and was educated at Eton and Sandhurst. After taking high honours in the senior department of the Royal Military College, he was commissioned to the 10th Foot, and served with his regiment in the Sutlej campaign of 1845 and 1846, and was present at the Battle of Sobraon, for which he received a medal. He served under the Punjaub campaign of 1848-9, and was present during the whole of the siege operations before Mooltan -including the affair of the 9th of September-storming the enemy's strongly entrenched position on the 12th. In the course of this action he was buried under a portion of the fortifications, and after lying there some hours he was dug out unhurt. He took part in the Battle of Soorjkoond, carrying the heights on the 27th of December in command of his regiment, and receiving the surrender of the fortress as field-engineer. He was afterwards present at the surrender of the fort and garrison of Cheniote, and after a march of 60 miles, the day before Goojerat, he took a distinguished part in that final victory of the war. For these services he was made a brevet-major, received a medal and two clasps, and was mentioned in the despatches published in the London Gazette of March 7, 1849. Immediately after this he was selected by the Governor-General of India, Lord Dalhousie, to make a survey of the forests of the Himalayas, and he spent three years in this work, sending in a report that altered in a material manner the whole of the administration of this department. When affairs were going badly in the Crimea, he was one of the officers strongly pointed out by The Times as competent for high command [in the paper of 21 Nov., 1855], but he was left still in India, and was engaged with the Lawrences and Lord Napier in the early settlement of the Punjaub. He was home on leave when the Indian Mutiny broke out, and was ordered at once to join his regiment at Dinapore. He arrived just after the outbreak there, and the havoc made in his own regiment in the attempt to follow the mutineers; and, with the command of a field force, he was sent after them, finding and utterly dispersing them. He commanded a field force again in the Azimghur and Joonpore districts, and captured the fort of Atrowlea. He then commanded an advanced guard of picked marksmen and guns of Frank's force in its march to Lucknow, and was engaged in the actions of Chanda, Umeerpore, and Sultanpore, and the attack upon the Fort of Dooraha. He was English officer of advice to the Goorkha Brigade at the siege and capture of Lucknow, and took part in the storming of the

Begum's house and serai, the storming of the Emaumbara and Kaiserbagh, and the attack on the Moolvie, in Abassodowlah's Kumballah. He was present with a wing of the 13th Light Infantry at the first relief of Azimghur, and was then appointed Chief of the Staff to Lugard's force. In this capacity he was present at the passage of Touse, the second relief of Azinghur, the capture of Jugdespore, and several skirmishes in its vicinity. He was mentioned in despatches published in the London Gazette on the 25th of May, the 17th of July, the 10th and 31st of August, 1858, and the 24th of March, 1859. He received the Indian Medal and two clasps, with the brevet of colonel, and was made a C.B. for distinguished conduct under fire. After commanding his regiment at home, he was appointed AdjutantGeneral of India in 1865, and in 1869 he was made a C.S.I. He became major-general in 1868, lieutenant-general in 1877, and hon. general in 1881. In 1883, he received the colonelcy of the 2nd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, and, on the promotion of the Prince of Saxe-Weimar in 1888, he became colonel of his old regiment, the 10th. In 1886, he was created K.C.B."

Sir Henry was laid to rest on Saturday, Feb. 1st, in Brompton Cemetery in the same grave as his father and mother. Several old comrades were present, as well as his brother, General Charles Longden, and others of the family. A gratifying testimony has just come to hand in the last report of the Colonial and Continental Church Society, who say "The Samaden Chaplaincy has sustained a severe loss in the death of General Sir Henry Longden. He had been a regular visitor at Samaden every year for eighteen years. He often acted as churchwarden; frequently read the lessons in church; and was a liberal contributor to the Society. He was pleasant and genial to all, and will be much missed by all his friends, and not least, in the Engadine."

The Gloucestershire Shakespeares.-The will of John Shakespeare, of Newton Bagpath, cooke, is dated 24 December, 1623. The testator desired to be buried in the parish church of Newton Bagpath, and bequeathed all his goods and chattells to Margerye, his wife, whom he made sole executrix. The witnesses were Edward Selwin and Jane Selwin. The will was proved at Gloucester in 1624.

Anglo-Saxon Charters, A.D. 947-966.

(Continued from No. 1461, Vol. III., p. 604.)

The undermentioned charters have reference, more or less, to Gloucestershire, and are to be found in Vol. iii. of Cartularium Saxonicum: a Collection of Charters relating to Anglo-Saxon History, A.D. 948, by Walter de Gray Birch, F.S.A., etc., London, 1890:No. 882.

