exasperating ecclesiastical black lettering. It describes Carpenter as Professor of Theology at Oxford, and Chancellor of Oriel College; also as having been bishop of this church thirty-three years. On account of his piety,' it adds, 'this monument was restored by the Provost and scholars of Oriel, A.D. 1853.'

"A mortuary chapel in which the body was buried was discovered underneath the chancel during the restoration of the church in 1851.

"The Benedictine Monastery or College of Westbury, which was founded in the commencement of the 9th century, was rebuilt in 1447 by Bishop Carpenter and William Canynge, the latter becoming its first Dean after its reconstruction. 1 All the buildings were standing in the reign of Charles I., but were burnt down by order of Prince Rupert during the war."

Mr. Taylor, of the Bristol Museum, in a paper read before the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæological Society in April, 1883, after mentioning that "when the province of Wiccia was allotted to Worcester by Ethelred, King of Mercia, it embraced not only nearly the whole of Worcestershire and part of Warwickshire, but all Gloucestershire on the east side of the Severn, including Bristol," points out that Westbury was the site of a religious house as early as A.D. 794. He then shows that Oswald, successor to Dunstan in the See of Worcester, began a movement for the re-establishment of the Benedictine order in England, by "planting in the sequestered valley of Westbury a colony of twelve monks from Fleury. So much favour did Westbury find in the eyes of King Edgar that he ordered more than forty monasteries to be constituted after the same model.

About the end of the 13th century the house was changed into a College of Dean and Canons by Bishop Carpenter, who ordained that himself and each successor should be styled Bishop of Worcester and Westbury.'"

The chief town of the Cotswolds-ancient and historical

Cirencester, which Fuller calls by its old and familiar name Cicester-furnishes the fourth Bishop on this list, who is thus sketched :

"THOMAS RUTHALL, born at Cicester, in this county; bred in Cambridge, where he commenced Doctor of the Laws, was by King Henry the Seventh, for his great abilities, preferred to be Bishop of Durham. King Henry the Eighth made him of his Privy Council, notwithstanding the hatred which Cardinal Wolsey bare unto him. It happened King Henry employed him as a politick person, to draw up a Breriate of the State of the Land, which he did, and got it fairly transcribed. But it fell out that, instead thereof, he, deceived with the likeness of the cover and binding, presented the King with a Book containing an Inventory of his own Estate, amounting to an invidious and almost incredible summe of One hundred thousand pounds. Wolsey, glad of this mistake, told the King 'he knew now where a masse of money was, in case he needed it.' This broke Ruthall's heart, who had paid the third part of the cost of making the Bridge of New-Castle over-Tyne, and intended many more Benefactions, had not death (1523) on this unexpected occasion surprised him."

Another version of the story is, that "Henry having sent Wolsey for the royal estimate, the servant who was to fetch the book, by mistake delivered the Bishop's; and the Cardinal, though he was apprised of the error, being jealous of the prelate, presented it to the King." Wolsey was at this time supreme at Court, with "his blushing honours thick upon him." He had long borne some hatred to Ruthall, and having hastened his death, the wily Cardinal succeeded to his bishopric, probably imagining the diocese to be a mine of wealth which he could profitably work.

However Ruthall had heaped up his riches, which were so great as to make him one of the wealthiest subjects in the kingdom, he seems to have been liberal in their use. An escutcheon bearing his arms is found among those of the benefactors whose munificence helped to re-build the nave.

of the fine parish church of his native town, in the early part of the sixteenth century. Leland, referring to this circumstance, says: "Ther is nowe but one Paroch Chirch in al Cirecester; but that is very fayre. The body of the Chirch is al new worke, to which Ruthall, Bishop of Durhand, borne and brought up yn Cirecestre, promised much, but, preventid with deth gave nothing." It is likely Leland is in some error, as the work was probably accomplished before the Bishop's death; and the presence of his escutcheon implies. that he was a benefactor.

