constitute them guardians of each others conduct: but, to effect this, it was necessary that changes should be made as the population fluctuated. There can be no doubt but that the Hundred was originally subdivided into exactly ten tythings; but, as this has long since ceased to be the case, it is natural to suppose that the first attempts to meet the inconvenience arising from an increased or diminished population, were by increasing or diminishing the number of tythings within the Hundred.-We soon find, however, that severe legislative interference was requisite to maintain this essential feature of Saxon polity. Several laws on this subject still exist, and particularly one of Canute, which requires, under no less penalty than that of outlawry, that every person being twelve years of age should enrol himself in some hundred and tything. —It is to be observed that this law, though highly penal as to the general object, clearly gave an option to the person as to the hundred and tything of which he was to become a member; and this, I apprehend, is quite sufficient to account for those irregularities which at first view appear so inexplicable. A manu mitted villein, and there were many of these, from pious and humane motives, on acquiring landed property, though locally situated at a distance, would sometimes prefer placing himself under the protection and civil jurisdiction of his former lord; perhaps courtesy might require it, or the lord might expect it as a just tribute of respect. Similar reasons would draw the younger branches of families to their more powerful relatives, ecclesiastics to religious establishments, and clients to their pa trons and what thus originated in choice would soon become indefeasible custom. I have not at present an opportu nity of extensive reference; but, so far as my memory serves me, I think it will be found that some of the most ragged Hundreds had Bishops or Religious Houses for their lords in the time of our early Heurys and Edwards; if this be the case, it is a fair presumption that the detached parts were acquisitions after the Hundred itself came into their possession. I need mention only one circumstance more, but it is one which has very much altered the Hundreds from their original appearance and extent. I mean the union of two or more of these antient divisions into one, of which many instances occur at no very distant periods: the motive may have been merely convenience, and the change most probably took place without any formal act to sanction it or mark the time. Of these united Hundreds we have several in Wilts; Cawden and Cadworth, Elstul and Everly, Pottern and Cannings, Branch and Dole, may be instauced; the union of which last did not take place till after the reign of Elizabeth. Nor does the modern name always so clearly imply the circumstance; for the extensive Hundred of Swanbrough contains within its present boundaries that of Roubergh Regis, which existed separately temp. Edw. II. while that of Roubergh Episcopi has been united to Pottern and Cannings. Instances of this nature might easily be multiplied; but I conceive enough has been said to account for the present irregular division, and more perhaps than you will think interesting to your general readers. Mr. URBAN, J. O. April 27. AMONGST that vast variety of strange Tenures which our ancestors seem to have industriously exercised their fancy to invent or establish, I have scarcely heard of one more curious than that which is said to belong to the Manor of Thongcastor in Lincolnshire, where, according to various accounts, "the Lord has a right to whip the Parson in his Pulpit." Mr. Arthur Young, in his View of the Agriculture of the abovenamed County, has hastily glanced at this custom, from the traditionary report of the neighbourhood; but unquestionably some of your intelligent Correspondents are able to afford more particular information upon the subject, and it will be esteemed a favour, if, through the medium of your Publication, a credible account of it may be obtained. At present all that I learn is, that the Manor of Broughton in Lindsay, about two miles from Brigg or Glandford Bridge, is holden under that of Castor, or of Harden, in the parish of Castor, by the following service; viz. that annually upon Palm Sunday the Deputy of the Lord of the Manor of Broughton Broughton attends at the Church of Castor with a new cart-whip in band, which he cracks thrice in the Church Porch, passes with it on his shoulder up the Nave into the Chancel, and seats himself in the pew of the Lord of the Manor, where he remains until the Officiating Minister is about to read the Second Lesson. He then proceeds with his whip, to the lash of which he has in the interim affixed a purse, which ought to contain thirty silver pennies (instead of which a single half-crown is substituted); and, kneeling down on a cushion, or mat, before the readingdesk, holds the purse suspended over the Minister's head all the time he is reading the Lesson; after which he returns to his seat; and, when the Divine Service is over, leaves the whip and purse at the manor-house. It is said that the silver pieces have some reference to those which Judas received as the wages of his iniquity; and that the three cracks of the whip in the Church Porch allude to the denial of our blessed Saviour by St. Peter: but the true rationale of the custom may perhaps be known, to some of your Readers, of whom I venture to request the favour of such farther particulars as may tend to elucidate so extraordinary a custom. I believe that an ancient Priory once stood in the Parish of Broughton: had these practices any reference to the Monastic Establishment there? In whom was the Manor antiently vested, and by whom is it now holden? By whom was the service imposed originally, and is it still performed in the manner above describ. ed, or how otherwise? are questions which I flatter myself that your indulgence will allow me respectfully to put to the circle of your numerous Correspondents; to whom I have been so often indebted for a solution of my doubts on a variety of subjects connected with Literature and Autiquities, that it would be ungrateful if I did not mention my obligations, with sentiments of great respect, both to Mr. Urban, and those by whom the well-established fame of his Miscellany has been so long and so ably maintained: and towards which, by thus eliciting, or being the means of eliciting knowledge, it affords me great pleasure in the humblest deQUESTOR. gree, to contribute. GENT. MAG. June, 1820. Mr. URBAN, THE March 21. parish of St. Andrew, in the City of Worcester, according to the parliamentary return in 1801, contained 1750 inhabitants. The money raised by the Parish-rates, at 3s. 6d. in the pound, was 4911. 