There lay the trophie of our chivalry,

Plumed of his ostridge feathers; which the Prince Tooke as the ensign of his victory,

Which he did after weare; and ever since The Prince of Wales doth that atchievement beare Which Edward first did win by conquest there. According to Dr. Meyrick, the Prince having captured the standard of the King of Bohemia, adopted the device which it bore,-three ostrich feathers on a black ground, each labelled with the words, Ich Dien; but he did not wear the feathers upon his helmet, as they are now represented in his coronet.

Some of our antiquaries have thrown discredit upon the whole story of this assumption of the device. Pennant, when speaking of the "Feathers" Inn at Chester, has these remarks upon the subject. "Our historians assert that they were the three ostrich feathers which the King of Bohemia bore that day in his coronet; and that he was slain by Edward, who, seizing on the crest, bore from that time both the feathers and the motto Ich Dien,-I serve. I am unwilling to sully the honour of our gallant prince by supposing that he would stain his sword in so unequal an encounter. The king was blind with age, and finding the battle go against his allies, was led by his own orders, into the rage of the combat, determined to die in the cause of France.

Another disputed question connected with the battle of Cressy is, whether cannon were used in it' We often find it said that in King Edward's army there were a few of those novel engines, and that the good service which they did him conduced much to his victory; but, on the other hand, many modern writers leave out all mention of them, not deeming the evidence of the fact to be strong enough. The Italian writer, Giovanni Villani, speaks distinctly of the English using "bombards which shot out balls of iron with fire, to terrify and destroy the horses of the French," and of their discharges being accompanied with "so great a shaking and noise that it seemed as if the Deity were thundering, and with a great slaying of men and horses." On the other hand, Froissart, "so minute in all his circumstance," as Mr. Sharon Turner remarks,-says nothing about the use of cannon at this battle; and "I have therefore not alluded to them," adds that gentleman, as the more recent author Villani, who notices them, is not a sufficient authority." But in point of fact, Villani is the older writer of the two; for he was nearly fifty years of age when the battle of Cressy was fought, whereas Froissart was but a child of nine. The means of information which Froissart possessed, were probably superior to those of Villani; and yet as Villani died only two years after the battle, the intelligence upon which he built his notice of it must have been fresh.

The most important result of the victory of Cressy was the capture of the town of Calais, which fell into Edward's hands after a close siege of eleven months.

CHESTER, or West Chester, as it has been frequently called, the capital of the county palatine of that name, is situated in the north-western part of England, on the northern bank of the river Dee, at a short distance from the shores of the Irish Sea, and not many miles to the south of Liverpool. It stands close to the edge of the county, thus approaching very near to the neighbouring district of Flintshire, in North Wales. Its position gives it a picturesque appearance; it is built on a dry rock, elevated above the stream of the Dee, which winds round two sides of it in an irregular semicircle.

Chester is one of the most ancient cities in England; and tradition, as usual, assigns it a more remote origin than it can be shown to be entitled to. "I shall begin my account of this respectable city," says Pennant, "by declining the honour of affecting it to have been of British foundation, notwithstanding I have the authority of Ramulph the Monk, and Henry Bradshaw, another religious man of this city." According to their legendary statements, it was founded by Leon Gawer, "a mightie strong giant," who dug caverns in the rock to be used for habitations; but the first buildings which were erected are to be attributed to King Leir, who caused the city VOL. VIII.

to be called Guer Leir-a name not differing very much from that of Caer Lleon, or Camp of the Legion," by which it was known among the Britons, after the occupation of our country by the Romans. Antiquaries give us the name in full, in the following shape:-Caer Lleon vaur ar ddyfr Dwy, which is translated "the Camp of the great Legion on the Dee," the city being the head-quarters of the legion so called. Chester was a place of great importance during the period of the Roman dominion in Britain; it was the termination of the celebrated Watling Street, or great military road which the conquerors carried from Dover across the island. The name Chester is evidently derived from the Latin word Castrum, signifying a camp; the Saxons called it Legaceaster and Legecester.

On the final departure of the Romans, the city fell under the government of the Britons; but from their hands it passed into those of the Saxons, in the year 607. In the ninth century it suffered greatly from the Danes. These pirates, then the scourge of the kingdom, having met with a severe defeat from Alfred the Great, retreated before him: in their flight, collecting vast numbers of their countrymen, they committed the care of their wives, their shipping, and

234

There lay the trophie of our chivalry,

Plumed of his ostridge feathers; which the Prince Tooke as the ensign of his victory,

Which he did after weare; and ever since The Prince of Wales doth that atchievement beare Which Edward first did win by conquest there. According to Dr. Meyrick, the Prince having captured the standard of the King of Bohemia, adopted the device which it bore,-three ostrich feathers on a black ground, each labelled with the words, Ich Dien;-but he did not wear the feathers upon his helmet, as they are now represented in his coronet.

