of armour-a treasure more to be prized by an antiquarian than by him. Since then the memorable stone alluded to in the tale has been lying by, broken into two fragments. The following is the inscription on it :— HIC TVIIHLVS FRECTVSFV- VVLGO VOCANTVR.EQV+TES +OHANIIES.CVM-F+L+OSVO EDMVIIDO FT·MAVR+C+OF+ L+ORRFFAT+EDMVND+. +AFF H+C TVNVLAIITAR-PREEF ATVS The Abbey and adjoining lands were granted to Sir Philip Coote brother of the 1st Earl of Mountrath, and are now in the possession of his descendant Charles Chidley Coote, Esq., of Mount Coote. From an elder branch of this ancient family came the celebrated Sir Eyre Coote, the conqueror of Hyder Ali. He was the sixth son of the Rev. Chidley Coote, D.D., by Jane Evans, sister of George, first Lord Carbery, and was born at Ashhill, now the residence of Eyre Evans, Esq., though the old house which witnessed the first appearance in life of this hero who was the means of adding so much to our Indian Empire, is now in ruins, the present mansion being on a different site. This neighbourhood also can boast of being the birth place of another hero, General William, Lord Blakeney, the celebrated Governor of Minorca, who was born at Mount Blakeney, about two miles from Kilmallock, but whose immediate family have become extinct in the male line, the property being now in the possession of Mrs. Fitz Gerald, of Whitegate House, near Cloyne, a descendant of the brother of his Lordship. Lieutenant General Sir Edward Blakeney, G.C.B., the Commander of the Forces in Ireland, derives from the elder branch of Lord Blakeney's family. E. M. R. EVERLEY MANOR, SOUTH WILTSHIRE. It is strange that in no part of the British dominions perhaps, is the aspect of our Island as it existed centuries ago, so distinctly exhibited as in some of those counties which border the British Channel, and which therefore, we may reasonably conclude, were first and most densely inhabited. Large tracts of country in Hants, Sussex, Wiltshire, and Dorsetshire still remain in their primitive state, bearing however upon their surface interesting and indubitable marks of the habits, usages, ST. JAMES'S MAG., NO V. F F and inhabitation of tribes of men whose history is lost in the mists of antiquity. Of these extensive districts, however, none exceed-few equal in interest, that wide and well-known upland range, called Salisbury Plain, which spreads over a considerable portion of the southern division of the county of Wilts, affording now, as it did ages ago, a delicious herbage for those innumerable flocks of sheep which browse in its remarkable and almost interminable solitudes. The Downs of the south of England are deemed by many, as districts only to be travelled over in haste, and avoided if possible as bleak, uninteresting, inhospitable wastes. But to those who are familiar with their peculiarities as distinct from those of any other part of our Island, there is found much to admire, and not a little to elevate. The lakes of Cumberland and the mountains of Wales are certainly picturesque in the highest degree, and fill the mind with pleasing images and lively sensations; but amid the solitary plains of the south there are scenes which, differing widely in every respect from those above mentioned, yet, when contemplated under favourable circumstances, lay claim to a grandeur and an interest exclusively their own. Even here the painter's eye and the poet's fancy may be filled and satisfied; the taste and efforts of man have indeed added nothing to these scenes, but nature reigns supreme, and the eye rolls over widely-spreading plains, and verdant slopes, and lonely treeless valleys, existing now as they ever were unchanged since the wild denizens of the forest roamed unmolested in these solitudes, or the warlike Briton entrenched himself on each commanding steep. Though denominated a "Plain," the district of which we are speaking, excepting to the north-west of Amesbury, near Stonehenge, scarcely answers to its appellation. It is occasionally deeply indented with valleys, and among these is peculiarly distinguished the vale of the Upper Avon, watered by that beautiful stream, and adding fertility and beauty to many a rural village and lordly domain. But this vale is rather the exception than the rule; for this large tract being principally, if not wholly of the chalk formation, can boast of few rivulets or springs, and the eye wanders over a boundless extent of hill, slope, and valley, exhibiting little but one smooth carpet of verdant down, varied here and there by a group of solitary cairns, a knot of ancient thorns and hollies, or a wide spreading patch of gorse and heath. And yet the very sameness of the scene has its charms;-its primitive aspect, its boundless extent, its numberless remains of remote antiquity, all fill the imagination-it is a picture you contemplate nowhere else. Gilpin well describes the effect of its undulating surface when he says—“It is spread out like the ocean, but it is the ocean after a storm." Near the north-eastern boundary of this vast tract—like an oasis in the desert is situated the Manor of Everley, with its fertile lands, its ancient Manor House, its two retired, well ordered, and peaceful villages, and its commodious farm houses, betokening from the large ranges of agricultural buildings, and the numerous ricks, and other signs of abundant produce, a more than common share of agricultural wealth and intelligence. The history of this Manor is interesting. The author of the Magna Britannia "says that it was parcel of the vast possessions of Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster. On the division of his estates between his two daughters, Maud and Blanche, this Manor became the property of Maud, and she dying without issue, it descended to her younger sister, Blanche, who married John of Gaunt, fourth son of 66 Edward III. Henry of Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry IV., inherited the estate. In the time of King Edward VI., a grant of the Manor of Everley, and Park, and Free Warren was made to Edward, Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector, on whose attainder it reverted to the crown, and was afterwards granted by Queen Elizabeth to her royal falconer, Sir Ralph Sadleir. Sir Ralph was notoriously fond of all field sports, and particularly of hawking, and he could not have found a place in the whole kingdom better suited to his tastes than Everley. Indeed he shews his appreciation of its many advantages, in this respect, by having built the Manor House, and made it his residence, when permitted to retire