9 
the early morning, and a temporary check sustained by the King, but how his 
men were saved by a thick hedge and ditch from the effects of the desperate charge 
of the Duke of Somerset. How the Duke of Gloucester cleared the trackway to 
the walls of Ham Castle, and then made a flank attack on the hill where Lord 
Wenlock and the Frenchmen were posted, and how, when it succeeded, the Duke 
of Somerset, irate at not having been reinforced, struck out Lord Wenlock’s brains, 
and the battle was lost, and desperate slaughter followed. But the whole story is 
so admirably told in Mr. Symonds’s book, that we must refer our readers to it for 
further details. 
TEWKESBURY ABBEY. 
Here a great archeological treat was in store, and the members had the 
privilege of listening to a most careful, learned, and elaborate paper on the Abbey, 
read by the Vicar of Tewkesbury, the Rev. Hemming Robeson. 
After glancing at the early history and erection of a monastery by Oddo 
and Doddo, sons of a Saxon nobleman, of the kingdom of Mercia, on a spot where 
it was said one Theocus, a hermit, had his dwelling, the able and rev. lecturer gave 
an historical account of the notable personages and families who were successively 
lords of Tewkesbury and patrons of the Abbey, showing also which portions of the 
structure belong to the various periods of its history. The Fitz-Hamon Chapel 
carried them back to the time following the Norman Conquest in 1066, when 
enormous estates were made over to warlike nobles, and when habitual lawlessness 
and frequent crime had little to compensate them except the munificence by which 
buildings like the Abbey were raised and endowed. The tiles of the floor bore the 
arms of Fitz-Hamon, impaling those of the Abbey, and on his tomb being opened 
in 1795, bones were found which might reverently be supposed to be those of the 
founder himself. The new window in the 13th century chapel (choir vestry) 
represented Fitz-Hamon and his wife Sybil, in the character of church founders, 
holding between them a model of a cruciform church, but it was left to the first 
Earl of Gloucester to complete the work of his father-in-law. The building pro- 
gressed step by step. A roofof oak, the central tower with its interlaced arcading, 
a lofty wooden spire above, gradually all were completed, and then after 20 years 
work, with great pomp, the noble church, in its most remarkable features the same 
as now seen, was dedicated to God, November 20th, 1123. It was interesting to 
note that when, 750 years afterwards, an eminent architect surveyed the work of 
this Norman period, there were ample proofs of the sound condition of the main 
fabric, and that those early builders built well aud dreamed not of a ‘‘ perishable 
home.” In 1178, a destructive fire destroyed the monastic buildings, and left its 
mark. Mr. Robeson then proceeded to trace the several patrons and historical 
personages who had taken an active part in the building and support of the Abbey 
—the De Clares, De Spencers, and Beauchamps. The history of the chapels, 
tombs, and graves of illustrious personages was graphically told, and we regret that 
the space at our disposal does not admit of fuller justice being done to this excellent 
paper, the preparation of which must have required considerable time and research. 
The vicar concluded by saying it was a notable fact that as the munificence of the 
founders had left an indelible mark here, so, during those troubled times of the 
