youth was seasoned with the fear of God, duty towards his parents, and love to learning, &c., &c. He and his end was concluded with piety, with patience, and with a comfortable farewell, at the term of fifty-nine years, the 2nd November, A. D. 1612. Also Dame Jane his wife, daughter of Francis Jermy, of Brightwell, in Suffolk, esq., who, after her perigrination of seventy-three years, enjoying twentyeight thereof in the happy society of her said husband, and continuing his name and memory for twenty-eight more, in a most chast and retired widowhood, dyed August 8th, 1638."-Vide Blomefield for the arms of Sidney, &c.

Walsingham Priory is indebted for its origin to the widow lady of Ricoldie de Faverches, who founded there, “in or about 1061, a chapel in honour of the Virgin Mary, in all respects like to the Sancta Casa, at Nazareth. This chapel, her son Galfridus, a knight, and afterwards earl of the Marches, granted to Edwin his clerk or chaplain, and endowed with the church of All Saints, in the said town, with its appurtenances in lands, rents, &c." The same nobleman also instituted a priory here, and placed therein a prior and canons, of the order of St. Augustine. He built the priory church, (in 1420, Repton), and gave the chapel of our Lady all the ground within the site of the church, eight acres of land, with 20s. rent per annum out of his manor, if the yearly value of the offerings of our Lady did not exceed five marks. Numerous benefactions and grants rapidly succeeded the original endowment, and conferred stability and opulence on the infant institution. In the tenth year of the reign of king Henry III., the prior and canons obtained the privilege of a market and fair; and, in the thirty-fifth of that king, they had the grant or confirmation of the manor of Walsingham Parva, and a fair for eight days. In the twenty-first of Edward I. they were found to possess temporalities and spiritualities, to the value of 1571. 13s. 8d. per annum; which in those days was a very considerable sum. About seven years afterwards, they acquired a grant of free warren in this town, and in Holkham and Burnham. Edward II., at the solicitation of his queen Isabel, granted them license of mortmain to the value of forty marks per annum; and, in part thereof, to appropriate the church of St. Peter, in Walsingham Magna: the patronage of the priory being then, and long before it, in the earls of Clare. The same king further granted them a patent for acquiring additional lands and tenements, to the amount of 401. an

nual rent. His successor, Edward III., likewise granted this establishment several licenses for the acquisition and exchange of property, as did also Henry IV. and VI. Hence, and from the liberality of devotees, this priory attained a more elevated rank, and a higher degree of prosperity and wealth, than most other priories in England.

Among the privileges possessed by its priors, was that of a mortuary of every parishioner in the parish of Walsingham, of the second best animal, and if there was but one, then of that. At its dissolution, which took place in the thirtieth of Henry VIII., its annual revenues were estimated, according to Dugdale, at 3917. 11s. 7d. ob.; or, as Speed, 4461. 14s. 4d. That its fate was not unmerited, nor prejudicial to the cause of morality, is sufficiently manifested by the report of the visitors; from which it appears, that no fewer than six of the canons confessed themselves guilty of notorious incontinency; and that great superstition, and much forgery was found in their feigned pretended relics and miracles. The site of this priory was sold shortly after its suppression, to Thomas Sidney, gent., for the sum of 901. The manor, town, and priory, now belong to Henry Lee Warner, esq., who has built a mansion here on the site of the priory. The extent and magnificence of the buildings of Walsingham priory, were commensurate with the dignity and opulence of the establishment. The priory church was a grand and very spacious structure, consisting of a nave, two side aisles, a choir, a chapel dedicated to St. Mary, and a great tower in the centre of the church. William of Worcester, who visited this place some time between the years 1460 and 1480, gives the following measurements of this edifice and its different divisions :-" Longitudo ecclesiæ fratrum Walsyngham, fifty-four gressus; latitudo ejus thirty-two gressus; interstitium spacii campanilis ten gressus; longitudo chori continet seventeen gressus; longitudo capellæ Beatae Mariæ continet seven virgas thirty pollices; latitudo continet four

Vowel the prior, on the surrender, had a pension for life of 100!. per annum ; and all the canons that signed the surrender with him, had certain pensions for life. In 1555, those who were then living had the following pensions: John Harlow and Richard Garret, each 5l. 6s. 8d. per annum; William Read, 6.; Simon Brond, 47. 6. 8.; William Watkyn, Humphrey Wilson, Thomas Paule, Martin Claxton, and John Clarke, each 4l. per annum; Lawrence Kidwell and Thomas Keyme, each 40s.

per annum.

1536 "This yer was Ralf Rogers and George Gysborrow, the sub-prior of Whalsingham, with others to the number of fifteen, condemned of treason, whereof five sadered."

virgas ten pollices; longitudo toci us ecclesiæ de Walsyngham usque ad principium cancellæ continet, one hundred and thirty-six gressus; latitudo ejus continet thirty-six gressus ; longitudo navis ab occidentali porta usque ad campanile in medio ecclesiæ continet seventy gressus; interstitium sive spacium campanilis continet sixteen gressus; latitudo propriæ navis ecclesiæ preter alas continet sixteen gressus.' Connected with the church of this priory was the chapter-house, which measured twenty paces in length, and ten in breadth, and communicated by a passage, ten paces in length, with the cloisters. These formed a square of fifty-four paces on all its sides; and were supported by pointed arches, resting on octangular columns. The refectory was a large and lofty building, seventy-eight feet in length, and twenty-seven in breadth.

