Royal Society. From this baronet it came to the Earl of Radnor, by whom it was sold to the Blackall family, the present pos sessors. The elegant, but ill-fated, Leland was some time minister of Hasely. In a field on the north-west side of the village, a Roman urn was ploughed up, in the year 1723. This place con tains a Free School, founded and endowed in the seventeenth century. Little Hasely is a small hamlet, built on the edge of a green. The land appendant on this division was, likewise, at the Survey, the property of Milo Crispin; and, after various transmissions, came to Edmund Boulter, Esq. In Leland's time Mr. Barentine had here" a fair mansion-house, walks topiarii operis, orchards, and pools." Latchford contains only a few houses, and probably derives its name from the ford, or passage, that is crossed by the way which leads to it from Great Hasely. The property was long with younger branch of the Pipards. The founder of the Latchford branch of this ancient family signalised himself against the Scots in the reign of Edward III. In recompence for his services Edward conferred on him the honour of Knighthood; and to support the dignity he bestowed the manor of Latchford, " to be held of his father by knight's service." On the failure of male heirs, the before-mentioned daughter of the Pipards carried the estate, in the reign of Edward IV. to the Lenthal family. * Ricot, For many of the above particulars, respecting three of the ancient division of Hasely, we are indebted to a manuscript by the Rev. Mr. De la Field. This writer was born at Hasely, in 1690, of humble parents, and was sent to the village Free School, among the other poor children of the parish. There was then no house appropriated to the master, and the boys were taught in the church. In play hours he improved himself in reading, by conning the inscriptions on the tombs; and thus originated a love for antiquities. He afterwards was put to school at Great Milton, where he collected an account of the successive rectors and curates of that parish. In 1717, after having vainly endeavoured t Ricot, according to Leland, " longid to one Fuleo de Ricote." It then came to the Quatremains. Richard Quatremain (whose monument we have noticed in our account of the Church of Thame)" was a merchant of London, and after Custumar there. He built a goodly large Chapel of Ease without the Manor Place of Ricot, and founded ther two Chauntry Priests. This Foundation was begun in the Reign of Henry VI. and endowed in the Reign of Edward IV." He died without issue, and left the chief of his property to Richard Fowler, the son of a man who had been his clerk. This Richard dissipated the fortune thus easily acquired; and the estate of Ricot was purchased by the Heron family, who again sold it to Sir John Williams, afterwards Lord Williams of Thame. In the person of Sir Henry Norris, who married the youngest daughter of Lord Williams, Ricot was constituted a barony, Queen Elizabeth creating him Lord Norris of Ricot. His daughter and grand-daughter were ladies Baroness by courtesy. James Lord Norris, Baron Norris of Ricot, had the earldom of Abingdon superadded to that title, both which honours his descendant now enjoys. Ricot Park is an extensive domain, desirably adorned with an alternation of wood and water. The mansion has been recently pulled down by order of the present Earl; but the chapel remains, and has been repaired to continue as a place of burial for the family; nor are the grounds yet disparked. The house so lately destroyed was partly built by John Lord Williams of Thame, and had the honour of twice receiving Queen Elizabeth. Once she endeavoured to obtain the mastership of Hasely Free School, he commenced a private academy on a limited scale. He was subsequently master of the school at Stoken-church; and, having entered into Holy orders, became curate of Fingest, Bucks, and vicar of Great Milton. He compiled a History of Hasely, which, if printed, would make about one quarto volume. His papers were purchased by the late Mr. Gough, at the sale of a Mr. Cooper of Henley, and are now in the Bodleian Library. He ap pears to have possessed invincible industry; but he was unfortunate in having selected a subject of very limited interest. she was conducted here by Lord Williams and Sir Henry Bedingfield, when on her way to Woodstock as a prisoner. On the second occasion she voluntarily visited the seat, on quitting Oxford, in the year 1592. The village of NETTLEBED is on the high road, at the distance of five miles from Henley. A spot about half a mile to the north-east of the village, on which stood a windmill till within the last three years, is said to be the highest ground south of the Tweed. But, although the village is built on so elevated a site, the inhabitants are plentifully supplied with water by a