men who were raised, according to the traditions current in the Long Island and other parts of the Highlands, and in Ireland, to defend both countries against foreign invaders, more especially against the Scandinavians;" and he notes that the scenes of the Finn stories are "all laid in Eirinn and Lochlan," and these would seem to have been border countries, so that possibly the stories relate to the time when the Norsemen occupied the Western Isles.*

END OF CHAPTER I.

Notes on Engravings of St. Alban's Abbey.

By F. G. KITTON.

HE collector of topographical prints, as well as the producer of them, serves a distinctly useful purpose in bringing together an assemblage of pictorial records of bygone and existing architectural antiquities - records that frequently prove very serviceable to the historian, and which, but for the collector, might have vanished like the scenes they depict. He who forms a collection of such prints, if only for their own sake, derives therefrom not only considerable interest, but often much amusement; for, in the case of early engravings especially, the curious anomalies which are sometimes apparent, as well as the remarkable perspective drawing that many of them exhibit, cannot fail to excite a smile. On the other hand, he finds delight in the possession of beautiful specimens of the engraver's arttranscripts from paintings or drawings by distinguished artists who excelled in the careful delineation of architecture, both ecclesiastical and domestic.

Remembering that there exist many thousands of prints portraying the old cities and towns of England, with their cathedrals, abbeys, churches, streets, and ancient houses, the collector would be wise to confine his attention to one particular subject only, and * Western Highlands. Introduction, p. v.

endeavour to make it as complete as possible, rather than attempt to acquire a miscellaneous and indiscriminate gathering of "odds and ends." The famous Abbey of St. Alban, for example, affords considerable scope for the collector who possesses a reasonable amount of enthusiasm for research.

Mr. Lewis Evans, F.S.A., who is probably the most ardent of collectors of Hertfordshire prints, has made a speciality of those relating to St. Alban's Abbey. He informs me that, out of a probable 200 distinct prints existing of the whole abbey, he has about 140, not including variations in inscriptions, cut-down blocks, etc.; but, counting these variations and views of portions of the building, together with numerous engravings of the interior, he has acquired nearly 600 different Notwithrepresentations of the Abbey. standing the fact that his extraordinary collection is the result of many years' patience, Mr. Evans believes that there may be quite 300 engravings relating to the Abbey that he has not yet met with, or had the opportunity of obtaining. After inspecting his carefully and systematically arranged folios, one is able (almost at a glance, as it were) to realize the many chapters in the history of the sacred edifice that derives its name from England's Proto-Martyr. In the present paper I deal only with exterior views of the Abbey, and chiefly with such as possess special interest and value, either artistically or topographically.

The earliest known engraving of the Abbey is that contained in what purports to be a view of St. Albans and Verulamium as given in Speed's map of Hertfordshire, the date of which is about 1610. Here the building is seen from the south-west; the whole picture is very curious, and so fanciful that it cannot be seriously taken as a truthful representation. A more accurate (although crude) presentment is that given in Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, first edition (vol. i. [1655], pp. 176, 178), where we find two views of the old Abbey, viz., from the north and the south respectively, drawn and engraved by Daniel King. The first of these quaint plates bears, in the left upper corner, the words, "Ecclesiæ olim Conventualis St Albani facies Septentrionalis," and on the right an elaborate coat-of-arms having the following

inscription below: "Tantorum cinerum ne pereat crypta. P. Chr: Terne, Med: D." The other plate is similarly inscribed, "Ecclesiæ olim Conventualis St Albani facies australis" (on right), and another coat-ofarms surrounding the legend, "In memoriam Ecclesiæ St Albani protomartiris Angloru hoc posuit Galfridus Palmer Arm:" the drawing of the architecture in these engravings is inaccurate in many respects-as, for example, the length of the nave, which is much exaggerated; it will also be observed that while, in the first plate, the tower is represented as having a short spire, or "spike," with a vane, the second picture is remarkable for the absence of that particular feature. The latter print clearly shows the

Ecclefia olim conventualis
St Albani facies Septentrionalis.

Church of St. Alban," and "The South Prospect," etc., respectively.

