CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.* 165 



It is also known, at the present time, that the respectable publishers 

 of London are the best, if not the only, patrons, on whom authors 

 can rely for pecuniary remuneration. These publishers are men of 

 business, are merchants of adventure, who occasionally advance ca- 

 pital on unproductive articles. Like all other tradesmen they seek 

 to obtain profit on their wares ; and one of the modes of doing this, 

 which has prevailed for some yeaas past, is the disposal of the stock, 

 coppers, and copy-right of a book, after the market has been fairly 

 supplied through the regular systematic channels.'' 



So far — ^prefatory and discursive observations — we now approach 

 the body of the work, which at the outset we admit to be a task of 

 delight. The correct and admirable delineations of C. Kitton, have 

 been exquisitely engraved by J. Le Keux, and are certainly beauti- 

 ful specimens of art. There are altogether sixteen, exclusive of a 

 vignette by S. Williams. The typographical department, too, will 

 rather add to than diminish the long-standing fame of the Chis- 

 wick press. 



New facts and illustrations, calculated to elucidate the history of 

 the See, the architecture of the edifice, and other local events are 

 adduced, which serve to mark many national characteristics of former 

 ages — not drawn from the resources of Abingdon, Thomas Green, 

 and other writers on the city and its minster, although their 

 authority is often quoted, but chiefly extracted from the archives at 

 the fountain head, with such commentaries as genius and an 

 intimate knowledge of the difficult subject only could supply. The 

 early history of the see is traced with considerable minuteness, and 

 we think, from our own knowledge of the subject, with much 

 accuracy ; and the historical notices of the facts, during the 

 Anglo-Saxon dynasty, till the complete establishment of the 

 Normans in England, rest on a carefully examined foundation. In 

 the time of King Alfred, before a. d. 900, we find a fact of con- 

 sequence relating to Worcester and its Cathedral. Bishop Werefrid 

 applied to the monarch to have the city fortified ; upon which oc- 

 casion, one half of the royal dues of tolls from the market, or street, 

 was vested in the see. Green thinks that Edgar's gate-house was 

 erected about that time. The prelacies of Saints Dunstan and 

 Oswald are important in the annals of this church, as well as in 

 those of the kingdom. During their dominion great alterations 

 were introduced into the monasteries, by the stern, persevering, and 

 uncompromising conduct of these advocates of celibacy. 



The origin of the present edifice is not satisfactorily defined : 

 some writers ascribe it to St. Oswald, and others to St. Wulstan. 

 " The oldest part of the present edifice is its Crypt, which may pro- 

 bably be part of Oswald's church, or it may have been re-built by 

 Wulstan ; but there is neither document nor internal evidence suf- 

 ficient to prove by which of those prelates it was designed and 

 constructed. Its Norman character is shown in the view (plate X), 

 and in the ground plan (plate I.) The transept, and particularly 

 its eastern wall, through which there were entrances to the crypt. 



