Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/51

 INTRODUCTION xlvii ���of learned men and Vertuoso's w h at that time abounded," and his memoirs contain numerous references to Lord Win- chilsea's antiquarian zeal and learning. �Lord Winchilsea's closest associates, besides his chaplain, Mr. Creyk, were Lord Hertford and Dr. Stukeley. They styled themselves Druids and had fanciful names, Dr. Stukeley being Chyndonax ; Lord Hertford, Segonax ; and Lord Winchilsea, Cyngetorix. Their special search was for Duro- lenum, and Lord Winchilsea enthusiastically declared that if he should be so happy as to succeed in the search he would have " O brave Cyngetorix " engraved on his tomb- stone. �Another form of antiquarian research carried on in the main by Charles, and one perhaps more in accord with Ardelia's taste, was the hunt for old books and manuscripts. In an account of Thomas Britton, the famous musical small- coal man, we have a very pleasant picture in which the Earl of Winchilsea is one of the figures : �About the beginning of this century, a passion for collecting old books and manuscripts reigned among the nobility. The chief of those who sought after them were the Duke of Devonshire, Edward, Earl of Oxford, and the Earls of Pembroke, Sunderland and Winchilsea. These persons in the winter season, on Satur- days, the Parliament not sitting on that day, were used to resort to the city, and, dividing themselves, took several routes, some to Little Britain, some to Moorfields, and others to different parts of the town, inhabited by book-sellers; there they would enquire into the several shops as they passed along for old books and man- uscripts; and sometime before noon would assemble at the shop of Christopher Bateman, a book-seller, at the corner of Ave-Maria- lane in Paternoster- row; and here they were frequently met by Bagford, and other persons engaged in the same pursuits, and a conversation always commenced on the subject of their inquiries. �And presently along would come Thomas Britton in his blue linen frock and with his sack of small coal on his back, and join them. ��� �