Volume 5 — Queries.

LEGAL WORTHIES, QUERIES RESPECTING.

I shall be much obliged for any information or hints as to the following Queries:—

1. Is there any list extant of the Prothonotaries of the Supreme Courts of Judicature from the time of Edward III. downwards, or any source from which their names could be obtained? Was John Hayward a prothonotary of one of the courts in Edward III.'s time, or during the reign immediately following? or can any information be furnished about a lawyer of that name about that time?

2. Is anything known of a place called "Schypmen Hall" existing in London or elsewhere in the time of Edward IV.?

3. When did "Mr. Goldsborough, one of the Prothonotaries of the Common Banke," flourish?

4. Is anything known of Traherne, said to have been reader at Lincoln's Inn temp. Hen. VIII., whose Reading on Forest Laws is much referred to by Manwood?

5. Is anything known of Frowick, a lawyer probably of the sixteenth century?

C. W. G.

TOWN HALLS.

I have to thank two of your correspondents for their Notes in answer to my Query respecting mediæval towns built on a regular plan in England. They have reminded me of Hull and Wokingham, with both which places I was previously acquainted; neither of them is by any means of the same regular and perfect plan as the English towns in France, but they approximate to it in some degree; and I am not the less obliged for being reminded of them. My success in this instance encourages me to trouble you with another Query. Can any of your correspondents furnish me with information respecting any mediæval town halls remaining in England? I am acquainted with several, but believe there are many more than is commonly supposed. Some of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries are mentioned in Mr. Turner's work on Domestic Architecture, as the County Hall at Oakham; the Guildhall at Lincoln; the King's Hall at Winchester. In addition to these, the Guildhall at Exeter is partly of the thirteenth century, and partly of the fifteenth. The old Town Hall at Colchester of the twelfth has, I believe, been destroyed within these few years. The Town Hall at Winchelsea is of the time of Edward I., though mutilated. The Town Hall at Aldborough is of the fifteenth century, or earlier. The hall of St. Mary's Guild at Coventry is a well-known and beautiful example. The Town Hall of Weobly in Herefordshire is, if I remember rightly, an early example of timber work. These are a few instances which occur to my memory. I have no doubt there are many others; and, as the subject is one of considerable interest, perhaps you will not object to assist me in collecting information upon it. You will observe that I include under the general name of Town Halls all public halls, whether called by that name or by any other. I am aware that they do not all belong to the same class, strictly speaking; but I should be glad to know of other examples of any of them.

J. H. PARKER.

Oxford.

Minor Queries.

Chasseurs Britanniques.

—This regiment is noticed under the head of "Foreign Corps on English half-pay," in the Army List for 1850-1, pp. 494. 530. Can any of your readers favour me with some particulars regarding it, and when and where it was raised, &c.?

E. N.

Knights Templars and Freemasons.

—Can any of your readers inform me what connexion has ever existed between the Knights Templars and the Freemasons, as there is a degree in Freemasonry called the Knight Templar's degree? It is supposed that the persecuted Templars betook themselves to the Freemasons' lodges, and secured their protection. The two orders became closely connected, the succession of Grand Masters kept up, and the ritual of the Templars preserved. There is a French order of Knights Templars, which claims direct succession from Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the original order; but the Freemasons say that this is a spurious body, and that the only legitimate claimants to representation of this once powerful order are the Freemasons.

I shall be glad if any of your readers can give such information as may aid my inquiries into this subject; or if they can furnish me with the titles of such works as are most likely to aid my researches. My object is to trace the history of the order of Knights Templars subsequent to the persecution and death of Jacques de Molay, and to ascertain the correctness of the statements of those who profess to be the proper representatives of the order.

E. A. H. L.

St. Christopher.

