundred scattered widely over a whole country, and these in common language are not unaptly termed ragged hundreds. It is evidently impossible, at this distance of time, and in the absence of all record, to state when and why any particular irregularity of this kind was introduced;but it is not so difficult, perhaps, to detect the operation of certain causes which must have ultimately produced this effect. of By whomsoever of our Saxon kings these divisions were first adopted (for there is no proof that we owe them to the wisdom of Alfred) they could not have continued long in their primitive state. From the increase of population, the manumission slaves, and other causes, the hundred must soon have ceased to contain just a hundred, and the tything ten free families.-The intention was to bind the free inhabitants in a kind of perpetual and mutual bail, and to constitute |