Library Department, 186, STRAND, LONDON, And at the Railway Bookstalls, to which places they will be forwarded carriage free. GARNIER. Translated from the French by A. P. MORTON. With 233 Illustrations. Royal 8vo. Published Offered BARTOLOZZI and his WORKS. Biographical, Anecdotal, and Descriptive. By ANDREW W. TUER. Illustrated. This Special Edition-in 4 stout, handsome, vellum-bound quarto vols. on extra thick paper-18 interleaved with guards or slips for the insertion of extra Prints, and contains 16 Prints, in fine, bright condition, of the following attractive subjects of the Bartolozzi School: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, a set of 4 Adoration; Mrs. Cosway; Hon. Mrs. Damer; Master Thornhill; Light as Love; Cherubs; Loves, a pair; Cupid sharpening his Arrows; Paris and Enone; Ceres and Pomona, a pair This is the extra illustrated Collectors' Edition in 4 vols. Fifty copies only, signed and numbered. By command dedicated to Her Majesty the Queen. BERDOE (EDWARD).-The ORIGIN and GROWTH of the HEAL ING ART: a Popular History of Medicine in all Ages and Countries. With Illustrations BOURNE (H. R. FOX).—ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS: Chapters in the History of Journalism. 2 vols. 8vo. .. .... BOWRING (Sir J.).—The DECIMAL SYSTEM in NUMBERS, COINS, and ACCOUNTS. Illustrated with 120 Engravings of Coins, Ancient and Modern BUCKLEY (J. M.).—FAITH-HEALING, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, and BURNLEY (JAMES).-ROMANCE of LIFE PRESERVATION "The contributors, by their special and local antiquarian knowledge, have long been identified with the county."-PREFACE. CALAIS, ANNALS and LEGENDS of. With Sketches, Emigré Nota bilities, and Memoir of Lady Hamilton. By R. B. CALTON. Illustrated CARD SHARPERS: their Tricks Exposed; or, the Art of Always Winning. With Explanatory Diagrams by ROBERT HOUDIN CHRONICLES of the CUSTOMS DEPARTMENT. By W. D. CHESTER, Clerk to the Board of Customs. Illustrated. Roxburgh from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Illustrated .... COOPER (Rev. W. M.).-A HISTORY of the ROD in all COUNTRIES, and Explanation of Apparitions, Visions, Dreams, Ecstasy, Magnetism, and Somnambulism. Translated by R. T. HULENE, DINING, The ART of. By Thomas Walker, M.A., Author of 'The DIPROSE'S BOOK of EPITAPHS: Humorous, Eccentric, Ancient, DITCHFIELD (P. H.), M.A.-OLD ENGLISH SPORTS, PASTIMES, DITCHFIELD (P. H.), M. A.—OLD ENGLISH VILLAGES: their Story DOLET (ÉTIENNE).-The MARTYR of the RENAISSANCE: a Bio DREAM WARNINGS and MYSTERIES DRINKS of the WORLD. By J. Mew and J. Ashton, 100 Illustra W. H. SMITH & SON'S SUBSCRIPTION LIBRARY, 186, Strand, London, And at nearly 600 Railway Stations, to which places Subscribers can be transferred free of charge. Prospectus of Terms, &c., sent free upon application to 186, Strand, London. LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1896. CONTENT S.-N° 213. from the village of Gretna, where he commenced uniting couples about 1750 or 1760. soldier. He always officiated in a full military George Gordon, another priest, had been a uniform, and claimed to have a special licence from the Government as his authority for acting as Oyster-shells in the Stonework of Westminster Abbey, 64-Literary Parallel-"As full as a tick"-Shakspeare Family, 65-Prayer against the Plague-Early Parlia- a minister. mentary Poll-Poetic Parallel-"A Scotch Verdict Euphuism, 66-Academy of France, 67. QUERIES:-Holling Day-"Aam "The Secret of Stoke tion to Christian Mysteries-Historical Badges, 69. REPLIES:-"Led Will," 69-Child Commissions in the diocese-Samaden-Motto on the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 72- Foxglove-Chiffinch, 73-R. Cosway"Poor's," 74-R. Semple: Ramsay: Burns Odin or Woden-Leyrestowe-Napoleon's Marshals-Descendants of Knox, 75-English Students at Heidelberg-Valse Duncalf-Political Poem, 76-St. Trunion-Sound of v Ruined Churches - Grammatical-"Adwine," 77"Taster"-Warham - Launceston-"Chinese Sensitive Leaf"-Sargeaunt Family, 78-Authors Wanted, 79. NOTES ON BOOKS:- Dasent's History of St. James's Square- Dictionary of National Biography,' Vol. XLV. -'Journal of Ex-Libris Society." Notices to Correspondents. Totes. GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGES. The advantage of a marriage at Gretna Green, in Dumfriesshire, near the border of England, was that no previous notice was required, nor was any residence in the locality necessary. According to the law of Scotland, a man and woman taking each other for husband and wife before witnesses constituted a legal and binding marriage; but whether such a marriage would have been held legal in England had a case of disputed possession come before the courts was, I believe, never settled. Such marriages, among English people, practically ceased after the passing of Lord Brougham's