Kenelworth, betwixt Stanford and Wamford, betwixt Brackly and Nixborough, betwixt Blie and Tickhill, so that the peace of our land be not broken, nor our Justices' authority diminished, nor any damage done to our Forests: And that Earl that will tourney there, shall give to us 20 marks, and a Baron 10 marks, and a Knight that hath lands shall give 4 marks, and he that hath no lands shall give 2 marks. Moreover no stranger shall be admitted to tourney there; whereupon we command you, that upon the day of the tourneying you have there two Clerks, and two of our Knights to receive the oath of the Earls and Barons, which shall satisfy us of the said sums of Money, before the tourneying begin, and that they suffer none to tourney till before they have made payment, and have caused to be entered how much, and of whom they have received: And ye shall take 10 marks for this Charter to our use, whereof the Earl of Salisbury and the Earl of Clare, and the Earl of Warren are pledges. Witness myself at Ville Levesche, the two and twentieth of August.'

"This tourney was held to the North-West of Old Sarum, somewhere above Stratford, on the other side of the river."

In reference to the foregoing proclamation, and the names of the places therein mentioned, there may be orthographical errors in the original, or of the transcriber; but it will not be uninteresting to endeavour to point out the places, where these several tourneys were held. The first, and, probably, the principal one, was named to take place between Salisbury and Wilton, nigh unto the royal residences (as we may conjecture) of Richard at Ville Levesche, or Bishopstone, and unto his Castle at Sarum. The management of this tourney, we may reasonably infer, was more especially intrusted to the redoubtable William Longspée, Earl of Salisbury. The second tourney was appointed to take place between Warwick, and Kenilworth. The third between Stamford, in Lincolnshire, and (as we may conjecture) Wansford, in Northamptonshire. The fourth between Brackley, in Northamptonshire, and (as we may presume) Mixbury, in Oxfordshire. The fifth between Blyth, in Nottinghamshire, and Tickhill, in Yorkshire. With the exception of the first, the local reasons for these several appointments are not now apparent.

The precise spot, where the first-mentioned splendid tournament was held, is, of course, unknown; but it was, probably, midway between ancient Salisbury and Wilton; and, it is not

unlikely, the very site of the contested County Elections in the years 1818 and 1819 was the honoured scene of this chivalric rivalry-a scenc, that may be better imagined than described. The ground alluded to, naturally dry, and level in surface, was, then, we may well presume, a portion of the plain as yet unbroken by the plough, and admirably adapted for such an exhibition of skill, and prowess, which, we may depend on it, was daily attended by our valiant Sovereign, Richard, from his royal Castle of Sarum, or Vill of Bishopstone. Such a meeting, attended by Royalty itself, the Barons, and Knights of this and of foreign countries, and the innumerable hosts of ladyes faire, could not but attract the attendance, and gaze, of the multitudes of the surrounding country; and must have, altogether, afforded such a sight, as ne'er before, nor since has been seen within the bounds of the interesting County of Wilts.

NOTE 8-(p. 50.)

"Linnæus." In these multifarious notes I should do injustice to the eminent Linnæus (to whom the science of Natural History is more indebted than to any other man) did I not render him that passing tribute of praise, which is, so justly, his due. Linnæus was born, in the year 1707, at Rashult, in the province of Smaland, in Sweden. He inherited a taste for botany from his youth, and first reduced that science to a system. Previous endeavours to this purpose had been made by other naturalists, and the arrangement, which was most generally received, before Linnæus gave his aid to the advancement of botanical science, was that of Tournefort. His system depended chiefly on the corolla, and the assimilation of individual, and specific, parts of one plant to another. In consequence, his descriptions are cumbrous, and void of any possibility of classification. The system of Linnæus depends on the comparative number of the stamens, pistils, &c., of each plant, and, for its precision, received the general sanction of the scientific world; but it has one great, and irremediable, fault—it is an artificial system, and often widely scatters in its classes those plants, which, from their external parts, and internal qualities, bear, obviously, a kindred affinity. The subsequent system of the two Jussieus-uncle and nephew-founded on natural

