WARWICK.

Brave Warwick, that so long advanced her bear,
By her illustrious Earls, renowned every where.
DRAYTON.

WARWICK, according to the antiquary, Rous, himself a native of the town, was founded by Gutheline, or Kimberline, King of the Britons, in the Christian era; and was, according to the same authority, originally called Caer-Guthleon; from Caer, a city, and Guthlin, the name of its founder; constructed by common usance into Caer-leon. Rous also tells us, in the same work, His. Reg. Angl. p. 52, &c. that the town was considerably extended and improved by a successor of Gutheline on the British throne, King Guiderius, who granted it many privileges,; but was materially injured and destroyed during the fierce wars that afterwards ensued between the barbarous Picts and Scots; and remained in a very dilapidated state till it was rebuilt by the celebrated Caractacus, whose patriotism and valour so eminently distinguished him from all the rest of the British princes. Caractacus was so pleased with this town, that he erected in it a manor-house, or palace, for himself,

and founded, in the market-place, a church, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. On this brave, but ill-fated prince, yielding to the Roman arms, Warwick, it is generally supposed, was fortified by its classical conquerors, and made one of the Roman stations, when the Romans, says the learned Camden, called it Præsidium, and garrisoned it “with a band of Dalmatian horsemen, for it seemeth such was the great care of the Romans for the preservation of their conquered territories, they had placed in their garrisons men of several nations, by which means the native inhabitants, being ignorant of their language and manners, were the less capable of joining in any conspiracy with them; and when the Romans were thus masters of the town, it was in a very flourishing condition, large, and of great strength :" but on the final secession of the Romans from Britain in the year 426, "Rous tells us," says Dugdale, "being again destroyed by wars, it lay so wasted, till Constantine, the father of Uter Pendragon, a British King, repaired it, and called it Caer-Umber; whose death (for he was slain by a new incursion of the Picts) exposed it to another devastation; in which ruinous state it lay, till a British prince, named Gwayr, rebuilt it, and commanded that it should be called Caer Gwayr, which Gwayr was cousin to the renowned King Arthur."*

In Gwayr's reign, it is said, Warwick was made a Bishop's see by Dubretius, afterwards Bishop of Saint David's, who, (Saint John's Church having most likely been destroyed in the previous destructions of the town,) chose for his epicopal church, All Saints, which then stood on the site where the castle was afterwards built; but the season of its tranquillity and prosperity was not fated to continue long, for in the dreadful devastations that soon afterwards were occasioned by the repeated Saxon invasions of those stirring and troublesome times, it was again greatly depopulated and destroyed; but on the Saxons gaining a final mastery, in their divi sion of the country into provinces, Warwick forming a part, was allotted, with the kingdom of Mercia, to Warremund, who once more rebuilt it, and called it after his own name, Warrewyk, or according to the Saxon Chronicle, p. 104, Wæringwic, from wæring, a mound or bulwark, and wyk or wick a town, castle, or curved bank of a river. Under the dominion of the Saxons in England, Warwick long continued peaceful and prosperous, till the irruption of the Danes, when it was again destroyed, those fierce despoilers leaving scarcely one stone remaining on another: but if Warwick was constantly fated to find a destroyer in every contest, it as constantly found some one to restore it in every peaceful period that followed; and on

the present occasion was not long suffered to remain in ruin, but speedily rose to more than its former consequence and power, under the patronage of the accomplished Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, and wife of Etheldred, the then Earl of Mercia. Inheriting a portion of her father's spirit and talent, she completely re-erected, and much enlarged and improved the town, and, about the year 915, laid the foundation of its princely castle, so long its ornament and defence, as we shall have occasion to notice hereafter. Under the care of this active and gallant princess, and the governorship of the succeeding Earls of Mercia's deputies, the then Earls of Warwick, who took up their abode in the Castle, Warwick enjoyed a century of peaceful prosperity. During this period it was, the mighty Guy's achievements, that have conferred such celebrity upon Warwick, are supposed to have taken place. The first Earl of Warwick, according to Dugdale, who quotes Rous as his authority, was the famous Arthigal, who lived in the time of King Arthur, and whom, says Dugdale, my author representeth to be one of the knights of King Arthur's Round Table; but he saith that the Brittans did not pronounce the g in that name, and that arth, or narth, signifieth the same, in that language, as Ursus doth in latin; from whence he conjec tureth that the same Arthal took the bear for his

ensign, which so long continued a badge to the succeeding Earles."

"The next in order of these British Earles (continues Dugdale) doth he reckon Morvidus, who being a man of great valour, slew a mighty gyant in a single duel; which gyant encountered him with a young tree pulled up by the root, the boughs being snag'd from it; in token whereof, he and his successors, Earles of Warwick, in the times of the Brittans, bore a ragged staff of silver in a sable shield for their cognusance." This armorial distinction of the bear and ragged staff, adopted by many of the successive Earls, was re-assumed by the first of the present race of Earls, Francis Greville, in the year 1760. Morvidus was succeeded by Merthudus, who, in turn, gave up his honors to the daring Rohand, a famous warrior, enriched with great possessions, who lived in the days of King Alfred and King Edward the Elder, and left issue one only daughter, the fair Felicia, or Phillis, as the vulgar have it, that married the mighty Guy, who in her right became Earl of Warwick. This renowned warrior was the son of Siward, Baron of Wallingford, and is said to have been nine feet high. Among other incredible achievements, he is said to have slain a Saracen giant in single combat, and to have killed, with his own arm, a wild boar, a dun cow of an enormous size, and even a green dragon.