But the chief beauty and glory of Walsingham priory, was the Chapel dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin. This chapel was a separate building from the church, and distinct also from the chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, with which it is confounded by the continuator of Blomefield. As this chapel was building, or more properly speaking rebuilding, when William of Worcester saw it, he calls it the new work of Walsingham; and states its measurements, within the walls, to have been sixteen paces in length, and ten in breadth. Erasmus, who was here shortly after William, notices its disjunction from the priory church; and adds, that it was then unfinished. He then proceeds to observe, that "The church is splendid and beautiful, but the Virgin dwells not in it: that, out of veneration and respect, is granted to her Son. She has her church so contrived as to be on the right hand of her Son; but neither in that doth she live, the building being not yet finished. In this church there is a small chapel of wood, into which the pilgrims are admitted on each side at a narrow door. There is but little or no light in it, but what proceeds from wax tapers, yielding a most pleasant and odoriferous smell; but if you look in, you will say it is a seat of the gods, so bright and shining it is all over with jewels, gold, and sil

The length of the nave from the west door to the great tower or belfry in the church, was seventy paces; the breadth of the nave (excepting the two aisles) was sixteen paces; the great tower or bell tower, was a square of sixteen paces; the length of the choir was fifty paces; and the breadth seventeen; besides this there was a building, probably at the end of the choir, sixteen yards long and ten broad.

In the colloquy entitled Peregrinatio, Erasmus has given a very humourous description of the superstitions practised at this place in his time.

In this chapel, as may be surmised from the above quotation, stood the famous image of our Lady of Walsingham, to whose benignant and powerful influence greater miracles were ascribed, than even to our Lady of Loretto, or the celebrated shrine of our Thomas à Becket. The rank and number of her worshippers were equally conspicuous. Henry III., Edward I. and II., and Henry VIII., (the latter in his second year, shortly after Christmas, between twelfth-day and the queen's churching), rode here. Sir Henry Spelman says, that "in his youth it was commonly reported, that Henry VIII. walked barefooted from the town of Barsham, to the chapel of our Lady, and presented her with a necklace of great value." Sir Henry is the only author who says, that "Henry, upon his death-bed, was so touched with remorse for having banished our Lady at Walsingham, and pulled down her monastery, that he bequeathed his soul to her." Besides these illustrious visitors, queen Catherine, the wife of Henry VIII., during his absence in France, visited the Lady, to return thanks for the victory obtained over the Scots at Flodden-field: and this princess, in her will, desires that five hundred masses should be said for her soul; and that a person should make a pilgrimage to Walsingham, and distribute two hundred nobles, on her decease, in charity on the road. And the renowned Robert Bruce of Scotland, and his queen Margaret, came hither at different periods, solely with the view of paying homage at her shrine, and imploring her protection. Many foreign princes and nobles also vowed and performed pilgrimages to Walsingham, guided, as the vulgar believed, by the Galaxias, or Milky Way, which they supposed to have been placed in the heavens by Providence, to point out the particular residence of the Virgin. Hence this starry course was generally, in ancient times, called the Walsingham Way. The crowd of inferior devotees was immense; for whoever, says Camden, had not visited and made an offering to her, was held as impious; and as all, according to their circumstances and the warmth of their piety, made offerings on the altar, to insure the favour of the Lady, the yearly receipts from this source were always considerable, and frequently amounted to a very large sum. In

the year previous to the suppression, they were estimated at 2601. 12s: 4d.

Among the miracles performed by our Lady of Walsingham, the following is mentioned by Parkyn, on the authority of an old MS.: " 'Near the entrance into the close of the priory, on the north, was a very low and narrow wicket door, not past an elne hye,' and three-quarters in breadth; and a certain nobleman, knight, sir Raaf Boutetourt, armed cap-a-pié, and on horseback, being in days of old (1314) persued by a cruel enemy, and in the utmost danger of being taken, made full spede for this gate, and invoking this Lady for his deliverance, he immediately found himself with his horse within the close and sanctuary of the priory, in a safe assylum, and so fooled his enemy." A representation of this miracle, engraven on copper, was seen by Erasmus* nailed to the gate of the priory, which still remains, but is walled up. The same learned author tells us, that here was preserved a joint of the finger of St. Peter, as large as the Colossus at Rhodes. Nearly the whole of the spacious and once elegant buildings of this famed priory, have been levelled to the earth, and their sites converted into gardens, pleasure grounds, &c. A few portions of the buildings, and detached fragments, are still preserved to mark the character of the place, and to shew the styles of ornament and architecture which were adopted at different periods. The priory appears to have been surrounded by a wall, in which were different entrance gateways and doorways. In the western boundary was the principal tower gateway, or lodge, the greater part of which still remains. It has a broad flattened arch, on the west side, where are two blank niches, three shields in panels, a grotesque head projecting from a quarter foil hole, and also other bold pieces of sculpture. The walls, with windows and arches of the refectory, and a stone pulpit, also remain; to the east of which, and incorporated with the present mansion, are some bold arches, columns, &c., which are considered to be portions of the cloister. South of this is a fine and picturesque mass of the east end of the priory church. See Britton's Architectural Antiq. and the Beauties of England and Wales (Norfolk). It is composed

Erasmus, who was in the number of visitors to our Lady of Walsingham, gives some curious particulars respecting her and her shrine. Not long before him, about A. D. 1460, William of Worcester saw the church in its splendour, and has in his Itinerary left us an interesting account of it.