London Review of English and Foreign Literature

ART. I. Archaelogia: or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity. Publifbed by the Society of Antiquaries, London. 4to. vol. 3d, 19s. Sold at the houfe of the Society in Chancerylane, and by White, Robson, &c.

This third volume of tracts, published by the learned and refpectable fociety of antiquaries, contains no lefs than four and forty articles; moft of them on fubjects extremely curious, though not equally popular or pleafing to the generality of readers. The feven firft papers give account of various horns, formerly made ufe of as charters or inftruments of conveyance; the first paper, by Mr. Pegge, ferving as an introduction to the reft, by expatiating on the hature and kinds of these horns in general. The figures of feveral, fplendidly embellished, are illuftrated by elegant engravings executed by Bafire.

In article the eighth, the Hon. Mr. Daines Barrington gives an account of two mufical inftruments, used in Wales, called the crwth and the pib-corn, or horn-pipe. The former of thefe inftruments, he obferves, feems to liave been the origin of the violin; which was not known in England till the reign of Charles I.; though now it has fo far fuperfeded the ufe of the crwth, that the latter is on the point of being entirely loft; there being but one perfon in the whole principality who can now play upon it. The pib-corn, whofe found resembles that of an hautboy, is a rude inftrument likewife, fo little used that its total neglect might not be regretted. Our learned antiquary's motives for recording their exiftence cannot fail, however, of meeting with the approbation of the critical reader. VOL. II. * Befides

"Beides that the reprefentation of fuch ancient inftruments puzzles the antiquary when they are entirely loft, I fhall take the libery of mentioning other advantages to the Republic of Letters from hot fuffering them to go into total oblivion, though they may have given way to inftruments of a better conftruction.

"In moft editions of Shakespeare the players in Hamlet exhibit a fcene thus defcribed in the opening.

• Enter a duke and dutchess with regal coronets, &c.'

This heraldic abfurdity muft ftrike every one; Sir John Hawkins however fuppofes, that this fhould be read,

Enter a duke and dutchefs with Regals and Cornets;' both of which are ancient mufical inftruments, though now disused.

"As for the Regal, or Regalls, Snetzler, the famous organbuilder, informs me, that it is not entirely loft in Germany at prefent, being a small portable organ with keys, and this inftrument was much ufed anciently in England, as our kings had a regall-maker, amongst their mufical establishment, who had a falary of 161. per

Annum *.

"But it is not only from the names of mufical inftruments which ceafe now to be in ufe, that paffages may receive illustration, but from obfolete appellations of fome of our most common finging

birds.

In the First Part of Shakespeare's Henry the Fourth, Act III. Scene 3.

Hotfpur fays to Lady Percy (whose name by the way was not Catherine, but Elizabeth †)

Hotfpur. Come, fing.

Lady Perty. I will not fing.

Hotspur. 'Tis the next way to turn tailor, or be robin-red-breast teacher.

"Now a goldfinch ftill continues to be called a proud tailor in fóme parts of England ; which renders this paffage intelligible, that otherwife feems to have no meaning whatsoever."

Articles IX. and X. treat of the antiquity of horse-shoes and the manner of fhocing horfes among the ancients. The first by Charles Rogers, Efq; and the last by Mr. Pegge. Mr. Rogers appears to be of opinion that the poetic appellation of fonipes, given to horfes, alludes to the found made by their fhoes, and not by their feet alone. He conceives alfo that they were originally drawn over their hoofs, to which they were artificially faftened by fome ligature concealed under the hairs of the footlocks. With this conje&ure, he remarks, that the induere of Pliny perfectly well correfponds; and the facility, of a fhoe's

See the cftabliment of the household in the first year of Queen Mary, p. 24. B. in a MS. which I had the honour of prefenting to the Society. Lord Bacon alfo frequently mentions the regal in his experiments on found, as he does the cornet, which he reprefents as an intrument of flexion.

+ See an order, de arreftando Elizabetham Percy, in the 5th year of Henry IV, A. D. 1403. Rymer, Vol. IV. Part I. p. 57. Hague edit.

Particularly Warwickshire, Shake jene's native country.

being drawn off by fticking in the mud, is much greater in one drawn over the hoof, than in one faftened to it by nails. He gives other reafons, fupported by allufions from the claflics in fupport of his opinion. Perhaps it may be fome confirmation of this opinion, that the word hoe appears to have originally meant fomething drawn on, as a covering: the Saxon dialect, whence it was taken, using it even to this day particularly in that fenfe thus the Dutch call a glove, a hand-fhoe, handfchoen, i. e. a covering to the hand.

