Recent Wiltshire Boohs, Pamphlets, and Articles. 155 



Some Wrouglit-Iron Work in and about Salisbury. 



A short paper by Gideon Fidler, in the Art Journal, Oct., 1898, pp. 298— 

 302, with twelve illustrations from drawings by himself — the letterpress is 

 not remarkable either for style or grammar, and contains very little in- 

 formation except the history of the Longford Chair, and the statement that 

 some of the figures once belonging to it are now in another private collection. 

 The illustrations, however— process reproductions of drawings— are on the 

 whole nice. They are :— English Keys dug up at Salisbury— Coffer at 

 Wishford Church— Railings at St. Thomas' Church (Salisbury)— Tomb at 

 Wylye Church— Vane at East Knovle Church — The Hungerford Chapel at 

 the Cathedral— Crane at Compton Park— The Steel Chair at Longford- 

 Back of ditto— Italian Keys at the Museum— Chained Book at Great 

 Durnford— Coffer at Compton Park. 



Pacts, not Fancies, by one of the Race. AuliiFe— 



O'Neill— AylifFe. Preliminary Pamphlet (1898). Royal 8vo,, 

 pp. 38. Price 2/6. Frontispiece, a very poor pencil drawing of Brinkworth 

 Church. 



This pamphlet, intended as the preface to a series, setting forth the true 

 greatness and the unmerited misfortunes of the real line of the family of 

 " Auliffe O'Neill, Ayliffe," whom we in Wiltshire know as the Ayliffes of 

 Grittenham, Brinkworth, &c., deals almost wholly with genealogical and 

 historical details, the whole of which go to prove, in the writer's (Mrs. 

 Cecilia Hamilton Wyndham Hill's) opinion, that the Ayliffes are descended 

 from Ayliffe, King of Northumbria, and the O'Neills, Kings in Ireland— 

 whereof one of the first married Scoti the daughter of Pharaoh (date not 

 given) and settled on the Nile — whence he took his terrestrial title, 

 O'Neill," i.e., " O' th' Nile," and that they have shared to no small extent 

 in the general injustice meted out in England to all things and persons 

 Irish. It is indeed hinted not obscurely that if right were might the 

 properties held by a good many noble families of the present day, who are 

 by no means spared by the writer, would revert to their rightful owners, 

 the direct representatives of the Ayliffe Race. In matters such as the 

 family connections of the Irish Kings with the line of the Pharaohs, and 

 the coat armour of Saxon princesses, a mere Wiltshireman can hardly be 

 expected to pronounce an opinion— but when we read that of " the noble 

 dead who sleep around us here [i.e., in Brinkworth Churchyard] few know 

 their history ; and we may add, more particularly those who have taken 

 upon them the office of enlightenment to others, notably Canon Jackson, 

 afterwards Bishop of London, whose bishopric was possibly a reward of his 

 mendacity or ignorance. Masterpieces of both, his efforts as [? are] displayed 

 in a pamphlet published by the Archaeological Society of North Wilts 

 entitled ' The Ayliffes of Grittenham,' " we begin to feel sure that there is 

 a mistake somewhere. This is certain, in any case, that in the Latin epitaph 

 from the tomb of Sir Joseph Ayloff, in Hendon Church — as quoted here — 

 there are eight misprints. 



VOL. XXX. — -NO. XC. 



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