which we abstain from discussing here, observing merely that Mede viewed it otherwise. Owing, perhaps, to the smallness of the type, the book is not so correctly printed as is desirable. Thus, at p. 189, we have por sicula, instead of per sæcula, in a quotation from Virgil. On the whole, however, we are glad to have met with the work, and, making allowance for occasional differences of opinion, can gladly recommend it.

Æsop's Fables; a new version. By the Rev. T. James. Post 8vo. pp. xx. 148. (Murray.) In former times, under the old regime of publishing, it used to be said that a quarto is always the forerunner of a duodecimo." Something similar has happened to the present work, which, after having appeared at first in a tall and costly form, has descended to a smaller and cheaper one, being reprinted in Mr. Murray's "Reading for the Rail." Our concern, however, is with its intrinsic qualities. It is in every respect a new Esop, being free from the vulgarities of L'Estrange and Croxall, and from the garrulity of Edward Baldwin, under which name it is said the late Mr. Godwin condescended to write fables expanded into tales. It is illustrated with upwards of a hundred wood-cuts, all of a spirited quality, adapted to Æsop's age and country, if indeed we may use such an expression as Esop's country, about which the learned are disagreed; but having been engraved for a larger-sized volume they sometimes fill up the page, and, if we were disposed to be critical, we should question the relative proportions of some of the figures. The editor has adopted, in a great measure, the popular biography of Esop, telling it in his own way, and fortifying himself by a seemly array of references, but maintaining that" Æsop's personal deformity and swarthy complexion have not the slightest testimony from ancient authority," while "the negative evidence, which in this case is strong, tells all the other way," (p. ix.) a discovery for which we are indebted to Bentley. The present version, which is quite new, is derived from various sources, such as the common Greek Esop, the Latin iambics of Phædrus, and the Greek choliambics of Babrius. "Some are compounded out of many ancient versions: some are a collation of ancient and modern : some are abridged, some interpolated... a few adopt the turn given by L'Estrange, or speak almost in the very words of Croxall or Dodsley," and a few modern

ones, marked (M) in the index, have been inserted, such as The Miller, his Son, and their Ass; The Mice in Council; The Countrymaid and her Milk-can, which one, we may observe, seems almost ubiquitous, though told in such different ways. The Morals are condensed, often to single sentences, which those who remember reading Croxall's long " Applications at school will congratulate their children upon. Sometimes the moral is not expressed, but the reader is left, as Gay says at the end of his "What d'ye call it?" to "find it out," At p. xii. after relating Jotham's parable of "The Trees and the Bramble," the editor proceeds to say, "In like manner fables effected their work in the politics of Greece," of which he has collected several instances. Roman history affords the celebrated instance of Menenius Agrippa quelling an insurrection by reciting "The Belly and the Members;" and Scotland furnishes the character of" Archibald Bell-the-Cat." He considers that "the history of Æsopean fable seems to be this. Æsop was one of the first and most successful in adopting this kind of apologue as a general vehicle of instruction. Being striking in point, and easy of remembrance, his stories were soon bandied about from mouth to mouth, and handed down from generation to generation, with such alterations as are ever attendant on oral narration." (p. xiii.) Having attended the reader thus far into the vestibule of this pleasing volume, we must now leave him to go on by himself. That it will occupy a place in most juvenile libraries we confidently and reasonably expect.

Spencer's Cross Manor House; a Tale for Young People. By the Author of "Belgravia," &c.-This is a tale which will, we think, be popular with young people, but there are certain absurdities and improbabilities which will annoy critics of a more mature standing. Nevertheless, as the book is wholly without injurious tendency, and has much merit, the larger the number of young people who have the pleasure of reading it the better.

