A loud shout broke from the multitude

on witnessing this dexterous shift, which irritated the choleric Norman, who was, perhaps, besides disconcerted at missing bis aim. It cost him his life; for Walter springing forward, smote him on the head with such violence, that his hood of mail was shivered to pieces, and his skull was crushed like an egg-shell!-He fell to the ground as if struck by a thunderbolt!

Immediately the lists were broken in, in spite of the threats and blows of the men-at-arms who kept the field; and all ranks crowded round the fallen champion, whose head was now supported on the knee of his follower Argentine. His face presented a hideous spectacle; the forehead being completely destroyed, and a stream of blood flowing in such profusion that every feature was disguised. A monk pushed his way through the crowd, crucifix in hand, and knelt by the side of the dying man.

IMPRIMIS,

As Green-field would write in a brief;

relief:

They're a Club of good Members design'd for There's Jardine mounts so high that three notches he makes,

stakes:

Though 'tis out of all bounds, 'tis told in for all
Heavy Hambrook, that heavy dispenses to all,
Who can lighten his can and encourage his call,
Is most nimble, most pleased, as 'tis quite in
his way
To bear spirits in glass which inspirit the clay.
Ruddy Rose, short and stout, but he's nimble
and light,

That the ball when he bowls it curls up to. his
sight:
Father Gibson, no father Confessor, but known
As the oldest of Members (himself older grown)
And enduring all weather in flannel and hose,
His hat shields that prominent feature his nose.
Just as straight and as firm as a spick and
span bat,

Ginger Smith takes his place in his straw onelooped hat;

Effervescent as soda, as spruce as his beer,

He's quite certain to catch every ball mounted

near:

In the "Milky Way," Oldfield, the “Long Stop," attends,

And the ball to the Wicket's short distances sends;

batting,

"He hears thee not, priest," said the follower, "he is gone-speak, Sir Rudulf; my master, how is't with thee?"

At that moment the dying man's mailed hands were raised as if in prayer, but it was only for a moment; they fell listless to the ground-his head bowed-and Rudulf de Bracy slept with his fathers!

Without dwelling on the customary mutilation of the body of the vanquished, we have only to add, that, ere the month was out, Walter of Wallington became the husband of Agnes Meryl ;-and, as courage was then the greatest recommendation at court, he did not long remain unnoticed by the Lion-hearted Monarch, who advanced him to great favour and preferment. J. Y. A-N.

Not to shrink in the cause, like a minister ratting:

Bowyer's "Points," like good epigrams, strike.

to the s-core,

And he bats well to bowls, though a tinker come o❜er;

Just as merit, when true, is by diffidence graced, So by artless desert as the foremost he's placed. Schabner's" Short Slip" is fine, and his batting is good,

And the balls leather wings fly away from the wood; Could he run like "Delvall," (not by straining his voice),

He'd be first in his line, for his manner is There's Tombleson proves he's an artist in choice: play,

For he bowls' wickets up that go down to his

That all blockers, or block-heads, his quickness may fear:

A hard hitter, quick catcher, swift bowler and runner,

Is a youth of much promise, the Hants, Alton, Gunner.

And a pity 'tis true, 'tis a pity, that Greig, Though of elegant height, is contracted in leg; Yet, it seems, like Peg's Epitaph, wonderously cunning,

While his one leg stands still that his other leg's running.

Barber, Reilly, and Croft; Goldham, Price, Blogg and Gould,

And Dunell, Lowe, and others, in scores are enroll'd,

And the scorers, we shadow, "wide balls" and their "byes,"

And apart from the Ladies, take "partners" and "ties."

British Antiquities.

KIT'S COTY HOUSE IN KENT.
(For the Olio.)

By J, FITZGERALD PENNIE, Author of The Royal Minstrel, Tales of a Modern Genius, &c.

A Mr. George Pryce, of Chelsea, has lately given to the public a compiled account of this interesting relic of antiquity, in which he boldly asserts, without an iota of ancient testimony to support such an assertion, that those venerable stones of which it is composed, are the sepulchral monument of Catigern, the brave son of Vortigern, or more properly Gwrtheyrn; who, after the sanguinary battle of Arles-in which Constantine, created emperor at Vindomi,* fell among the slain-usurped the supreme authority, and became the PENTEYRN, or chief king in Britain.

In the first place, I would simply ask Mr. Pryce, where are his proofs for this unqualified assertion, and who are his authorities for not merely hazarding such an ungrounded opinion, but dogmatically averring he is quite sure of its being correct; seemingly as sure as if he had been present at the setting of them up by the British army, on the day after their victorious battle with the Saxons, in which Catigern fell. Perhaps this gentleman will also be kind enough to inform us by what method those immense blocks of stone were brought to their present site, and what mechanical powers the Britons

* Silchester, the ruins of which still remain. Here was a temple to Hercules, "the greatest part of the dedicator's inscription, set upon the pediment thereof, together with the moulded frame in brass that inclosed it," says Dr. Stukely, "is in the possession of Mr. Foote." Here, also, are the remains of a Roman amphitheatre, of large dimensions, nearly covered with trees.

possessed to elevate them-a very useful piece of information to add to the antiquarian lore of the present day, and which would, no doubt, put an end to the many hypotheses and disputes of various members of a certain learned society.

