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LOVE OF HOME.
CHATEAUBRIAND remarks that the finest of moral instincts
implanted in man is the love of his country, and that if
this were not a law sustained by a continual miracle-to
which, like many others, we pay no attention-men would
all have flocked to the temperate zones, leaving the rest of
the globe desert. To obviate such perceptible evils as
would result from this assemblage of the human race on one
spot of the earth, Providence has fixed as it were the feet of
éach man to his own individual soil by an invincible load-
stone, so that the frozen shores of the north, and the burning
sands of Africa, are not without their inhabitants.
stronger and nearer to us are the ties that attach us to the
home of our birth, equally implanted in us by Providence
as the source of many virtues. These we can scarce render
an exact account of: each sight and sound, however trivial,
by daily familiarity carries its charm with it-

What are the links that bind thee to thy home?
My mother's smile, my father's reverend head,
My sister's cheerful voice and busy tread;
The old domestic, grown in service gray,
That clock-work like performs his task each day;
The distant watch-dog baying low by night;
The bird that wakes me first in morning light-
The swallow building 'neath my window's eaves;
The church just peeping through yon grove of leaves;
The primrose path that leads me to its door;
The antique tomb dark yews are shading o'er ;
The thought that I at length may lie at rest
Where the green sod scarce stranger foot hath prest:
These are the links that bind me to my home.-J. F.

SKIRLAW CHAPEL, YORKSHIRE.

Still

SKIRLAW Chapel, in Yorkshire, is a building which has suffered as little, perhaps, from the effects of time, as any ecclesiastical structure of equal antiquity in England: although erected more than four hundred years ago, its appearance presents a remarkable degree of freshness.

the demesne of Skirlaw:-that the prioress and convent should give him one penny per annum out of every oxgang of land which they held in Skirlaw:and, lastly, that in order to maintain the supremacy of the parish church of Swine over the chapel at Skirlaw, the inhabitants should be obliged to attend Divine service at the former, instead of at the latter, on Easter Sunday. These details are not without their interest to the modern reader, as showing the curious manner in which parochial and monastic affairs were mixed up, at the time when monasteries and nunneries, as well as other institutions of the Roman Catholic church, covered the land.

cut, is that which was built by Walter Skirlaw, bishop The chapel, however, which is represented in our of Durham, somewhere about the year 1400. Scarcely anything is known of the circumstances under which it was built, except that the bishop died before it was quite completed, and left two hundred marks to defray the expenses of the completion after his death. In the reign of Henry the Fourth, A.D. 1402, the king granted a license to Walter Skirlaw, to give a messuage worth one shilling per annum, two tofts of land worth fourpence each, twenty-four acres of land worth threepence per annum per acre, and eleven acres of meadow-land worth fivepence per acre, to the prioress and convent of Swine. This gift is supposed to have been a provision, in some way or other, for a priest to officiate in Skirlaw Chapel, then about being

founded.

The chapel is represented as seen from the southwest. It is situated near to, but still detached from, the village of Skirlaw; and its pinnacles, first catching the eye from above the surrounding trees, are said by Mr. Britton to have a very pleasing effect, contrasted with the wide extent of low land to the west of the window at the east, and an entrance-porch at the chapel. There is a tower at the west end, a large tower, is about seventy-six feet long, and twenty-two south side. The body of the chapel, exclusive of the feet wide, with six windows on each side. The base of the tower is surrounded with a series of quatrefoil panels; and the lable mouldings of all the windows (except the upper ones of the tower, which have heads,) are finished with a shield bearing Skirlaw's arms. A screen across the interior divides the chapel into two parts-a body, to which four bay windows on each side are attached, and a chancel, with two bays on each side: this screen is of carved wood, and is, as well as the pulpit and seats, coeval with the rest of bracket or support, supposed to have been used to the building. On each side of the east window is a piscina-the name given to a perforated stone, usually hold either tapers or images. In the south wall is a in our ancient churches, and used to contain the found in a niche on the right hand side of the altar water in which the officiating priests dipped their

