THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



these cupboards was alluded to three years ago, and 

 he \vas told they were going to circulate some in- 

 formation among the rural deans as to the desirability 

 of having perforated boxes. This was a matter in 

 which the local clergy were extremely jealous, but 

 the difficulty might be got over by the recommenda- 

 tions of this and other societies. 



Chas. Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R S., R.E. Lat. 50 

 54' 50" N. ; long. i 24' o" W. ; height above sea, 84 teet. 

 Observers Sergt. T. Chambers, R.E., and Mr. J. T. Cook. 



The Antiquary for November has an interesting 

 article on traders' tokens, reviewing Mr. G. C. 

 Williamson's recent work on that subject. During 

 the troublous times of the ijth century the unsatis- 

 factory state of the national coinage induced numbers 

 of enterprising traders in different parts of the 

 country to issue small copper tokens of their own. 

 These usually bear the name of the issuer and the 

 place of issue, and are of some little historic interest. 

 In some places they appear to have had some authority 

 from the local governing bodies, being issued in South- 

 ampton and Romsey by the Corporation, whilst in 

 other towns they bore the names of the Mayor, the 

 Mayor and Aldermen, the Portreeve, the Sword- 

 bearer, the Overseers, the Churchwardens, the 

 Bailiffs, the Constables, the Chamberlain or the 

 Treasurer. The main idea and reason for their issue 

 were in many cases kept well in view, namely, that 

 of being of essential service to the poorer residents, 

 and it is of interest to read on the tokens of Andover, 

 " Remember the Poore," " For the poore, and " Help 

 o' Andover for the poore's benefit." It will thus be 

 seen that these traders' tokens have something to tell 

 us of the condition of the country immediately after 

 the great Civil War. Mr. W. H. Jacob contributes 

 to the same number a curious bill of a Winchester 

 Corporator whilst engaged in London on city business 

 in the year 1581. He received for his expenses from 

 the coffers ,5, and proceeded to London, via Reading, 

 being nearly a fortnight engaged in travel and in 

 business. The detailed items give a good view of 

 the journey and expenses. [To the Hampshire 

 Chronicle of October 26, Mr. Jacob contributed a num- 

 ber of extracts from the Coffer Book of the Corpora- 

 tion of Winchester (1660-1711), some of them bearing 

 on the local tokens above referred to.] The finding 

 of a British coin of the first century B.C. on the 

 premises of Mr. W. T. Warren, Winchester, is 

 recorded ; and there is a review of Lieutenant-General 

 Pitt Rivers's " Excavations of Cranborne Chase." 

 Amongst other articles may be noted " The ruins of 

 the castle of Newark-upon-Trent," " Isaac Barrow," 

 and " Early church dedications in Buckinghamshire." 

 Have the church dedications of Hampshire been 

 similarly treated ? If not, here is an interesting field 

 for some local antiquary. 



WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEK. 



From the meteorological register made at the Ordnance 

 Survey Office, Southampton, under the direction of Col. Sir 



*Black bulb in vacuo. 



THE HAMPSHIRE INDEPENDENT, November 16, 



JANE AUSTEN AND SOUTHAMPTON. 



The novels of Jane Austen were much more widely 

 read in England a generation or more ago than they 

 are at present, but Hampshire people will not forget 

 that she is one of the literary celebrities of our county. 

 She was born at Steventon, near Basingstoke, and 

 lived a great deal in Hampshire, from the scenery 

 and people of which she drew many of her illustra- 

 tions and depicted many of her characters. Her best 

 known works are "Sense and Sensibility," "Pride 

 and Prejudice," " Emma," " Mansfield Park," 

 " Northanger Abbey," and " Persuasion." As Miss 

 Austen's novels refer largely to the manners and 

 customs of a past generation it is not surprising that 

 they are less read in England in our day than during 

 the period in which they were written, and I must 

 acknowledge that I was somewhat surprised to hear 

 how largely her works are still read in America, 

 where she is one of the most popular authors. The 

 circumstance under which this came to my knowledge 

 was the visit to England during the past summer of 

 Mr. Oscar Fay Adams, of Harvard University, Mas- 

 sachusetts, who is engaged on a biography of Miss 

 Austen. Mr. Adams came to England for the express 

 purpose of visiting all the places where this novelist 

 lived, and of collecting his material for her biography 

 from original sources. I made his acquaintance at 

 Winchester and invited him to have a morning's 

 ramble round Southampton. Jane Austen lived for 



