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additions to his father's defcription of Devon), which all miscarried in the time of the late civil wars in England; as I have been informed by the prefent honourable colonel fir John Pole, bart. fo that the very titles and arguments of them are perished likewise.

"From all which paffages well confidered, it plainly appears how very industrious this gentleman was; how he chofe to lay out his time in higher and nobler gratifications than what fenfuality affords; and how he applied himself to this gentile ftudy of antiquities for more than twenty years together. Infomuch he thereby became as the firft, fo the beft antiquary (for certainty and judgement) that we ever had in our county; it being plain, that with this gentleman's labours most of those who wrote fince on this argument have adorned their works.

"But at length death (that ultima linea rerum) came and added a period to the last line of his life; though not until he had lived to a very great age. He lies interred in the parish church of Colliton, under a flat ftone, whofe infcription is obliterated by time."

The first book contains an account of the antient baronies of Devon, the 2d, a lift of those which held their lands immediately from the crown; the men of most note' in war, 'councellors of eftate, and eminent men in the government of Devonshire,' and fuch learned men in the knowledge of the laws of this land as have been borne or dwelt in Devonfhire. From this laft lift we fhall felect two or three fhort

accounts:

St John Cary was on of the judges of the King's Bench, temp. R. 2, who facrificed his eftate to preserve his confcience, chufing rather to fuffer his goods to be confifcated, and himself banish'd, than to violate his oath in confenting to the proceedings of the procurators for the refignation of the unhappy king his master.

Willm Hankford, k, chief juftice of ye King's Bench, on of great fpirit & wifdome, it was he to whom H. 5, when prince of Wales, gave a box on the eare uppon the bench, becaufe he would not be a fervant of his, &c. who, nothing daunted thereby, he ift given him a fevere check, committed him prifoner to the Fleet.'

Sr Humfrey Gilbard, a famous hydrographer, who undertook to discover the remoteft parts of America, whofe fpirit may be gueffed by his motto, Quid non. He made three several voyages before he could plant any colony, and in the last feis'd to the crown of England, St John's Road, in the fouth part of Newfoundland; but retorning home, his projects perished with himfelf.

This county challenges the honour of lifting St James Lea in the lift of her worthys, as fetching his difcent and inheritance

hence,

hence, a perfon of that integrity and worth, that he was made lo. chief justice of Engl. lord high treafurer, & after earl of Marlborough.'

A lift of the fheriffs of Devonshire follows; and, in this county, the fherifwick' was hereditary in the families of Baldwyn de Brioniis, or of the barons of Okehampton, till the first of Henry II. A lift of the justices itinerant from the fame period follows. The third book contains an account of particular places and manors of the county divided into hundreds, and is in reality the principal fubject of the work. These antiquarian difcuffions are unpleafing in general, and we shall only felect two paffages; one of curiofity, and another which affords fome fubjects of remark, while it is a general specimen of our author's manner.

Athelstan gave a grant of the church of Axminster to seven priefts, to pray for the fouls of seven earls, killed in a battle in this neighbourhood.

I will add hereur.to what I have reade in an old written cronicle, treating of this battel, as followeth :

When kinge Athelstan ruled England, feven Danish kings (for foe ye Saxons called fuch as had command) landed at a place called Seaton, and foe marchinge about two miles in a bottome, & on a little hill called Bremeldoun, their they encamped, from whence they marched on fome three miles, & neere unto Axmifter they mett wh kinge Athelstan, whoe had in his companye a bisshop & two dukes, where ye field was foughten, but the Danes were driven to give ground & flye over ye water, where was made a verye greate flaughter of them, and most of the Danes flayne, & the maymed were fent twoe miles above Axminster to be relieved. Afoe ye bishop and twoe dukes wch were on ye king's fide were flayne & buried at Axmifter. Holingfhed doth fomewhat [agree] with this. Mr Cambden writeth, Axanminfter, a towne of the Saxon princes, wch in y cruel battaile at Brunaburge beinge flayne were thither convayed, & wth their tumbes (famous in ancient hiftories) hath mad ye place (fituated in ye lymits of y' province) fa

mous.