There are two villages to which the name of Skirlaw, or Skirlaugh, is attached, both situated at a short distance from the town of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the eastern part of Yorkshire: that to which the ancient chapel belongs is called North Skirlaw, and is about nine miles from Hull. During the reign of King Stephen a priory for Cistertian nuns was founded at North Skirlaw; but of this priory no remains are now to be seen in the church, however, which once belonged to it, are several monumental effigies, in a high state of preservation, with inscriptions. There appears to have been a chapel erected either in North or in South Skirlaw, previous to the erection of the one to which our attention is at present directed; for we are told by Burton, in his Monasticon Eboracense, that a controversy arose, in the year 1337, between the inhabitants of Skirlaw, on the one part, and the prioress and convent of Swine (the name of the parish in which Skirlaw is situated), on the other part. This controversy related to the right of possession in a certain chantry in the chapel of Skirlaw; and the decision being left to William Melton, archbishop of York, he decided:—that the inhabitants should main-hands, during the performance of the religious ceretain, at their own cost, a priest to perform the duties in Skirlaw Chapel:-that he should be selected and presented by the prioress and convent :-that the inhabitants should provide books, chalice, vestments, candles, bread and wine, and other necessaries for the chapel; and should also keep the chapel in fitting repair: that the prioress and convent should pay 17. 10s. 4d. per annum towards the expenses incurred: -that the sum of five shillings per annum, which the inhabitants had been accustomed to pay to the convent, should be thenceforth discontinued:-that the officiating priest should have two oxgangs* of land in

An organg was one of the early measures of land employed in England: it amounted to fifteen acres, being the quantity which it was supposed-according to the rude estimate of the times-that an ox could plough in the course of the year.

monies. On the north side of the chapel is a small
vestry, perfectly plain, and lighted by a small aperture
in the wall. The initials W. S. (probably for Walter
Skirlaw) still remain in a window on the north side;
but the heraldic bearings of the bishop, which were
once placed in every window, are now nowhere to be
seen; for the winds, on account of the chapel being
in a very exposed situation, have gradually destroyed
nearly all the glass originally set in the windows.
During the last century trees were planted round the
chapel, in order to break the force of the wind.
only regular endowment of this chapel is said to be
the sum of three pounds six shillings and eight pence
per annum, payable out of the township of Marton-
le-Clay, for the performance of service once a month.

The

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are well drained and brought into cultivation, the little hamlet of Meaux has nothing to boast of, except the fertility of its soil; for nothing can be more dull or less picturesque than the scenery by which it is surrounded.

Within two or three miles of Skirlaw are the remains, or rather the site, of the Abbey of Meaux, which was at one time possessed of considerable in fluence. Meaux was so called by its inhabitants, who came into England with William the Conqueror, and named their new seat according to the name of the But although Meaux Abbey far eclipsed, in the city of Meaux in Normandy. The founder of this splendour of its ecclesiastical rank, the humble chapel abbey was William le Gros, earl of Albemarle and at Skirlaw, yet the latter was doomed to survive, and lord of Holderness: having vowed to make a pil- to present to the architect a very complete specimen grimage to Jerusalem, and being, on account of his of the architecture of the fourteenth century, while age and infirmities, unable to fulfil it, he built this the former has been so utterly destroyed that no idea monastery by way of commutation for the vow. He of its form now remains; although, from the remains dedicated his new establishment to God and the of curious mosaic pavement of brick, the foundations Blessed Virgin, and introduced into it a convent of of buildings yet to be traced, and the extensive moats monks from Fountain Abbey, near Ripon. The or ditches by which it was surrounded, and which are monks of the new abbey at first earned their living yet discoverable, it is evident that this famous monas. by the labour of their own hands, but were soon tery once displayed considerable magnificence. afterwards richly endowed with lands and revenues by the earl: they entered on the possession of the abbey on the 1st of January, 1150. The abbey soon became very rich, through the bounty of several people of fortune, and the monks were enabled to purchase several valuable estates; among others that of Maud Camin, a gentlewoman of property, who sold to the abbot and monks two parcels of land in the village of Myton, pasture for eight sheep, a toft, or fishery, in the river Humber, two salt-pits, and other possessions: the purchase-money for the whole being only ninety-one marks of silver, which we may reasonably suppose to have been much less than the real value. It is said that the Earl of Albemarle selected this spot on account of its pleasant situation, and that he gave in exchange for it twice as much land at Berwick, near Aldborough. It is difficult, as Mr. Bigland remarks, to conceive what beauties could be found in such a situation; for at that time it was overgrown with woods, and almost, if not wholly, surrounded with morasses; and at present, when the extensive fens, on the edge of which it is situated,