Act, in 1856, which made a marriage illegal unless one of the parties had resided in Scotland for twentyone days. The persons who celebrated these marriages were self-constituted ministers, of no standing, either social or legal. They had no monopoly of the business, and there were often several priests residing at or near Gretna Green, and marrying the various people who came to their houses. great deal has been written about the marriages, but very little about the priests; and the object of these notes is to put together and supply some information on this branch of the subject. Α The first person of whom a record remains was called Scott. He resided at the Rigg, a few miles Joseph Paisley acquired a good business. He obtained the name of the Old Blacksmith, probably on account of the mythological conceit of Vulcan being employed in riveting the hymeneal chains. Paisley was at first a smuggler, a farmer, and a fisherman, then a tobacconist, but never at any time a blacksmith. His first residence was at Megg's Hill, on the common or green between Gretna and Springfield, to the last of which villages he removed in 1782. He commenced his public signed with a feigned name. Latterly he took to career about 1753, and at first gave certificates wearing canonicals, and attached his real signature to the marriage certificates. drinker, and at his decease, in January, 1811, aged He was a great eighty-four, weighed twenty-five stone. David Lang was born at Gretna in 1750, and was a pedlar. He was a priest from 1792, and gave evidence in the celebrated Wakefield abduction and marriage case at York in March, 1827. On his return journey he caught a cold, from which he died at Springfield on 31 June, 1827. Robert Elliott was born at Galashiels Rigg, Northumberland, on 11 Feb., 1784, being the son of a farmer. For some time he worked on a farm, then became a groom, serving in succession under several gentlemen. Some time after, while acting as horsekeeper to Mr. Wilson, of Springfield, he made the acquaintance of Joseph Paisley, about 1810, and in a short time married his granddaughter, Ann Graham. On Paisley's decease, in 1811, he succeeded to some part of the business. He lost no time, but married one couple the same day that his predecessor died. He published a work entitled "The Gretna Green Memoirs. Robert Elliott. With an Introduction and Appendix by the Rev. Caleb Brown. London, published by the Gretna Green Parson, of whom it can be obtained at 16, Leicester Square. Price 2s. 6d., forwarded by post-office order, 3s. 8d. 1842," 12mo. pp. xxx, 82, with portrait of R. Elliott and some views. Elliott is said to have died about 1871. As subsequently stated, he seems for some time to have been in partnership with Simon Lang. Between 1811 and 1839 he stated that he had conducted 3,872 marriages. By John Murray, the son of a slater, was born at Ecclefechan in 1798. He succeeded to part of David Lang's business, and up to 1856 conducted, on an average, about four hundred marriages a year. The house in which he officiated was Alison's Bank toll-house, on the road to Carlisle, but on the Scotch side of the bridge dividing the two kingdoms. He lived in the toll-house with his family. Being desirous of extending the trade, he leased a piece of ground on the English side of the bridge, because the proprietor on the Scotch side refused to let him have ground on which to build. On the new ground he built the "Sark-bar Inn"; but the passing of Brougham's Act prevented his receiving much benefit from his new house. His business was very brisk during the Carlisle hiring fairs. His death took place in May, 1861. His marriage registers are still in existence, and were offered for sale in 1875 by Wright & Brown, solicitors, in Carlisle. His grandson, Murray Little, Esq., solicitor, Annan, could probably give some further information on these matters. Simon Lang, a son of David Lang, was a weaver, and came into some of his father's business in 1827. After a time he took into partnership Robert Elliott. He performed his last marriage ceremony in 1871, and died at Kelling, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, 23 April or 3 May, 1872, and was buried in Gretna churchyard. His registers are in the hands of his son, William Lang, of Springfield, Gretna. Thomas Blythe was also acting as a priest in 1853. Linton was another of the priests, residing at Gretna Hall and Hotel, and marrying the wealthier classes. William Lang, at Springfield, still (1896) takes duty when persons come to be married. For the ten years previous to the passing of Brougham's Act the yearly average of the marriages at Gretna Green was upwards of seven hundred. The existing register books ought surely to be acquired by the Government, containing as they do the only authority for legalizing the marriages of many