opportunity for increasing the king's treasury, had the state of the town admitted of a heavier tax. The circumstance of the people of Hull paying a moiety of their fine, i. e. 50 marks, or about 167. 13s. 4d. immediately, though those of Ravenser, in the first year, paid only 367. out of 300%., leaving the remainder in charge in the sheriff's account until the 31st Edw. I., affords no support to his argument; for if the inhabitants of Kingstonupon-Hull were as able as those of Ravenser to pay 3007., though, from the "royal favour," only 331.6s. 8d. were demanded, they would assuredly have raised the whole of so small a sum at once. The author forgets, also, that the instalment in one year from Ravenser more than equalled what Kingston paid within the same time, notwithstanding it formed but a tithe of their whole fine.

The eagerness with which every fact is seized upon that can by possibility be construed into evidence of the estimation in which Hull was held in the thirteenth century, is sometimes amusing. The establishment of the mint at Hull, when one was in full operation at York, is considered not only a decided mark of the increasing prosperity of the town, but of the peculiar favour which was bestowed upon it by its royal proprietor, of which partiality additional proof is found in the king's visiting it in May, 1300." The high road northward (via regia) lay at that time in a direct line from Hessle to Beverley; but the king took a circuitous route thither solely for the purpose of viewing the state of his newly erected borough of Hull1." Neither of these statements can be relied on, and one of them is wholly gratuitous, because we have no positive information of Edward's motive for visiting Hull. Other causes besides the king's favour possibly induced the government to establish a mint at Hull, though it is certainly some proof that it had then become a town of consideration, a point upon which all its historians are agreed; but that any thing like attachment for his newly erected borough influenced Edward to visit it on that occasion is highly improbable, especially as his residence "did not exceed a day," in which time he could scarcely have had leisure to gratify those feelings of interest in its improvement which are so confidently imputed to him. If we are to indulge in speculation as to the cause of that visit, it may with much greater probability be attributed to his meeting his navy there, but nothing was more uncertain than Edward's routes in his northern expeditions; and that he sometimes preferred the coast to the main road, is evident from his journey to Scotland in 1296. The fifth chapter treats "of the buildings, streets, and

1 P. 61.

* See a Narrative of Edward's Route to Scotland in 1296, in the Archæologia, vol. xxi.

general appearance of Hull, about the time of its supposed foundation in 1296, with an account of some of the early plans of the town;" but this is exclusively of local interest. În the sixth chapter," the magnitude of Hull as a sea-port in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries" is discussed, in the introduction to which some valuable remarks will be found on the commercial state of the kingdom at that period; but for these we must refer to the work itself. It is then shown, that the town of Hull is mentioned in connexion with commerce as early as 1198, when Gervasius de Aldermannesberie accounted for 225 marks for 45 sacks of wool taken and sold there; and that wines were very largely imported into it in the thirteenth century, the country round being then, as now, supplied with them through that port. Thus, in the compotus of William de Wroteham, of the duty called quindema, or quinzime, received between the 20th of July, 4th John, 1203, and the 30th November, 6th John, 1205, according to the receiver's account, or according to the computation of the Exchequer, between the 20th July, 5th John, and the 30th November, 7th John, the total amount of the receipts was 49587. 7s. 34d., out of which Hull paid 344l. 14s. 4žd.; London, 8361. 12s. 10d.; Boston, 7807. 15s. 3d.; Southampton, 7121. 3s. 74d.; Lincoln, 656l. 12s. 2d. ; and Lynn, 6517. 11s. 1ld.; and of the ports in the vicinity of Hull, York paid 175l. 8s. 10d.; Grimsby, 917. 15s. 04d.; and Hedon, 60l. 8s. 4d.; Yarmouth, 541. 15s. 6d.; Barton, 337. 11s. 9d.; Scarborough, 221. Os. 44d.; Immingham, 187. 15s. 10d.; Selby1, 177. 16s. 8d.; whilst the now flourishing town of Whitby paid only four shillings. In the 9th Edw. I. Hull paid 10867. 10s. 8d. towards the duty on wool, woolfells, and leather, which was only exceeded by Boston and London. From these and other statements, it appears, "that, on an average of four successive years, from the 14th to the 18th Edw. I., the duties received at Hull amounted to nearly one-seventh part of the aggregate amount of duties taken during the same period throughout the whole kingdom 2."