This ftory beinge foe famous, & in & neere ye place of my dwellinge, hath made me the more curious and carefull in the fearchinge thereof, out of ye names of the places mencioned therein. And first for theire landinge at Seaton, & the marchinge upp ye bottome, & encampinge at Bremeldoun. The name of Bremeldoun doth yeat remayne unto this day, & the hill lyinge eat from Colyton (where I dwell) retayneth the name of Eft King's Doun unto this [day], & the place where the battaile was fought conferveth y name of Kingsfield, being in distance not above three myles from King/doune; and the place over the water where the

laughter

flaughter was made is nowe called Kil men-ton, & ye place above Axminster, where ye hurt and may med were conveyed unto, retayneth y name of Maimbury unto this day. In this place is to bee feene an old caftell, or fortificacion, fuch as is ufe in those dayes & ftandeth.'

'Otterton lieth weftward, & uppon ye South fea, & the river Oter unladeth his waters at Otermouth, w in ye faid parish. It is a goodly mannor, & in the Conqueror's dayes, contained five hides of land, every hide contayning five plough lands, and every plough land eight fcore akers, & did belonge unto thabbey of Mount St Michaell, in periculo Maris; & heere was, by ye abbot & convent their, a pryory in this place erected, for whofe maintenance this mannor, & ye mannor of Yarkcomb, was allotted. In kinge Henry 4 tyme, by act of parliament, this land, wth all other in alien's hands, was removed into the kinge's hands, & was by kinge Henry 6 given unto the howfe of Syon. And after ye fuppreffion it was purchafed by Richard Duke, efq. beinge a clerke in the coorte of augmentations. He bwilded a fayre howse in this place uppon an afcent over the river Otter, wch driveth his mylles underneath the howfe.'

In this account, we apprehend there are fome little inaccuracies. The abbey of Monte St. Michael de Periculo Maris was in the bishopric of Avranche, fubject to the jurifdiction of the archbishop of Rouen. Otterton was undoubtedly the principal manor in England; and Articumba, at prefent Yarcombe, called in the account juft tranfcribed, Yarkcombe, was another. But thefe manors were by no means folely appropriated to the maintenance of the abbey; nor were they the only manors which it poffeffed, as our author has in other places. properly mentioned. Among thefe were Yettemeton, at prefent Yattington, a little village in the parish of Breton; Sidemèr (Sidmouth); Boddeley (Bodley), Marloch, &c. This last priory was afterwards annexed to Sion abbey, in Middlesex.

Our author afterwards adds the arms of noblemen and gentlemen who anciently dwelt in Devonshire; the arms of the gentry in an alphabetical order; the names of noblemen and gentlemen formerly diftinguished, but no longer found in this county; those who have left the county, and dwell in other places, as well as those who still retain their lands, and dwell in the county. The whole is concluded with an index of places, and another of names.

In general, this work is fcarcely the fubject of criticism; nor is it eafy, at a distance, to judge of its accuracy. From the general character of fir William Pole, there is little doubt but, with the means of poffeffing exact information, he was CRIT. REV. N. AR. (IV.) Feb. 1792.

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neither wanting in care nor in induftry. The chief errors we have difcovered are in the orthography and the etymologies: thefe are often erroneous; and this part of the fubject deferves confiderable attention from the prefent hiftorian of the county.

Philofophical Tranfactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. LXXXI. for the Year 1791. Part I. 4to. 7s. 6d. Elmfley. 1791.

VA

ARIOUS caufes have prevented our noticing this volume fconer; and it is with regret we muft remark, that our delay has not greatly impeded the progrefs of fcience: for, though fome of the papers in this very fmall volume are inte refting, they are not on the whole important, or worthy the refpectable fociety by whom they are published. Surely the philofophers of this country could furnish a larger and more ícientific volume by their more active and cordial exertions?

