Mar. 6. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



231 



FBENCH REVOLUTIONS FORETOLD. 



(Vol. v., p. 100.) 



A remai'kable instance of foresight relative to 

 the fate of some of the French sovereigns appears 

 in an epistle of Erasmus to King Francis I. : 



" Praetexunt fidei titulum, sed revera aliud agunt ; 

 raoliuntur tyrannidetn, etiam in capita Principum. 

 Hue tendunt per cuniculos. Nisi Princeps ipsorum 

 voluntati per omnia paruerit, dicetur fautor Hseretico- 

 nim ; et destitui poterit per Ecclesiam ; hoc est, per 

 aliquos conjuratos Pseudomonachos et Pseudotheo- 

 logos." 



Richer, Doctor of the Sorbonne, after having 

 alluded to this passage, uses the following very 

 gtriking language : 



" Cffiteriim regno Franci£e his artibus everso, (quod 

 omen. Deus avertat,) reliquis Monarchiis Christianis 

 quas supererunt eadem manet pestis ; iit proplietia 

 Apostoli, de iniqiiitatis mysterio, et politicarum Potes- 

 tatum ruina atque interitu, compleinentum sortiatur ; 

 cujus pestis et ruin£e complementum in dies singiilos 

 Bullas Ccens Domini et Directorii Inquisitorum area- 

 nis promovetur. Tumque demum, in fine sceciilorvm, 

 seditiones, conspirationes, et hella plusquam civUia ferve- 

 bunt, propter Poiestatum sceculi exarmatorum imbecillitntem 

 atque impotentiam ; qu(B nee sibi ipsis, nee aliis, suffi- 

 cienter consulere poterunt ; q%iia omnes imperare. et nemo 

 parere volet: quibusde bellis consule caput 24. MatthaBi." 

 — Apologia pro Joanne Gersonio, pp. 203-4. Lugd, Bat. 

 1676. 



H. G. 



GBIMESDTKE. 



(Vol. Iv. passim.) 



Nauticcs is informed that in Norfolk one of 

 the hundreds, or subdivisions of the county, is 

 called Griinshoo or Grimshow, after (as it is sup- 

 posed) a Danish leader of the name of Grime or 

 Gryme. He was undoubtedly either Prcesifus 

 Comitatus or Centarim Prcepositus of that part of 

 the country, and gave his name to the hundred 

 as hundred-greeve, which name it still retains. 

 In about the centre of this hundred is a verv cu- 

 rious Danish encampment, in a semicircular form, 

 consisting of about twelve acres. 



In this space are a great number of large deep 

 pits, joined in a regular manner, one near to 

 another, in form of a quincunx, the largest in the 

 centre, where the general's or commander's tent 

 was placed. These pits are so deep and numerous 

 as to be able to conceal a very great army. At the 

 east end of this entrenchment is a lar^re tumulus, 

 pointing towards Thetford, from which it is about 

 five or six miles distant ; and which might possiMy 

 have served as a watch tower, or place of signal : 

 and here the hundred court used to be called. 



This place also is known by the name of The 

 Holes, or Grim.eS'graves. This part of the coun- 

 try, being open, was a great seat of war between 

 the Saxons and Danes, as appears from many 

 tumuli throughout this hundred, erected over 

 the graves of leaders who fell in battle ; or as 

 tokens of victory, to show how far they had led 

 their armies and conquered. — See Blomfield in 

 loco. J. F. F. 



West Newton, 



To the various instances already recorded in 

 " N. & Q.," of ancient earthworks having re- 

 ceived the name " Griraesdyke," the following 

 may be added. 



One on Cranbourne Chase, Dorset; three in 

 Berkshire, viz., one near Silchester, one near 

 Care, where also are Grimsbury, and Grimsbury 

 Forest ; another, intersected by the Thames, near 

 Wallingford ; another near Witney, Oxfordshire. 



The great fossa and vallum of Lollius Urbicus 

 in Scotland, is called Graham's and Gi'ime's Dyke. 

 The frequency of its application to various earth- 

 works in such distant parts of the kingdom may 

 perhaps be considered sufficient evidence that the 

 name is not derived from that of any landed pro- 

 prietor, as suggested by one of your correspon- 

 dents. I have no doubt the derivation suggested 

 by your first correspondent, Nacticus, is the true 

 one, viz., that it is of Saxon origin, signifying 

 Wizard, or the Evil Spirit, which indicates, not 

 only that these earthworks were in existence in 

 Saxon times, but that their origin was even then 

 so remote and mysterious that they were sup- 

 posed, to be the work of supernatural agency. 

 Grimesdyke, described by Nauticus as beginning 

 near Berkhamsted, Herts (not Hants, as misprinted 

 in " N. & Q."), and running across the Chiltern 

 hills, is mentioned, temp. Henry III., in a charter 

 of Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, granting Ashridge 

 to the fraternity of the Bonhommes : 



" Usque ad quoddam fossatum quod dicitur Grymes- 

 dich." 



If this should meet the eyes of my friend Nau- 

 ticus, wherever in the broad seas he may happen 

 to be, he will be glad to hear that this extensive 

 eartliwork of antiquity is now undergoing the 

 investigation of an Archaeological Society, of 

 which he is an esteemed member. I may further 

 remark that the family name of Grimesdike is 

 doubtless from some ancient place so named, and 

 not these several places from the family. The 

 armorial bearings of the family would at once 

 suggest this conclusion. I have not found the 

 name given to any ancient work in Wales, which 

 of (rourse would not be the case, if it be of Saxon 

 oriirin. W. H. K. 



:?otf 



