[361] See the preceding account of Raglan Castle.
[362] “Secunda urbicula, quam Burrium Antoninus dixit, sedet ubi Brithin profluens Iscae commiscetur, Britannis hodie, transpositis literis, Brumbegie pro Burenbegie, et Caer-Uske—Gyraldo Castrum Oscæ—et Anglis Usk, nunc solum Castri ampli ruinas ostendit, quod amænissimé intersidet inter Iscam flumen, et Oilwy rivulum ...”
[363] Monuments Antiqua, Kennet’s Rom. Antiq., Tacitus, Vegetius de re Militari, Thomas, p. 141.
[364] We do not read of any nuns having been “stolen from the nunnery” of Uske; but as the reader may be aware, poor Sir Osbert Giffard paid severely for his sacrilegious gallantry in stealing not one but two nuns out of Wilton Abbey. He was ordered never to enter a nunnery more! never to be in the presence of a nun without special leave of his Diocesan. Nor was this enough: he was condemned to go thrice “naked in his shirt and breeches” to the parish church of W., though not, it is said, in presence of the nuns; to be each several time beaten with a rod, much to the comfort of his own soul, and the edification of the by-standers; and so, also, in Salisbury market, and in Shaftesbury church. He was condemned, moreover, to doff the insignia of knighthood, and don a coarse garment of russet, trimmed with lamb or sheep’s wool; to wear calf-skin on his nether extremities, and not to wear any shirt after flagellation. And all this ignominious treatment to be rigorously enforced, until he, the said Osbert, should have been three years in the Holy Land, or recalled by royal authority.—Brit. Monachism, iii. 161. County Hist.
[365] The town is incorporated and governed by a portreeve who has concurrent jurisdiction with the county magistrates, a recorder, two bailiffs, and burgesses. The recorder appoints the burgesses, from among whom the portreeve is chosen at a court-leet, on a day previous to St. Luke’s day, or the 29th of October. The recorder is appointed by the lord of the borough. Four constables are chosen at an annual court-leet of the lord of the manor of Uske, who is also lord of the borough, although the latter is no part of the manor. The quarter-sessions are held alternately here and at Monmouth. The town-house, erected by the Duke of Beaufort, is a handsome building. There are monthly fairs, and the inhabitants, besides the japan ware already mentioned, are occupied in the salmon fishery and agriculture. A free grammar-school for boys was founded here in 1621, by Roger Edwards, with almshouses for twelve poor persons, and an exhibition at Oxford. These almshouses, forming three sides of a quadrangle, have been recently rebuilt. In the main street the houses are much scattered, and ornamented by intervening gardens, which give an air of healthy cheerfulness to the place. The Wesleyans, Independents, and Roman Catholics, have all their meeting-houses or chapels.—Parl. Gaz.
[366] Or in the elegant lines of Ausonius:—
“Nec te puniceo rutilantem viscere salmo
Transierim, latæ cujus vaga verbera caudæ
Gurgite de medio summas reseruntur in undas.”
[367] See vol i. of this work, art. “Arundel.”
[368] A.D. 1189. Hen. Rex ... dedit Maritagium Isabellæ, filiæ Ricardi Strongbow. Willelmo Marescallo primo, et sic factus est Comes totius Pembrochiæ, et dominus totius hæreditatis.—Will. Worcest.
[369] See history of Tinterne Abbey, ante p. 44.