paper read at the Yeovil Meeting by Mr. Cadwallader Bates. He called special attention to the fact that the series comprises the arms of many friends and neighbours not related in blood to the family, reminding his audience how Sir Walter Scott decorated the hall at Abbotsford with the coats of the principal Border families, in accordance with the ancient practice.' Another example may be found at Lytes Cary, where the Stourton and Wadham badges were set upon the Decorated parapet, although their owners were at that time in no way related to the family of Lyte. 6 The Hall at Montacute contains a large bas-relief of the burlesque procession known as the Skimmington,' which was an antique show' devised in ridicule of a man beaten by his wife. By a perverse rule of country logic it was the next neighbour who was punished, as if it were his duty to keep the peace and to ride abroad to denounce the offending virago. Mr. Barrett has collected several passages in which the custom is described. We can add a reference to a somewhat analogous usage in France; for in a very rare volume of burlesque pleadings, published at Bordeaux in 1616, we may read of a' chevauchement d'asne' ordained for a man who had allowed his wife to give him a thrashing. Lytes Cary is some way from Montacute, but is within the radius of an excursion from Yeovil. It is a place, as Mr. Freeman said, that must undoubtedly be seen.' Lytes Cary House is in the parish of Charlton Mackrell, not far from Somerton. The name seems to be connected with the river Cary, and with William le Lyt, serjeant-at-law at the time of Edward I. His tombstone is still in the parish churchyard, and a copy of the slab, set up by Thomas Lyte the genealogist, is to be seen in the private chapel. This chapel adjoins the manor-house, and was probably built in connexion with an earlier mansion. It dates from the time of Edward III., and is a very perfect specimen of that period so far as its fabric is concerned. The interior fittings have been ruined, the seats and screen torn down, the piscina broken, and the coats of arms defaced. It is reported, however, that the armorial glass has lately been found intact, and is now in the possession of Mr. H. C. Maxwell-Lyte, C.B. As to the fifteenth-century manor-house we have a minute description by Mr. Freeman, and passages in the Domestic Architecture,' where Mr. Parker treats it as one of the most perfect of its period.' The reader may also consult Mr. Maxwell-Lyte's paper upon the Lyte family, lately read before the local Society, and likely, we are informed, to appear in a more permanent shape, as well as a singularly interesting pamphlet on Lytes Cary and its 'Literary Associations,' by Mr. William George, of Bristol. We begin with the advice given by Mr. Freeman now more than forty years ago: 'You must not omit the grand Perpendicular house at Lytes Cary, with its Decorated 'chapel retained from an earlier mansion, its noble hall, 'with poor windows and a fine open roof, the porch and 'oriels, state-rooms with rich ceilings, and panelling of a • later date.' The roof is specially remarkable for its cornice of quatrefoil tracery, running between the principal rafters; each main rafter terminates in a half-winged figure bearing the 'shield of Lyte.' Mr. Barrett compares it with the roof at Whitestaunton, where in a more elaborate style in lieu of 'curved and cusped wind-braces the spaces are panelled, ' each panel being pierced with a quatrefoil surmounting two 'trefoil-headed lancets.' There is one feature at Lytes Cary which specially attracted the historian's attention. Screened entrances are by no means uncommon in Somerset, but the door-screen at Lytes Cary is remarkable above all the rest for its rich decoration with linen pattern and the Tudor rose. In an account of the old moated manor-house near Stoke St. Gregory, Mr. Barrett takes occasion to describe the linen-panelled doors: the pattern throughout the district is of a very good type, and out of a hundred different examples he finds that no less than eight came from the country near Langport and Athelney. The great bay window at Lytes Cary bears the date 1533, with the shield of John Lyte impaling the arms of Horsey. The two crests appear in modified forms upon the finials of the gables. There is no doubt about the swan for Lyte; but the other shape is so dubious that some take it for a dragon and others for the sitting horse.' This John Lyte and Edith his wife had no less than 835 direct descendants when Thomas, their grandson, drew up the pedigree, illustrated with portraits in pen and ink. We may add that the same Thomas tricked out a family tree for King James, showing his descent from Brutus the Trojan, and received the royal portrait set in diamonds as a reward. It is said that the jewel found its way into the Hamilton Palace collection, and was sold a few years ago for a very considerable sum. We hear little more of John Lyte, except that he had an interview with Abbot Whiting, described by Mr. Gasquet in his work upon the English monasteries. His son Henry was the author of the Light of Britain,' a brief classical rhapsody which he presented to Queen Elizabeth on her attending the Thanksgiving at St. Paul's. Short as it is, it contains hardly so much about the Phoenix of the World as about the Lytes and their sweet Carian swans.' Henry Lyte was best known as a botanist. His 'New Herbal' of 1578 is taken from the Dutch of Rembert Dodoens, through the medium of the French version by Clusius; but it is clear, from the remarks of Gerard and his editor, that Mr. Lyte had a practical knowledge of the subject. We may, perhaps, be allowed to quote from the introduction to Cutwode's 'Caltha,' with a few corrections in the spelling: Lyte hath by skiiful proof revealed to our sight The virtue of each plant, his hurtful harm or good, At Muchelney may be seen a glebe-house, built in the fifteenth century and complete with a fine hall and a parlour and upper room beyond. Some have attributed parts of the building to an even earlier date. The ancient door remains, with its curious handle and lock, and a knocker of very singular design of which