affinity, competed for sovereignty with the apparently more simple system of Linnæus. It has since been adopted by Decandolle, and, being yet further improved by Lindley, it bids fair, ere long, to supersede the pleasing system of Linnæus, so sentimentally, and charmingly, pourtrayed by Darwin in his "Loves of the Plants." One great merit of the system of Linnæus, over those of his predecessors, consisted in the simplification of description, which he effected by allotting to the individual the specific, (or trivial) as well as the generic, name. The science of botany was greatly advanced by the impulse given to it by his discoveries, and classical arrangement, and the numbers of known plants became much multiplied by the labours of Kalm, Hasselquist, Osbeck, and other of his disciples, who, instigated by the fervour of science, travelled into all parts of the world; but how would this great Naturalist have been delighted, had he, in his day, attained to the knowledge of the Monarch of the Groves-the Pinus Lambertiana-so named by its unfortunate discoverer, Douglas,* in honour of A. B. Lambert, Esq., of Boyton, in this County, V. P. L. S. This gigantic tree is a native of California, and is often found from one hundred and fifty to above two hundred feet in height. One which was blown down was measured by Douglas: "Its entire length was two hundred and fifteen feet; its circumference, three feet from the ground, was fifty-seven feet, nine inches; and at one hundred and thirty-four feet from the ground, seventeen feet, five inches." I cannot, with propriety, extend my extracts relative to this superb production of Nature; but I must now place in juxta-position with the Pinus Lambertiana that most inagnificent of flowers, the Rafflesia, so named from Sir Stamford Raffles, the Governor of Sumatra, where alone it has been found. This is a parasitic plant, and its flower is sessile; the leaves of the corolla, four in number, are very thick, and succulent, and surround a capacious nectary, one foot in diameter, which is similar to a large cup; so that, with the diameter of the encircling petals, which admeasure one foot each, the whole flower is three feet across its extent!

Unfortunate I may well call him. In the year 1834, whilst engaged in one of the Sandwich Islands, under the employ of our distinguished Botanists in the discovery of new plants, he was induced, by curiosity, to look into a pit-fall, made by the natives to catch wild bulls-one was within it, and he was quickly gored, and trampled to death.

+ Lambert's "Description of the Genus Pinus," &c., 2 vols. 8vo. 1832. Vol. 1, p. 57.

Oh! how would the scientific Linnæus have revelled in these botanical wonders of the Creation! His inquiries, indeed, were not limited to the vegetable kingdom, but his capacious mind ranged through the whole of Nature; he united in his studies, also, the animal and mineral kingdoms. His "Systema Naturæ," edited by Dr. Turton, in 7 vols. 8vo., merits a place on the library shelf of every Man of Literature. Linnæus wrote many detached dissertations on subjects of Natural History. He died in the year 1778. "A general View of the Writings of Linnæus" was published by Dr. Pulteney, of Blandford, which, in the year 1805, was re-edited (accompanied with prefatory Memoirs of Dr. Pulteney) by the late Dr. Maton.

NOTES TO ESSAY IV.

NOTE 1-(p. 61.)

"Edward our son." This expression is very singular; and, in the original, it thus stands: "Edward, nostre fitz." It can only refer, with an awkwardness of diction, to his being the son of Henry, the Third, and bears some assimilation to the instance given in p. 7, where Edward, the Third, is stated to have signed himself as 66 Edwardus, filius Edwardi, filii Edwardi:" i. e. "Edward, the son of Edward, the Second, the son of Edward, the First;" and thus corroborates the difficulty of pointing out the individual of the early ages.

NOTE 2-(p. 68.)

"Afford a strong proof of the prevalence of smuggling." It was observed, (p. 59,) that the first recognition of the duties due to the Crown, on the exportation of the staple articles, wool, wool-fels, and leather, is by the statute 25 Edw. 1. c. 7, 1297; but it, also, appears by the Hundred Rolls of Edward, the First, (cited by Mr. Hatcher in his "Account of Salisbury,") that, coetaneously, with the impost, smuggling, or the endeavour to evade the duties, and thereby enhance the profit of the export

trade, seized hold of the minds of the less honourable part of the community. In those early ages it was, at times, customary to export the finer wools, and to import the superior cloth. We have seen, in my previous pages, that the City of Salisbury was a celebrated mart for wool; (ought not this to be revived?) and, that the local place of sale was opposite to the Halle of John Halle. We have seen, that Southampton was, in those early times, a staple town, and—yet have we here the following list of persons engaged in this illicit traffic-seeking to pass their wools abroad without the payment of the duties to the officers of the staple. The names of the offending parties are—

Ralph de Aune, 20 packs sent to Lymington.
Robert de Trilleran, 4.

Robert de Pentrich, 20.

Robert de Deveneys, 2.

John de Opere, to Southampton, 12.

Gilbert Chun, to Lymington, 14.

Nicholas de Aune, 3.

Robert de Wallop, 10.

Thomas de Reigate, 40 to Lymington, and the Pool of Lymington. Hamo de Lyswis, 10.

Henry le Diny, 20.

John de Homyngton, 12.

William de Langford, 3.

Michael le Cavanac, 8.
Stephen de Reigate, 6.
Roger de Leu, 4.

It seems, that these avaricious, and unpatriotic, smugglers all sought the benefit of illicit trade through the bye port of Lymington, with the exception of John de Opere, who boldly endeavoured to slip through the very fingers of the officers of the staple at Southampton! From the purview of the names it does not appear to me, that these parties were inhabitants of the City of Salisbury, as they all (with the exception of Gilbert Chun) bear a place of residence as a designation; and we may thus recognise the abodes of four of the parties-viz. Robert de Pentrich, Robert de Wallop, John de Homyngton, and William de Langford. Of the residences of the others it is in vain to guess; but I must remark, that I think it illusory to presume, that Thomas and Stephen de Reigate were of Reigate, in Surrey; Pentridge.