—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." supply any information which will assist my researches into the real meaning of the representations of St. Christopher, which are so frequently found on the north walls of churches? I have read Mr. Duke's essay on the subject in the Prolusiones Historicæ, but do not quite agree in his view of the meaning which these singular paintings were intended to convey. Why should this saint, of whom so little is correctly known and of whom Alban Butler gives a very scanty account, occupy such a very important position in the iconography of the mediæval church, and which it appears has not been maintained by the Roman Catholics of the present day? I am quite aware of the doggrel lines occasionally found underneath these representations, ascribing extraordinary powers of cure to the picture when looked upon by the faithful; but I cannot think that this reason alone would have led to the adoption of this extraordinary representation in almost all our parish churches. Are there any known representations of St. Christopher in painted glass; if so, where?

E. A. H. L.

Arnold Bilson's Wife.

—Can any of your readers inform me who was "the daughter of the house of Bavaria" married to Arnold Bilson, great-grandfather of Thomas Bilson, Bishop of Winchester (who died 1616); and under what circumstances the marriage took place?

It seems there was some romance in the case, as, according to memorandum (Lib. Coll. Arm., c. 19. p. 48., and Harl. MS. 1101. p. 29. [1582]), the arms granted by the duke to his son-in-law were—"azure, per pole, a rose and thistle, pper;" crest, "a horn, or." This union of what I apprehend to be the royal and plebeian flowers, would seem to indicate that the husband was merely a "roturier;" and, indeed, the "horn" itself may point to his occupation, as it is the simple hunting instrument of the time.

Arnold Bilson after his marriage left Germany, and settled in England.

T. C.

Exeter Controversy.

—W. Gifford, in his Autobiography, says, that the shoemaker to whom he was bound apprentice "was a Presbyterian, whose reading was entirely confined to the small tracts published on the Exeter Controversy."—Transl. of Juvenal, ed. 2. p. x. What controversy, and whose, was that?

A. N.

Education in the Time of Elizabeth.

—What means were employed in the time of Queen Elizabeth for the education of the people? Were there any schools at that time, such as we have now, for the education of the lower classes? Or was it confined chiefly to the higher orders of society?

JAMES COE.

Manchester.

Sword Swallowing.

—If some one of your learned correspondents could point out any other references to the useful accomplishment of sword swallowing, the information would confer a favour on me. The reference to which I allude is about the date of B.C. 326, and is, unless my memorandum be inaccurate, Plu. Lycur. c. 19, and runs thus:

"Ἄγις μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς, σκώπτοντος Ἀττικοῦ τινὸς, τὰς Λακωνικὰς μαχαίρας εἰς τὴν μικρότητα καὶ λέγοντος, ὅτι ῥᾳδίως αὐτὰς οἱ θαυματοποιοὶ καταπίνουσιν ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις, Καὶ μὴν μάλιστα, εἶπεν, ἡμεῖς ἐφικνούμεθα τοῖς ἐγχειριδίοις τῶν πολεμίων."

ÆGROTUS.

Livy quoted by Grotius.

—Grotius, in his Commentary on Matt. v. 13., gives as a parallel passage to "τὸ ἅλις τῆς γῆς," the following quotation from Livy: "Græcia sal gentium." Can any of your correspondents inform me where in Livy this passage occurs?

T. K. R.

Eleanor, Lady of the Ring.

—In a family pedigree I find—

"Eleanor, lady of the ringe, daughter and heir of Thomas Ddu, married John, first cousin of William Herbert, first earl of Pembroke."

What is the meaning of the sobriquet "Lady of the ringe?"

W. R. D. S.

Catalogue of Pictures.

—Some information is requested of an octavo volume of 252 pages, being a catalogue of a collection of pictures consigned to Mr. Samuel Pawson, wine merchant in Cecil Street, Strand, without date or name, or residence of printer; it contains succinct annotations "of the several masters whose performances are herewith exhibited." These are very curious, and the prices affixed to each picture (800 in number), as added together by some possessor of the volume, amount to 55,379l. It appears to have been highly esteemed; and, amongst other autographs, has "J. P. Roberts, Kingsgate;" "J. P. Powell, Quex park."

