His father was a cow-herd, and his mother sister to one of the abbey monks, who attended to the tuition of his early years, and afterwards sent him to Oxford, where he became a fellow of AllSouls College. While in this situation, the liveliness of his temper occasioned him to be chosen to compliment Henry the Eighth on his visit to the university in the year 1523. The graceful manner in which he executed this commission, so engaged the favor of the Monarch, that he carried the young student to court, and thence sent him to Paris, to continue and complete his education. On his return, he was employed in several embassies; and during this and the three succeeding reigns, was promoted to the honorable offices above mentioned. He died in 1566, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. FERRY HINKSEY Is a small village on the northern boundary of the county, nearly opposite to the city of Oxford. The ancient name appears to have been Hengestesigge, probably from its elevated situation; the exact meaning of the word, as defined by a modern antiquary, being, a pathway on the side of a hill." The church is a low structure, apparently of very remote origin. It consists of a tower, a nave, and chancel. The south (and only) door-way is of Saxon workmanship. The weathering, or outer moulding, is supported on one side by the bust of a warrior; and on the other, is terminated with a rude head of some animal. Within this are four series of ziz-zag, with an inner moulding of pellet sculpture, resting on two moderate sized pillars with hatched capitals. The nave is divided from the chancel by a circular arch, over which the creed and Lord's prayer are inscribed, with the King's arms painted in the centre. This church, and the neighbouring one of South Hinksey, were formerly chapels of ease to Cumnor, whence they were separated at the commencement of the last century by Montague, Earl of Abingdon. WITHAM, WITHAM, A decayed village, about two miles north of Hinksey, is seated at the foot of a hill, on the summit of which the massive fragments of a desolated fortress may yet be discovered. This is supposed to have been erected by Kinewulph, the monarch of the West Saxons, to repel the incursions of King Offa, into whose power it soon afterwards fell, and is said to have been made the place of his residence. The church is small, with a boarded roof, supported by three wooden arches. Against the wall, on each side the nave, is a series of rude grotesque ornaments in stone, resembling heads, with caps similar to those worn by canons regular of the order of St. Austin. In a north window, near the west end of the nave, are the portraits of Edward the Second and his Queen. The King is depicted with a curled beard, the hair divided, and hanging on each side the chin. Each head is adorned with an open crown fleury. The workmanship is but indifferently executed. The ancient mansion belonging to the Earl of Abingdon, in this village, was erected about the reign of Henry the Sixth; it conveys a good idea of the gloomy manners of the times prior to the relaxation of feudal tenure. The traveller who views this structure, cannot but recall to his memory the fortified dungeons of our ancestors, whose martial, but suspicious tempers, whilst they consulted the magnificence of petty tyranny, appear to have forgotten convenience, and confined their conceptions of grandeur to unsocial exclusion. The embattled tower in the centre is surmounted by two octangular turrets; and the whole edifice is surrounded by a moat. The hall remains in its original state, and the vestiges of its former splendor are still apparent. The battle through which Offa obtained possession of Witham Castle, appears to have been fought at a place called Sandfield, in this nighbourhood, where Hearne, in his Liber Niger, mentions armour, swords, and human bones, to have been found. Tradition represents one of the armies to have been drawn up on the declivity of Witham hill, near the desolated village of Dane court; and the other on the opposite side of Cumnor hill; the valley between being the immediate theatre of action. The spot where the battle is said to have began is called Holdesfield. What degree of credit should be attached to these vague relations we cannot ascertain; but as Hold, in the Saxon language, signifies a carcase, the supposition of the name being significant of the slaughter made by Ofia, may not be inadmissible. SECKWORTH, In the vicinity of Witham, was formerly a large town, which we are informed by Mr. Warton, in his History of Kiddington, abounded with inns for the reception of pilgrims. This place, reported to have once maintained the "Roman army," has dwindled into complete insignificance, it consisting at this time of only five houses. Some remains of its buildings are, however, yet visible on the brink of the river, which separated the territories of the Attrebatii and Dobuni; and when the water is low, the fragments