8s. The Church (sce Plate II.) is a Vicarage, in thegift of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. Its value in the King's Books is 10. 5s. 10d. The Churchyard is very large, and was consecrated by Bp. Thornborough in 1635. The Church is supposed to have been erected in the eleventh century; and was appropriated to the Abbey of Pershore. But the building is chiefly remarkable on account of its lofty and elegant spire, which is a great ornament to this antient City. was built, by Nathaniel Wilkinson, in 1751; who gave in its dimensions on oath as follows: J It ft. in. The height of the base or tower.. 90 O The height of the spire from its base 155 6 245 6 The diameter of the base of the spire is 20 ft. and under the cap 6 ft. ths. The spire is terminated with a Corinthian capital, on which is fixed the weathercock. The epitaphs in this Church are given in Green's History of WorcesC. D. ter, vol. II. p. cvii. Mr. URBAN, May 12. HE antient Collegiate Church of Tower having undergone a repair, I was greatly disappointed on visiting it, to find that not only no restorations had been attempted; but great part of the few original features of the fabrick, which had escaped destruction in former reparation, have in the present been obscured or entirely destroyed. The North side of the Nave and its Aile, which till lately was in the original state, has been modernized. The venerable appearance it once possessed is hid by a covering of the new-fashioned cement, which has likewise been applied to the West front and the main Tower attached to it. The smooth even surface of plaster spread over the walls destroys every idea of the antiquity of the building, and gives this antient Church the appear appearance of a fantastic Gothic erection of yesterday. Church to be disgraced by the burlesque restorations of Parish Carpenters and Plasterers. I have strictly confined myself to the innovations of the last repair. With those of former ones I have nothing to do at present. So devoted to improvement has this edifice been during a century back, that no part of the antient fabrick exists, excepting the great arches and pillars, which has not in some way or other been modernized. E. I. C. The South side of the Nave and Aile being less exposed than the opposite one, instead of the compo is merely washed over with a dirty. white composition; and the Choir, which has long since been rebuilt with brick, and most required the application of the cement, remains in the same disgraceful state as formerly. The inside of the Church is in litthe better condition than the exterior. The windows have been despoiled of their original mullions and tracery; ACCOUNT OF THE ANTIENT SCULP and in their stead are occupied by a clumsy imitation of the former ones, copied from a bad restoration of an older date in the West front (coeval no doubt with the Tower) rather than from originals still remaining at the Eastern end of the Ailes. In the Clerestory the windows contain only plain mullions, without even the large quatrefoils that appear in the lower tier. In addition, the windows have been new glazed in the modern style. By this improvement, several coats of arms, in stained glass, which were to be seen before these repairs, are totally lost. The walls and pillars are covered with a yellow wash, the peculiar co4ouring of garrets and stables; except the mouldings of the arches, the capitals to the columns, and different lines of the building, which are white washed. The antient Stalls (though little care is bestowed in their preservation), I am happy to add, have escaped the varnish brush. But the Exeter Monument has not shared their good fate, having received a coarse coat of whitewash, greatly to the detriment of the curious and delicate sculpture of the canopy, and so thickly applied as to fill up the accumulated initials which the idle and mischievous had cut upon the effigies. I am not aware whether this repair has been at the expence of the Chapter or the Precinct. If the lat ter, as, judging by the work I should pronounce it to be, the Antiquary will have great cause to lament the apathy of the Master and Brethren of the Hospital of St. Katherine, who, at a period which produced so many good revivals of this neglected style of Architecture, suffered their antient TURES IN THE ROYAL MUSEUM AT (Resumed from p. 326.) E now proceed to the Hall of the Seasons. XXXV. VENUS GENETRIX. The figures of Venus, with the surname of Genetrix, which we see upon the Imperial coins, present to us that Goddess, regarded by the Romans as the mother of their ancestors, precisely in the same altitude as this fine statue. She appears dressed in a transparent tunick, which is scarcely detached from the graceful contour of her timbs, and she holds in her hand the apple of Paris. Her ears are pierced; for it was usual to suspend valuable pendants from the ears of statues which represented Goddesses. This statue of Parian marble ornamented the Gardens of the Versailles. (Visconti, p. 16.) There is considerable difficulty on the subject of these Venuses. Cæsar first called her Venus Genetrix, as the common mother of his family, and Lessing thinks that she was represented as a Venus Victrix, but he observes, that many Venuses have been so denominated by the Restorers merely placing an apple in the hand. The best explanation of those accompanied with Cupid is, that they were in honour of the accouchemens of the Empresses. Armed Venuses are of Grecian antiquity. XXXVI. COMMODUS. A Bust. The ferocious visage of this Emperor announces his character. (Visconti, p. 17.) It was in this reign, says Winckelman (Art. VI. 7) that the Arts began to decline. His portraits are very rare. One exceedingly fine is at the Capitol: another at the Farnese Palace; a third in the Pio-Cle mentine |