for a while from his public offices and political anxieties. He was a distinguished man in his day, and highly employed by the crown. Lloyd says in his "State Worthies,"-"Little was his body, but great his soul." And he also adds this extraordinary testimony to his worth,-" He saw the interest of this estate altered six times, and died an honest man!" After re maining for some time in the family of Sadleir, this Manor passed to Sir John Evelyn, whose daughter and sole heiress, Elizabeth, married Robert Pierrepoint, Esq. From the Evelyns it passed to the Barkers, who sold it to Sir John Astley, Bart., of Pattishull, from whom it has descended to the present Baronet, Sir Francis Dugdale Astley. When this Manor became the inheritance of Francis Dugdale Astley, Esq., the grandfather of the existing possessor, it presented a very different appearance to that which it now wears. The church, built by William de Wykeham, the Manor House, erected by Sir Ralph Sadleir, and the ancient village of East Everley, were in close juxta position, affording a pleasing instance of that old English mode of arrangement which at once betokened security and social comfort and reliance. But here, as in almost innumerable other similar instances, the village and church were removed to a more convenient distance, the old Manor House was enlarged, and the style of the exterior probably altered, and Everley House now exhibits to the passer-by rather the semblance of a modern English mansion of the first class, with its verdant and undulating park, its groves and spacious gardens, and well-arranged paddocks, than a possession of the once warlike Plantagenets, or the residence of the Royal Falconer of Queen Elizabeth. A portion of the interior of the mansion will, however, well repay the inspection of the curious. It remains as occupied by Ralph Sadleir. The old drawing-room is particularly worthy of remark, as an interesting specimen of the style of interior decoration adopted in the country mansions of those days. The ceiling between the massive girders is a kind of labyrinth of raised work, richly gilded-the wainscoting is of oak, and a genuine portrait of Sir Ralph Sadleir in his costume as Queen's Falconer, having a hawk on his arm, and one also on his crest, has been judiciously replaced by the present owner in the position it probably occupied nearly three centuries ago. But there is another remnant of ancient days, which to the present lords of the manor is of even more interest than the foregoing. It is a painting which hangs in the hall, being a copy from the curious original, which, as we are informed, is still to be seen at Astley Castle, in Warwickshire, where it has probably been preserved from the remote period of the actions it records. It is in compartments, each recording the progress of these transactions, viz., the feats of arms performed at Paris before Charles VII. of France, and before Henry VI., at Smithfield, by that redoubted knight Sir John de Astley, of Pattishull. As allusions to these will be made in our historical account of the family, we will not detail them here. The various portions of this curious historical record have been also most skilfully and beautifully worked in tapestry by the lady of Sir John Astley, the first possessor of Everley, and ornaments the ancient drawing-room which we have just described. Among the family portraits, that of this famous Sir John de Astley is most interesting and valuable. It is in every respect a fine painting. The countenance displays a character of stern determination, and the frame of the sturdy warrior, muscular and sinewy, gives a fair earnest of that invincible strength which overcame in deadly encounter two of the most noted champions of his day. The country around Everley, partaking as it does of the general characteristics of Salisbury Plain, yet is more undulating and varied than most of that extensive tract. Its ancient aspect has, however, been much altered of late years by the breaking up of large portions of the Downs. Dwarfish oaks of every fantastic shape, clusters of ancient thorns covered with the grey lichen, and hollies of great age and large dimensions, have been in many places destroyed to make way for the plough, and it is now only in certain places that the original and wild forest character of the scenery can be discerned. But in the remains of early British and Saxon occupation the name of Everley abounds. Tumuli, earthen works, high banks, and deep trenches, marking former habitation, meet the eye in every direction, and proudly prominent above all stands the almost isolated eminence called Chidbury Hill, exhibiting on its apex one of the most formidable entrenchments in the country. This "camp," as it is termed in the vicinity, is seen from all surrounding parts, and commands an extensive view over the whole Plain. It encloses seventeen acres within the ramparts, is double ditched, the depth of the vallum being fortysix feet. It was probably one of that vast line of entrenchments which was thrown up by the aboriginal Britons against the Belgæ, when the latter invaded and took forcible possession of a considerable portion of Hampshire and of Wiltshire. At the foot of this bold eminence Sir Richard Hoare discovered the remains of a considerable British village, and on opening some of the numerous barrows which crowd the vicinity, he met with many interesting relics, consisting of cups, sepulchral urns, pointed pieces of metal, deposits of burnt bones, pottery, flint, arrowheads, spear-heads of brass, and other implements of the same metal. One discovery he made in his researches here, was of so interesting a nature that we cannot refrain giving the account in the learned antiquary's own words. The tumulus in question he called "The Hunter's Barrow :" "It had a large cavity in it, and appeared to have had a previous opening, and the shepherds of the Plain assured us that it had been previously opened. But having so frequently experienced the fallacy of these vulgar reports, we were not deterred from making the trial; and we were highly recompensed for our perseverance by the discovery of one of the most interesting interments we ever witnessed. The first object that attracted our attention was the skeleton of a small dog deposited in the soil, three feet from the surface; and at the depth of 8 feet 10 inches we came to the bottom of the barrow, and discovered the following very perfect interment deposited on a level floor. The body of the deceased Briton had been burned, and the bones and ashes collected in a small heap, which was |