seem to be wanted, and it is therefore highly expedient that there should be

none.

In erecting new churches, the tower, surmounted or not by a spire, as the case may be, can, with all propriety, be placed between the nave and the chancel, or at the western extremity, either of the nave, or of one or other of its aisles. The tower is a very desirable appendage, where the funds I will admit it to be of sufficient breadth and importance. In small churches, where this is not the case, the bell gable, in its fine old picturesque form, always produces a good effect.

While I acknowledge a strong attachment to the churches that were built in this country for some centuries previous to the Reformation, 1 by no means think that their several styles are exclusively to be called Christian architecture; and, were I about to erect a church at this moment, it would most probably be according to those of the early ages of Christianity, as best suited to the primitive forms of the church of England. I proceed therefore to describe,

II. The oldest churches, of which any records have come down to us.

When the persecutions raised against the early Christians had abated, they erected (according to Eusebius, and others) costly and sumptuous churches. In the formation of these, they appear to have been very generally influenced by the idea of a ship "tossed about on the waves of this troublesome world." The plan of them was consequently an oblong figure, which significantly was called the Nave. Eastward of this portion was the sanctuary, the apsis, being something more than a semi-circular figure, in that direction. Of this form had long been the basilicæ, or halls of justice, in various parts of the Roman empire; and some of these, especially at Rome, were afterwards consecrated, and used as places of Christian worship.

In the eastern part of the empire, the Greek cross was sometimes adopted, in forming the ground-plan of churches. That of St. Sophia at Constantinople is a well-known example, of this description; while a church of the oblong form, and, perhaps, much older, still remains at Nicosia, in the GENT. MAG. VOL. XIX.

Isle of Cyprus, and is now a Mohammedan mosque.

Many of the basilice had been built with aisles, separated from the great central portion by pillars and arches. The same plan was adopted in the new churches, when erected for large congregations. In the tribune, the seats of the magistrates, around the semicircle, became the synthronus; having the more elevated throne of the bishop in the centre, and the seats of the presbyters one step lower on each side. The altar was placed in the middle of the area. On the north side, immediately to the westward of the presbyters, stood the prothesis, on which were placed the offerings of the faithful; and for a long period they were made in kind. The bread and wine for the Holy Eucharist were taken from this table, by the priest, at the appointed period, during the service, and placed by him on the altar. On the south side of the apsis, and opposite to the prothesis, was the diaconicum, a table on which were placed books of devotion and religious instruction, for the use of the deacons, and others whose station in the church was under them.

Much more might be written concerning these early churches; but, having mentioned their most leading parts, I shall now suppose a church to be erected in these days, after the ancient models to which I have alluded, as nearly as the times and circumstances will admit of.

In doing this, I should adopt the Norman style of architecture, which is in fact a debasement and confusion of the five Roman orders. Though generally called Norman, it was practised in various parts of the empire, modified according to the prevailing taste, at least as far back as the time of the Emperor Dioclesian.

In describing the church, I begin with the Nave, which has a south and a north door, each in its second division from the west. The great projecting entrance of Durham cathedral, when in its original state, forms an excellent study for the south door of a church of any dimensions. The remarks I have before made on the situation of the tower, and also of the font, apply equally to the present case. The nave may also have aisles or not, as circumstances may re

F

quire. If aisles are wanted, the arches should be surmounted by a clerestory. No transept appears to have formed a part of the early churches. I proceed, therefore, to the Apsis; at the north angle of which should be placed the pulpit. I suppose the plan of the apsis to be a complete semicircle, with each of its sides extended in a straight line westward, to the extent of about two-thirds of its actual width. Immediately within its western side is one step, extending the whole width in a straight line. Next to this are the rails, and within them a level space, three or four feet wide. Three, or, when on a large scale, four steps succeed, of sufficient tread, and each rising not more than about four inches. Having ascended these, we are on the elevated floor, nearly in the centre of which stands the altar. Eastward of it, and centrically against the wall, is the Bishop's throne, raised on two steps, and on each side of it are two or three stalls for the clergy, on one step. Above, in the centre, are the tables of the Decalogue, and the Lord's Prayer, and the Apostles' Creed, as usually placed, with suitable decorations and accompaniments, as already noticed. The square sides may project three or four inches from the line of the semicircle. The Prothesis will stand against the north, and the Diaconicum *against the south side.

