GEOFFREY CHAUCER, merry, deightful companion to those who will listen to the archaic form in which he speaks the EnglIsh tongue, has admitted to his immortal portrait gallery a " wife of Bathe." But Shakespeare was never led into our western country and none of our beautiful spots are consecrated in the music of his verse. Yet in the first folio of " Henry VIII." there is one name mentioned, to understand which the student must learn something of the early history of this parish. Buckingham's surveyor tells to the king his artful tale of the Duke's designs upon the crown and finds a tempter for the traitor, saying
He was brought to this By a vaine Prophesie of Nicholas Henton
Kin. What was that Henton ?
Sur. Sir, a Chartreux Friar
His Confessor who fed him euery minute
With words of Soveraignty.

This friar's name was Nicholas Hopkins, as he iii called in other places, but surnames had not then acquired the settled character they have now, and the monks were as often known by the house to which they belonged as by their own names. The Abbey of Hinton or Hentone to which this Nicholas belonged was a large and noted monastery, founded in 1227 by Ella, Countess of Salisbury. Hinton, together with the parish of Norton S. Philip, was held at the time of the Great Survey by Edward de Sarlsberi, and the two manors were passed down to his descendants whose succession I have recounted on a previous occasion on. A daughter and only child, Ella was left in 1196 sole possessor of the estates of this distinguished family. According to a romantic tradition this tender child was hidden away in Normandy by some of her relatives, perhaps lest the greed of an uncle for her estates might endanger her life. But this removed her from the wardship of the king, and she was not long after brought back and a husband was conveniently found for her in William Longespee, the son of fair Rosamund, the family title of Earl Salisbury being revived for him. His name of Longespee goes to show that he WM esteemed a good warrior in the heyday of chivalry, when the holy expe- ditions of the Crusaders were in the first bloom of their attractiveness. It was probably Richard I. who gave him his wife but at the end of his reign. The Earl however was held in very intimate regard by John and accompanied the tyrant in all his wanderings over his kingdom. In 1209 he was chosen warden of the marches of Wales. He remained true to his sovereign throughout the period of the Interdict, and when in the same year as the submission at Dover Philip of France invaded Flanders Salisbury commanded the English forces sent to aid Count Ferrand. He was one of the few barons too found in the royal camp when Magna Charta was signed, and after wards commanded one of the armies which John raised at the end of the year to crush his opponents. Even he however seems at last to have deserted the tyrant, perhaps with prudential regard to the preservation of his estates, seeing that the king's cause was hopeless. At any rate he joined the party of Prince Louis and was one of those sup- porters of the invader who, immediately on the death of Sansterre, declared for the young prince Henry, who rewarded his fidelity with rich gifts. On the feast of S. Vitalis the Martyr in 1220 the foundations of Salisbury Cathedral were laid. The first was laid for Pope Honorius, the second for the .Archbishop of Canterbury , the third by the Bishop, the fourth by the Earl of Salisbury, and the fifth by his Countess Ella. In 1224 we find him taking part in an expedition into Gascony, on his return from which his vessel was driven out of its course and he was delayed for several months. This seems to have undermined his health and he died on the 4th of March, 1226, leaving a family of four sons and four daughters. He was interred in the chapel of the Virgin at the new Cathedral of Sarum, and his effigy is still to be seen there though not in its original position. The men of that day were wont when the occupations of war began to pall upon them to make munificent gifts to religious houses, and in this district Stanley Abbey had been founded by his father, Henry II., Bradenstoke Abbey by Ella's ancestors, and Monkton Farley by a Bohun whose wife was a member of the same family. Now our Earl himself gave his manor of Hatherop in Gloucestershire on S. Magdalen's Day, 1222, to found a Carthusian monastery, and by his will made several bequests to enrich the same establishment. The brethren however did not find the place a comfortable home, and upon their petition the good Countess