distinguished personages. The post-boys became a very important element in these marriages, because, as a rule, the houses to which the runaway couples were conveyed depended on them. They were at last able to dictate their own terms, and insisted on receiving one-half of the marriage fees. One of the bestknown of the post-boys was William Graham, who was always called Carwinley. He was an important witness in the Wakefield marriage case, on 24 March, 1827. He died at Carlisle on 18 Dec., 1864, aged seventy-nine. Another work on this subject is called 'Chronicles of Gretna Green,' by Peter Orlando Hutchinson, London, 1844, two volumes. This is a very unsatisfactory production. The whole of the first volume is taken up with an account of King Arthur and his supposed connexion with the Gretna Green district, and the second volume affords the reader a very small amount of information. GEORGE C. BOASE. [See 4th S. x. 8, 74, 111, 195; 5th S. vi. 508; x, 388; 7th S. iii. 89, 207; iv. 329, 496; ix, 186.] THE VILLAGE WHERE WORDSWORTH WAS MARRIED. Eight miles westerly from Scarborough, in Yorkshire, is the pretty village of Brompton, which, along with Sawdon, possesses a railway station on the Scarborough and Pickering line. Situate on the oolitic limestone of the Yorkshire tabular hills-which are noted for their ancient pit dwellings and entrenchments - Brompton is, and has been for more than three hundred years, the seat of the Cayleys, a very ancient family of Norman origin. Sir George Allanson Cayley, the eighth baronet, died so recently as 9 October, 1895, at Port Said, whilst on a sea voyage for the benefit of his health. The There are few villages in Yorkshire that I do not know. Not one is prettier or, generally speaking, more interesting than Brompton. Its houses are red-tiled and thatched, with bright patches of garden, and an unmistakable air of rural prosperity pervades the whole. The dwel lings all suggest thrift and the simplest though most rational ménage. If there are such things here as wages they must be good, for everybody appears to want to live as long as he can. air sparkles with solar joyaunce, of which men and women, boys, girls, and birds partake. A castle hill fills the centre of the village, from its base issuing a stream of much purity, and up the hilly slope which shields the village from northerly winds are woods, where some girls have just been gathering primroses. And at the picturesque old church there, with its broach spiro embowered among trees, the Poet Laureate of Rydal Mount was married to Miss Mary Hutchinson, of Penrith, in 1802. He might have lived and died at Brompton, so plentiful here is the lesser celandine, his favourite flower. To this early little yellow wildling (in the language of flowers "future joy") Wordsworth always had his attention drawn, as he draws ours to it : Long as there's a sun that sets, They will have a place in story. Brompton is the reputed birthplace of John de Brompton, the English historian. His chronicles, which commence with the arrival of Austin in A. D. 558, ending with the death of Richard I., are published among the 'X Scriptores.' Having taken the habit of a Benedictine monk, he lived twenty years at Whitby Abbey, and was subsequently made Abbot of Jervaulx in 1436. John is said to have been a man of extraordinary genius and ambition; but some may doubt this if they like. His chronicles are chiefly valuable for giving Saxon laws in extenso. It is said that the Northumbrian kings had a castle at Brompton. King Aldfrid (Alfred the Good), first King of Bernicia and Deira-whom Alcuin de Pont lauds for his Biblical learning and patronage of literature-received his death-wound on the height overlooking the neighbouring village of Ebberston, and was buried at Little Driffield, near which place he had a castle. As I said before, there is in the middle of Brompton village a castle hill—a fine mound covered with grass and degraded to the use of a drying-ground, if clothes-props and pegs are anything to go by. On one side it overlooks a picturesque mill-dam, fed by several springs which rise close at hand, and which are also the source of the Brompton mill beck, a little tributary of the Derwent. It is too late on in the day now to point out this mound as the site of a Northumbrian monarch's residence, but not so very long ago, when surrounded by pine trees, it showed distinctly the foundations of a castellated mansion, built, says tradition, by the De Bromptons, of whom John, the historian just mentioned, was a progenitor. I now beg to present a réchauffage of antique legend filtered through the feeble minds of venerable carles and old women. steed dropping dead when in sight of the castle. Finishing the short distance on his fleet foot, he arrived there just in time to see the valet replace the rope ladder to the