Swine Priory, to which we before alluded as holding considerable sway over Skirlaw Chapel, somewhat resembled in its history Meaux Abbey. It was founded by Robert de Verli, in the reign of King Stephen, for a prioress and fifteen nuns of the Cistertian order, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. No vestige of this priory now remains.

The breaking up of monastic establishments in England, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, influenced in different ways all the three foundations of which we have been speaking. At the suppression of Meaux Abbey, the number of monks was fifty, and the revenues were 2991. 6s. 4d. The annual revenues of Swine Priory were valued at 1347. 6s. 9d.: the priory was surrendered by Dorothy Knight, the last prioress, who received a pension of 131. 6s. Ed. per annum, each of the nuns receiving pensions varying from two to four pounds per annum. The site of the priory was sold, in 1540, to Sir Robert Gresham, who afterwards became the purchaser of the rectory of Swine, together with Skirlaw Chapel and other dependencies.

SKIRLAW CHAPEL,

LONDON: Published by JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND, and sold by all Booksellers.

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NOWLEDGE IT IS NOT GOOD

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Magazine.

OCTOBER, 1840.

TRICE ONE PENNY.

{ONE

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THE HARBOUR OF MALTA.

170

SOME ACCOUNT OF MALTA. No. 11.

9. ARRIVAL OF NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE AT MALTA. THE French revolution, subversive as it was of all anterior institutions, was not likely to respect the military friars of Malta; and a loan of five hundred thousand livres which this order transmitted to the unfortunate Louis the XVIth of France, when he was reduced to a state of beggary, afforded the French a pretext for declaring the order of the knights to be extinct within their territories, while its possessions were annexed to the national domains. And although, after this, the grand-master affected to maintain the strictest neutrality in the great European war, yet the English and Spanish fleets were permitted to recruit sailors in Malta, and, as a natural consequence, the French Directory instantly denounced the proceeding as tantamount to a direct act of hostility.

In 1797, Hompesch, the last grand-master of Malta, succeeded as the head of the order. The state of the treasury was now truly pitiable, and it was found necessary to melt and coin the plate of the galleys, and afterwards part of that belonging to the grand-master and the hospitals; so low was the credit of the knights, that no person would advance a single crown Sedition, too, was busy within their own walls, and a formidable French armament was mustering at Toulon. After keeping the whole of Europe in suspense as to the destination of this fleet, its first division arrived off the port of Malta, June 6th, 1798. It consisted of seventy transports and several frigates, under Commodore Sidoux, who sent a polite message on shore, expressive of the strictest neutrality, and with the request that several small vessels might be admitted into the port, to undergo some trifling repairs, prior to prosecuting their voyage to Egypt, whither, he assured the grand-master, they were ultimately bound. This was of course complied with, and the French made every effort to inspire the Maltese with a false confidence in their amicable intentions. Admiral Braeys arrived on the 9th of June, in command of the grand division of the expedition, which consisted of eighteen ships of the line, eighteen frigates, and about 400 transports, having 40,000 men on board, and General Buonaparte as their commander-in-chief.