Journal of a Summer Tour. By the Authoress of Amy Herbert. Part III. From the Simplon to the Tyrol and Genoa. -Having already noticed the two first parts of this book, we need only say that the conclusion is fully equal to the com

mencement.

small valley, which still retains its ancient name, although the buildings of the modern town have not only filled up the interval which separated it from Newcastle, but have extended widely into the country to the north and east. The popular belief of the extreme antiquity of this place is shewn by a proverbial expression, "As old as Pandon," quoted by Grey, who wrote his "Chorographia " in 1649. The same writer tells us that, "after the departure of the Romans, the kings of Northumberland kept their residence here, and had their house, now called Pandon Hall. It was a safe bulwark, having the Picts' Wall on the north side, and the river Tyne on the south." The Venerable Beda, when describing the baptism of Pæda prince of the Middle Angles, son of Penda king of Mercia, previous to his marriage with Elfleda, the daughter of Oswy king of Northumberland, says: "He was baptized by bishop Finan, with all his comrades, and soldiers, and servants, that came along with him, at a celebrated village belonging to the king, called Ad Murum." Again, in reference to Sigebert king of the East Saxons, another convert of king Oswy, he tells us, "he was baptized by bishop Finan, in the king's villa above mentioned, which is called Ad Murum, because it is close by the wall with which the Romans divided the island of Britain, at the distance of twelve miles from the eastern sea. Camden, without due consideration, fixed Ad Murum at Walton or Welton, and Dr. Smith, the editor of Beda, at Walbottle, on the ground of the occurrence of the syllable "wall" in these names, and of both of them lying near the line of the great Roman barrier. There are however upwards of twenty other places which equally combine these two qualifications, and several which are much nearer the situation indicated by Beda, "twelve miles from the eastern sea." Wallsend and Benwell have each had their advocates, but the former is much too near the sea, the latter too distant, and neither of their claims is supported either by tradition or remains. The twelfth mile by the course of the Tyne (which must have been the route most familiar to Beda, a resident at Jarrow, on the south of the river), terminates at Newcastle Quay, within the ancient precincts of Pandon. Here Brand has demonstrated the site of the villa of king Oswy, supporting his conclusion, not only by coincidence of distance, but by the evidence of the ancient palace recently in existence, and by the testimony of tradition. One circumstance he has omitted to notice, that a portion of Pandon, on a rising ground immediately above the old

hall, still retains the name of Wallknowle, a designation whose affinity to Ad Murum is at least as distinct as any of those previously suggested. Pandon is written in the earliest records Pampedene. The last syllable is obviously derived from its situation in a "dene:" that is a ravine, with a brook flowing through it. "No one," says Brand, has hazarded a probable etymon of the first syllable." There seems however to be good ground for attributing it to the very transaction related by Beda. In a very ancient genealogy of the Mercian kings, appended to Nennius's History of the Britons, the name of the son of Penda is written, not Pæda, but Pantha; and Panthadene would hardly be distinguishable in pronunciation from Panpadene, which is probably merely a corruption of the former. The conversion of Pæda and of Sigebert took place about A.D. 654.

Newcastle itself was known until a period posterior to the Norman Conquest by the name of Monkchester, the latter part of the word' affording conclusive evidence that it was built on a Roman foundation. It is described under this name by Simeon of Durham, both in his history of the church of Durham, and in his history of the Kings of England, when describing the revival of religion in Northumberland by the efforts of Aldwine prior of Winchcombe, and two other monks of Evesham. In the latter work his narrative is shortly as follows: "Three Mercian monks, truly poor in spirit, arrived at York on a divine mission into Northumberland, seeking from Hugh the son of Baldric, who at that time held the office of sheriff, a guide to a place called Munekeceaster, which is now called Newcastle. Whither being conducted they remained for a time; but when they found no vestiges of any ancient congregation of the servants of Christ, they betook themselves to Jarrow." Except in the transfer of the same passage to the pages of the other chroniclers, no other mention has been found of Monkchester, except in the Life of Saint Oswine, published by the Surtees Society, where it occurs as the former name of Newcastle, which is described as a place of little importance or population in the reign of William the Conqueror, and the early part of that of William Rufus. The suggestion hazarded by Brand, that Monkchester was, after the subversion of the monarchy, the residence of the Northumbrian Earls, is altogether unsupported. We are told, indeed, that it was under the jurisdiction of the Earl and not of the Bishop; but this is equally true as regards any other locality to the north of the Tyne. From the ac