tra-nsferred them to Hentone granting them in exchange for their property at Hatherop her manor of Hentone, with the advowson of the church, the park and all its appurtenances, as well as the manor and advowson of Norton. This property she took out of the hundred of Wellow and erected into a liberty. It seems that on the 6th of November, 1227, she laid the foundaton of the buildings which were erected in honour of God, the blessed Virgin Mary, S. John Baptist and All Saints, though she subsequently took in many additions thereto. The foundation was con firmed in 1240 by Henry III., who conferred upon it the same privileges which his grandfather granted to the Carthusian house of Witham. It strikes one that these corporations were very pleasantly placed, when we read how they were freed from every kind of burden, analogous to those which in the present day make the British taxpayer feel himself a martyr to his country's good. The king covenanted that " this house should be for " ever free and quit from gelds, danegelds, hydages, " scutages, works of castles, bridges, parks, moats " and houses; and also from toll, passage, pontage, " lestage, and all services, customs, and quest- " monies, and from shires, hundreds, suits of shires " and hundreds, and all pleas and quarrels : that " the monks should be exempt from all manner of " exactions ; and that the King's foresters should " not intermeddle within the jurisdictjon of the " monastick lands." Pope Innocent confirmed all this and gave a similar exemption de s.piritualibus by a deed dated at Lyons in 1245. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus in the year 1534 their estates were valued at £248 19s. 2d., and included lands in Hinton, Wellow , Norton S. Philip, Monkton Farleigh, Bekyngton, Longleat, Lullington, West wood, Rewleigh next Farley Hungerford, Fresh ford, Woodwick and other places. With regard to the name of this order, the word Chartreux by which it was called from the place where it was founded, became corrupted in English mouths into Charterhouse, of which an instance survives in the name of the great metropolitan school which was built on the site of one of these houses. In the same way Hinton, which itself means the village on the high grounds, obtained the distinguishing title of Cllarterhouse. Upon the dissolution in 1546, Hinton was granted to John Bartlett, who sold it to Matthew Colthurst. His son sold it again in 1579 to Walter Hungerford, and it re mained in the possession of this family until the commencement of the 18th century, when Sir Edward Hungerford sold it to Walter Robinson, esq., [Grandfather of Stocker Robinson, esq., who dying in 1781 left two sisters, his coheirs. The daughter of one of these married George Clark Symonds, once captain in the 18th Dragoons, who died March 21st, 1830, and to whose memory there is a monument in the church recording that it was mainly through his exertions that the church was enlarged and the living separated from Norton, the endowment being increased from Queen Anne's Bounty. Mrs. Brooks is the present lady of the manor. The present manor house occupies the site of the Abbey, the chapel and some other portions of the buildings of which remain. The church of S. John Baptist is not remarkable, having been added to and altered at different dates. It was originally of the usual form of chancel, nave and western tower. The south aisle is old but the north aisle was added less than fifty years ago by the exertions of Capt. Symonds. The interior of the church has a peculiar appearance as there is no chancel arch and the north aisle extends to the east wall of the chancel. The church was reseated in 1849, in a rather poor fashion and the arrangement of organ and vestry-curt:ained off behind' the in- strument-is not pleasing. The present roof of the nave and south aisle was placed in 1866, the money having been borrowed from the Loan Commissioners, and the chancel is being laid with encaustic tiles. The eastern window is from a design by Sir Gilbert Scott and is filled with stained glass to the memory of Thomas Jones and his " friend and benefactor," Mary Day by his widow. The upper part of the tower is not more than .a century old having been carried up round the gables of the saddleback roof. The tower contains three bells, on the first of which there is no in scription. The second is an ancient one, the stamps on it being those of the anonymous founder
t. g, .g;oJJannt~ § xtf § ~art.
The third bell bears the inscription :-
THo. SHVTE -Ro .RVNDLE .c 'w . L.cI687.