Grant by King Eadred to Wulfric, "miles," of land at Burgtune, on the river Wenris, or Bourton-onthe-Water, on the river Windrush, A.D. 949.*

This charter is apparently alliterative or poetical.

887. Grant by King Eadred to Glastonbury Abbey, of land at Pucklechurch. A.D. 950.

927. Grant by King Edwie, or Eadwi, to Wulfgar, Abbot of Bath, of land at Dyddenham, i.e., Tidenham, or Tiddenham, near Chepstow, between the rivers Severn and Wye. A.D. 956. Survey and Customs of Tidenham.

928. 929.

Lease for life by the Convent of Bath to Archbishop Stigand, of the land at Tidenham. A.D. 10521070.

,, 936. Grant by King Eadwig to the Church of St. Peter at Bath, of lands at Elvestun and Esctun, or Alveston and Cold Ashton. About A.D. 955

959.

986. Grant by King Eadwig to his relative Byrhtelm, Bishop-elect of Wells, of land at Stowe [on-theWold?] A.D. 956.

,, 1089. Lease for three lives by Oswold, Bishop of Worcester, to Ealhferth, a "levita," of land at Cumtun, or Compton, in Henbury. A.D. 962. Another form of No. 1089.

1090. ,, 1091.

Grant for life by Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, to
the King's thegn Alfwold, of land at Cungle, or
Coln, with reversion to the mother of the grantee.
A.D. 962.

,, 1105. Lease for three lives by Oswold, Bishop of Worcester, to the thegn Æthelnoth, of land at Heortford, Harford, in Naunton, near

"

Winchcomb. A.D. 963.

1181. Lease for three lives by Oswold, Bishop of Worcester, to his thegn Wihtelm, of land at Clifford-Chambers. A.D. 966.

B. H. B.

John Smyth's House at Nibley.-The residence at North Nibley of this famous Gloucestershire antiquary has long since been razed to the ground, though the entrance gateway still stands, or did, but a few years ago. Over it is inscribed the following:

These letters, doubtless inscribed by direction of Smyth himself, have puzzled many. They are initials of a Latin rime.

Nunc mei, mox hujus;
Sed postea nescio cujus.

We may venture to freely translate it thus:

To-day, 'tis mine,
To-morrow, thine;
But whose next day,

I cannot say.

:

The house continued in Smyth's possession a third of a century after the date of the above epigram, which was quite in accordance with his manner and feeling, as his histories clearly show. For long it remained in the possession of his descendants, sed postea, as the second inscription shows, it passed away to the unknown successor. Still, though but the shadow of Smyth remains in the village he settled in, the histories of the Berkeleys and of the Hundred of Berkeley will keep alive the memory of a very remarkable and able man. W. P. W. P.

VOL. V.

E

THE

Morality Plays at Gloucester.

HE following appeared on the title-page of a small and very rare work, published in 1639, which is unnoticed in the leading bibliographical dictionaries:

"Mount Tabor, Or private exercises of a penitent Sinner, Serving

for a daily Practice of the life of Faith, Reduced to special heads, comprehending the chiefe comforts and refreshings of true Christians: Also Certain occasional Observations and Meditations profitably applyed. Written in the time of a voluntary retrait from secular affaires. By R. W. Esquire. Published in the year of his age 75. The Contents of the booke are Printed by R. B. for P. Stephens and C. Meredith, at the gilded Lion in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1639." 16m0. 3 ls. pp. 227.

Anno Dom. 1639.
prefixed. London.

The name of the author is not recorded in Halbett & Laing's Dictionary. Fortunately the copy of this work in the British Museum Library supplies the information. On one of the flyleaves is this M.S. entry :-"The author's name was Willis, as appeared from a writing on the back of the vellum cover in which it was originally bound. He was born in 1564." This agrees with the statement on the title-page as to his age. It is signed "Edm. Malone" (perhaps the Shakespearian commentator). The work itself affords us no clue to the actual birthplace of the writer, but from various passages in it, it is most probable he was a native of Gloucestershire. We have his own declaration (at p. 97) that he was educated "in the free Grammar Schoole, called Christ's Schoole in the City of Gloucester;" and his statement that he was taught there by "a new schoolemaster brought thither, one Master Gregory Downhale, of Pembroke Hall, in Cambridge, after I had lost some time under his predecessor." One of the incidents of his childhood, to be now narrated, relates to this City, where his father evidently dwelt.

The title of Willis's work would scarcely lend any one to expect that it contained a remarkable description of a stage play acted in the city during the sixteenth century, and witnessed by the author. Such, however, is the fact, as the following transcript (pp. 110-114) will demonstrate :