METEOROLOGICAL DIARY, BY W. CARY, STRAND. J. J. ARNULL, Stock and Share Broker, J. B. NICHOLS AND SON, PRINTERS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET, GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE AND HISTORICAL REVIEW. MAY, 1853. CONTENTS. PAGE MINOR CORRESPONDENCE.-The Italian of Siena-The Oath of Knighthood-Whittington's A Trip to the Gold Regions of Scotland... Hepple Castle, and Hetchester Northumberland (with Engravings) Traits of the Trappists-The Cousins of Montrose.... Treasury Warrant relating to Rymer's Foedera and his MS. Collections.. "Heydon with One Hand :" an English Duel in the year 1600..... 458 459 469 472 479 481 The Ancient Commerce of Westmerland-the Clothiers of Kendal, and their 488 .... Christian Iconography and Legendary Art: by J. G. Waller.-The Wheel of 494 POETRY.-A Biography, with Notes on the Glens of Antrim 502 CORRESPONDENCE OF SYLVANUS URBAN.-Gravestone of" Dame Joan" at White Ladies, Shropshire- Tower Royal-Romeland-Descent of the Manor of Stottesden, Salop-On supposed Showers and Springs of Blood-St. James's Park NOTES OF THE MONTH.-The Institute of British Architects-Arrangements of the New ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES-Society of Antiquaries, 526; Archæological Institute, 529; DEATHS, arranged in Chronological Order 504 515 526 532 533 536 539-556 Registrar-General's Returns of Mortality in the Metropolis-Markets, 567; Meteorological 557 559 568 BY SYLVANUS URBAN, GENT. MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. The Italian of Siena.-MR. URBAN,The "Visit to Rome" in your March number professes to record an answer of one of the peasant girls of Siena as "a fine instance of the purity and elegance of their language." She is made to say, "Saliendo questa montagna, ecco Siena." I recollect having heard the same story in Italy, but to the following effect :-A popular Roman preacher was going to Siena, doubtless expecting to extend his reputation as an orator, when, on inquiring his way of a country girl at a few miles distance from the city, she replied thus, "Passato il ponte, valicato il monte, ivì è Siena." Having such a specimen of the lingua volgare, he is said to have returned to Rome without once venturing into the pulpit. Yours, &c. CORIDONE MEGARIO. The Oath of Knighthood.-The original warrant, of which a copy is annexed, is preserved in the MS. Lansdowne 255, f. 360. Though not signed, it was evidently prepared for the signature of the Earl Marshal, then the Earl of Arundel. J. G. N. does not recollect to have met before with any intimation of an "oath of knighthood" being required in the time of James the First; and he inquires whether it was peculiar to Scotland, or whether other notices of its observance in this country are to be found: "I have received a sufficient certificate that Sr John Cæsar was knighted by his Matie at Edinborough, in Scoflande, and tooke the oath of knighthoode, with all other ceremonies accordinge to the custome of Scotland, on the 29th day of June, 1617, and therefore I require you to enter him accordingly into yo' register of knights, for which this shalbe yo' warrant. "Arundell House, this (20th) day of May, 1623. "To the Officers of Arms "at Derby House." Whittington's Stone.-A correspondent of "The Builder " having called attention to the mutilated condition of the present Whittington's Stone (recently the subject of some remarks in our own pages, Dec. 1852, p. 598, and Feb. 1853, p. 114), it has called forth a reply from Mr. Charles Foster, furnishing some further particulars of the fate of the original stone, of which he states he is the owner. After it had been affixed to the corner of Queen's Headlane, in the Lower-street, Islington, as a spur-stone to prevent carriages running against the west corner,-in 1829, when that old building was taken down, Mr. Foster's father was employed to erect the new house, and he then became proprietor of the Whittington Stone, among the old materials. Mr. Foster then says, "I had it carved into a sort of pinnacle, which can be seen at any time on applying to Mr. Harris the King's Arms, corner of Park-street, Liverpool Road, Islington." We fear that this memorial must have lost everything but its identity of material, after having been first sawn into two halves (Gent. Mag. Sept. 1824) and then [one half?] "carved into a sort of pinnacle"-yet some slight interest may attach to these anecdotes, though the object itself is robbed of its distinctive features. University Honours. In the biography of Bishop Kaye (see p. 428) it has been stated that he and the present Baron Alderson were the only two instances on record of the same person winning the double