Some of our antiquaries have thrown discredit upon the whole story of this assumption of the device. Pennant, when speaking of the "Feathers" Inn at Chester, has these remarks upon the subject. "Our historians assert that they were the three ostrich feathers which the King of Bohemia bore that day in his coronet; and that he was slain by Edward, who, seizing on the crest, bore from that time both the feathers and the motto Ich Dien,-I serve. I am unwilling to sully the honour of our gallant prince by supposing that he would stain his sword in so unequal an encounter. The king was blind with age, and finding the battle go against his allies, was led by his own orders, into the rage of the combat, determined to die in the cause of France.

Another disputed question connected with the battle of Cressy is, whether cannon were used in it' We often find it said that in King Edward's army there were a few of those novel engines, and that the good service which they did him conduced much to his victory; but, on the other hand, many modern writers leave out all mention of them, not deeming the evidence of the fact to be strong enough. The Italian writer, Giovanni Villani, speaks distinctly of the English using "bombards which shot out balls of iron with fire, to terrify and destroy thehorses of the French," and of their discharges being accompanied with "so great a shaking and noise that it seemed as if the Deity were thundering, and with a great slaying of men and horses." On the other hand, Froissart, "so minute in all his circumstance," as Mr. Sharon Turner remarks,-says nothing about the use of cannon at this battle; and "I have therefore not alluded to them," adds that gentleman, "as the more recent author Villani, who notices them, is not a sufficient authority." But in point of fact, Villani is the older writer of the two; for he was nearly fifty years of age when the battle of Cressy was fought, whereas Froissart was but a child of nine. The means of information which Froissart possessed, were probably superior to those of Villani; and yet as Villani died only two years after the battle, the intelligence upon which he built his notice of it must have been fresh.

The most important result of the victory of Cressy was the capture of the town of Calais, which fell into Edward's hands after a close siege of eleven months.

CHESTER, or West Chester, as it has been frequently called, the capital of the county palatine of that name, is situated in the north-western part of England, on the northern bank of the river Dee, at a short distance from the shores of the Irish Sea, and not many miles to the south of Liverpool. It stands close to the edge of the county, thus approaching very near to the neighbouring district of Flintshire, in North Wales. Its position gives it a picturesque appearance; it is built on a dry rock, elevated above the stream of the Dee, which winds round two sides of it in an irregular semicircle.

Chester is one of the most ancient cities in England; and tradition, as usual, assigns it a more remote origin than it can be shown to be entitled to. "I shall begin my account of this respectable city," says Pennant, "by declining the honour of affecting it to have been of British foundation, notwithstanding I have the authority of Ramulph the Monk, and Henry Bradshaw, another religious man of this city." According to their legendary statements, it was founded by Leon Gawer, "a mightie strong giant," who dug caverns in the rock to be used for habitations; but the first buildings which were erected are to be attributed to King Leir, who caused the city VOL. VIII.

66

to be called Guer Leir-a name not differing very much from that of Caer Lleon, or Camp of the Legion," by which it was known among the Britons, after the occupation of our country by the Romans. Antiquaries give us the name in full, in the following shape:-Caer Lleon vaur ar ddyfr Dwy, which is translated "the Camp of the great Legion on the Dee," the city being the head-quarters of the legion so called. Chester was a place of great importance during the period of the Roman dominion in Britain; it was the termination of the celebrated Watling Street, or great military road which the conquerors carried from Dover across the island. The name Chester is evidently derived from the Latin word Castrum, signifying a camp; the Saxons called it Legaceaster and Legecester.

On the final departure of the Romans, the city fell under the government of the Britons; but from their hands it passed into those of the Saxons, in the year 607. In the ninth century it suffered greatly from the Danes. These pirates, then the scourge of the kingdom, having met with a severe defeat from Alfred the Great, retreated before him: in their flight, collecting vast numbers of their countrymen, they committed the care of their wives, their shipping, and