In 1723 a large print of "The North Front of the Antient & Famous Church of St. Alban" was issued by C. Dicey and Co., of "Aldermary Church-Yard, London," and measures 21 inches by 16 inches. This was drawn by Nicholas Hawksmoor (a scholar of Sir Christopher Wren), and engraved in line by B. Cole; it also presents, as a background to the picture, a fanciful representation of what is intended as a view of St. Albans and Verulam, a southern prospect of the Abbey itself being included therein; the lower portion of the plate contains a groundplan of the Abbey. To commemorate a restoration of the Abbey, a slightly larger en

remains of the cloister arches on the face of the south wall, and in both we see the little bell-turret above the roof of the Lady Chapel, then (and for many years subsequently) used as the Grammar - school. A later state of these engravings by King may be distinguished by the fact that they give translations into English of the Latin inscriptions, "The North Prospect of ye Sometymes Conuentuall

* The slender spire so often to be found surmounting the towers of Hertfordshire churches is familiarly known as the "Hertfordshire spike." That formerly existing on the tower of St. Alban's Abbey was erected in the fifteenth century by Abbot Wheathampsted, and demolished in 1833; this "spike" was substituted for Abbot Trumpington's octagonal lantern, a structure which, doubtless, considerably enhanced the architectural beauty of the building. Tide Ashdown's St. Albans: Historical and Picturesque, 1893.

Daniel King Lin et frafe

graving of this plate was issued about the same time, signed "Hawksmoor, architectus. J. Kip, fecit. G. Hulett, sc." Both these Hawksmoor engravings are undoubtedly rare, and there is a reproduction-a small quarto plate-which is probably as scarce; in a scroll above the picture is inscribed the title "The famous Church of St. Alban, ProtoMartyr of Great Britain; with a View of the present Town & Anc' City of Verulam," and below, "To the Reverend Mr. Arch-Deacon Stubbs this Plate & ye Plan are gratefully acknowledgd" (sic). This was the plate prepared by T. Harris for Stevens' additions to Dugdale's Monasticon, 1722-3. The Abbey portion only has been more recently engraved on wood by Martin, on a much reduced scale. Samuel and Nathaniel Buck are responsible

fourth is dated 1819, but unsigned; a fifth was engraved by Metcalf; in a sixth (engraved by Taylor, and published, "according to Act of Parliament," by Alex. Hogg), also undated, only a fragment of the monastic wall is delineated, while the drawing of details is altogether incorrect; another version, published by J. Robinson and Co., 1769 (for the Ladies' Magazine), shows a "spike" so enormous as to resemble a lofty spire, and is disfigured by other inaccuracies. With regard to the last-mentioned plate, a curious error was made by the copyist, who translated the fragment of monastic wall into a substantial flight of steps leading up to the exterior of the south aisle!

A plan of St. Albans, containing a south (but described as a south-west) view of the Abbey, was published in 1766 by A. Dury, the drawing by M. Wren, engraved by J. Chevis. Although the tower and transept are supposed to be in perspective, the remainder of the structure is shown as an elevation, while the length of the Lady Chapel is represented as being extremely short. There is also a pen lithograph, by C. J. W. W(inter), portraying the south view, which purports to have been taken "from an old print, 1767"; but this date must be wrong, for the lithograph depicts in the transept the Wheathampsted window, which was destroyed in 1703. There is also a three-sided castellated structure (at one time, I believe, the residence of the headmaster of the Grammar-school) abutting on the south wall, near the west end, which I have not noticed in any other engraving. About 1783, two etchings by B. Green appeared of the south transept and Lady Chapel respectively. A south-east view, engraved by Sparrow, and published by S. Hooper, 1787, appeared in Grose's Antiquities of England and Wales; although rather crudely drawn, the engraving is delicately wrought, the proportions of tower and other structural features being fairly correct. This plate was afterwards copied by Metcalf, on a somewhat larger scale, for New come's History of St. Alban's Abbey, 1795.

In the same year (1787), three interesting engravings of St. Alban's Abbey were published, from drawings by Jacob Schnebbilie, draughtsman to the Society of Antiquaries, to which office he was appointed on the recommendation of the then president, the

Earl of Leicester, who, in his park at Hertford, accidentally saw him for the first time while sketching. He was the son of a Swiss confectioner who settled in England; for a time he followed his father's business, but his talent for sketching induced him to give up the manufacture of sweetmeats in favour of Art, in which he soon excelled. His speciality was pictorial architecture, and he executed several drawings (the majority of which he afterwards etched and published) of important architectural antiquities in Great Britain. His three representations of St. Alban's Abbey* were etched by himself and aquatinted by F. Jukes, whose name also appears as the publisher. Schnebbilie died in 1792, "after an illness occasioned by too intense an application to professional engagements, which terminated in a total debility of body." The Gentleman's Magazine of that date declares that "few artists produced more specimens of their talents in their particular departments than Mr. Schnebbilie in the last four years of his life, which was the short space of time that he seriously occupied in such pursuits."