The morning and evening services should, with the approbation of the bishop of the diocese, be read at the altar; as was done for some time after the Reformation. At that time, owing to the length of the chancels, the practice was found to be inconvenient, and the use of "a reading-pew was consequently enjoined. But when churches are built with an apsis, as is conformable to the practice of ancient times, and most suitable to our services, "the reading-pew," in all such cases, is no longer necessary. An eagle-desk, of brass, if it can be procured, should be placed generally (being moveable) on the north side of the higher floor, near to its western line. A falled stool, and desk, for the Litany, may

* The Diaconicum may still be found convenient for Catechisms and other books of instruction for the younger part of the congregation.

be placed on the lower floor, being also moveable. I see no objection to the organ being erected in a western gallery for the singers only. By singers, I mean those who take the lead; and they should be followed by the whole congregation.

The vestry-room may be attached to the east end of the north aisle, where there is one; and where there is not, it may join to the north-eastern part of the nave.

Pews form no part whatever of the arrangement I recommend; open seats, as already proposed, being the most appropriate.

Notwithstanding the length of this letter, all its parts might have been greatly enlarged upon. I conclude, with an earnest prayer, that the desire, so extensively manifested at this time, to return to the practice of the first and purest ages in the construction of our churches, may be accompanied (both in the clergy and laity) by a corresponding advancement in purity and holiness of heart and life; by a closer study of the Liturgy, Articles, Homilies, and Canons of the church; and by diligently comparing them with the Word of God," which is able to make us wise unto salvation."

I TAKE the liberty to offer a few observations about the Inventory of Reliques of St. Omer, 1465, published in your Magazine for November.

It seems to me that instead of laieta should be read laicta from the French laiton, in English latten, and that laicta, according to the figure of speech which mentions the matter of which the thing is made for the thing itself, signifies a box, as glass signifies a tumbler, so that laicta eburnea may signify an ivory box, as a crystal glass signifies a tumbler of crystal.

Cuculla is not a hat or hood, but vestis extima et ampla monachorum.

Instead of cappa fluvialis, I conjecture we should read cuppa pluvialis, which is not a hat, but an ample cloak, now of silk with silver or gold clasps, but in the primitive church of plain cloth the priest put it on in rainy weather when he went to administer the sacraments to the sick. It is now used in some particular functions of

YOU must not infer from my communication relative to the site of ancient London (noticed in your Minor Correspondence for this month), that I had the most remote idea of transplanting Roman London into Moorfields, or its immediate vicinage. The lines I addressed to you were intended to convey an opinion 1 have long entertained, that the London of the Britons had its origin in or near Moorfields, and that the word Moor (heretofore always written More) was not formerly applied to a bog or marsh. Moorfields

was, in all probability, boggy and marshy; but that does not satisfy my mind that bogs or marshes were antiently called Moors. That such an interpretation of the word Moor has by some means obtained I cannot deny, but I have to learn how and wherefore. Bailey, in his Dictionary, defines Moor or More (for he writes it both ways) to mean " a heath or barren spot of ground; but it is now commonly taken for a marsh or fen." I ask if any of the great fens or marshes in this island are called moors? Is Dartmoor a marsh? My firm belief is, that whenever you find a spot in this country with the term Moor, as or in its name, (and such places are almost innumerable,) you may almost always find in adjacence some indications of settlement of the most ancient Britons. This you will say is a very speculative conjecture, but I do find it somewhat strengthened when I see that the British word for the ruins of a building is MURDDYN; and for a foundation or base MURDD. Besides this, in the immediate vicinity of the places I am now speaking of, I repeat that other traces of the Britons are often found. The following extract from Fosbroke does in some degree fortify my notion. He says (in his article on British towns, settlements, &c.)

a

"Sometimes they were situated in marshes. Stukeley, speaking of Lincoln, says, Below the hill, and westward of the city, the river throws itself into a great pool, called Swan Pool, from the multitude of swans upon it. All round this place the ground is moorish, and full

of bogs and islets, called now Carham, which means a dwelling upon the car, i. e. the fen. Now here, without doubt, was the British city in the most early times, where they drove their cattle backwards and forwards, and retired themselves into its inaccessible securities.' Grimspound, as it is called, is situated in the parish of Manaton [county of Devon], about three miles from that village among the moors, and under a lofty tract of moor-land, called Hamilton, or Hamildown. It consists of a circular inclosure of about three acres, surrounded by a low vallum of loose stones, some of which are very large, being the remains of a wall. There are two entrances opposite to each other, directly north and south. The wall appears to have been about 12 feet high. It is certain that the old Celtic towns, of the age of Cæsar, had Fora, or market. places, and open spots." (p. 521.)

At the present moment I will not further labour this point, but leave my hypothesis to the consideration of those who take an interest in such inquiries; merely observing, in conclusion, that if, on investigation, my opinion should prove not altogether unfounded, it may facilitate the researches after British antiquities.

