of flourishing plantations and woods. The village is built at the foot of the hill, on the immediate edge of the moor which divides this parish from that of Nailsea.

A branch of the Berkeley family resided for many generations at this place, and adopted the local name. Roger de Tickenham was living in the reign of Richard I. and was father of Nicholas, who occurs in the time of Henry III. Subsequently the family

called themselves Fitz-Nicholas. The

last of them lived in the reign of Henry the Fourth, and left a daughter and heiress Catharine, married to Robert Poyntz, and in that family the manor remained until the reign of Charles the First.

It is mentioned, however, in the Genealogical History of the House of Yvery, that

"in the thirty-fourth of King Henry the Sixth, Anno Dom. 1456, a fine was levied at Westminster, between Ralph Perceval the elder, and his wife Joan, and Ralph the younger, as they are stated in the record bearing date upon the morrow after the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, before the Judges of the Realm, whereby Ralph Perceval the elder, and Joan his wife, acknowledged Tykenham, with its appurtenances, in the county of Somerset, to be the right of Ralph the younger, as the gift of Ralph Perceval the elder, and his wife Joan, who quitted claim thereto, for themselves and the heir of Joan, (whereby it appears to have been her inheritance,*) to the said Ralph the younger, and to his heirs, with warranty of the premises, to him and his said heirs for ever," (&c. &c. an entail described).

"Tykenham (continues the same writer) is a little village in the county of Somerset, not distant above a small mile from Weston Gordein (where the

*His wife was a Vincent.

the soil obliges travellers to take, it is at least five miles. There were visible, not long since, the remains of an old seat which was said to have been the habitation of this Ralph Perceval. But they left it in the next generation, the situation being, in all probability, unhealthy, and being tempted besides by an inheritance of much greater consequence, devolved upon them."

This ancient mansion, still existing in some decay, as a farm-house and early part of the fifteenth century. On its offices, may be attributed to the entering the fore-court, the hall is on the left hand. It measures in its interior thirty-seven feet in length, by twenty in width. There is a remarkable correspondence in its parts. At the east end are two uniform doors. In each side wall are two doors at the lower end, two uniform windows, and an ornamental bracket between them. At the upper end, on the south side was a high arch, originally forming a bay, or leading into the drawing room, but now filled up. On the other side another door into the court-yard. The windows are of two lights, with cinquefoil heads, and a quatrefoil opening at top. The lines of their tracery are flowing, as represented in the following page.

The brackets already mentioned are ornamented each with four small sunk quatrefoil panels and two quatrefoil rosettes. Rutter asserts that these brackets were "for the purpose of sustaining the military trophies which were amongst the most admired decorations of these stately apartments;" but what authority he has for this assertion we are not aware.

The withdrawing room, which stands

at right angles with the hall (uniting only at their extreme corners) was apparently originally lighted by two large square windows, one of which is wholly filled up, and the other partly cut into a door. These windows were composed of eight cinquefoil-headed lights, four and four; and they were adorned with stained glass. The dimensions of this room within were thirty feet by sixteen. The walls were panelled with oak, as was the ceiling, a part of which remains, divided into large squares by transverse mouldings, with handsomely

carved foliated ornaments. Collinson says that over the chimney piece were three shields of arms, carved in the wainscot. The first was gone. The second was, Quarterly, 1 and 4, a griffin segreant, Davis; 2 and 3, a chevron between three spear's heads, Rice; impaling, two lions passant. The second coat impaled three eagles displayed, Rodney. Rice Davis, (it is added) whose arms are here quartered, some time resided at Tickenham, and married Dorothy, daughter of Maurice Rodney, esq. and sister and co-heir of Sir George Rodney, Knt.

A turret containing nineteen stone steps conducts to the upper story. This staircase was lighted by two small windows, the upper one a quatrefoil within a small circle (never glazed).

There is a handsome groined ceiling of plaster in the upper floor; the intersecting mouldings forming wheels and crosses, with large rosettes; but it was an addition subsequent to the original structure, and perhaps of the reign of James or Charles I. as is the wainscot paneling.