The succeeding chapters treat of "the right to prisages, and other duties in the river Hull; and of the pretensions of Beverley to be styled a port;" and "on the restoration of the art of brick-making in England, and the early use of bricks in the town of Hull."

A mistake of the late Bishop Lyttelton, afterwards president of the Society of Antiquaries, is too striking a specimen of the accuracy of the members of that fraternity in the last generation to be allowed to pass unnoticed:

"The abbot of Selby claimed wreck of the sea (wreccum maris) in that port. Rot. Hund. vol. i. f. 134b."

2 P. 105.

"The bishop has himself informed us, that he visited Hull in the month of November, 1756, for the avowed purpose of examining the walls of the town and the materials of which the Trinity Church is constructed. With what acumen and perseverance his task was performed may be judged on a perusal of the following extract from his paper, which will be read with surprise by those who have noticed the venerable pile to which it has reference, in its present dilapidated state: With regard,' he observes, to Trinity Church (which Leland says has a great deal of brick worked up in the walls) there does not appear a single brick in or about the whole fabric, except a few in the south porch, placed there of very late years.'”—P. 138.

The truth is," that the chancel, with the exception only of the buttresses, crenelles, and windows, which are of stone, is wholly built of brick, as are also the foundation of the tower or steeple, and the south porch of that church '!" Mr. Frost's remarks on the use of bricks in England are deserving of attention; but here again we find him on his favourite hobby, for all his learning is directed to the alpha and omega of his researches, the renown of Hull. Concluding that part of the church was built in 1285, or at least that it existed before 1301, he says, "this fact is, perhaps, sufficient to establish the claim of Hull to the merit of being the first town to restore, in this country, the useful art of brick-making." The Appendix contains the compotus of a subsidy on goods exported and imported at Kingston-upon-Hull anno 2 Hen. IV., with a particular statement of the cargo of each ship; a document which is not only curious in relation to Hull, but valuable as evidence on a subject which yet remains to be investigated-the size and description of ships at an early period of English history; three accounts of customs; the record of an inquisition respecting. Saier de Sutton's relinquishing his right to the prisage of wines in Hull; a deed of partition between Richard and William de la Pole; and some other articles of lesser consequence. Before concluding our review of this volume, we must point out those statements which, though not immediately connected with the object of the author's work, he has introduced in illustration of them.

On surnames, the following observations cannot fail to be acceptable:

According to the authority of Camden, surnames began to be taken up in England about the time of the conquest, but were not fully settled among the common people until about the time of Edward II. Remains, p. 109. The early history of Hull is rich in examples illustrative of the origin of surnames, and proves the correctness of

the assertion of Camden, that many names are local, which do not seem to be so, only because the places are unknown to most men. Page 121. Thus the names of Hustwaite or Hustwick, Tuttebury, Liversedge, Middleton, &c. which belonged to families settled in Hull in the 13th and 14th centuries, occur at first with the de' prefixed, as descriptive of residence, though at a later period they are all mentioned as simple surnames. This branch of the subject is not only curious but instructive, in enabling us to trace the origin of the population of towns, and upon the authority derived from this source, it may be confidently affirmed, that Hull, instead of having been peopled, as some have supposed, by merchants from distant places, owed the increase of its inhabitants, with a few exceptions only, to emigrations made from the towns and villages in its immediate neighbourhood: for although we occasionally find such names as John de Bedford, Robert de Lychefeld, Walter de Newerk, Peter de Appelby, William de Whyteby, Simon de Grimesby, Simon de Ravenser, John de Lincoln, &c. these instances are rare in comparison with the names derived from the towns of Hull, Wyke, Myton, Sulcotes, and the adjacent towns and villages of Drypool, Sutton, Newland, Anlaby, Cottingham, Ferriby, Hessle, Stoneferry, Cave, Melton, Rowley, Bilton, Preston, Camerton, &c. Some of the latter examples support another position laid down by Camden respecting families whose present surnames correspond with the names of particular towns, but who are not, as he says, therefore to suppose that their ancestors were either lords or possessors of those places, but only that they came from or were born at them. Page 125. Thus Hull, Wyke, and Myton, in the reign of Edward I. furnished designations to several persons, who had no pretensions to owe their names to any other cause than simply that of residence, as Henricus de Hull, Stephen de Hull, Agnes daughter of Thurstan de Hull, John de Wike, Simon de Wike, Stephen son of Robert de Wike, Stephen de Miton, Cecilia de Miton, &c. Besides, there are several compound appellations, in which it is obvious that residence alone, independently of any other circumstance, must have conferred at least one of the additions, as Ralph le Taverner de Nottingham de Kyngeston super Hull, Robert de Dripol de Kyngeston super Hull, Robert de Sutton de Kyngeston super Hull, &c. In those instances it is probable that the first addition was de rived immediately from the birth-place, or original residence, while it is evident that the latter was assumed to denote the actual habitation of the party. The observation of Camden, that the better sort of people were the first to take surnames, and that they began to do so by little and little, even from the conquest (page 109), is supported by the fact, that in Hull most of the principal families had surnames in the reign of Edward the First, as is exemplified in the ancient and respectable family names of Helleward, Skayl, Box, Rotenhering, Cock, Birkyn, Oyssel, &c.; but even established surnames were sometimes capriciously relinquished in favour of names descriptive of residence, as in the instance of James, the son of Adam and Agnes Helleward, who, instead of adopting the name of his family, was called James de Kyngeston. (Br. ad q. d. 17 Edw. III. n. in Turr. Lond. asserv.) We may add that Hull, like other towns at that early

