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palpable violation of the commands and warnings, so solemnly promulged in the year 1833, by Pope Gregory XVI. in his encyclical letter to the whole body of the Romish Church throughout the world; one of the special objects of which was to denounce that very conduct which here presents itself daily to our eyes. But the pope is in Romish Italy; Dr. Murray is in Protestant Great Britain! We trust that this brief exposé, drawn entirely from his own communication, will sufficiently unveil Dr. Murray's secret designs for the present, and that every one will understand the value of his episcopal recommendation, namely, that Bossuet's "Exposition" is an "authentic" source for ascertaining the "real differences of doctrines" between Protestants and Romanists! And we may not unprofitably add, that the sly and insinuating and jesuitical character of this book of Bossuet could not better be described than in the words of one, who being himself enveloped, for a season, in the mists of the "mystery of iniquity," and in the pollutions of the "Man of Sin," was not only tho

roughly conversant with all Romish intrigues, but, as has been so often the case, was thereby plunged into the awful abyss of infidelity-we allude to the historian Gibbon. Now Gibbon says of this very production, which has been so warmly recommended by Dr. Murray :-"The ten-horned Monster of Popery is, at Bossuet's magic touch, transformed into the milk-white hind, which must be loved as soon as she is seen." Now, merely from the above isolated specimen, what must be thought of the boasted infallible unchangeableness, literary or doctrinal, of Romanism? We will conclude, in the language of one of their most applauded Jesuits, Maimbourg, that "Catholics often engage among themselves in contention and disputation." And if so, we cannot but apply to their whole motley and tortuous system the words of another of their most idolized and sainted fathers, St. Jerome "What varies is not true."+

Yours, &c. WILLIAM BAILEY. North Grove House, Tunbridge Wells.

Hieronymi Opera, Præf. Evang. vol. i. p. 1426.

ANCIENT TOMBS.

IN the accompanying Plate we give representations of two of the most ancient Tombs formed of stone, known to have existed in this country.

The upper one is at Dewsbury in Yorkshire. That place is remarkable as having been one of the earliest settlements of Christianity in England; a subject which has been ably and instructively discussed by the Historian of South Yorkshire, in a memoir published in the first volume of the Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica.

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There is a woodcut of it in Whitaker's Loidis and Elmete; but we have reason to suppose that the present representation, drawn by Mr. George Buckler, is far more accurate. Dr. Whitaker describes it as part of a Saxon tomb, shaped exactly like a common cottage house, but with the tiles of the roof resembling feathers, and very artificially laid over each other. At the entire end is cut in relievo a cross of a very antique form. All the

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* Of this there is an engraving, but audaciously improved, in Gunton's Church of Peterborough, p. 243; a more accurate representation will be found in Carter's Ancient Sculpture and Painting, Part I. p. 12. Its similarity to the Dewsbury tomb consists in its being of the same shape, and formed of a single stone; but

the roof is ornamented with scroll-work (altered into roses in square panels in Gunton's plate), and in the front are six whole-length figures of the monks, or of saints, under round-headed arches,

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after Roman models; their own architecture was nothing else than a debased Doric. Of their sculpture such as this tomb, we have much fewer remains."

Together with this tomb some other very curious sculptures were discovered of exceedingly early date, representing in relief figures of Christ and the Apostles. They are represented in Whitaker's Loidis and Elmete; and there is little doubt that they formed portions of a Cross, the memory of which was preserved by tradition, and also by the rhymes of a village poet. (See Mr. Hunter's essay before mentioned in the first volume of Collectanea Top. et Geneal.)

The second cut represents another tomb, which bears the appearance of a somewhat later form than that at Dewsbury; but seems as it were the next gradation in point of style. The ridged roof and the imitation of tiles are retained; but the side is sculptured with an arcade of columns and interlacing arches, in a style occasionally seen in early Norman architecture. We are not certain whether this tomb is still in existence; for we find it was conveyed by Mr. Hasted, historian of Kent, from the church of Fordwich to his private residence at Canterbury; and it is therefore not improbable that, since his death, it may have fallen into ignorant hands, and have been destroyed. In any case, we are glad to have this opportunity of preserving a representation of it, engraved from a drawing made exactly sixty years ago by the celebrated Captain Grose; because the small vignette given in Hasted's work is very ill drawn and unsatisfactory.