window. Without word or warning, just as the masked youth began to ascend, the Crusader sprang upon and stabbed him to the heart. His suspected rival fell backward to the ground, and the mask fell off. Then were the features of a lovely lady disclosed. It was Lord de Brompton's daughter, his own peerless betrothed, and she had been faithful all the years of his absence. In order to attend a masquerade in the neighbourhood without observation, she had adopted this too successful disguise. The Crusader, heart-broken with grief, tearing his hair and cursing the oracular waters of York, fled from the scene a prematurely old man, and for many a day thereafter did his anguish and remorse appear as the punishment of unlawful curiosity in the minstrel's lay and gestour's romance. He rejoined the Holy Wars, and was heard of no more. There being no lineal successor to the estate of the De Bromptons, the castle passed to others, was neglected, and fell to decay. All traces of the structure appear to have been removed from its site. In the time of the Crusades the daughter of the lord of Brompton Castle had plighted troth with a handsome young cavalier as he was on the point To now revert to the Cayleys, who have been of starting for Palestine. To cut a long story the squires of Brompton for over three centuries, short, years rolled by, and this knight returned in having settled here about 1580. They claim pomp and safety, still a bachelor. If legends descent from Guillaume de Cahilly, who is men deceive not, any one who came and cast five white tioned in Domesday as having been tenant in pebbles into a certain part of the Oase, at York, chief of certain manors in Berkshire. One of the as the belfry clock of the minster let fall from its Cayleys was Recorder of Hull in 1692. Another sonorous jaws the one solemn stroke of the first was Consul-General at St. Petersburg in 1730. hour of May morning would see displayed on The first Sir William Cayley was knighted by the surface of the water, as upon a mirror, what- | Charles I. for his service during the Civil Wars, ever of the past, present, or future he desired. and was created a baronet by Charles II. (This absurd tradition reminds me very forcibly on the Restoration. Sir George Cayley, of Doctor Dee's magic glass, "in which," accord- Bart, M.P., born 27 December, 1773, was ing to Meric Casaubon, "and out of which, by the only son of Sir Thomas Cayley, Bart. persons qualified for it and admitted to the sight Succeeding at the age of twenty to the title and of it, all shapes and figures mentioned in every family estates, his was a "home" career throughaction were seen and voices heard.") So this out, and one for us to follow briefly with interest. nameless knight, having arrived at York, en We find him turning his attention not to sport, but route for Brompton, felt impatient to see how agricultural improvements. He drained a tract of matters fared with his lady-love at that hour. land in Lincolnshire, and with immense success grew Throwing in the five pebbles at the required wheat where rushes and bents had flourished. He moment, the historic waters of old Ouse behaved evolved the Muston arterial drainage (which emwith wonderful obligingness, and presented a pic-braced about 40,000 acres of land in the neighture of Brompton Castle to their handsome conjuror's gaze. Lo! to a certain lofty bedchamber window reached a Romeo's ladder, and a youth cloaked and masked was descending by it. The valet in attendance having speedily removed and concealed it, the two youths went off together. Whereupon the water-mirror vanished. But enough! Mad with jealousy, the knight clapped spurs to horse and set off at a frantic rate for Brompton, by way of Malton and Rillington, his bourhood of his Brompton estates) on a principle at that time quite new to this country. He was also the first promoter and adopter of the cottage allotment system. On the passing of the Reform Bill he was returned a member for Scarborough. After one session he retired to the more congenial pursuits of philosophical research and agricultural experiments. Aerial navigation interested him, for which he designed an engine to be worked by heated air. From his pen emanated The editors of the Daily News have been Charles Dickens, John Forster, Eyre Evans Crowe, Frederick Knight Hunt, William Weir, Thomas Walker (who resigned in 1869, having been appointed by Mr. Gladstone to the editorship of the London Gazette), Edward Dicey, Frank Harrison Hill, H. W. Lucy, and Sir John Robinson; while among its contributors have been Father Prout (its first correspondent at Rome), Harriet Martineau (who for some time wrote daily for its columns), Sir James Stephens, William Black, Archibald Forbes, Edmund Yates, Frances Power Cobbe, Prof. Masson, Henry Labouchere, W. Fraser Rae, George R. Sims, and many