234

their wealth, to the East Anglians, and marching with vigorous rapidity, they rested neither night nor day till they had reached and fortified Chester. Alfred was active in pursuing, but he did not overtake them till they had enbosomed themselves in military defences which the military knowledge of that day respected as impregnable, though which, perhaps, our attainments might despise." Alfred for two days besieged them, drove away all the cattle in the vicinity, slew every enemy who ventured beyond the encampment, and burnt and consumed all the corn of the district. Having taken these measures, Alfred prosecuted the siege no further; contented, apparently, with keeping his enemies beyond the frontier of the dominions which he considered as his own. The Danes kept possession of Chester for a part of the Winter, and were afterwards compelled to depart into North Wales, to procure subsistence. After the evacuation of Chester by the Danes, it continued in ruins till it was restored about the year 907 or 908, by Ethelfleda," the undegenerate daughter of the Great Alfred," as Pennant calls her: this restoration of the city, and its erection into a military position, seem to have been a part of the system which Alfred had devised, and which his son Edward executed, for restraining the incursions of the Danes beyond the limits of the territory which they were allowed to occupy in England. In the reign of King Edgar, it became a station for the Saxon navy; and it is in this city that the monarch exhibited a remarkable instance of that ostentatious display of power which constituted one of the principal features of his reign. It is stated in the annals of the time, that Edgar sailed with a great fleet to Chester on the Dee, and that eight kings, or sub-kings, as they are called, Kenneth King of Scotland, Malcolm of Cumbria, Macchus of Anglesey and the Isles, three kings of Wales, and two others, repaired thither at his command to do him homage. He was not satisfied with this confession of his power: "his puerile vanity," says Mr. Sharon Turner, "demanded a more painful sacrifice: he ascended a large vessel with his nobles and officers, and he stationed himself at the helm, while the eight kings who had come to do him honour were compelled to take the seats of the watermen, and to row him down the Dee,-a most arrogant insult on the feelings of others whose titular dignity was equal to his own. Edgar crowned the scene, and consummated his disgrace by declaring to his courtiers that his successors might then call themselves Kings of England, when they could compel so many kings to give them such honours." The whole story is disbelieved by some.

After being again placed temporarily under the power of the Danes, the city of Chester was definitively bestowed at the time of the Norman Conquest, together with the earldom, upon Hugh Lupus, one of the kinsmen of William; to him the Conqueror delegated a very full power, making his a county palatine, and giving him such a sovereign jurisdiction, that the ancient earls kept their own parliaments, and had their own courts of law, in which any offence against the dignity of "the Sword of Chester," was as cognizable there as the like offence would have been at Westminster against the dignity of the royal crown. The condition of the city at that period, and for some time previous, may be collected from the Domesday-book, which shows that in the reign of Edward the Confessor, there existed 431 ratable houses, besides 56 that belonged to the Bishop. was in the enjoyment, by prescription, of many privileges. It had a guild mercatory, analogous to the corporations of later days, so that no person who

It

was not of that society could exercise any trade, or carry on any commerce within its precincts; two overseers selected from the most respectable citizens were appointed to maintain the rights of the guild, and receive for the use of the city, all the customs paid by strangers, except during the fairs. It appears, also, that the city yielded ten marks and a-half of silver, of which two-thirds went to the king, and the remainder to the earl; that whenever the king visited the city in person, he claimed from every plough-land two hundred hesthas or capons, one cuna or vat of ale, and a portion of butter defined by the word rusca; that there were twelve judges in the city, and seven mint-masters; that whenever repairs were wanting for the walls, or the hedge, notice was given for one man out of every bedeland in the county to appear; and in case of absence he was fined forty shillings, to be divided between the king and the earl. value set upon human life may be estimated from the amount of the fines imposed;-namely, four pounds for killing a man upon certain holidays, and forty shillings on any other day; there was also a penalty or a punishment inflicted upon persons who made bad ale.

The

For two or three centuries after the conquest, Chester was the head-quarters of the troops employed to defend the English border against the incursive attacks of the Welsh; it seems also to have been in the words of Pennant, "a constant rendezvous of troops, and place d'armes for every expedition on this side of the kingdom, from the times of the Norman Conquest to the conquest of Ireland by William the Third." The final acknowledgment by the Welsh of the sovereignty of the English was made in this city, in 1300, when the homage of the freeholders was received by Edward of Carnarvon, Prince of Wales, then an infant. During the wars of the Roses, Chester suffered in common with the whole of the country; in 1506 it was visited by the sweating sickness, which carried off inety-one householders in three days; and eleven years afterwards, a pestilence made such ravages, that the streets of the city were overgrown with grass. In the middle of the sixteenth century, the inhabitants experienced the severity of the persecutions by which the reign of Mary was distinguished; and the year 1554, was distinguished for the martyrdom of George Marsh, who, for preaching against the errors of Popery, and for steadily adhering to the Protestant faith, was first imprisoned by the Bishop of Chester, and afterwards burnt. have often been informed," says Pennant, "by the worthy Doctor William Cowper, that when Marsh was brought to Boughton, the place of execution, by the Sheriffs Amory and Cooper, the last, an ancestor of the Doctor, favouring the religion of the sufferer, attempted his rescue; but being overpowered by his brother-officer, was obliged to fly till better times, when he returned and discharged the office of mayor, in 1561."

"I

About this period, too, Chester was the scene of a little event which was attended with consequences of the greatest importance to the followers of the Reformed religion in those days, and of which the memory is even now preserved in the city. In the year 1558, Dr. Henry Cole, a native of Godshill, in the Isle of Wight, and Dean of St. Paul's, is reported to have been entrusted with the commission issued by Mary, to empower the Lord-Deputy of Ireland to institute prosecutions against such of the natives as should refuse to observe the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic religion. The doctor stopped at Chester on his way to Ireland, and having put up at the Blue Posts Inn, in Bridge Street, was visited by the mayor, to whom, in