honours of Senior Wrangler and Senior Medallist. Two other earlier instances have been pointed out. In 1756 John Webster of Corpus was both Senior Wrangler and first Chancellor's Medallist; and in 1773 John Jolliand Brundish obtained the same honours. Neither of these gentlemen had the chance of competing for the additional laurel which graces Baron Alderson's brow, as the Browne medals were not instituted until 1775. Dr. Donaldson, the head master of Bury school, has pointed out that Brundish and Alderson were both scholars at Bury St. Edmund's (which was also the scene of the early education of the present Lord Chancellor and the Bishop of London), as well as members of the same small college,-Caius. A. B. G. begs to correct two slight errors which Mr. Cunningham has fallen into in his interesting notices of Thomson, p. 369. He states (1) that Hobkirk is near Ednam, while it is some twenty "lang Scotch miles" from it; he should have said, near Southdean, whither Thomson's worthy father removed soon after the birth of the poet. (2) There is mentioned a certain churchyard, yclept "Rule," which is certainly not within the shire: nor we believe in all "broad Scotland." Riccal. toun is buried in no such apocryphal place, but in his own quiet "God's-acre" of Hobkirk. P. 441. The late Edward Rogers, esq. was educated at the Charter-house. For some time after being called to the bar he went the Oxford circuit. He was sheriff of the county of Radnor in 1840. His first wife died in 1816, his second in 1849; and his only son who attained his majority died at Geneva in 1838. His other children died in childhood. A disquisition which he wrote on the site of the Last Battle of Caractacus was published in the last July number of the Archæologia Cambrensis, from the last number of which we take these notes. THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE AND HISTORICAL REVIEW. A TRIP TO THE GOLD REGIONS OF SCOTLAND. MY DEAR GROTIUS,-I learned with much pleasure from your agreeable letter that your attention has been directed to the curious and interesting metalliferous district of Leadhills and Wanlockhead by the very lively and well-written article which appeared some time ago in the Household Words. I am sorry, however, to be obliged to confirm your suspicion as to the accuracy of many of the facts contained in it, arising from the imperfect information which could be collected during so hurried a visit as the writer paid to Leadhills. There are two errors into which a stranger is almost sure to fall, and neither of them has been avoided on the present occasion. From the secluded situation of the village of Leadhills, in the middle of a wild district, one unacquainted with the real facts would naturally at first sight suppose that its inhabitants had little communication with the world beyond their own valley. The contrary, however, is the truth. Few hamlets of the same size have been more visited by strangers, and in none, I believe, has the population been recruited from so many different and distant sources. The interesting geological features of the country, and the eminence of many of the successive mining agents, have proved most attractive to the scientific world, and the author of that article would find himself but a very small unit in the body of English philosophers and foreign savans who have gone out of their way to visit Leadhills. In fact, so great was at one time the influx of visitors of this class that, to prevent considerable loss to the company, it was necessary to make a regulation forbidding the miners to dispose of specimens of the ores. From the earliest discovery of the mines English adventurers have employed their capital and skill in prosecuting them, and most of the companies who have engaged in them have either been formed on the other side of the border or have contained others besides Scotch partners. The consequence has been that these bodies have from time to time brought to Leadhills a number of miners from Cornwall and Cumberland, whose patronymics are still met with among the inhabitants. Independent of this a certain degree of connection has been kept up with the other Scottish mines in Islay, at Machrimore, Carsphairn, &c. and many of the workmen have reciprocally migrated between these places. The very nature of the works themselves also necessitated considerable intercourse with the external world. The heavy and bulky produce of the lead mines required an immense number of carts to convey it to the market at Leith. The carters of that sea-port who had been employed in conveying goods into the country were in the frequent habit of making considerable detours in order to obtain a