But to be serious.-If Mr. Pryce can show us any ancient authorities, from either Celtic, Triad, Brito-Roman legend, or Saxon chronicle, that those stones composing Kit's Coty House, were erected as a funeral monument for a Saxon prince, I will give up my opinion, and implicitly submit to his. But I am confident, that neither he nor the most diligent and legitimate antiquary can bring forward any testimonials of the kind to support such an absurd theory. 'Tis true, this Mr. Pryce has led onward a host of modern names, as vouchers for the truth of his ipse dixit; such as Hasted, Philipot, Lambarde, Batteley, Somner, Kilburne, Baker, Dr. Harris, &c. But what is this long and pompously arranged battalion of authors to the purpose? They are not the voice of a thousand ages, but the mere echoes of each other, and Mr. Pryce's opinion the last faint echo of them all; while King, in his splendid work of Munimenta Antiqua, completely refutes such idle notions, by positively declaring it to be a cromlech, or stone of sacrifice. This author is in himself a host, and as far outshines Mr. Bryce's long array, in antiquarian lore, as the sun surpasses the rayless moon, when she presumes to show her pale orbit with his in the same hea

vens.

That Catigern might have been buried near the site of this ancient British ALTAR, we are not disposed to contend against, because it was the eternal custom of the Kimmerians to inter their chieftains near, or in sight of their sacred circles or temples; and this, on some occasions, might be done so late as the time of the early invasions of the Saxons, the customs and superstitions of Druidism, as Sharon Turner justly observes, having a great influence on the minds and manners of the Britons, ages after the introduction of Christianity into this island. It is from this circumstance, and this alone, if it ever took place, that Kit's Coty House has been believed to be the funeral monument of Catigern. But there are two things at least, which utterly destroy the confident assertions of Mr. Pryce, which are equally silly and absurd as the opinion often broached, that Stonehenge was erected as funeral monuments to commemorate the massacre of the British princes assembled near that meeting-place of ancient councils, by Hengist. The first, is, that after the dominion of the Romans

ber of nineteen or twenty, were not raised, as Mr. Pryce asserts, over the remains of some of Catigern's brave followers, but once formed the sacred circle, or open temple of the sun, Bell or Baal, to which the Cromlech was an indispensable appendage; while the impost, still resting on its pillars, proves it to have been erected after the manner of the magnificent circle of Stonehenge, and other temples of the same kind. No doubt, this impost, with others now fallen, formed Trilithons, high places, or altars of oblation, on which the offerings were lifted up, after having been prepared at the hearth, or fire-stone, near the Cromlech, by the officiating Druids.

This impost of itself is a still-existing confutation of the absurd theory which Pryce, and all his host of authors to boot, attempt to maintain, as no funeral monument of antiquity has ever been found, formed of compasses of stones like these, but are merely single pillars or obelisks, such as we read Jacob set up by the grave of his beloved Rachel.

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Again, Mr. Pryce asserts, with his usual confidence, that "these stones were originally in such a position, as to have rendered it impossible for a priest to officiate in so small a place, which occupies but a few feet.-Now these stones," he continues, are so heaped upon one another, and overgrown with shrubs, that I could not ascertain their exact number." How Mr. Pryce could be certain that these stones were placed in such a position as to render it impossible for any priest to officiate within them, when he confesses they are now in such a confused state, and so overgrown with wood, that he could not even count their number, appears to me not only strange, but quite inexplicable-nor can I understand what he means by a priest officiating. I must tell him that neither in the Adytum, nor within the outer circle, were the victims sacrificed, but on the Cromlech, which stood sometimes at a considerable distance from the circle, and sometimes in the pillared avenue, as at Aburi. But, granting this circle to have been but a few feet in diameter, it cannot militate against its having been a Celtic place of worship, as we well know that the inner circle at Pokeswell, in Dorsetshire, which no antiquarian has ever yet doubted to have been a British temple, is perhaps of still narrower dimensions than the one at Kit's Coti House.

This fine relic of antiquity, this House of Baal, or the sun, perfectly corresponds with other Cromlechs, as I have before observed, scattered throughout the British islands, and many parts of the east.

66

;

Maundrell, in his account of the ancient Arphad of Scripture, the Ardus of the Greeks and Romans, situated in the country of the early Phoenicians, gives an interesting description of a Syrian altar, strikingly similar to Kit's Coti House being, as he says, composed of four large stones, two at the sides, one at the back, and another hanging over all at the top." Did I want further confirmation of what I have here advanced, by way of illustration respecting this monument being an altar, or the stone of death, I would refer to King, Rowland, M. Cambry's "Monumens Celtiques," Aylett, Sammes's "Britannia Antiqua Illustrata," and a host of other authors of equal authority, but I think further quotation in support of my opinion on that point quite unnecessary.

It is certain that the Druids sacrificed human victims. One of the maxims of those priests, according to an ancient Burgundian author, is, 66 Prisoners of war are to be slain on the altars, or burnt alive, enclosed in wicker, in honour of the gods." Strabo says, " And other sacrifices of men by them are spoken of, for some they shoot with arrows, and some they crucify in the sacred groves." "The Britons hold it right to sacrifice on their altars with the blood of their captives, and to consult the gods by the inspection of the entrails of men."-Taciti Annales, lib. 14, sec. 30. And thus we read in the Psalms, "They offered their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they offered unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was defiled with blood." Again,

66

They joined themselves to Baal Peor, and ate of the sacrifices of the dead." It cannot be doubted that the Druid pries's in some instances did the same, and thus became at their horrid sacrifices detested cannibals!

Theutates was also one of the chief deities of the ancient Gauls and Britons, to whom human victims were offered, and thus we read in Lucian,

-"immitis placatum sanguine diro

Theutatis."