being laid out with more taste. It is much to be desired that this interesting old fortress may be preserved from the premature decay to which it seems destined.

The Church is large and handsome, composed, however, of a soft, friable stone, unfavourable to the preservation of the finer details of ecclesiastical ornament. It is evidently of different periods. The oldest portion of it, which exhibits two circular headed arches, enriched with zig-zag mouldings, is probably the remains of a church erected by the Marmions shortly after the Conquest. It was made collegiate at a very early period, and so remained till the reign of Edward VI. The tower is massive and lofty. The church is capable of containing 3000 persons. In a crypt beneath the church there is an immense quantity of human bones.

Tamworth has been defended in former times on three sides by a wide and deep trench, vestiges of which, called the King's Dyke, may still be seen. The rivers Tame and Anker were its defence on the remaining (south) side. The bones of men and horses, and warlike weapons, have been dug up in the King's Dyke.

VICINITY OF TAMWORTH.

SECKINGTON, a small village, four miles distant, on the northern extremity of the county, has the remains of an entrenched Roman camp, circular in form, and defended by a large trench. The inner diameter is 300 feet. On the north side is a mound 42 feet high, either a tumulus or watch-tower. A sanguinary battle was fought here in 757, between Cuthred, king of the West Saxons, and Ethelwald, king of Mercia.

ATHERSTONE. (INNS: Red Lion, Mrs. Briggs-Bed, 1s. to 1s. 6d., breakfast 1s. 6d., dinner 2s., tea 1s.; Three Tuns, J. Fielders. Population in 1851, 3819). This market town is eight miles by rail from Tamworth. It is pleasantly situated. The manufacture of hats is carried on here to a considerable extent. There are some elegant and commodious public buildings. Atherstone was the birth-place of Dr. Nehemiah Grew, the celebrated botanist. It is also noted in history as the scene of the conference between the Earl of Richmond and the disaffected nobles of Richard III. the night before the battle of Bosworth Field. Measures were concerted

between Richmond and the two Stanleys, which resulted in the overthrow and death of the king. Richmond encamped with his troops, the night before the battle, in a meadow near the church. Bosworth Field is four or five miles distant, in the neighbouring county of Leicester. Atherstone, however, is chiefly interesting from its having in its neighbourhood (distant one mile) the village of

MANCESTER, which, with Oldbury and Hartshill, occupies the site of the Manduessedum of the Romans. It is situated on the Watling Street, which divides the celebrated Roman station in its neighbourhood into equal parts. Camden, in his 'Britannia,' makes the following remarks concerning this place :

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"Somewhat higher, hard by Watling Street (for so with the common people wee call the Highwaie made by the Romans), where as the river Anker hath a stone bridge over it, stood Manduessedum, a verie antient towne, mentioned by Antonine the Emperour, which being not altogether of that name is now called Mancester, and in Ninnius, his catalogue, Caer Mancegued. Which name, considering there is a stone quarry hard by, I may ghesse was imposed upon it, of the stones digged forth and hewed out of it. For, out of the Glossaries of the British tongue, wee finde that main in the British language signified a stone, and fossward, in the provinciall Rome, to digge out, which, being joined together, may seeme verie expressly to import that ancient of Mandvessedvm. But what, how great, or how faire soever it hath beene in old time, a verie small village it is at this daie, containing in it scarce fourteene dwelling-houses, and those but little ones, and hath no monument of antiquity to shew beside an antient mount, which they call Oldburie." The remains of the important Roman station may be very distinctly seen in the vicinity of the village. The mean length of the level surface enclosed within the earth-works is 627 feet, and the mean breadth 438 feet; the total contents being rather more than six acres. Roman coins and fragments of building are often dug up here.

OLDBURY, a hamlet to Mancester (which parish also includes Atherstone), is about a mile and a half farther from Atherstone. It has extremely interesting remains of an ancient Roman fort placed on a commanding eminence. It consists of a quadrangular earth-work enclosed with high ramparts, which on three sides have been well preserved.

This was the summer camp to the Roman station of Manduessedum. The area contains about seven acres. Flint stones have been dug up here, which Dugdale supposes to have been used as weapons of war by the ancient Britons. On the south side of the camp the nuns of Polesworth formerly had a cell. Within its area has been erected a handsome modern mansion, which, from its elevation, commands extensive prospects.

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HARTSHILL, a hamlet in the same neighbourhood, occupies part of the site of Manduessedum. It has been said to be the Campus Martius of the Romans. The site of this rural hamlet is pleasant and elevated. In clear weather, upwards of forty churches can be counted with the naked eye in the surrounding country. Hartshill possesses a special interest from its having been the birth-place of Michael Drayton, author of the Polyolbion," "Wars of the Barons," and numerous other standard poems. He was born in 1563, and died in 1631. He was patronized by the Countess of Bedford and Earl of Dorset, but received coldly at court by James I., to whom he had addressed complimentary verses. Campbell is of opinion that Drayton's muse "had no strength for extensive flights, though he sports in happy moments on a brilliant and graceful wing." We find Drayton styled “poetlaureate" in 1626; but in those times the title was often a mere empty compliment, implying neither pension nor butt of canary. Drayton lies interred in Westminster Abbey. We conclude with a short extract as a specimen of his poetry :

"Virtue, but poor, God in this earth doth place,
'Gainst this rude world to stand upon His right;

To suffer sad affliction and disgrace,

Not ceasing to pursue her with despite:

Yet when of all she is accounted base,

And seeming in most miserable plight,

Out of her power new life to her doth take:

Least then dismayed, when all do her forsake.

That is the man of an undaunted spirit,

For her dear sake that offereth him to die;
For whom when him the world doth disinherit,
Looketh upon it with a pleased eye:

What's done for virtue thinking it doth merit,
Daring the proudest menaces defy;

More worth than life, howe'er the base world rate him,

Beloved of heaven, although the world do hate him."

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