Dr. A. S. Farrar, Canon of Durham, kindly informs me that there is no monument of Ruthall in Durham Cathedral. Curious mementoes of him are found in the Castle Chapel (the old Palace), where on two ends of pews his arms are carved, and the sculptor, copying from a seal, has forgotten to reverse them. His arms are also carved on those parts of the Bishop's Palace at Auckland which now form the servants' hall and dining room, these portions of the building having been erected by him.

NOTE.

1. Among the numerous bequests in Canynge's will to the church and college of Westbury are the following:-"To the six priests of the new chapel, lately founded in Westbury by the venerable father in Christ and Lord John, Bishop of Worcester, iijs. iiijd. apiece, to pray for testator's soul. To each of the six poor almsmen and six poor widows of Westbury, lately founded by the said bishop, xijd. To the fabric of the church, xis." The late Mr. G. Pryce, of the Bristol Library, published in 1854 memorials of the Canynge family, in which he sets forth their claim to be regarded as the founders and restorers of Westbury College; but the will of Dean Canynge plainly attributes the work to Bishop Carpenter.

W

situated by the little river Isborne, in a dale on the north-western side of the Cotswolds, some notable names and events are associated. An early British settlement, it became a Roman station, and then in the early Saxon period rose to such importance as to become the capital of the Mercian Kingdom, and, according to tradition, the residence of its Kings. It found such favour in the eyes of King Offa that he made it the site of a nunnery which he founded A.D. 787. This institution, which was of the Benedictine order, appears to have worked so badly that it was abolished by King Kenulf; and the Black Nuns gave place to three hundred monks, for whom a stately abbey was founded in 811. Abundant provision was made for their wants, the royal founder endowing the Abbey with the manors of Sherborne, Stanton, Twyning, Cow Honeybourne, Snowshill, Charlton Abbots, and some others. Within its walls he found his last resting place in 822, of which an ancient Saxon manuscript thus sings:"After his death he was there buried and still he lies there, In the Abbey that yet stands that he himself set there, Great city was Winchcomb then, and rich enough, Of all that half in England as far as his land went."

The same document describes the life and death of his son and successor Kenelm, an infant seven years of age, murdered at the instigation of his sister, who usurped the Government. The mangled body of the child, said to have been miraculously discovered, was brought with solemn pomp and laid to rest near the grave of his father.

The prosperity of the town seems to have continued long after the Norman conquest, its extent being considerable, and its trade flourishing; while in the course of its history, and that of the district of which it is the centre, many events of great interest have occurred, and some important characters have figured.

The source from which the foregoing facts have been gleaned, is a magnificent volume, entitled, "Annals of Winchcombe and Sudeley," published in 1877. The compiler of this remarkable book, Mrs. Dent, of Sudeley Castle, evidently engaged in her task as a labour of love, sparing neither research nor cost to render her history complete and interesting.

Numerous engravings-plain and coloured-illustrate its contents, which consist of historical facts and curious legends, gathered from a variety of sources, national and local; and presented with singular clearness and charm of style.1

One of the chapters of this rich contribution to our county history is devoted to a sketch of JOHN WINCHCOMBE, alias JACK OF NEWBURY. The earliest account we have of this worthy was written by Delaney, and first printed in Black Letter, in 1596. It bears the title of "The Pleasant History of John Winchcomb, in his younger years called Jack of Newbury, the famous and worthy Clothier of England, declaring his Life and Love, together with his charitable Deeds and Great Hospitalities, and how he set continually five hundred poor people at work, to the great benefit of the Commonwealth ; worthy to be read and regarded." The popularity of the work was so great that it was for " the fourteenth time imprinted" during the life of its author. It is from its pages that Mrs. Dent has prepared her narrative, so admirably epitomising some of the contents as to render portions of her account preferable for quotation to the original history.

In the reign of Edward IV., but in what year we know not, John Smallwood was born at Winchcombe. Particulars of his family are not given, nor are there any records of his