Buonaparte, who was on board the Orient, instantly demanded that the whole fleet should be allowed to enter the ports to water, which Hompesch, although a weak man and infirm of purpose, summoned up sufficient resolution to refuse. “The grand-master refuses us water," said Buonaparte, "to-morrow at sunrise the army will disembark upon the coasts of the island wherever a landing can be effected!" and these words were inserted in the order of the day. Hitherto nothing had been done to anticipate a struggle for freedom on the part of the knights, and now only fecble efforts were made for the defence of a place which was impregnably fortified. But there was no union on the part of the Maltese: the people mistrusted and execrated the Knights, for the unjust exactions of their past reign. The knights themselves, divided as they were into so many different "languages," of distinct nations and prejudices, could not confide in each other, and of these, the French far outnumbered those of other countries, and fearful lest the pusillanimity of the grand-master, and his well-known attachment to the Czar of Russia, should surrender them and their order to Russian influence, these French knights naturally preferred surrendering themselves to France, their own parent-country, whether a monarchy or a republic. The agents of General Buonaparte could have had no great difficulty in tampering with the knights of their own land; but it was the poor Maltese people themselves who were sacrificed. Thousands of these are said to have run to arms, but the military chiefs would not act with them; seditious reports were propagated amongst the troops and citizens; and though some among the Maltese were deluded by the promises universally lavished by the French, of liberty, equality, &c., yet, by their subsequent conduct, it was fully proved that the bulk of the people were decidedly hostile to the admission of the French. The force on the island was by no means despicable. There were 280 knights capable of active service, 3300 regular troops, and 10,000 Maltese militia might easily have been mustered, but it was too late; the French

knights had already practically delivered up Malta to their countrymen: muskets were delivered to the troops unexamined; the ammunition was damaged and mis-sent; troops were despatched to the coast without provisions; conflicting and impracticable orders were issued, and other similar apparent accidents happened. It is said that the plan of the invasion of the island was projected in Paris, and confided to the principal French knights of the order resident at Malta.

A body of French troops disembarked, on the evening of the 9th of June, in St. George's Bay, which is to the northeastward of Valetta. The small but important tower of St George, in the vicinity of the landing-place, was carried without the loss of a single life-one cannon-shot only having been fired by the false knight who commanded it. Throughout the whole of that night the sky was illuminated with the signal-rockets sent up incessantly from the fleet, which extended along the whole northeastern coast of the islands. At daybreak on the following day another corps landed in St. Paul's Bay unmolested, and a third in the harbour of Marsa Scirocco to the southeast. No attempt at resistance was made, except on the part of the Maltese battalions of Nasciar and two or three other places, and this only to defend their homes from the insolence of Buonaparte's soldiers These, with their usual heence, instantly began to lay waste the island; and, seeing their hearths violated, the native militia slew several of the offenders. At mid-day every fortified post in the open country, except the tower of Marsa Scirocco, had the French flag floating over it. Eighteen French knights fell, as it were by accident, into the hands of the enemy, and General Buonaparte, exclaimed, as if he had been in earnest, "What! am I constantly to meet knights in arms against their country? I will not accept of you as prisoners, but have given orders to have you all shot." These same knights, however, had no reason to complain of any harshness used towards them. Before night the French were in possession of the whole country, with the exception of five casals or villages; the Nasciar intrenchment, a work of considerable magnitude, having been abandoned by the battalion appointed to defend it, and the city in the interior surrendered to the French General Vaubois, before he had summoned the governor to open his gates.

10. CAPITULATION OF MALTA TO BUONAPARTE. In the mean time the country people had flocked by thousands into the city of Valetta, filled with suspicion and despair. Rumours of treason amongst the knights were believed by the populace, who manifested their indignation by menacing cries; and general insubordination, rapidly extending to the troops, became more and more developed, as unfavourable reports poured in from the distant posts. The abandonment of the Nasciar intrenchment cut off all communication with the country and Valetta, and the inhabitants beheld the French leaguer established under their very walls. A small squadron made a trifling diversion at the mouth of the grand port, and a sally was attempted to the landward, with 900 chosen men, but both enterprises failed. The city was in a state of tumult and despair; the grand-master was surrounded by advisers as perplexed. and as incapable as himself, and knights suspected of treason were assassinated in his palace, while others were exposed to the grossest insults.

