Disraeli at a dinner at Lord Stanhope's ;
and on
had breakfast with Gladstone ;
the 17th was to have gone with his daughter
to the Queen's ball, but the day before he
was pulled up by a sharp attack in his foot :
And serve me right. I hope to get the
better of it soon, but I fear I must not think of
dining with you [Forster] on Friday. I have
cancelled everything in the dining way for this
week, and that is a very small precaution after

the

1778, for a period of 20 years. There is a manuscript book still in existence at Hitchin which contains copies of legal documents relative to the town. It is dated 1779, and dedicated to " William Bogdani, Esquire, Fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies in London, and a member of Spalding Gentlemen's Society in Lincolnshire, Clerk in the office of Ordnance of the Tower of London." The Gentleman's Magazine for the horrible pain I have had and the remedies 19 September, 1775, records his marriage, I have taken." as Maurice Bogdani, Esq., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, to Miss (Deborah) Rhudde of Shepherd's Well. She died on 21 December, 1786, aged 38 (Gent. Mag., lvii. 90), and was buried at Hitchin. Her husband, by will dated 24 December, 1789 (proved 8 May, 1790), left 500l. for investment for Mrs. Margaret Hagar-101. of this principal to be given to each of her children at her death, and the remainder to be invested for teaching and clothing poor girls in the charity school at Hitchin (Cussans, History of Herts'). He died at Hitchin on 5 May, 1790, aged 57.

A son of the same name succeeded, and renewed the lease of the manor on 28 July, 1798, for 17 years. Presumably he died without issue, for on 2 December, 1815, the lease was again renewed, to Anthony Rhudde or Rudd of Uttoxeter, who had inherited the manor through his deceased relative Deborah Bogdani, née Rhudde, aforesaid. He was, I believe, a member of the Carmarthenshire family, baronets Rudd of Aberglasney, and descendants of Anthony Rudd, Bishop of St. David's 1593–1614.

When the last of the Bogdanis was laid in the family grave at Hitchin, it is said that the ledger stone was accidentally broken in pieces, and was replaced by a new stone. The fragments lay in the church tower for many years, but were replaced in their original position when the floor of the church was raised and relaid.

HERBERT C. ANDREWS.

CHARLES DICKENS. FEBRUARY 7TH, 1812-JUNE 9TH, 1870. (See ante, pp. 81, 101, 121, 141, 161, 182, 203, 223, 243, 262, 284, 301, 323, 344, 362, 383, 404, 421.)

DICKENS was longing for the quiet of Gadshill and to get on with Edwin Drood,'

the fifth number of which he read to Forster on the 7th of May; but there were certain invitations he was led to accept. He dined with Motley, the American Minister; met

He had to excuse himself from the General
at which
Theatrical Fund dinner,
Prince of Wales was to preside; but for
another dinner, at which the King of the
Belgians and the Prince were to be present,
so much pressure was put upon him that
he went, still suffering as he was,
dine with Lord Houghton." Dickens, ever
anxious to please, overtaxed his strength.

66

to

And now Dickens and Forster were to It was on Sunday, meet for the last time. the 22nd of that crowded May, when the two friends dined together in Hyde Park Place, and their conversation was full of sadness. Dickens had just heard of the death of Mark Lemon, and

66

his thoughts were led to the crowd of friendly companions in letters and art who had so fallen from the ranks since we played Ben Jonson And together. But we were left almost alone. none,' said Dickens, beyond his sixtieth year; very few even fifty.' Forster protested that "it was no good to talk of it."

We shall not think of it the

less," was his reply.

On the dining-table was a centrepiece suggestive to him of such thoughts. A few weeks before he had received a letter from a man quite unknown to him, enclosing a cheque for 500l. The writer described himself

as a self-raised man, attributing his prosperous career to what Dickens's writings had taught him at its outset of the wisdom of kindness and sympathy for others; and asking pardon for the liberty he took in hoping that he might be permitted to offer some acknowledgment of what not only had cheered and stimulated him through all his life, but had contributed so much to the success of it."

Dickens with kind words returned the cheque, and said

"the spirit of the offer had so gratified him, that if the writer pleased to send him any small memorial of it in another form, he would gladly receive it."