others. several papers on the analysis of the mechanical the forerunner of the cheap daily press. While properties of air under chemical and physical Mr. Dilke had control every effort was made to action, wherein he pointed out the imperative obtain the earliest intelligence, and the Daily necessity of obtaining a given power with a given News was the first paper to spread the tidings of weight for purposes of balloon propulsion. He the French Revolution of 1848 in the provinces. also experimented a good deal with steam and with gases in endeavours to construct rotatory and disc engines, and he at length produced an engine, working by the expansive power of heated air, which it is said encouraged Messrs. Stirling at Dundee and Capt. Ericsson in America to pursue the subject practically on a large scale. Latterly he directed his attention to optics, and made some useful discoveries, which were followed by the construction of an instrument for testing the purity of water-a process which has since been used with success in investigating the waters of the Thames. He was one of the early promoters and patrons of the Adelaide Gallery and of the Polytechnic Institution, having joined the Institute of Civil Engineers as an Associate in 1836. After a career of useful activity and well directed energy, he died 15 December, 1857, aged eighty-four, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Digby Cayley, Bart. Sir Digby was succeeded in 1883 by Sir George Allanson Cayley, the eighth baronet. A Justice of the Peace and DeputyLieutenant for the North Riding, also a magistrate for the counties of Flint and Denbigh, and High Sheriff for the latter in 1883, he died, as already stated, so recently as 9 October, 1895, at Port Said. The title devolved on Sir Digby's eldest son, George Everard Arthur Cayley, aged thirty; four, formerly captain in the third battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He is the ninth and present baronet. HARWOOD BRIERLEY. 'DAILY NEWS' JUBILEE.-The first number of the Daily News was published on 21 Jan., 1846, and in its jubilee issue of Tuesday last Mr. Justin McCarthy, M.P., and Sir John Robinson give an interesting account of the paper's rise and progress, together with portraits of Charles Dickens (its first editor), Charles Wentworth Dilke, Douglas Jerrold, Father Prout, Harriet Martineau, and others who have been connected with the journal. From this history it appears that Dickens brought a powerful staff with him. This included William Johnson Fox, the eloquent orator of the Corn Law League, who wrote the first leading article, Douglas Jerrold, and John Forster, while the first musical and dramatic critic was George Hogarth. Mr. Dickens was editor for only four months, being succeeded by his friend and biographer John Forster. In April, 1846, Charles Wentworth Dilke and his son took the management for three years. They at once reduced its price, thus adopting the plan which had been so successful with the Athenæum. In this way the Daily News became It is now almost forgotten that on 1 Sept., 1846, the proprietors of the Daily News started an evening paper, the Express. Mr. Thomas Britton, the present publisher of the Daily News, who has been connected with the paper since the time of Dickens, mentions that the editor appointed was Mr. Thomas Elliott, who owned and edited the London Mail. The Express was first published at twopence, but was reduced to one penny on 13 Feb., 1868; but closed its existence on 30 April, 1869. The first number of the Daily News was full of advertisements of railway schemes; and it is curious to read a report of the meeting of the London and South-Western Railway, in which Mr. W. J. Chaplin, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, states that "the directors have been induced to extend their line from Waterloo to London Bridge." Mr. W. Moy Thomas contributes to the number an interesting account of "Our First Number," a facsimile of which is issued to commemorate the jubilee. JOHN C. FRANCIS. OYSTER-SHELLS USED IN THE BUILDING OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY. - There is a singular feature in the early mason-work of Westminster Abbey, which I have not seen reference to in any history of that famous Abbey. When removing or repairing any of the more ancient stonework of the Abbey it is always found that the large stones are set or levelled with oyster- shells. This, I am informed, is peculiar to Westminster Abbey. I have in my possession two or three of those oyster-shells which were found during alteration in the oldest portion of the Abbey. They are very flat and thick, measuring four and a half inches in diameter, and retain the small shell incrustations on the outside. It will be interesting to know whether there is any tradition associated with such an unusual use |