The besieged passed the night of the tenth of June excited by alarming rumours of insurrection. Their cannon continued to fire upon the advanced posts of the enemy after the sun had set. On the morning of the eleventh, groups of desperate men traversed the city, demanding the lives of those knights whom the French agents had taught them to regard as traitors, and these were, but too often, the very men who alone had the virtue and the capability to defend them. To add to this general confusion, two Greek vessels, which had entered the port as traders, at the time the French fleet first appeared in the offing, were now discovered to be filled with republican soldiers, and arms, which were intended to be put into the hands of the disaffected. Many of the sailors on board these vessels were massacred, while the remainder were made prisoners, and the military stores seized. This detection increased the

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fury of the populace, all public confidence was at an end; and, when too late, a body of the better order of citizens repaired to the palace of the grand-master, acknowledged him as their sovereign, implored him to put an end to the anarchy that prevailed, and to instruct them how the city might best be defended. The grand-master referred the deputation to his council, but, before anything was done, the generous re-action on the part of the citizens evaporated.

The sun went down, leaving the city a prey to tumult and despair, and the next day, a vast multitude, including men of all grades, from the noble to the humblest artisan, forcibly entered the grand-master's palace, and, after reproaching him with the treason of his knights, the inefficiency of his orders, and other evils, boldly announced that they had subscribed a paper in the presence of the Dutch consul, delivering the city into the hands of the French, and that they held the authority of the knights as at an end. The most the imbecile Hompesch could do, was to refer the matter to a council, which immediately sent two messengers on board the Orient to solicit from the French commander an armistice of twenty-four hours. The armistice was so framed as to be virtually a surrender at discretion. In the afternoon General Junot and others brought an answer from General Buonaparte, that he would allow the grandmaster twenty-four hours to send his delegates to conclude the capitulation, and that he himself would enter the city on the following day. Better than his word, Buonaparte entered the same evening, and immediately made a personal inspection of the fortifications. As he passed through the formidable works which defended the landward side, General Caffarelli, one of his suite, significantly remarked to him, "It is well, general, that there was some one within to open these gates to us. We should have had some trouble in entering, if the place had been quite empty." It is said that the grand-master expected that the victor would at least pay him the compliment of a visit; but the French General avoided the palace, and at the end of several days, Hompesch so far subdued his vanity, as to show him that deference, by which he subjected himself to an interview of cold formality and stately neglect.

By the articles of capitulation which were signed by Buonaparte and the delegates of the grand-master, it was stipulated, that the order of St. John should renounce, in favour of the French republic, the sovereignty of Malta, Gozo, and Cumino, and the French republic pledged itself to use its influence to procure for the grand-master a prin eipality equivalent to these islands, and in the mean time, to allow him a pension ot 300,000 francs; amongst other articles, the inhabitants were to continue the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion, to be secure in their property and privileges, and no extraordinary taxation was to be imposed upon them.

In the afternoon of the 12th of June, 15,000 French troops took possession of the fortifications, and the fleet of the enemy anchored in the ports. There were at this time in the port, two line of battle ships, belonging to the Maltese, besides a frigate, three galleys, two galliots, and some guard-boats; and 1500 pieces of artillery, together with 35,000 stand of small arms, 12,000 barrels of powder, and a large quantity of shot and shell.

Hompesch was not asked to ratify the articles of surrender, Humbled by his losses, which the insolence of the republican army made him feel the more acutely, he hastened to leave the island, and privately embarked in a merchant-ship bound for Trieste, on the night of the 17th June, accompanied by twelve knights. The voyage lasted thirty-nine days, and so heartily sickened were the party of each other's society, that the grand-master resigned his office the moment he landed, and separated himself for ever from the companions of his flight, and aied in obscurity at Montpelier in 1804. The order of Malta was virtually extinct from the 12th June, 1798, the day on which the articles of capitulation were signed. From a position of political importance it has fallen to the level of an obscure association, and such, as far as human foresight goes, it is destined to remain.