The memorial soon came-a richly worked basket in silver, inscribed :

"From one who has been cheered and stimu

lated by Mr. Dickens's writings, and held the author among his first remembrances when he became prosperous,"

-

These

accompanied by an extremely handsome saw with alarm a singular expression of centrepiece, with the design of figures trouble and pain in his face. "For an representing the Seasons; but the kindly hour," he then told her, "he had been very donor shrank from sending Winter to ill," but he wished dinner to go on. one whom he would fain connect with were his last coherent words, and at ten none save the brighter and milder days, minutes past six on the evening of the and he had struck the fourth figure from following day, Thursday, the 9th of June, the design. Dickens said to Forster: "I the fifth aniversary of the terrible railway never look at it that I don't think most of accident at Staplehurst, he died. He had the Winter." Forster adds: "The gift lived four months beyond his 58th year. had yet too surely foreshadowed the truth, for the winter was never to come to him. " On the 30th of May Dickens left London for Gadshill, to spend the last ten days of his life in the home so dear to him. He was now at the very height of his fame. Few writers before him had achieved such a reputation, and his public readings had caused him to be known personally to thousands—an advantage enjoyed by no other author before or since. At her own earnest request, he had visited our beloved Sovereign Queen Victoria, who received him in private audience; and the sale of the work now in progress, Edwin Drood,' far exceeded all anticipations, so that full of pleasant thoughts he repaired to his abode of peace to enjoy the glorious summer weather and his garden all bright with flowers. During these last days he

worked on his novel in the Swiss châlet
presented to him by Fechter. The upper
room made a charming study, and in it,
he told an American friend,

"I have put five mirrors, and they reflect and
refract, in all kinds of ways, the leaves that are
quivering at the windows, and the great fields of
waving corn, and the sail-dotted river."
There, among the branches of the trees,
amidst the singing of birds and the scent of
the flowers, he passed the whole of the 8th
of June, only going once to the house for
luncheon, and returning to the châlet,
where almost the last lines he wrote made
reference to such a June morning as this
had been, with a brilliant sun shining over
the old city of Rochester, and

"the rich trees waving in the balmy air. Changes
of glorious light from moving boughs, songs of
birds, scents from gardens, woods, and fields-
or, rather, from the one great garden of the whole
cultivated island in its yielding time-penetrate
into the Cathedral, subdue its earthy odour, and
preach the Resurrection and the Life.'

Returning to the house, he wrote some letters, including one to his friend Charles Kent, a man greatly loved by all who knew him, and to whom frequent reference has been made in our columns. In this letter he arranged to see Kent in London next day. Dinner had begun when Miss Hogarth

Only those who remember the 10th of June, 1870, can realize how the bright sun of that summer day seemed blotted out. Throughout Britain indeed, throughout the world-there were but three words on men's lips: "Dickens is dead." The Times in its leader well said: "It will be felt by millions as nothing less than a personal bereavement." In reference to his marvellous powers it remarked :—

"It is certainly a wonderful phenomenon that a book like Pickwick,' the pages of which overflow with humour, and are marked in every sentence with the keenest observation of men and things, should have been produced by a young

man of 24."

The Times also paid high tribute to the moral influence of Dickens's writings and to his eminently kindly nature, full of sympathy for all around him.

"This, without being paraded, makes itself whatever that much of the active benevolence manifest in his works, and we have no doubt of the present day, the interest in humble persons and humble things, and the desire to seek out and relieve every form of misery, is due to the influence of his works. We feel we have lost one of the foremost Englishmen of the age.'

66

Forster tells us that Dickens

'had a notion that when he died he should like to lie in the little graveyard belonging to the Cathedral at the foot of the Castle wall of Ro

chester."