land spring, which oozes forth with extreme deliberation, but has not been known to fail even in the driest summer. The whole of Nettlebed has a pleasing and romantic aspect. At the entrance from the London side is a tall maypole. The church is a small and unassuming structure, with a square tower, or turret, the roofing of which declines towards the north and south. Moritz, the amiable German traveller, who ventured to proceed alone and on foot, through several English counties, without acquaintance, and with but very little of that circulating medium which acts as an efficient substitute among innkeepers for birth, quality, and connexion, passed a day and night at Nettlebed, and has bestowed an extraneous interest on the village by the blended simplicity and sensibility of his remarks. He was enchanted with the fine prospects commanded by the neighbourhood, and the rustic inn realized to his view the pictures drawn by our great Novelist, Fielding. His notice of the church merits transcription:-"Nothing can possibly be more simple, apt, and becoming, than the few decorations of this building. Directly over the altar, on two tables, in large letters, the ten commandments are written. There, surely, is much wisdom and propriety in thus placing full in the view of the people the sum and substance of all morality. In the body of the church I saw a marble monument of a son of the cele 9 brated brated Dr. Wallis, with the following simple and affecting in scription: The same good sense which qualified Oliver de Standford held considerable lands in Nettlebed by the Sergeantry of the office of Spigurnel, or Sealer of the King's Writs in Chancery.⚫ Near the village is JOYCE GROVE, the residence of Thomas Toovey, Esq. This spot was honoured with a visit from William III. but the site was probably too elevated to allow of his usual expression when much pleased: "This place is truly delightful: I could live here for three days." Queen Anne also once dined at Joyce Grove. DORCHESTER HUNDRED Is separated from Ewelm by the river Thame; and, in regard to soil, is in the district of miscellaneous loams. This hundred at the time of the Conquest was much more extensive than at present; which circumstance was, perhaps, not owing to any scantiness of population in the neighbouring districts. The country was divided into hundreds, while Dorchester constituted a splendid and powerful see. The Bishop, for the convenience of his courts, might cause the hundred to be rendered so comprehensive as to embrace the chief of his local property. After the Conquest the See was removed to Lincoln, and the Bishop of the newly-formed diocese probably requested the formation of a fresh hundred (that of Thame) for his own accommodation. Dorchester hundred now consists of the hamlet of Fifield, and the Blount's Tenures. the following parishes: Burcott; Chistlehampton ; Clifton-hampden; Culham; Dorchester; Drayton; Southstoke, with the Liberty of Woodcot; and Stadhampton. The lordship is vested in the Earl of Abingdon. The money raised for the assistance of the poor, in 1803, was 23631. 5s. 8d. which forms an average of three shillings and sixpence three farthings in the pound. DORCHESTER, though now humble in buildings, and depending chiefly for its precarious resources on the traffic of the high road on which it is situated, was formerly a place of great interest and distinction. Its consequence it owed to ecclesiastical splendour; and, when the pomp of episcopal dignity was removed, no local circumstances existed to stimulate enterprise, or to ensure the attainment of affluence to the exercise of industry. Dorchester is termed by Bede Civitas Dorcinia. By Leland it is called Hydropolis; "a name," says Camden, "of his own inventing; but proper enough; Dour signifying in Britain. "water." The circumstances of situation do, indeed, warrant this fanciful character of epithet. The Thame flows near the town on the east, and the grand stream, so arbitrarily denominated Isis, on the west. A junction takes place between the two at no great distance. On the site of this town was a Roman station, probably of extent and importance; and the place seems to have retained some notoriety during the ages immediately en. suing; but it did not reach the height of its prosperity till the seventh century, when Birinus, who was sent from Rome by Pope Honorius to convert the West Saxons, is said to have here first preached to them the gospel. Birinus had already baptized Cinegils, King of that people, on which occasion Oswald, King of Northumberland, attended as God-sib, or God-father; and the two kings, according to Bede, gave the bishop this town for the foundation of au episcopal see, in honour of the ceremony. The see was long of gigantic magnificence, comprising the two large kingdoms of the West Saxons. VOL. XII. 2 B and |