are made to resemble cannons, a device that has been assumed in the waterspouts of the tower of Kirk-Andrews-on-Esk, and was a fashion in some Scottish Pele.

Here, at Catterlen, as at the towers of Yanwath, Sockbridge, Clifton, Hutton John, Hutton Hall, and many other instances, it had become a matter of necessity to provide extra accommodation for the increasing requirements and progress of the age. Hence, we find that in the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, ranges of buildings were added to one end of the tower.

Here, at Catterlen, this addition is in the form of a long two-storied building, about twenty-two yards long, containing, on the ground floor, a hall and kitchen: and sleeping apartments on the upper stories. As we find by the inscription over the doorway, it was built by Rowland Vaux, in 1577. This is the principal doorway on the east front. It is flat headed and surmounted by the usual square label or dripstone, of the Elizabethan period. The inscribed stone stands above the lintel, and is protected by a projecting label and square frame work. When Machel wrote his MSS., about the year 1690, he says; that over the old kitchen door at Catterlen hall, were the arms of Vaux in a roundel, viz., or, a fess checky or and gules, between three garbs gules, branded or. With this legend round in old characters;

Let mercy and faithfulness never goye frome the.

and underneath,

At this time is Rowland Vaux lord of this place, and builded this house in the year of God, 1587.

With the letters R. V. A. V., viz.: Rowland Vaux, Anne Vaux, the name of his wife, who was daughter of a Salkeld.

Now, as pointed out to me by Mr. R. S. Ferguson, Machel is incorrect in his description of the arms over the doorway at Catterlen. They are correctly expressed in Whelan's Cumberland, p. 584, and in Jefferson's Leath Ward, pp. 149 and 496.

They

They are as follows:

A fess checky betwixt six garbs, (VAULX OF CATTERLEN), quartering, a cross flory, (DELAMORE OF CUMBERLAND).

Neither Jefferson nor Whelan knew the name of the quartered arms, but by a reference to St. George's visitation, it is found, that William le Vaulx married Isabella, heiress of Delamore, in the twentieth year of Edward IV., and the arms of Vaux and Delamore are there given as over the doorway at Catterlen. The arms on the tower are those of Vaux alone.*

The chimneypiece in the hall is characteristic-it is a flat segmental arch, stretching across two-thirds of the room, inclosing a nook within which half-a-dozen persons might cozily be seated. The windows of this part of the building are all of the same character, square-headed with square labels, divided into two and three lights by plain mullions, and with round segmental arches. The hall, now split up by partitions, originally occupied the whole breadth of the building. It was well lighted by the windows on each side. The roof is low, and is particularly deserving of notice. It is a flat timber roof, ribbed and panelled, of good workmanship, but without much ornamentation or carving. It is of the Tudor period, a style which preceded the ornamented and moulded plaster ceilings which were introduced into the north of England in Elizabeth's reign, and in the succeeding reigns, of which you have examples at the halls of Yanwath, Little Strickland, Hartsop, Sockbridge, Hornby, &c.

In the sixteenth century, the old feudal custom was still maintained for the lord and his guests to dine in the hall in common with his vassals and retainers, who depended upon him for their food and housing. But after this period a vast change was in progress in regard to the domestic relations existing between the lord and his household retainers. The inferior orders were no longer now under serfdom and villainage as they were in feudal times. They had now become engaged

It is very curious that (as pointed out by Mr. Jackson of St. Bees, at the meeting,) in both these instances, and also on a tomb in Newton Reigney Church, the arms of Vaux shew six garbs: over the door to the wing at the top of the steps, are the arms of Vaux quartering Richmond, three garbs only.

Now the arms with three garbs are generally supposed to be those of Vaux of Catterlen, and those with six, those of Vaux of Torcrossock. It is curious to find them both at Catterlen. On reference to Machel, I find he notices this, but attributes it to carelessness on part of the carver. He also says that on the tower is a square with a crowned M in it, which he explains to mean "Maria Cæli Regina," but it probably means Queen Mary, and alludes to repairs done in her time. R. S. E.

in

in handicraft and profitable pursuits, by which they earned an independant subsistence, and by which they were enabled to lodge and feed themselves. The serving men and women were hirelings, and it became a matter of taste that the lord and lady and their guests should wish to withdraw themselves from the coarseness and clatter of the common hall. Hence, after this period, we find that the hall in its size, and in its decoration, lost its importance, and was no longer the principal chamber of the dwelling. In the houses built in the seventeenth century the requirements of the age led to the introduction of the dining room, and with-drawing room of the lord and lady.

John Vaux, of Catterlen, the last of the name, died without male issue in 1642, and the manor descended to two daughters' co-heirs; one of them, Mabel, chose for a husband a neighbouring squire, Christopher Richmond, of High Head Castle, which lay midway between this place and Carlisle,—which estate was subsequently acquired by the first Lord Brougham and Vaux. Christopher Richmond and Mabel Vaux probably were married about the year 1647, for I find that at the period of Dugdale's Visitation in 1665, they had issue-Christopher, aged 17; John, aged 16; and Magdalen, aged 12; and that moreover to his second wife he had married Magdalen, daughter of Andrew Hudleston, Esquire, of Hutton John, and by her had issue-Dorothy, at the said visitation, aged 1 year; and Margery, aged 7 weeks.