The owner of this property is Sir John Smyth, Bart. of Long Ashton Park. The present tenant is Mr. William Voules, yeoman.

The Church, which immediately adjoins the manor-house, consists of a nave, north and south aisles, chancel, tower at the west end, and a south porch. About the exterior generally there are not many marks of remote antiquity. Of the original lancet windows there are some remains, but the present windows are nearly all insertions of the latter period of pointed architecture. The outer archway of the porch may, however, be taken as a specimen of the original structure in

the early English style. It has a trifoliated head rising from slender pillars and capitals, ornamented with a small dog-tooth pattern. The font is also a relic of the same period: it is square, each side measuring two feet six inches at top, slightly narrowing downwards; a short pillar at each corner, and a trifoliated arch carved on each panel. The arches of the interior of the church are now perfectly plain, as if cut out of a wall; but one of them has relics of pilasters carved at its corners, which seem to have been cut away.

The church tower is remarkable for having many large flat bricks worked up amongst the stone. There is a water-stoup in the porch.

The total length of the nave and chancel is seventy-four feet; the total width of the interior is fifty-two feet, the north aisle being thirteen feet nine inches, and the south aisle seventeen feet three inches. The south aisle extends to the same length as the chancel. At its eastern extremity there is a water-drain in the south wall.

In the north aisle there are three recumbent effigies of stone, in a nearly perfect state, and apparently of the

same age, which is about that of Henry III. The first seen is of giant proportions, being about six feet six inches from head to heel. It is the effigy of a crusader, cross-legged, accoutred wholly in chain mail covered upon the body with a light linen surcoat; a plain heater shield on his left side, beneath which his left hand is concealed and his sword; his right hand held before him: his feet on a lion. His head rests on a lozenge pillow, slightly turning to the right.

The second effigy is a lady. Her forehead, face, and chin are banded with a wide fillet, leaving a small ball of hair above each cheek. The hair on the upper part of her head is confined by smaller cross bands. Her hands are raised in prayer. Her feet on a lion. The length of this figure is six feet.

The third effigy is another crusader; resembling the former in costume and in attitude, except that he is represented as drawing his sword, held in front. He has a small garter round his right knee, and spurs; and his feet on a lion. His stature is six feet two inches.

These effigies may be attributed to the De Tickenhams, already mentioned. There are no modern monuments of any importance. The only one with armorial bearings is in the south aisle, to the memory of the family of Samuel Bave, Gent. in the last century.

There are some small remains of stained glass in several of the windows. In the east window of the south aisle is a well designed figure of an old man, seated, having the nimbus of a saint. In one of the windows of the north aisle is St. Mark with his lion; and in those windows are the following shields of arms.

.

1. Quarterly gu. and or, a bend argent. (Fitz-Nicholas.)

2. Paly or and gu. on a canton argent a cross patée.

3. Paly or and gu. bezantée. (Basset.)

bordure az.

In the chancel window :4. Gules, a chevron or.

5. Gules, a chevron between ten crosses argent. (Berkeley).

6. Argent, on a canton gules a rose (or quatrefoil, or cross) or.

7. Paly (as No. 2. above).

J. G. N.

MR. URBAN,

Waterloo Bridge

Road, Nov. 20. HAVING been a constant subscriber to and reader of your valuable Magazine for the last thirty years, I need not say that I have reaped much information from its pages, and have ever looked upon the work as a kind of guardian spirit hovering over the remains of ancient English architecture, and often by its influence arresting the ruthless hand of the spoliator, when directed against the inimitable temples of our forefathers.

I am therefore exceedingly anxious that you should correct some observations in your last number, (p. 506,) in reviewing the "History and Topography of Ashbourn, &c." whereby you are led to suppose that the restoration and repewing of Ashbourn church now going on under my direction has commenced by the "destruction of the screen between the nave and the chancel, and also the porch on the south side of the nave, the inner doorway being removed, and a window inserted uniform with those on each side."