Mr. Barrett has given us a sketch. Near the church are the remains of the cloisters, and of the abbot's house, which is nearly perfect. Mr. Parker took it as a fine example of a nobleman's house ' of that period,' one of the chambers even containing the oaken settle and wainscot of the time of Henry VIII. The fireplace is carved in bands with ivy and vine branches, and an elaborate pattern of quatrefoils. But these relics, as Mr. Barrett shows, must be of a comparatively late date, and they may have been only just completed when Yve, the last abbot, was compelled to say farewell to his house and his noble church.' For a picture of the early state of Bridgwater Mr. Barrett relies chiefly upon the lively description by Leland, which is still interesting in its way, though most of the antiquities have disappeared. In dealing with the old traveller's journal we are compelled to alter his eccentric spelling; but in other respects his story is plain enough. Entering into Bridgwater he passed St. Saviour's Chapel, standing on the river-bank, and then crossed a bridge by the south gate. There were four gates, though the town had never been walled, the backs of the stone houses being set together, and serving as a fortification. The castle, he said, was at one time a right fair and strong piece of work,' but when he was there it was falling into ruins. The only relic now remaining is the Water-gate, which Mr. Barrett has sketched, with a cellar now blocked up and one or two remnants of the wall. In the time of the Civil War the castle and the surrounding defences were armed with more than forty cannon, and the town, when occupied by Wyndham, was regarded as an impregnable fortress. Fairfax sat down before it on July 15, 1645; but a few days afterwards it was determined to take the place by storm. The 'fort'royal' and part of the suburbs were taken on the 21st, and the next day saw the main attack. Mr. Jarman's "History of Bridgwater' contains the details of the sharp assault which led to the surrender of the fortress on the following day. The storming began with the field-guns and mortars taken at Naseby, the latter playing on the town with fire-balls and hot iron,' and the musketeers aiding on all sides with a shower of red-hot hoggets.' The parish church of Bridgwater is remarkable for its perfect spire; the carved side-screens in black oak are attributed to the fourteenth century; and until the church was restored there was a most extraordinary series of hagioscopes,' by which a person standing in the porch had a view of the High Altar through three different walls.' The altar-piece is a 'Descent from the Cross,' taken from a privateer, and presented by the Hon. Anne Poulett, while member for the borough. It may be mentioned that he took his singular name from his godmother, Queen Anne. The painter of this picture is unknown; but Mr. Barrett was told that it was a favourite with Sir Joshua Reynolds, who came more than once to study the colouring and composition. The chief glory of Bridgwater is the carefully preserved Tudor house in which Admiral Blake was born. He is renowned in the West as much for his dogged defence of Taunton, and for the capture of Dunster Castle in 1646, as for his exploits as General at sea;' he hunted Prince Rupert, says an old historian, and forced him to yield all his ships; he sorely beat the French, and defeated the Dutch in a woeful manner,' though Van Tromp had been too much for him in the Downs. He was buried with great state in Henry VII.'s Chapel; but in 1661 his body was removed by the king's orders, and was buried in the promiscuous pit , by St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, near the back-door of one of the Prebendaries' houses. There are few remains of ancient castles in the county. Tradition tells of a fortress at Montacute, and the site of a Norman keep has recently been excavated at Castle Cary. At Farleigh, on the borders of Wiltshire, we may see the ruins of a mansion of the Hungerfords, which according to Leland was turned into a castle after Agincourt, the expense being defrayed by the ransom of Charles of Orleans, whom Sir Walter Hungerford had taken prisoner.' At Nunney near Frome is another fortified house which hardly comes within the technical definition of a castle. It belonged to Sir John Delamere as a manse' before he obtained license in 1373 to add the towers and embattle the walls. It afterwards consisted of an oblong building of four stories, with a pair of towers at each end; and it appears by a sketch made in the Civil War, to which Mr. Barrett refers, that these towers had conical roofs in the French style, the main roof of the building being remarkably high-pitched. A copy of this sketch will be found in the essay on Nunney Castle read by Mr. Emmanuel Green, F.S.A., at Frome, and afterwards published as a pamphlet. The drawing is explained by a memorandum written by a Royalist officer in 1644. His note was briefly to the effect that the castle was defended by a moat with gatehouse and drawbridge, and a high wall outside the moat, and that the structure was 'four-square, a long square, very narrow,' with rounded towers at either end. The chief fortresses were at Taunton and Dunster, the one site having been a place of arms in the days of King Ine, and the other a stronghold against invasion long before William de Moion took possession of the famous Tor. To its castle, as representing through all changes the original stockade, the town of Taunton may be said to owe its beginning, though many have thought that the Romans had made some kind of settlement in the marshy region of the Tone. The castle, in any case, has a great history during the ages that passed between its first foundation and the dismantling of its works after the Restoration of Charles II. It appears from the 'Saxon Chronicle' that even in King Ine's lifetime his fort was captured and burned; but this would not affect the strength of the great earthworks or the deep and 'formidable ditches.' The Norman walls and keep were built early in the twelfth century by William Gifford, Bishop of Winchester, to whose see the Manor of Taunton Deane |