of a bridge, crossing the stream to Binsey, may be clearly perceived. CUMNOR Is about three miles south of Witham, built on the brow of a hill, commanding a very extensive view over the counties of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. The church is a strong-built edifice, and apparently ancient, as the west door is finished in the Saxon style. The chancel is divided from the body of the church by a screen, presented to the parish about sixty years since by the then Earl of Abingdon, whose family are owners of the manor, The village contains about 60 houses, and 300 inhabitants, who are mostly employed in husbandry. The parishioners who pay tythes, have a custom of repairing to the vicarage immediately after prayers on Christmas-day afternoon, to be entertained with bread and cheese and ale. They claim, on this occasion, two bushels of wheat made into bread, half a hundred weight of cheese, and four bushels of malt brewed into ale and small small beer. The fragments are the next morning distributed to the poor. The remains of several stone crosses may be seen in different parts of the parish. These are supposed to have been erected by the abbots of Abingdon, who formerly had a seat or place of re-. tirement here, called Cumnor Place. In this mansion, a large monastic building, with a quadrangular court in the centre, the wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and favorite of Queen Elizabeth, was murdered by her husband's orders. The life of this unfortunate lady was first attempted by poison, but that failing, she was flung down stairs, and killed by the fall. Being obscurely buried at Cumnor, the privacy of her funeral occasioned censure, when the Earl directed the body to be removed to St. Mary's church, Oxford, where it was re-interred in a pompous and solemn manner. The principal actor in this direful tragedy was Sir Richard Verney. He was assisted by a villain, who, being afterwards apprehended for a different crime, acknowledged the above murder, and was privately destroyed. Verney himself is reported to have died about the same time in a deplorable manner. EAST ILSLEY Is a small town, situated in a pleasant valley, in the centre of a range of downs, which extend across the county from Aston to Wantage. The number of houses does not exceed 200. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in agriculture. This town is celebrated for its sheep-market, which is supposed to be the largest county market in England. It commences on the Wednesday in Easter week yearly, and continues to be held every alternate Wednesday till Midsummer. The market of late years has become of the first importance, not less than 20,000 sheep having been sometimes sold in one day. The annual average is upwards of 250,000, comprising lambs, tegs, wethers, and ewes. These are principally purchased for the farmers of Hertfordshire * See Ashmole's Berkshire, Bibliotheca Topographica, &c. and and Buckinghamshire, in which counties they are afterwards fatted for the London market. ALDWORTH, OR ALDER, As it is generally denominated, is a small village, pleasantly seated on a hill, about four miles south-east of Ilsley. This undoubtedly is a place of very remote origin, and is supposed by Hearne to have been a settlement in the time of the Romans; but the arguments he advances to support this opinion rest on very slender grounds. The village formed part of the possessions of the family of De La Beche, who flourished here in the reigns of the Second and Third Edwards. Their mansion-house was situated on a neighbouring eminence, and appears to have been fortified about the 12th year of the latter Prince, from whom Nicholas De La Beche obtained permission to make castles of three of his seats. The site of the fortress at Aldworth is now designated by the appellation of Beche Farm, but not the least remains of the ancient structure can be found. being disposed in columns, and pinwere designed to and lying in diffe The church is a very old building, and though not remarkable for beauty, has become celebrated for its ancient monuments. These are nine in number; three of them situated on the north side, three on the south side, and three in the centre, between the octangular pillars that support the roof. The tombs on the north and south sides are similar in design, enriched arches, ornamented with pilasters, nacles. The figures of the persons they commemorate, are elegantly carved in stone, rent positions on the upper part of the tombs. These statues are supposed to be the effigies of the De La Beche family. Six of them represent knights, arrayed in armour; the seventh is a per`son in a common habit; the remaining two are females. From the fashion of the armour and drapery, they appear to have been executed in the fourteenth century. Some of the knights are lying cross-legged; a position which, according to Dugdale, intimates, that they had either been in the wars of the Holy Land, or |