back-carriage from Leadhills, and you may be sure that these men were too happy to relate and the miners to listen to the news of the Scottish metropolis around the smithy fire, or in the evening over their pipe and modicum of whiskey in the inn. Since the opening of the railway this traffic has ceased, the lead being now conveyed to the Abington station. From all these various sources the miners have received information as to passing events, and it will be found that they are better acquainted with the general current of affairs than the inhabitants of most agricultural villages at a less distance from the great towns. The other error may be said to be the reverse of this, and arises from the supposition that, as the inhabitants of this secluded spot have not had their attention distracted by the numerous occurrences of the world at large, they must possess a more vivid recollection of the particular incidents of their own locality. But this is also a fallacy. The very fact that those incidents have been observed to create an interest among the numerous strangers who have visited Leadhills has led to much traditional exaggeration, and in nothing more than the date at which the mines were commenced. Thus in the Household Words the era of Bevis Bulmer is ante-dated by no less than two centuries and a half. It is, however, unnecessary to dwell longer on this at present, since we are now starting on an expedition to our Scottish Ophir and California, when each individual mistake can be alluded to as it presents itself. We shall not subject ourselves to the jolting of a cart over the rough country roads, but strap our knapsacks on our back, take our trusty alpenstocks in our hands, and trust to our own pedestrian powers, not, however, forgetting a plentiful supply of the creature comforts, and a flask of good Glenlivat to qualify the extreme coldness of the mountain streams. Thus equipped we rendezvous at the Caledonian station, in the Lothian Road. Do not be alarmed, my dear friend, I am not going to detain you with a description of the puffing and whistling of the engine, or call your attention to any suburban view of tiles and chimney-pots. On the contrary, we hurry on to the Abington station; but it will be better if we do not alight there, but proceed to that of Elvanfoot, about five miles further, as the valley of the Elvan forms a far more picturesque and interesting approach to Leadhills than that of the Glengounar. Standing on the platform, you can easily trace, on the opposite side of the Clyde, the line of the great ninth Iter of the Romans, which traversed the intramural province of Valentia from Carlisle to the Wall of Antoninus, and thence to Ptoroton, on the Moray Firth. On the top of the isolated hill immediately in front are the remains of one of the fortifications of that warlike nation, which Chalmers has conjectured to have been the station of Gadenica, originally a town of the Damnian Britons. It is a curious fact that a draw-well is found within the precincts of this camp, on the very summit of the hill,-surely no small evidence of engineering skill. On the face of the hill below the entrenchments is one of the slate-quarries of the district, which formation, by-the-bye, I never heard designated as edge-stone. These slates, however, are so thick, coarse, and heavy, that the quarries have been long abandoned, and the Welsh employed in preference. It is probably more to the objectionable character of these native slates than to the poverty of the district that the prevalence of thatched roofs in the village of Leadhills is to be attributed. Our course, however, lies in the opposite direction; so, turning our back on the Clyde, let us enter the valley of the Elvan, or Shortcleugh Water. This, as well as the other lateral glens which enter the valley of the Clyde in this neighbourhood, appears to have been at one time densely wooded, and the names of many of the hills seem to prove that they retained this character to a comparatively recent period. Now, however, they are quite bare, with heath on the lower, and bright green grass on the upper, ridges. It is very doubtful whether the Romans, in their short and precarious occupation of this island north of the Wall of Severus, ever settled in these valleys, and certainly their mineral wealth was unknown to them. We, however, meet with many relics of a more recent period. In several of the little dells you may observe the ruins of the small towers, or peels, which speak so forcibly of the rude times of border feud and English invasion. These little fortalices, with the arched vault for the cattle below, and the thick walled rooms above for the family of the farmer, re |