Star.
London, England, 1830-09-11 00:00:00

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lumination, an accurate engraving of which is given by Mr. Carter, in,
his Specimens of Ancient Sculptures and Paintings. It represents •
knight arming for a tournament, or some martial exercise, the particu-
lars of whose dress are highly curious, and most minutely delineated ; '
two ladies, apparently his wives, assist him. As he sits on his steed,
la lady, habited in curled hair, with a fillet, a veil thrown back, and a
wimple, her surcoat charged with his alms, lifts up to him, with her 1
right hank a close pointed helmet ; and in her left hand she holds a
pennon of his arms round the point of a spear. Behind her is another
lady, in the same dress, bolding in her right hand a pendant shield ofl
his arms, which are likewise on her sureoat ; and on her left arm is
banging, as it may be presumed, the embroidered collar, an usual prize'
or favour given by some lady to her favourite knight, as a charge to
him to meditate some feat of chivalry, which collar was generally fast-
ened above the knee, by some of the lady's female attendants The la-
dies' dresses are alike, the hair combed hack on the head, and curled at
the ears; a fillet of gold beads encircles the head; a red band edges the
veil, as a stiff kind if ornament does the ears. Their boddice, ar
der dress is red, with the sureost of their arms over it."
The Welds have not, we believe, for some time pest, resided at the
Castle, which till lately, was tenanted by Mr. now Sir Relit. Peel, Bart.
This circumstance gave rise to the erroneous notion that the ex-King of
France was provided with the asylum of Lullworth by our present admi-
nistration. The ex-Ring's temporary abode here is more directly ex-
plained by the local advantages of the Castle, and the devotion of its
sympathizing proprietor. Neither is this a solitary instance of Mr.
Weld's philanthropy, since he long accommodated some emigrant monks
of the order of La Trappe, in the vicinity of the site of Bindon Abbey—
also his property. This order, founded on the discipline of the Oster.
clans, had its origin in France.
Perhaps Dorset is one of the most interesting counties of England. Its
antiquarian treasures are unnumbered. Poole was a place of consequencel
several centuries ago ; and Wareham, though a grass-grown street, has
still three churches r both these places are parliamentary boroughs.—
Purbeck has long been famed for its atone quarries ; and the Isle of
Portland has contributed many embellished piles to our metro-
polis : witness Whitehall and St. Paul's Cathedral. Abbotsbut
has dwindled to a fishing town, and its magnificent abbey is
almost lost. Lyme Regis was a hold in the civil wars of
Charles I. and here the ill-starredsTZe of Monmouth landed, in
1685. Dorchester, the county town, is of great antiquity; and Whit-
borne contains in its Saxon and Gothic church, the tombs of Ethelred,
brother to the Great Alfred, and of the parents of the mother of Henry
VII. Shaftesbury had once a Benedictine nunnery, and the richest and
most splendid in the kingdom ; and Sherborne was a bishop's see in the
timeof the Saxon King Ins : part of its castle was built by Sir Walter
Raleigh. Milton Abbey (by name,) and Wolveton, the seat of the
Trenchards, in the time of Henry VII. ; the Saxon castle of Coefe, and
remains of a Roman amphitheatre, barrow, camp, &c. likewise attest
what we have said to stimulate the reader's curiosity.
We remember passing a day pleasantly enough in tracing one of the
last-mentioned relics of olden time, midway between Blandford and Dor-
chester, which the people to this day call Castle Rings. Our stay would
not allow us much research ; but we finished our excursion by starting
from Milborne, on foot, across the fine expanse of Dorset, the bold
ridges of part of Hampshire. and thus to Southampton, where the arti-
ficial luxury of a stage-coach put an end to ail our enjoyment of romantic
nature.—Jlirver.

MR. OIVEN'S LETTER, No. 111.