I will trouble you next month with a few more observations on A. J. K.'s communication respecting the Limits of the earliest Roman Station at London. In the mean time, I hope what I have said upon that subject will not be deemed impertinent or uncourteous. Yours, &c. K. Q.

name.

MR. URBAN, Stanway, Nov. 11. IN your Magazine for October, p. 296, the reviewer of a Paper on Camulodunum in the Archæologia, observes, " if we were to call Kelvedon, by a very usual British metonomy, Kelmedon, we have almost the identical "The learned Camden acknowledged that he was led by the ear, when he erroneously assigned the locality of Camulodunum to Maldon. And in making his hypothesis respecting Kelvedon, does not the reviewer overlook the etymology of the place? Kelvedon appears to be compounded of three British words: Cel, a hollow or valley, Vach, little, and Din, a town, and

*

Cel-vach may be pronounced Cel-vè, in the same manner as Tre-vach, a little town or cluster of cottages, is still pro

signifies the town in the little valley. As a contradistinction, the other valley which meets it, and through which the river Chelmer runs, was called Cel-maur, the large valley, and hence the present name of the river. But although the hundred and town of Chelmsford take their name from the ford or passage across the Chelmer, a very ancient (perhaps the most ancient) way must have been through the manor or parish of Writtle, for so much the British word impliesRhyddôl, i. e. Ryd, a ford, and Dôl, a vale, the Ford through the vale.

I would here call your attention to a mistake in your November Magazine, p. 526. The remains of a Roman villa discovered this autumn, near Colchester, are not in Lexden parish, but in the parish of Stanway, and not far from the Roman military way from which the parish takes its name.

Allow me, Mr. Urban, to refer, ere I conclude, to another point, and to express my regret, (in which I am persuaded that you, as a zealous antiquary, will join,) that the earthworks at Pitchbury wood, in the parish of Horkesley, the only perfect specimen of a British camp in the neighbourhood of Colchester, have this year been broken up. The oak trees which grew on the ramparts were felled in the spring; and the double ramparts themselves have since been levelled with the adjoining fields for the promotion of agriculture.

Yours, &c. H. J.

MR. URBAN, AGREEABLY to my promise, I send you some particulars concerning Saint-Foix, but less copious, and consequently less interesting, than your Cork correspondent obligingly surmised. They are taken chiefly from a short memoir, in the biographical part of M. Delaporte's Récherches sur la Bretagne, (Vol. 1.) and a longer one in the Historical Dictionary of De Feller, which Chaudon has not enlarged, in the Supplement of 1805,

nounced in Wales Trè-vè. The tumuli which lately existed, and the numerous remains which have been dug up at How Farm, on the confines of Kelvedon and Rivenhall, seem to point out the site of the British town.

though materials must surely have been easily procurable.

Germain-François Poulain de SaintFoix was the younger son of M. Poulain de Belair, an advocate at Rennes in Britanny, where he was born in 1703.* The earlier part of his life was passed in the army, first in the mousquetaires, and afterwards in the cavalry; but, as France was then at peace, the duties of military life did not interfere with literary predilections, and accordingly his first work, entitled Lettres de Nedim Coggia, was published in 1732, while he was still in the service.

This production, the title of which was afterwards altered to Lettres Turques, was by no means an original idea, as the Lettres Persannes of Montesquieu had appeared in 1721, and the same kind of fiction had been still earlier employed by Dufresny, in the character of a Siamese, (see Gent. Mag. Feb. 1842, p. 151;) not to mention the Turkish Spy, of which the character is imaginary, and the narration historical. De Feller justly styles the Turkish Letters of Saint-Foix espèce de roman epistolaire, a description which applies to most productions of the kind. Chenier, in his Tableau de la Litterature Française, allows the later ones little more praise than that of successful imitations; for, speaking of M. Lavallée, he says, "Ses Lettres d'un Mameluck encourent un réproche qu'avaient déjà mérité les Lettres Turques de Saint-Foix et plusieurs productions semblables, celui d'oser rappeler les formes d'un chefd'œuvre inimitable de Montesquieu." A criticism on the Memoirs of the Chevalier d'Arvieux, envoy to the Porte, was published by the younger M. Petis de la Croix, in 1735, in the name of the secretary of the Turkish Ambassador. (De Feller, art. LABAT, the editor of D'Arvieux.) The title is, "Lettres critiques de Hadgi-Mohammed-Effendi à madame la Marquise de G ***."-Among the most respectable of the kind, should be mentioned the "Athenian Letters," which were com

This and other dates are adopted from M. Delaporte. M. Poulain de Belair was author of an abridgment of D'Argentré's Commentary on the Coûtume de Bretagne.