Schnebbilie's views of the Abbey, quarto size, represent it as seen from the south-west, north-west, and north-east respectively. The first of these makes the most satisfactory picture, although the drawing is not absolutely accurate, the tower, with its "spike," being too tall in proportion to the rest of the building, while the front of the transept is too broad; for the sake of effect, the artist has also taken the liberty of transferring the river Ver (which, in reality, is some distance away) to a field contiguous to the Abbey. The print also affords a glimpse of the Great Gateway and the King's Stables, the latter having long been demolished. In the northwest view the tower is too massive, and the west front, with its Perpendicular window, too narrow; the trees and Monastery wall adjacent to the western porch have disappeared, but fragments of the wall seen on the left, enclosing private gardens on the north side of the Abbey, are discernible. The third engraving (that is, the south-east view) is very vigorously aquatinted; here, on the contrary,

* Schnebbilie made four drawings in St. Albans, viz., three of the Abbey and one of the Clock Tower and Market Cross, all of which were engraved.

the tower is not massive enough, but other wise the details are fairly accurate, the Lady Chapel making a most effective foreground. The Schnebbilie prints are comparatively rare. A few impressions were coloured, and these are exceedingly scarce.

A very interesting south-west view of the Abbey, engraved by Birrell, was published in 1790 by E. Harding, No. 132, Fleet Street. It purports to have been "copied by F. Grosse [Grose], Esq., from an Ancient Drawing said to have been made by Livens, a Disciple of Rembrant." The original drawing, in wash (circa 1640), is included in a collection of Hertfordshire views presented (I understand) to the British Museum (King's Maps and Drawings, vol. xv.) by Baskerfield, once Mayor of St. Albans; its dimensions (8vo.) are about the same as those of the engraved reproduction. The architectural details are, on the whole, well rendered, although exception might be made to certain features, such as window traceries; while the engraver has misunderstood the artist in representing the presbytery as a continuation of the south transept; it will also be noticed that an ordinary flagstaff is substituted for the then existing Wheathampsted "spike." This engraving is especially valuable in depicting what remained at that time of the monastic buildings. To the right of the centre are the King's Garners, and to the extreme left the King's Stables are shown, backed by the Great Gateway, while near the foreground of the picture, and almost in a line with the west front of the Abbey, we see the ancient Water Gate, also of monastic origin. On the plate is engraved a reference to Shakespeare's Henry VI., Part II., act ii, scene 1, which contains an account of the miracle (!) wrought by St. Alban in restoring the sight of an ostensible blind man. I have said that this print is described as a copy of a drawing said to have been made by Livens, a disciple of Rembrandt. On referring to Pilkington's Dictionary of Painters, I am unable to discover the name "Livens," but it seems to me pretty certain that Jan Lievens (a Dutch painter, born in 1607) is the real author of the work, as he visited England during the reign of Charles I. (1625-49), and was patronized by the King during his three years' stay in this country. Lievens, however, was not a pupil of Rem

brandt, but a fellow-disciple of that famous painter in the studio of Peter Lastman, another distinguished Dutch artist; hence probably arose the confusion of facts. The drawing is a very beautiful study; though it has been three times engraved (once upon wood), none of the reproductions has done justice to the original.

In 1791 a remarkable engraving of the Abbey, as seen from the south-east, was published in the General Magazine and Impartial Review. It was drawn by G. Beck and engraved by I. Barlow. Although undoubtedly intended as a true picture, this print fails to give the faintest idea of the original at any period of its eventful history; indeed, the utter absence of portraiture is absolutely ludicrous, and can only be accounted for by the supposition that the artist, when producing his drawing, relied only upon his memory, notwithstanding the fact that he has introduced a portrait of himself in the act of sketching. Were it not that the surroundings to some extent portray the actual environment of the sacred edifice (such as the Great Gateway and the river Ver), it would be reasonable to doubt that the picture was really meant to represent St. Alban's Abbey. True, it indicates the presence of Norman work in the tower and turrets, but the most striking feature of the building, viz., the enormous nave, is conspicuous by its absence.

I pass from this artistic jeu d'esprit to what is probably the first engraving of the Abbey executed during the present century—a southwest view drawn and engraved by J. Sparrow (undated), depicting the edifice environed by trees, with the river in the foreground. A more important delineation, however, appeared in 1802; it is also a south-west view (4to.), engraved by W. Byrne, F.S.A., from a drawing by T. Hearne, F.S.A. This fine print gives a general view of the structure and its sylvan surroundings, with water and a rustic bridge in the foreground. Two years later, the same artist and engraver produced a companion plate of the Abbey as seen from the southeast, also a very artistic presentment, although the drawing is somewhat careless in the rendering of the tower turrets and windowheads; the lighting-up of the picture is, how