count given by Florence of Worcester and others of the erection of the New Castle on the Tyne, so far from collecting that any official residence existed there, we are not even assured that there were any buildings at all, beyond the remains of the old chester in contradistinction to which the Norman fortress received its name. As regards the Saxon period, therefore, after the withdrawal of the Roman garrison from Pons Ælii, the popular opinion of the superior antiquity of Pandon to that of Monkchester or Newcastle seems to be well founded; nor is there any reason to doubt the continued occupation of the "vicus" at the former place from a period probably considerably earlier than the reign of Oswy, till the time when its independent existence was merged in the municipality of Newcastle. The latter, on the other hand, boasts its original foundation by Roman hands, but was subsequently unoccupied, or at least undistinguished, until after the time of Beda; and it may fairly be doubted whether it possessed a stationary population until the erection of the fortress from which it

derives its modern name. Viewing both villas as component parts of a united community, we have reasonable ground for assigning to them a continuous existence from the reign of Hadrian to the present day.

The only notice of Gateshead during the Anglo-Saxon period occurs in a passage already quoted from Beda, in reference to the baptism of Pæda, in which mention is made of "Utta, an illustrious priest, and abbot of a monastery, which is called Ad Capræ Caput." Beda is notoriously an indifferent etymologist, and his derivation of Gateshead is not an exceptional case. It is quite clear that Gate's Head, and not Goat's Head, is the correct reading of the name-signifying as it obviously does, a place standing at the head of the gate-that is, the commencement of the road leading from the Tyne southward. Gate is still commonly used in this sense in the vernacular vocabulary of the north of England. This casual notice merely informs us of the existence of a monastery here, A.D. 654, but affords no clue either to the period of its foundation or the particulars of its fate. Christianity was introduced into Northumberland in the reign of Edwine, A.D. 627, but, on that king's death, was discouraged and nearly extirpated by his pagan successors. On the accession of Oswald in 634, he sought the aid of missionaries from Jona to instruct his people, and three Scotish bishops presided in succession over the Northumbrian church for a period of thirty years.

Of these the second was Finan,

who administered the right of baptism to Pæda and Sigebert. His successor, Colman, being worsted in a controversy with the followers of the Roman church, retired with the clergy of his own communion into Scotland. It seems probable, there. fore, that the monastery of Gateshead was founded either in the episcopate of Finan or his predecessor Aidan, and was abandoned when Colman and his followers left Northumberland. We can hardly doubt that, if it had been in existence when Beda wrote, or even at the period of the foundation of Jarrow in its immediate vicinity, we must have found further particulars respecting it in the Ecclesiastical History. A chapel (ecclesiola) existed in Gateshead in 1080, and was the scene of the murder of bishop Walcher. This chapel probably marked the site of the abandoned monastery, and may have been maintained from the days of Finan and Colman. There is nothing in Simeon's narrative to lead to the conclusion that Gateshead was at this time a place of any considerable popula. tion. He does not describe it either as a town or village, but uses the word "locus." The multitude who laid violent hands on the bishop came from the north of the Tyne, and it is not impossible that the ordinary congregation of the chapel may have consisted of the inhabitants of Pandon or Monkchester-the nearest churches of the existence of which we have any evidence on the Northumberland side, being Tynemouth on the east and Newburn on the west-the latter, like the chapel of Gateshead, known to us only as the scene of a foul murder committed on Copsi earl of Northumberland.

Mr. Hinde read a second paper, " On the Trade of Newcastle previous to the reign of Henry III. with a view of its relative importance as compared with other towns, and the general commerce of the kingdom." After a sketch of the early history of the borough, and a recapitulation of the peculiar privileges of the burgesses, the paper gave the laws relating more directly to commerce :

1. All merchandise ought to be brought to land, except salt and herrings, which may be sold on board.

2. But if a ship calls at Tynemouth, and wishes to proceed on its voyage, the burgesses may buy from it what they please.

3. If a dispute shall arise between a burgess and a merchant, it must be determined within three tides.

4. No merchant, not being a burgess, can buy wool, nor hides, nor other merchandise without the borough, nor within, except from a burgess.