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Art. I. A fecond Paper on Hygrometry. By J. A. De Lúc, Efq. F.R.S.-M. De Luc has laboured greatly in the science of meteorology, and in the conftruction of its inftruments ;. but, in hydrometry, we have not been able to pay him that tribute of applaufe which he has merited by his other works, nor will the prefent paper add greatly to his fame in this department. In an effay, which he prefented to the fociety in 1773, he fketched out the fundamental positions on hygrometry; and these are, 1. That fire, confidered as a caufe of heat, was the only agent by which abfolute drynefs could be produced; 2. That water, in its liquid ftate, was the only fure means of producing extreme moisture in hygrofcopic bodies; 3. That there was no reafon, a priori, to expect from any hygrofcopic fubftance, that the measurable effects, produced on it by moisture, were proportional to the intensities of that caufe, and confequently, that a true hygrometrical fcale was to be a particular object of enquiry; 4. That, perhaps, the comparative changes of the dimenfions of a fubftance, and of the weight of the fame or other fubftance, by the fame variations of moisture, might lead to fome difcovery in that refpect.' The fame propofitions are again examined and illuftrated by our author's more matured experience.

Extreme drynefs is undoubtedly produced by heat, and it required not fo many words as M. de Luc has employed to explain it. Quick lime is found to have a great capacity for moisture, and to be flow in retaking it. When brought to a ftate of incandefcence, the drynefs produced by it was conftant, and probably the extreme point; but the nature of the fub

ftance

stance does not interfere with the degree of drynefs, which depends wholly on the white heat.

There is, however, little reafon, we apprehend, to be anxious about the point of extreme drynefs, except the hygrometer is to be employed on the coaft of Africa during the harmattan. Extreme moisture is more frequent, and we have great reafon to fufpect, that water is not its proper measure: we mean not that any thing can be more moift, but veficular vapour feems to have more influence on the hygrofcopic subftances, and affords a degree more steady, though this degree, from accidental circumitances, not fufficiently understood, feems to vary. Our author adheres to the water, notwithftanding he fometimes finds his hygrometer pointing a degree or two beyond his extreme point; and he concludes, that the water acts in confequence of porous penetration, not of chemical affinity only. But, in this refpect, the motion of the hygrometer must be influenced by many circumftances, particularly thofe in which heat is involved, or again fet loofe; and, so far as moisture is concerned at least, can be only a comparative standard. In more accurate obfervations, the inftrument will require to be corrected by the corresponding changes in the thermometer: what the correction fhould be is yet unknown. This, however, chiefly relates to the third queftion, how far the maximum of evaporation correfponds to the maximum of moisture. Some obfervations on this subject we shall select in our author's own words.

When I had made hygrofcopes of various forts of flips; for inftance, of different woods and of whalebone, cut across the fibres; of ivory and horn, reduced first into thin tubes, and then cut in fcrew; and of quills, by cutting alfo in fcrew their barrels ; I repeated, with thofe inftruments, my observations on dew; and to give a fhort, but determined idea of the phænomena I observed, I fhall reduce them to fome general cafes, as indicated by one onTy of thofe hygroscopes, that of quill, which, like all the others, is divided into 100 parts, from extreme drynefs to extreme moisture. Thefe hygrofcopes were fufpended in the open air, three feet above a grafs-plat in the country. First Cafe. When a clear and calm evening fucceeds to a clear and warm day, the grass frequently grows wet, though the above hygroscope ftands many hours, and fometimes the whole night, between 50 and 55. Second Cafe. If the dew increases, fo that taller herbaceous plants and shrubs grow wet in fucceffion, the hygroscope moves more and more towards moisture; and when it is come to about 80, plates of glass and oil-paint alfo grow wet; but at that period, neither metallic plates, expofed like the glafs ones, nor some shrubs and trees are quer; and this alfo may last whole nights. Third Cafe. If the

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