Mr. Pegge is, on the other hand, of opinion, that the fhoeing of horses was not a general practice among the ancients. As to the poetical name fonipes, he thinks it a term taken from the clatter or found of the feet in running, efpecially upon hard ground, whence Virgil fays, in that famous line of the eighth Enead,

Quadrupedante putrem fonitu quatit ungula campum. And again in the third Georgic.

--- Solido graviter fonat ungula cornu.

He conceives alfo that artificial means were made ufe of to harden the hoofs of horfes, to enable them to do without shoeing. He obferves, however, in favour of Mr. Roger's supposed mode of fhoeing, that the horses, as well as men, have their feet covered with leather among the Chinese and other nations of the east, to this day. Of the practice of the ancient Britons in this respect, he remarks, we know nothing, though we are affured they did not want horfes either for their chariots or mounting. In all probability, fays he, this cuftom of fhoeing was introduced at the conqueft; and from that era has been the general, though not univerfal, practice of the English, as in fome places, from the nature of the foil and of business, the feafons of the year, it might, without damage to the beafts, be omitted. Should we fuppofe alfo, that among the ancients, regard was had to exigence and circumftances in fhoeing, or omitting it, it would be no unreasonable or improbable conjecture.

Articles XI. and XII. relate to a point of more importance, as the determination of the difpute may poffibly prevent the throwing away more money, than has been already done, in the fruitless attempt to cultivate vines in England. It has been a prevailing notion that this country formerly produced wine; a memoir, in fupport of which opinion, is inferted in the first volume of the Archaelogia. Mr. Barrington, in his obfervations on the more ancient ftatutes, having controverted the arguments of the above memoir; Mr. Pegge returns to the charge, and endeavours to invalidate the arguments of Mr. Barrington; who hath here again replied, and, we think, fatisfactorily deter mined the point.

B 2

"IF

"If I do not misunderstand Mr. Pegge, fays Mr. Barrington, he doth not mean to infift that vineyards were ever very common in this country! and therefore there is not really fo much in dispute between us as may be at firft imagined.

"It is not worth while to contend with him whether a few individuals might not perhaps try the experiment, nor what might be the fuccefs of it: Mr. Pegge in this is more candid than those who have maintained the fame opinion before him.

"The whole of the controverfy will depend upon the fignification of the word vinea, as well as its derivatives; and Carte hath obferved, before me, that moft fuch difputes on points of antiquity arife from the want of a due attention to the diction of the age in ⚫ which an ancient writer lived, and from the indeterminate and ⚫ general expreffions of the compilers of our old chronicles."

"As the whole however which I have ventured to advance on this head depends upon grapes fcarcely ripening ever in England at prefent without the affiftance of a wall (where they likewife moft com. monly fail) it is neceffary that this fact must be previously fettled between us; especially as Mr. Pegge, in the Archæologia, mentions inftances of vineyards which have fucceeded in more modern times. Opulent and whimfical men may have undoubtedly made trials of this fort, and have been willing to deceive themselves for a certain time, by mixing brandy, fugar, and other ingredients, to make their wine tolerably palatable. The ground however being totally thrown away on which fuch vineyards are planted, and the cultivation being an expenfive one, in a few years

laughing Ceres reaffumes the land †.'

POPE.

This, I can moft boldly prophecy, will be the fate of every Fnglish vineyard; or in any other part of Europe, in the fame northern latitude as even the moft fouthern parts of Great Britain .

Article XIII. On the boundary ftone of Croyland Abbey. By Governor Pownal, M. P. F. R. Š.

This curious monument is faid to have remained for eight hundred and twenty years in the fame ftate and fituation; the record of its being fo placed, continuing and exifting at the fame time. Dr. Stukely has given a fhort account of it; but as the tranflators of Camben' were mistaken in their tranflation of the infcription, Governor Pownall has here given the hiftory of it, as its beft interpreter.

Vol. II. p. 241.

Thus Thomas Earl of Arundel attempted to introduce a vineyard at Albury, as did the Honourable Charles Howard at Deepden. See Camden in Surrey.

Liebaut begins his 49th chapter of his Maison Ruftique in the following

manner;

In fuch countries as the vine cannot bear fruit on account of the cold diftempereture of the air;' and he then inftances Bretagne, Normandy, Mans, Chartrain, and Touraine. Surflet's Tranflation of Liebaut, printed in 1616, folio.

Lord Bacon alfo obferves, that the grapes in France will not ripen but very near the ground; and that in England they require a fouth wall. Cent. V. Exper.

430, 432.

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