5. None but a burgess can buy webs for dyeing, nor make them up, nor cut them.

This last regulation shows that the wool of this country was not generally manufactured at home, but dyed, sent abroad,

and reimported in the web. To encourage domestic manufacture, the importation of woollen cloth, dyed or undyed, was afterwards prohibited-a prohibition which, however popular with weavers, was unpalatable to the towns where the dyeing of foreign fabrics had been carried on; and, accordingly, in the reign of King John, when any privilege might be obtained for money, Newcastle and other towns purchased permission to buy and sell woollen cloth as in the time of Henry I. The relative importance of the trade in the several towns may be in some measure estimated by the amount of the fines which they paid:-Lincoln paid 261. 138. 4d., Newcastle 167. 138. 4d., Northampton 107. 6s., Gloucester 67. 138. 4d., Worcester 51., Norwich 57., Nottingham 31. 68. 8d. London, York, and other places, where weavers' guilds were successively established, do not occur, as the restriction was in their favour. The articles of export, besides wool and hides, which occur in the (Newcastle) table of tolls, are the skins of foxes, martens, sables, beavers, goats, and squirrels ; feathers, lead, and miscellaneous articles, on which last the toll is charged by load or bundle. The only imports specifically mentioned are alum, pepper, and ginger. The articles on which market-tolls were exacted were cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, herring and other fish, corn, flour, salt, fat, and lard. There was also a toll on woad, which was doubtless extensively used by the dyers.

Amongst the skins, it will be observed, occurs that of the beaver; nor does it appear to have been of extraordinary rarity, as it is classed with the ordinary sorts, on which the toll was charged by the timber, or bundle of forty, and not by the dacre, or bundle of ten. The same classification is adhered to in the table of tolls appended to the Leges Burgorum of David I. of Scotland. Pennant says:"The latest account which we have of the beaver in Great Britain is in Giraldus Cambrensis, who travelled through Wales in 1188. In his time they were found only in the river Teivi. They must have been scarce even in earlier times. By the laws of Hoel Dda, the price of a beaver's skin was fixed at 120 pence-a great sum in those days.". How long the beaver lingered in the streams in the North of England or of Scotland it is vain to conjecture; but, considering the scanty population of the highland district of the latter country as compared with Wales at an early period, it is no improbable supposition that it was plentiful in Scotland long after it had ceased to exist in the Teivi. Mr. Hinde proceeded to remark upon

the special mention of "herring," while the tariff is silent as to salmon. The salmon-fisheries of the Tyne were, nevertheless, at this time, singularly productive. On the south side of the river also, from Hedwin Streams to the sea, there were sixty-eight fisheries in the time of Henry I.; and probably the number was as great on the north side. Having spoken more at length on the trade in fish, Mr. Hinde states that, at first, Newcastle appears to have received its imports in foreign bottoms. The burgesses, however, were not without ships of their own. Reginald of Coldingham mentions the circumstance of a person coming from Dunbar to Newcastle to purchase a ship. This was about the reign of Stephen, when Newcastle seems to have been the chief market for the supplying of the surrounding district. In the life of Saint Oswine, published by the Surtees Society, is an account of a miracle wrought at the shrine of the saint at Tynemouth, on the occasion of an offering made, by a worthy burgess of Newcastle, Faramannus, as he was wont on the sailing of his vessels, freighted with various wares for sale amongst the " South Angles." In the reign of Henry II. we have mention, amongst the inhabitants of Newcastle, of William the moneyer, Gervase the physician, Baldwin the goldsmith, Walter the dyer, Maurice the mason. We also incidentally learn of the existence of two smithies, and of a retail trade in wine -the import of which was then confined to a very few ports.

.

By far the most important document which we possess respecting the early commerce of England, and the relative importance of the trade of her several maritime towns, is an account rendered to the Exchequer in the 7th of John of the produce of the quindena or quinzime, being the fifteenth part of the goods of all merchants throughout the kingdom, granted to the Crown. This account, first noticed by Madox in his History of the Exchequer, has been printed at length, with other interesting records, by Mr. Frost, in the appendix to his Notices relative to the Early History of Hull.' It comprises all the ports from Newcastle to Land's End, exclusive of the county pala. tine of Durham. No account is extant of the amount collected at the ports on the western coast; which, indeed, with the exception of Bristol, and perhaps Chester, would be of trifling consideration. The total sum contributed by the eastern and southern ports was 4,9587. 78. 3\d.; of which Newcastle paid 1587. 58. 11d. being the eighth in amount of contribution.

Mr. Hinde briefly noticed the origin of the coal trade, and treated more at length