The following is the account which Mr. Hasted has given of this tomb, in his description of the church of Fordwich:

Should it still exist within those precincts, we would respectfully suggest, that its great curiosity well entitles it to be placed within the walls of the church itself. It is added that "It is one solid stone, sculptured only on one side; the back part having two hollows, as if made to fasten it to the wall."

"In the west part of the body of this church, was placed a very ancient stone shrine against the wall; which having been removed some years since, was cast out in the churchyard; where being soon likely to perish, by being exposed to the weather, it was purchased by a gentleman [we presume Mr. Hasted himself?] and brought to the precincts of the cathedral of Canterbury, where it now lies.'

*Loidis and Elmete, p. 301.

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NEW RECORD COMMISSION.-No. V.

Rotuli selecti ad res Anglicas et Hibernicas spectantes ex Archivis in Domo Capitulari West-Monasteriensi deprompti. Cura Josephi Hunter, S.A.S. 8vo. pp. 265, besides Indexes.

THIS volume consists, as its title page indicates, of various Rolls selected from the Miscellaneous Records of the Chapter House. They comprise, I. The Patent Roll of the 7th John. II. A return made by the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer of Ireland, setting forth all discharges of debts and accompts, and all grants of annuities, enrolled in Ireland, between the accession of Henry V. and the 11th of Henry VI.; and III. Five Rolls relating to proceedings in England consequent upon the De Montfort rebellion in the reign of Henry III.; and a Roll entitled ' Terræ Normannorum seisitæ in manum domini Regis tempore Regis Henrici III. vel ante in diversis comitatibus,' but which in fact is an imperfect series of minutes of various writs and grants connected with the lands of Normans seized into the hands of the King when the English continental dominions were lost.*

We shall reserve the first of these Rolls for consideration when we come to notice the volume containing the whole of the Patent Rolls of King John. The second Roll is one which would not interest the majority of our readers; and we shall therefore pass to the Rolls relating to the transactions in the reign of Henry III.

The rebellion of Simon de Montfort-' vir ille magnificus' (Mat. Paris, 672) constitutes one of the most important epochs in English history. Out of it emanated our peculiar system of parliamentary representation, and, with it, the freedom, the power, and the national happiness which have been its results. Interesting as such a period must necessarily be, the diligence of our antiquaries has merely sufficed to raise around it an infinity of doubts. They who are fortunate enough to write after the whole series of the Close and Patent Rolls of Henry III. shall have been published, may perhaps arrive at truth; at present we amuse ourselves in hunting after it; but our inquirics are, comparatively, to little purpose.

The victory of Evesham restored Henry III. to liberty, terminated the life of de Montfort, and placed his followers at the mercy of the King. So far as regarded the property of his opponents, that mercy consisted in the absolute confiscation of the lands of every one of them. This measure reduced many of the noblest and wealthiest of the nobility to instant and total beggary. They became thenceforth a body of broken men,' distinguished in the Chronicles, as is pointed out by Mr. Hunter (pref. p. xxxii.) by the significant appellation of the Exheredati'-' the disinherited knights.' The desperate state of their fortunes gave them courage; they retreated to the natural strongholds of the country, and to such fortified places as remained in their possession, and still contended with the King although against all hope. The war thus lingered for a considerable period. At length that power, which, with all its defects, during the Middle Ages was a never-failing peace-maker, interfered to mitigate these calamities. We shall state the results in the words of Mr. Hunter.

"The Pope had not been an unconcerned spectator of the distractions from which England had so long been suffering. He had thrown his influence into the scale of the King. But now that the contest might be said to have subsided, so far as it respected any great constitutional or political question, and was a contest of vengeance on the one hand, and despair on the other; the Pope became the advocate of peace and mercy; and it was chiefly through the mediation of the Legate Ottobone, that the King consented to the adoption of lenient measures, and to rescind the determination which had stripped at once of all their revenues the persons of higher or lower dignity who had been, in any portion of the contest so long carried on, arrayed against him.

* Vide Gent. Mag. III. 579, N.S.

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