But this was not in accordance with the nation's wish, and The Times, in a leading article on the 13th of June, echoed the universal desire that he should be laid to rest in Westminster Abbey :

66

Among those whose sacred dust lies there, or whose names are recorded on the walls, very few are more worthy than Charles Dickens of such a home. We see indeed, with the modesty which especially distinguished him, he has in his will expressed a wish to be buried with as much simplicity and privacy as possible. If his relatives should think it their duty to adhere to this direction, we shall defer to their decision with profound respect. But the Dean of Westminster is not precluded from preferring a request that Dickens may be buried in the only tomb in England worthy of him....If his friends prefer it, let them have as quiet a funeral as they please, their wishes will be religiously respected. But let him lie in the Abbey, where English

"I emphatically direct that I be buried in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner; that no public announcement be made of the time or place of my burial; that at the interment not more than three plain mourning coaches be employed; and that those who attend

The royal manor of Headington, to the north, had the soke of two hundreds. These are later defined as the hundred of Bullingdon and the hundred "outside the North gate of Oxford." This latter seems to have been (all or part of) that called the 66 second Gadre hundred in 1086. The former is named "Bulenden and Soteleu "" in the Testa de Nevil.' The hidage of this district-Bullingdon (195) and Oxford (15)— amounts to 210.

The royal manor of Kirtlington had the hundreds. Perhaps one of these

ny funeral wear no scarf, cloak, black bow, long soke of first Gadre" hundred named in

hatband, or other such revolting absurdity.'

Thanks to the wise action of good Dean Stanley, all difficulties were overcome; and while I was with Frederic Chapman in his private room over the shop in Piccadilly on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 14th of June, Charles Dickens the younger came in and said: To-morrow morning early at WestJOHN COLLINS FRANCIS.

minster."

(To be continued.)

THE HIDAGE OF OXFORDSHIRE.

(See 11 S. iv. 482.)

SINCE the essay on Hampshire: its Formation,' was printed, the writer has been able, with the aid of Notes on the Oxfordshire Domesday,' by J. L. G. M. (1892), to make a tentative grouping of the hidages of the county. Though only six names of hundreds are recorded in Domesday Book, out of some twenty or more, and though their positions cannot be defined, it is fortunately the case that the later hundreds approximately represent the ancient ones in groups, as shown below.

was the

Domesday Book. The later hundred of Ploughley had formerly the alternative name of Pothou; thus Ploughley, Pothou, and Gadre may have been the old hundreds. The hidage amounts to 269.

Thus the total hidage of the county to the east of the Thames and Cherwell (but including the North-Gate hundred of Oxford) amounts to nearly 1,300, of which 800 lie south of the Thame and 500 north of it.

West of the Cherwell the royal manor of Upton, which had the soke of three hundreds, appears to be represented by the later Wootton, though the name Upton is no longer found there. Its hidage amounts to 406, or just a hundred hides more than the recorded soke would lead one to expect. In this case, as in the Chiltern Hundreds above, an anciently distinct hundred may have become incorporated with the others, thus losing its identity.

The royal manor of Shipton, with the soke of three hundreds, probably corresponds with the later Chadlington hundred, which contained 292 hides.

The royal manor of Bampton had the soke of two hundreds, and the later hundred so named had 206 hides.

The royal manor of Bensington, which had the soke of 4 hundreds, was obviously the head of what were later called the The soke of two hundreds pertained to the Chiltern Hundreds Pirton, Binfield, Lang- royal manor of Bloxham and Adderbury, tree, Lewknor, and Ewelme (half-hundred). which may also be the names of the hunOf these, Pirton, Lewknor, and the half-dreds ; the later Bloxham hundred had hundred of Bensington (for Ewelme) are about 250 hides, or half a hundred in excess named in Domesday Book. The respective of expectation. hidages are about 110, 85, 115, 121, 118— 549 in all, instead of the 450 to be expected from the phrase four and a half hundreds." The Bishop of Lincoln's hundreds of Dorchester (139) and Thame (120), of which only the former is named, yield 259 hides.

66

The above district-almost identical with the south end of the county cut off by the Thame, but with Dorchester town addedhas, therefore, a gross hidage of 808, against the 750 postulated in the essay above referred to.

The Bishop of Lincoln's hundred of Banbury contained about 87 hides. It is not mentioned in Domesday Book, and may then have been considered part of Dorchester, just as (somewhat later at least) the hundreds of Dorchester and Thame became united with Banbury to form the episcopal barony of Banbury.