General Buonaparte left Malta on June the 19th, at the head of the French expedition which was destined for Egypt, leaving behind him 4000 men under General Vaubois to regenerate the island after the pattern of the French republic. The knights who were attached to the French interest had but little reason to applaud the wisdom of their political speculations; exposed to the rage of the Maltese, and unprotected by their new friends, they were

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shut up in different fortresses-some fled-some absolutely perished from want, and all suffered the loss of the moral power of political integrity.

The most interesting period of the history of Malta, especially to an Englishman, is yet to follow. The painful depression of the people under the French; their healthy reaction under our own government; their present social, moral, intellectual, and political position; their trade, agriculture, and manufactures.

11. WHAT DID THE FRENCH DO FOR MALTA? We have recorded all that is known of the ancient history of Malta; we have traced its history in comparatively modern times, during the 268 years of the dominion of the knights of St. John, and have now to detail its sufferings during the two years from 1798 to 1800, when it was held by the republic of France, and to trace its rapia progress towards a higher degree of civilization and happiness, under our own government, from that time till the present day.

When General Buonaparte sailed for Egypt, we have said that he left General Vaubois in the command of the island, supported by 4000 French troops. Everything which bore the stamp of nobility, or recalled to mind the military exploits performed by the knights, was broken and destroyed. The arms of the order, together with those of the principal chiefs, were effaced, not only on the imperial inns, or lodges, of the knights, but also in the palace of the grand-master; every record of patrician ancestry was obli terated. Napoleon himself had carried off in the Orient the choicest treasures he could find in the public treasury, and in the churches of Valetta, as well as those at Citta Notabile, and these were finally lost when that ship was blown up at the battle of Aboukir; other plunder, that had been shipped on board the Sensible, French frigate, was afterwards retaken and restored by the English.

While these robberies were being committed against the people whose religion, and privileges, and property, the conquerors had promised to hold inviolable, a provisional government and municipality were being formed, with the view of introducing the laws of the Directory at Paris. Every article which was stipulated for at the capitulation was broken, and while universal liberty was proclaimed, it was ordered, under a heavy fine, that the sons of the richest families should be sent to Fran for education on the new principles, and at their own expense. Titles were abolished, and all ranks were declared equal; all establishments were remodelled. Amongst other acts, copyholds, which had been formerly held for three generations, were declared extinct at the expiration of 100 years, and those which had already run this period were declared to be terminated, and many proprietors would have been thus at once plunged into misery, had not the law, through the fear of a general insurrection, been modified a few days after it had been promulgated. At Malta, and many other places out of England, there is an establishment similar to a pawnbroker's, called in Italian, the Monte di Pietà, the intention of which is to afford poor persons an opportunity of obtaining the full value of any article in time of want, and which is not sold without the wish or consent of those who pledge it, and in this case, they alone receive the profit, should there be any, upon the sale. This establishment, which is under the eye of the Government, instead of being, as it was intended, and is at the present day, a friend of the poorer classes, was turned by the French into a cruel and usurious oppression. These and many minor acts of injustice soon taught the Maltese that they had only exchanged an old, and consequently enfeebled despotism, for a new and vigorously harsh one.

Oppression did not slack its pace; soldiers and mariners were drafted into the foreign service of the French, and their wives and children were left without the subsistence which had been guaranteed them; all pensions were provisionally suspended; charitable funds were withheld; and even the bread, which the knights, with all their faults, had distributed daily, to the number of 400 loaves, to the indigent poor, was refused by the French. This despotism only stopped at the limit of the patient enduranc of the Maltese. Another attempt was made to plunder the rich church in the Citta Notabile in the interior of the island, and its decorations were ordered to be sold for the public service. The sale was interrupted by the religious feelings of the inhabitants, who had suffered their homes and hearths to be insulted with impunity, yet could not bear the wanton sacrilege of what they deemed holy. The garrison of the city, consisting of sixty men, were massa

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