Permit me to inform you that no ancient screen existed in the church, between the chancel and the nave, when the present works commenced. About forty years ago a rude partition, composed of split fir poles covered on both sides with reeds coarsely plastered over, was put up, and extended from the floor to the old oak roof; thereby completely shutting out from the body of the church a view of one of the most beautiful specimens of early pointed work in the kingdom. To the removal of this barbarous obstruction, and the substitution of an oak screen in character with the building, I plead guilty.

The arrangement of the new pewing requiring the doorway on the south side of the church to be closed, I found on examination that both it and the porch were of a much later period than the windows and buttresses; and that the lower part of the windows above the porch had been cut away to provide for a comparatively modern doorway. Convenience as well as restoration sanctioning the removal of these, I acted accordingly.

I also beg to correct your observations with regard to the chancel being "the only portion of the existing pile

which agrees in the style of its architecture with the date given in the inscription." The church is principally in the early pointed style, with such alterations in the windows as we frequently find in the various transitions from the pure and simple lancet-arch to the endless variety of fanciful tracery used in later periods. The piers and arches of the nave and transepts are as early work as the chancel. The font is very fine, and of the same period. The walls and buttresses are generally of the original character of the church.

The restoration of the floors to their

original levels has brought to light some interesting specimens of very early carving in stone, of which I hope at no distant period to be able to send you a description.

MR. URBAN,

AS your Magazine is a repository of historical information, the following communication may appropriately ask for a place in its columns.

Although we should not expect to find a well-organised police in the infant states of South America, the following narrative displays an acuteness and promptitude in that respect, which could not be exceeded in any European city. The person referred to is Don Bernardo Monteagudo, who was commissary on the part of Peru for a treaty of confederation with the sister republic of Columbia, and the murder took place in January, 1835.

"On the evening of the 30th, Don Bernardo Monteagudo was assassinated at Lima, near the church of San Juan de Deos. An individual plunged a poniard into his breast, and he died on the spot. In examining the wound, it was perceived that the weapon with which he had been struck was extremely sharp-edged. All the cutlers in Lima were summoned and questioned on the subject. One of them having said, that he had sharpened two poinards which had been brought to him by a negro, of whose name he was ignorant, but whom he should know again, a proclamation was immediately published for recruiting the army, with an exemption for all slaves and free blacks, who were ordered to present themselves at the

office of the adjutant-general, to obtain a certificate. This stratagem succeeded: a great number of blacks presented themselves, and the cutler, who was concealed, recognised the one who had employed him; he was seized, and questioned as to what had become of the two poniards, one of which had evidently served to assassinate Monteagudo. The negro confessed his crime, gave up the one he had in his possession, and added, that being discovered by a decree of Providence, he must declare, that he had been instigated to this murder by the governor of the fortress of Callao, and that the second poniard would be found in the left sleeve of the principal servant of General Bolivar, who was to

In

make use of it that very evening, for the fact the poinard was found on that serpurpose of assassinating his master. vant. Bolivar had already five or six times escaped the steel of assassins in the pay of the Spaniards."

The foregoing narrative is extracted from a small volume entitled, "Résumé de l'Histoire des Révolutions des Colonies Espagnoles de l'Amérique du Without entering on the political quesSud, par Sétier." 18mo. 1827, p. 294. tions to which it relates, I cannot help observing, how interesting it is as an historical incident; nor will your

readers be less struck at the watchfulness of Providence, which thus interfered so signally to detect the murderer, and to prevent a second crime. What became of the assassin is not said.

The name Monteagudo is evidently the same in Spanish as Montague in English, and Montaigu in French. Yours, &c. CYDWELI.

At Lubeck, and some other towns in Germany, women take rank, not according to the condition of their husbands, but according to the date of their marriage. A simple bourgeoise occupies a more distinguished place than the wife of a burgomaster, if she has been married first. (Jahn's Germany, p. 360, from Krunitz, Encycl. part 10.) Do married widows take rank according to the time of their first marriage, or their second?

Tontines derived their appellation from an Italian banker named Tonti, with whom the principle originated. The first experiment of the kind was made in France, 1653.