of an

from the architecture, as well as the fashion of the armour, antiquity equal with the Church. Just below the former, r an arch in the wall, is the effigies of an armed man, with an helmet, sword, and shield; the hands conjoined over the breast in the usual posture of praying, but the arms and inscription wholly de faced.

On a brass plate, placed under a canopy, supported by four pil lars, is the effigies of a man in a gown, and three children behind him, all kneeling; and their hands erected. Opposite is a woman, and behind her seven daughters, in the same posture, together with the following inscription:

“Here lyeth the body of Micholas Martyn, esquyr, who Departed this life, and slept with his fathers, the xxiii day of March, and M.D. XCU. and left behind iv Daughters co heirs. Elizabeth, Fraunces, Jane, and Anne, whose soul assuredly doth rest with Abraham, Isacke, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

CERNE, OR CERNE ABBAS,

Is a small town, consisting of four or five indifferently bult streets, situated in a pleasant valley, surrounded by steep hills, and watered by the river Cerne, from which it derives its name. The market was granted in the fifteenth of King John, and is well frequented. The trade of the town is chiefly confined to malting and brewing, though some hands are employed in a silk manufac tory. The population of this parish was, under the late act, re turned at 847; the number of houses was 165.

Cerne is only remarkable for the remains of its Abbey, which, according to William of Malmsbury, Camden, and some others, was founded by St. Augustine, whose zeal in the conversion of the Saxons to the Christian faith, is said to have induced him to visit these parts, and perform several miracles. There does not ap Augustine ever tra

pear, however, any decisive evidence, that velled so far from Kent, or that any missionary arrived in the West of England before Birinus, which was thirty years after the time

of

Engravid by I. Smith from a drawing by 44 Upham for the Beauties of England and Wales
REMAINS OF CERNE ABBEY.

Dorsetfhire.

of the English apostle. The most early intimation of any religious foundation here, that can be depended on, occurs about the year 870, when Edwald, or Eadwald, brother of St. Edmund the Martyr, King of the East Angles, greatly affected by the murder of his unhappy brother by the Danes, declined the Crown, and commenced hermit, fixing his retreat near a spring in this county, called Silver Well, supposed to have been produced by St. Austin. Ailmer, Award, or Ægleward, a very rich man, venerating the memory of the pious Monarch, by the advice and assistance of the famous St. Dunstan, began to build, or rebuild, a Monastery on the same spot, in honor of St. Mary, St. Peter, and St. Benedict. This foundation he endowed with a plentiful revenue; and further enriched it with the reliques of St. Edwald, to whom the Monastery was in after ages dedicated. This endowment of Cerne Abbey seems to have been much abused and dissipated; for, before the new foundation, the house, which stood where the parish Church is now, had but three Monks of the Benedictine order.

Among the MSS at the Public Library, Cambridge, formerly belonging to Bishop Moore, is one of very high antiquity, supposed to have been the property of Cerne Abbey. It includes a collection of lessons and prayers, written in the ancient Saxon character; and, on several leaves inserted in the beginning, contains, according to the custom of those ages, particulars relating to the Abbey. It begins with grants of indulgences to the faithful visiting and offering up their devotions at the several altars here; as likewise accounts of the respective dedications, lists of the Abbey possessions, and various other particulars. Thomas Corton, the last Abbot, and sixteen Monks, surrendered this House to John Tregonwell at the general Suppression, 1539, when it was valued at 5151. 17s. 10d. according to Dugdale; and 6231. 13s. 2d4. as Speed. The Abbot had a pension of 1001, and the Prior and Monks in proportion. The manor, demesnes, and tythes, of Cerne, which seem to have belonged to the Abbey from its foundation, were demised, together with the site of the Monastery, for fifty years, to Philip Vanwilder, at an annual rent of 371. 13s. 4d. VOL. IV. Hh

The

The estate afterwards passed through several hands to the Pitt of Stratford Say, and is at present enjoyed by a descendant of that family.

The present remains of Cerne Abbey are not many, but are interesting. Of the Church there appear no vestiges; and we can only form a judgment of its magnitude and splendor, by the num ber of altars, chantries, &c. mentioned as belonging to it. The Abbey House is nearly destroyed; a chamber or two, built by Abbot Vanne, still exists; and on some glazed tiles, in a lower room, are painted the Abbey arms. These apartments form part of an ancient mansion, chiefly built out of the ruins, which Den zil, Lord Holles, afterwards repaired, and resided in. The chief fragment is the Gate-House, or principal entrance, which stands rather northward of the last mentioned edifice, and consists of a stately, large, square, embattled tower, of three stories, in tolera ble preservation. In the lower room, which was the gate or pas sage on each side the east door, are two escutcheons, containing the arms of the Monastery, and those of Richard, Earl of Con wall, "in allusion to whom, probably, the arch at the entrance ends in two large lions." Just above this gateway, or arch, are two large, elegant bow windows, reaching to the top; under each are eight pannels, containing eight escutcheons, with various arms and devices, among which are those of the Earl of Cornwall before mentioned, Fitz-James, the portcullis, (the Beaufort badge,) France and England, and the Abbey arms. The groined ceilings within, likewise, contain various armorial bearings.

The other reliques of the Abbey are, the large and magnificent stone Barn, supported by buttresses, standing at a small distance from the gateway, and which still receives the produce of the Abbey farm; traces of the ancient park and gardens, which are known by the name of Beauvoir; and north of these, and the Church-yard, a large square area, with double banks, and an outer ditch, which tradition ascribe to the Abbey, but which seems more considerable.

The parish Church of Cerne, dedicated to St. Mary, is a plain but elegant structure in the pointed style, with a lofty embattled