Books Received.

1. Gray's Elegy (Artist's Edition). Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. London: J. Slark, Busby-place, Camden-road. 1884.

2. Grimm's Teutonic Mythology. Vol. iii. By J. S. Stallybrass. Bell & Sons, W.

3. Wrexham in the Time of James I. By A. N. Palmer. Wrexham : Palmer. 1883.

4. Whitaker's Almanack for 1884. Whitaker & Co.

5. Upper Norwood Athenæum Excursions. Edited by M. Pope. South Norwood: Marshall, Norwood News Office.

6. Hampton Court. By G. Lambert, F.S.A. Privately printed. 1883. 7. The Field of the Cloth of Gold. By G. Lambert, F.S.A. Privately printed. 1883.

8. On the Origin of Sam Weller. Jarvis & Son, King William-street, Strand. 1883.

9. Foreign Refugee Settlements in East Kent. By S. W. Kershaw, F.S.A. Canterbury: Cross & Jackman. 1883.

10. Rambling Sketches in the Far North. By R. Menzies Fergusson, M.A. Simpkin, Marshall & Co. 1883.

11. History of Old Dundee. By Alexander Maxwell, F.S.A. Dundee: W. Kidd. 1884.

12. Gloucestershire Notes and Queries. Part xxi. Kent & Co. Jan. 1884.

13. Panjab Notes and Queries. No. 3. Trübner & Co. Dec. 1883. 14. History of Deptford. By Nathan Dewes. Deptford : J. D. Smith. 1883.

15. The Renaissance and Italian Styles of Architecture in Great Britain. By W. Papworth. B. T. Batsford. 1883.

16. Somersetshire Architectural and Natural History Society. Vol. xxviii. Taunton: J. F. Hammond. 1883.

17. The Genealogist, No. 1, New Series. Bell. 1884.

18. Burke's Peerage for 1884. Harrison.

Books, etc., for Sale.

Guardian Newspaper, from commencement to 1864, bound; and 186570, in numbers. Offers to E. Walford, Hyde Park Mansions, Edgewareroad, N.W.

Books, &c., Wanted to Purchase.

Dodd's Church History, 8vo., vols. i. ii. and v.; Waagen's Art and Artists in England, vol. i.; East Anglian, vol. i., Nos. 26 and 29. The Family Topographer, by Samuel Tymms, vols. iii. and iv.; Notes and Queries, 4th series, vols. vii., viii. (1871); 5th series, vols. vi., vii. (1876-7); also the third Index. Penny Magazine, 1843. A New Display of the Beauties of England, vol. i., 1774. Chambers' Cyclopædia of English Literature, vol. i. Address, E. Walford, 2, Hyde Park Mansions, Edgeware-road, N.W.

Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer, several copies of No. 2 (February, 1882) are wanted, in order to complete sets. Copies of the current number will be given in exchange at the office.

The

Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer.

Dur Did County Towns.

NO. I.-CHARD, SOMERSET,

HARD is an ancient borough and market town in Somerset, within a mile of the borders of Devonshire and Dorset, and it stands on the highest ground between the two channels. It is said to have derived its name from Cedric, King of the West Saxons. who arrived in this country in the year 459, He was a German, but determined to leave his native land, and extend his fame by the sword. The poor Britons in vain resisted his power, and were quickly compelled to fly. He founded the West Saxon kingdom, becoming King of Wessex in 519, and died in 534, leaving his son to succeed him. From a very remote period Chard belonged to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and was anciently spelt Cerdre, or Cherde.

The Borough was incorporated by Bishop Jocelyn, who gave fiftytwo acres of his manor of Chard for the purpose of building a town; the town, no doubt, before that period consisted of what is now styled Old Town, which is in the parish, but not included in the modern Borough. The manor belonged to the See of Bath and Wells till the year 1801, when it was alienated for the redemption of the land tax to Earl Poulett.

The Borough sent members to Parliament during the reign of Edward I. and two succeeding reigns, from the year 1300 to 1328, but lost this privilege through the neglect of its own freemen, who VOL. V.-NO. 27.

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quarrelled among themselves, objected to the expense of paid members, and soon forfeited, by disuse, the privilege which has not since been restored.

There are few towns whose outward appearance has undergone such a radical change as that of Chard within the last fifty years. Formerly the centre of the main street was obstructed by three unsightly buildings, shambles, town hall, and market house; all these were removed in 1834-much to the regret of the lovers of antiquity;—and Chard now presents a street which, for width and freedom from obstruction, can vie with that of any town of similar size in the West of England.

It contains a goodly number of curious and interesting buildings, notably the Chough Inn, near the intersection of the four main streets, the Grammar School, and some other old houses, probably dating from the 16th century, near the centre of the town. The view of "Chard in 1750," which, by the courtesy of the Somersetshire Archæological Society, we are enabled to give as an illustration to this paper, is from a picture in the possession of Mr. F. Mitchell, of Chard, and was etched by Mr. W. Bidgood, for the "Proceedings" of the above Society (1883). From it we glean the following particulars of some of the most interesting archæological features of the town.

The present church was built in the early part of the 15th century; it is cruciform in plan, of the Perpendicular type peculiar to Somerset, and has lately been restored strictly on the old lines. The gurgoyles are particularly fine, and of great interest, and traces of colouring are visible on the walls of the interior. The old roodloft passage, and also several squints, which had long been closed, have been opened up during the recent restoration. Originally there were two chapels, with an altar in each. Among the monuments in the church is one built of various kinds of marble and porphyry, with the effigies of William Brewer and his wife, who are represented as dressed in black robes, and large ruffs, and in a kneeling posture, facing an altar; behind the man are his six sons, and behind the wife her five daughters, all dressed in similar habits and kneeling in a like manner.

On the rain-water pipe of the Grammar School is the date 1583; but the present house, according to the opinion of Mr. E. Green, the hon. secretary of the above-mentioned society, is of much later date. "This," he remarks, "was not one of the royal early foundations, to correspond with the above date, but was a later private endowment