The gross total for the county west of the Cherwell is thus 1,242 hides; of which a little over 600 lay in Bampton and Wootton, and about 630 in the district to the north or

north-west. Several manors are doubtfully identified, and some not at all; but the resulting 2,528 hides is probably not far from the mark.

come across an example in some verses by Dassoucy :

nettes,

66

Mais voyant qu'en ces lieux le Dieu des chansonThe relation of this result to the Tribal Apollon maigre et sec, y mange son pain bis, Hidage' can, of course, be no more than Qu'il a quitté son luth pour prendre des cliquettes... Qu'il demande la manche ainsi que les trompettes... speculative; but it may be suggested, in continuation of former articles, that the i.e., that he asks for a tip, or sends round 500 hides east of Cherwell were once assothe hat, as do trumpeters. The phrase ciated with 700 adjacent hides in Bucking- occurs a century earlier, in Du Bellay. This hamshire (the Ashendon and Cottesloe French manche is an adaptation of Italian a drinking groups), and originated with the 1,200 hides mancia, explained by Florio as of the Herefinna. The name Finmere pennie, a newyeares gift, handsell." Mancia (Finemere) may indicate the boundary of is derived by Diez from Latin *manicia, In mediæval this district. The 600 hides on the west, gloves, given as a present. along the Thames and Cherwell, to the north Latin manica is used both for glove and of the Wantage district, may similarly have sleeve. I do not see any great difficulty originated in one of the tribal areas of 600 in supposing that sleeveless errand, i.e., hides immediately following Unecungga; and fool's errand, for which the messenger the adjacent 300 hides of Chadlington then receives derision or ill-treatment in placo suggest Færpinga. of the regular reward, is connected with this French manche or Italian mancia, but I should like to be able to strengthen my hypothesis by an instance of a sleeves used for a "pair of gloves sense of gratuity. ERNEST WEEKLEY.

66

"" 66

J. BROWNBILL.

66

SLEEVELESS ERRAND."-A good many explanations have been suggested for this curious expression, but none of them seems to have much bearing on errand.' Prof. Skeat suggests that sleeveless means simply imperfect," hence poor," and quotes it coupled with "words," rimes," reason, excuse." Its later limitation to the word errand" would seem to indicate either an original connexion with that word or the absorption of some special idea which brought it into such connexion. A sleeveless errand is explained by Nares as a "fruitless, unprofitable message. I would suggest that the reference is to a reward, especially that given to a messenger, in the shape of a pair of sleeves. It is well known that the sleeve, as a symbol, was interchangeable with the glove. Thus, in the same play in which Shakespeare uses sleeveless errand, we find :

Tr. And I'll grow friend with danger. Wear

this sleeve.

Cr. And you this glove.

com

'VIVIAN GREY' AND BULWER'S FIRST MEETING WITH ROSINA WHEELER. (See ante, p. 347.)- The Dunciad of To-day menced in The Star Chamber for 10 May, 1826, and since the publication of 'Vivian Grey' is shown by an earlier number of that periodical to have occurred in April, it follows that the novel was published first. The date of its publication helps us to decide another date of some literary interest, viz., in what month it was that Bulwer first met Miss Wheeler-a meeting which has been assigned to three different dates, all of them

erroneous.

6

In his Autobiography' Bulwer says he went abroad for the first time in the autumn of 1825; and, though he did not continue the Autobiography down to his return, his letters show that this was in April, 1826. in her Auto. Lady Lytton states, 'Troilus and Cressida,' IV. iv. biography,' that she first met Bulwer at In Spanish the emblem used for a gratuity Miss Benger's, when he had just returned is guantes, gloves, and para guantes corre- from Paris; and, though she says in one sponds to the French pourboire and German Trinkgeld. Ludwig's German Dictionary place that it was in December, 1825, and implies in another that it was in October, both dates are obviously wrong, Bulwer being still in France. She enables us, however, to correct her errors by relating that, immediately before she went to Miss Benger's, she had been reading aloud to her uncle the new novel, Vivian Grey,' which had just appeared, and which all the As the publication world was wild about.

The lines are repeated at 198, and, with a Esq., of the Inner Temple, London, dated slight difference, at 189.