United States or Indonesia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


Percy Noakes bowed very low; the gallant captain did the same with all due ferocity, and the Briggses were clearly overcome. ‘Our friend, Mr. Wizzle, being unfortunately prevented from coming,’ resumed Mrs. Taunton, ‘I did myself the pleasure of bringing the captain, whose musical talents I knew would be a great acquisition.’

A rare field was open for their cruelty, for in Taunton alone there lay a thousand hapless prisoners, many of whom were so little trained to express their thoughts, and so hampered by the strange dialect in which they spoke, that they might have been born dumb for all the chance they had of making either judge or counsel understand the pleadings which they wished to lay before them.

Covers of pocket books and tobacco pouches were covered over with similar legends, like a delightful beadwork tobacco pouch in the Taunton Castle Museum, on which is the motto or sentiment, "LOVE ME FOR I AM THINE, 1631," wrought by a seventeenth-century needleworker.

In many parts of England it is thought that a person cannot die so long as any locks are locked or bolts shot in the house. It is therefore a very common practice to undo all locks and bolts when the sufferer is plainly near his end, in order that his agony may not be unduly prolonged. For example, in the year 1863, at Taunton, a child lay sick of scarlatina and death seemed inevitable.

The eye, apparently, was dark and deep-set. R. A. Kinglake to execute for the Somerset Valhalla, the Shire-Hall at Taunton, these points have been carefully considered; and the sculptor has succeeded in producing a work which, while it suggests the mingling of humour and dignity that is Fielding's chief characteristic, is also generally faithful to Hogarth's indications.

N. of Bath, with a very small church, which has a Norm. S. door. There is a fine yew tree near the porch. Charlinch, a parish 5 m. W. of Bridgwater. The altar-piece, in memory of Lady Taunton, is a modern copy of the 15th-cent. painter Francia. There are two interesting epitaphs, one on the S. wall of the chancel, the other on a brass on the floor.

All Bridgwater was astir with Monmouth's presence; moreover, there had been great incursions from Taunton and the surrounding country, the women-folk of the Duke-King's followers having come that day to Bridgwater to say farewell to father and son, husband and brother, before the army marched as was still believed to Gloucester.

Recent excavations have proved it to have been occupied and strengthened, if not originally made, by the Normans. On the accessible side looking towards Chard the station is defended by a triple row of ramparts and ditches, but the side overlooking the vale of Taunton is so precipitous that the only protection provided appears to have been a kind of citadel surmounted probably by a keep.

Of these rude implements of war the most formidable was made by fastening the blade of a scythe erect on a strong pole. The tithing men of the country round Taunton and Bridgewater received orders to search everywhere for scythes and to bring all that could be found to the camp.

Pitminster, a large village, 4-1/2 m. S. of Taunton. The church is noticeable for its octagonal tower, which is surmounted by a spire. There are two large monuments of the Coles family on either side of the chancel, and a third at the W. end, dating from the 16th and 17th cents. The font is elaborately carved. Pitney, a village 2-1/2 m. N.E. of Langport.