period, was fertile in names derived from trades and professions, as in the instances of Thorstan le Tayllour, Richard le Barbour, Elias le Taillour, William le Chaundeler, Hugh le Taverner, Peter le Gauger, William le Celereman, Simon le Carpenter, Ranulphus le Tyler, Walter de la Crane, Ralph le Porter, Alan le clerk, &c. An equally simple mode of distinguishing persons in those early times was by the names of their fathers and mothers, as Galfrid the son of Hugh, Hugh the son of Isabella, Galfrid the son of Robert Carpenter of Beverley, &c.; while in some instances the age of the party, or any peculiarity of appearance, was sufficient to bestow a name; thus it is obvious that Nicholas Le Jovene (Br. ad q. d. 19 Ed. I.) acquired his name in his youth, and that Robert le Veil (Inq. ad q. d. 7 Edw. I.) was indebted for his title to the circumstance of his having lived to a good old age."-Pp. 15, 16, note.

In the Appendix, several corrections and additions are inserted; among others, an account is given of the representatives of the barony of Mauley, where it is said that "Lady Barbara, the wife of the Hon. William Ponsonby, is the heir-general of the Mauleys," but this is not the case; for not only are we informed, three lines before, that her ladyship's grandmother Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Salvin, through whom Lady Barbara descends from that family, had a sister Ann who is now living, and who is consequently a co-heir of the moiety of the dignity which was vested in the Salvin family; but issue still exists of Constance, the other sister and co-heiress of Peter, the last Lord Mauley. If the few extracts from the receipts of John de Middleton, as collector of pavage, murage, cranage, and for the work of the church, in the note to p. 21, are fair specimens of its contents, we regret that every thing relating to the latter is not printed, as it appears to be of equal, if not of more, interest than some of the documents which have been selected. Besides a few pedigrees, several plates illustrate the volume one of an ancient plan of Hull, from a MS. in the British Museum; three or four of seals; and another of an effigy, presumed to be that of Sir John de Sutton, who died in the 12th Edw. III.; but no attempt is made to elucidate his pedigree from the arms on the sides of the tomb. These arms are apparently Deincourt', Neville, Lucy3, Bigot', and Redvers;

1 Billette a fess dancette.

3 Three Lucies hauriant.

2 A Saltire.

4 A plain cross.

5 A lion rampant. This bearing might possibly have been that of the house of Percy. If the fourth coat was intended for Mohun, "Or a cross engrailed sable," and it be taken for granted, from the arms of Deincourt being engraved, that the person buried under the tomb, or one of his ancestors, married into that family, the following descent will explain why the coats of Deincourt, Percy, Neville, and Mohun, should be introduced: John Lord Deincourt married Agnes, widow of Richard Percy, and sister of Robert and Geffrey Neville, and was living 7 Hen. III: his son Edmund Deincourt married Isabel dau. of Reginald Mohun.