Under .the tower is a most interesting and curious tablet, more than two hundred years old, to the memory of a couple named Shute, who after 52 years of wedded life, died on the same day, Above the inscription are two skulls-:.the usual emblems of death-and an hour-glass over two hands cla,sping a heart. The inscription is under :-
HERE LIETH YE BODIES OF JOHN SHVTT AND MARGARET HIS WIFE
WHO LIVED TOGETHER 52 YEARS AND DECEASED BOTH IN ONE DAY
THEIR BODIES BURIED ARE BVT NOT THIR NAMES
THEIR UERTUES HAVE INBALMED YE SAME HINTON
WHEN STRENGTH OF NATURE DID DECAY THEIR SOULS
THEN HASTEN TO AWAY UNTO YE AUTHOR OF ALL BLIS
THE FOUNTAINE OF THEIR HAPPINES A PAIRE OF DOVES
SUTED OF SILVER FEATHERS WHO LOUED AND LIUED
AND DIED HERE LIE TO GETHER BEING
YE 2TH OF SEPTEMBER ANO DOMIN DEI 1668.

In the chancel floor we read there is a gravestone with the inscription; " Here liethe the bodi of " Anthonie Hungerford, esquier, captain wythin " the realme of, Ireland, who desesed the 25 of " Maye in the 36 yefe of our Queene Elizabeth's " raine, Ano Domini 1594." After the Reformation the church of Hinton was attached as a chapelry to the vicarage of Norton S. Philip. In 1826 however it was separated and made a perpetual curacy. It is now a vicarage in the gift of the Vicar of Norton.Monuments in the church show how long the last two ministers occupied their cure. The following inscription preserves the memory of the one appointed in 1826- THOMAS SPENCER, M.A. AND LATE FELLOW OF S. JOHN'S CAMB. FOR NEARLY 22 YEARS PASTOR OF THlS PARISH .DIED 26TH JAN. 1853 AGED 56 YEARS AND 3 MONTHS. He was succeeded in 1848 by the late Mr. Girardot who was highly esteemed in the parish on account ~ of the kindness which he and his family displayed to all around them. His death occurred quite recently though he had been absent for many months on account of ill health, and over his grave near the priest's door is a marble monument to the memory of WIJ:.LIAM LEWIS GIRARDOT 27 YEARS VICAR OF THIS PARISH \VHO DIED 3RD JAN. 1876 AGED 75 The present vicar is the Rev. Charles Watkins, Theological Associate King's College, London, who was acting as curate in charge at the iime of Mr. Girardot's death, and who laid down the sword to enter the church having formerly held the commission of a Captain in her Majesty's Service. On the Sunday I was present the service was taken by the Vicar who read very well though his voice is one which naturally must be difficult to manage. I imagine that he has introduced certain improvements in the mode of the service which do not meet with the unanimous approval of his flock. The revised edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern is in use, and a very good country choir, properly placed in the chancel, perform the musical part of the service in a very satisfactory manner. But in some corner by a pillar was a voice which I am sure was that of the banished parish clerk. The owner of the voice was an old gentleman of quiet and inoffensive appearance. He was evidently only the weak vessel containing a voice that would not be silenced, and as it was no longer permitted the privilege of repeating the prayers and responses half a sentence ahead of the people now maintained an analogous position in their rear. Thus while the Psalms were in reading, he, with dogged persistence, proclaimed the concluding portion of a verse after the minister had commenced that which followed it. The service as I saw it however was very moderate in tone and one must be very captious to take offence at it. The day was Palm Sunday and so that beautiful hymn was sung, All glory, laud and honour To Thee Redeemer King, To whom the lips of children Made sweet Hosannas ring. The text was taken from Philippians ii. 9,11- " Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him, " and given him a name which is above every " name; that at the name of Jesus every knee "should bow, of things in heaven and things in " earth and things under the earth; and that every " tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, " to the glory of God the Father." The sermon was a very brief and concise exposition of the , event in the life of Our Lord which Palm Sunday is appointed to commemorate, and the instruction which the Church should derive from it. The service concluded with the offertory by which "means, I am informed, the expenses of the church have been met since the abolition of Church rates.