The old Pele tower and the premises built by Rowland Vaux, fell short ot the requirements of the new married couple and the taste of the age, and in accordance with the custom of the times, they determined to make an addition to the old manorial residence. They accordingly resolved to build a wing at right angles to the old range of buildings, and this was completed, according to the dates I find affixed on three separate inscribed stones, in the year 1657.

Gothic art was now dead; the pointed arch was disused, and the cusps and tracery which had survived through the rich perpendicular period of Henry VII., gave way to the squareheaded windows and plain mullions and transoms of the Elizabethan period, which were transmitted even into the Jacobean age. The revival of the style of classical Grecian and Roman architecture was influencing the taste of the age, and received an impetus in this country from the example of Inigo Jones. It was the so-called renaissance of art.

You

You mark the transition here, in the doorway of the new wing, and in the whole character and ornamentation of the structure; none of the early or decorated mouldings or ornaments have been retained, except the square billet in the jambs of the doorway; (an ornament imported into the Italian style), and in the feebly battlemented plaster cornice in the interior. This wing consists of a building 63 feet long, of two stories; the lower containing kitchen and offices, and the upper of a banqueting room, a withdrawing room, and a lord and lady's chamber. The upper story is approached by a flight of sixteen steps. There have been more buildings raised on a vaulted substructure abutting on the road which have now disappeared, and the vaulted cellars have been filled up with the rubbish.

The doorway is ornamented in the Italian style. It is surmounted by an entablature bearing the coat of arms, crest, helmet, wreath, and scroll and date-you notice the Ionic columns. The large hall in the interior is divided by a lath and plaster partition in two unequal portions, and it seems to have been ceiled in plaster. At either end are two chimneypieces deserving notice. They are both in the same style, and are of stone. The jambs are massive, curved outline, and boldly cut, and the shelf is cut in a fluted pattern. There is a device in the centre of each, consisting of the initials of the husband and wife-C R M-joined with a true lover's knot along with the badge of the family, the rose of Richmondsurmounting a V shaped heart, along with the date, 1657. This was a common custom in the Stuart period. In the chimneypiece of the bedroom you see a further development of the classical style, in the introduction of the female figures or caryatides which forms the supporting jambs on the mantel shelf.

The shield bears quarterly Richmond and Vaux; dated 1652. Motto, "Deo vivente juvante." Crest, a catamount sitting on a wreath, and holding out a helmet. Machel says that in the dining room are the arms of Richmond impaling a Quarterly Coat, viz., 1st and 4th (uncoloured) per bend indented three roses, apparently: 2nd and 3rd or, a saltire sable. His drawing (all he gives) is obscure.

ART.

ART. XLI.-On the Inscription at Blencowe Hall. By E. C. Clark, M.A., LL.M., Regius Professor of Laws at Cambridge.

NOTE. On the occasion of the Society's visit to Blencowe Hall, the following verbal description was given by Mr. C. J. Ferguson :

Blencowe Hall consists of two square embattled towers connected by a curtain of domestic buildings. The south-west tower, which is rent from top to bottom, has one of smaller dimensions joined to its west side, forming the whole building into the shape of the letter L. This tower is made more picturesque by a luxuriant plane tree, which has its root under the wall. The south-east tower has some plain gurgoyles remaining. The offices stand round a court-yard entered through an elliptic arched gateway. Behind the hall are the ruins of a chapel, with a yard belonging to it, in which is a reservoir, supplied by a spring of water, supposed to have been used as a baptistry: formerly it was faced with hewn stones, but they are now removed. The form was a square, each side about twelve feet, and about four deep. Near the hall is an ancient burial-ground, with a stone cross, on which are the arms of Blencowe.

The hall windows are square, with mullions and dripstones, the corbels of some of which are shields, having the initials H. B. and armorial bearings. Over the principal door are the initials H. B. and three shields: one of these defaced, evidently of set purpose; the second, is a chevron between three mullets, Crackenthorpe; and the third fretty and a chief. Lower down is a shield bearing the old arms of Blencowe, viz., a canton on a plain shield. Above the shield is the word "Quorsum;"-on its right the words "Vivere mori;”—on its left, "Mori vitae;" and below, "Henricus Blencowe." Nearly all existing county histories quote this inscription as if the last word was "vita," instead of "vitæ," which it undoubtedly is, thus shirking the difficulty of translating the correct version.

After Mr. C. J. Ferguson had finished, some discussion arose as to the meaning of the inscription: it has since been laid before an eminent classical scholar, Professor Clark, who has written the short but interesting note on it.

* See ante p. 312. Note.