E. D.

"Well bobbit, Blanch of Middleby."

—Can any one tell me where I can hear of an old tune which was well known in my father's early days, called "Well bobbit, Blanch of Middleby?" I can now find no trace of it.

L. M. M. R.

Letter to a Brigadier-General.

—If Thomas Lord Lyttelton wrote the Letters of Junius, who was the author of the Letter to a Brigadier-General, published in 1760? This letter is now very generally believed to have been written by Junius, when Thomas Lyttelton was about fourteen years old!

W. C.

Dr. Fell.

—Can any one inform me who the author of the following lines is, and their original application:—

J. N. C.

Grostete, Bishop of Lincoln.

—Dibdin, in his Northern Tour, vol. i. p. 97., says of this distinguished prelate:

"We may anticipate the portrait of this truly great man drawn to the life in the intended biography of my friend Mr. Willson."

Dibdin published this in 1838. Has the memoir of Grostete ever appeared?

I may add, as a pendant to this Query, that two years back I saw a beautiful English MS. of Grostete's on vellum, at the library of the English College at Douay, out of which some British traveller, to whom it had been obligingly lent, had cut every one of the illuminations.

O. T. D.

Almas-cliffe.

—During a brief sojourn at Harrogate, Yorkshire, I have visited two remarkable groups of rock, locally known as Great Almas-cliffe and Little Almas-cliffe: the former crowning a lofty ridge about five miles south-west of this place; and the latter standing upon a wild, heathery moorland, about three miles north of the other. Both command most extensive views; and, on the table-rock of each, I noticed circular basins, with channels by which superfluous fluid may be carried off. Tradition says, that in remote ages they were used as druidical altars; and, that in later days, after the introduction of Christianity into England, mass was occasionally celebrated upon them. In some of the local guide-books they are called Almias Cliff. Whence is the name derived? Can it be a corruption of holy mass, or hallowmas?

G. H. of S.

Harrogate.

Amyclæ.

—What special ordinance of taciturnity had the burghers of Amyclæ?

MORTIMER COLLINS.

Cynthia's Dragon Yoke.—

Can any of your correspondents inform me to what classical writer, or to what source, Milton is indebted for Cynthia's "dragon yoke?"

H. T. P.

Boston, Massachusetts, U. S. A.

London Genealogical Society.

—Will you, or one of your correspondents, oblige a subscriber with information as to the above society? Is it in existence, and has it published any of its works, and how obtainable?

W. P. A.

The Article "An."

—It is asserted that the article an is prefixed before six words only that begin with the letter h. Is hospital one of them? The others are, I believe, heir, honest, honour, hotel, humble.

NIL NEMINI.

Tunbridge Wells.

"Black Gowns and Red Coats."

—Can any of your readers give me any information about a poem called "Black Gowns and Red Coats?" It is a satire on Oxford, which was published in 1834, at the time of the Duke of Wellington's installation as Chancellor; but the satire was so severe, that it was at once suppressed. The author is said to be dead; I should like to know something of the circumstances of its publication, for I had once seen it, and it bore the marks of very great genius. If any one has a copy to dispose of, I would gladly buy it.

S. F. C.

Oxford.

Coleridge's "Friend."

—Who is the person alluded to in the following note in Coleridge's Friend, 1st edition, No. 8. Oct. 5, 1809, p. 124.?

"He is gone, my friend, my munificent co-patron, and not less the benefactor of my intellect! he who, beyond all other men known to me, added a fine and ever-wakeful sense of Beauty to the most patient accuracy in Experimental Philosophy and the profounder researches of Metaphysical Science," &c.

J. M.

Wycherley's Verses on Plowden and Lady Sunderland.

—In Phillips and Herbert's History of Shrewsbury, pages from 263 to 266, vol. ii. 4to. 1837, giving an account of the ancient family of the Plowdens, and their claim to the barony of Dudley, allusion is made to a passage in Baker's History of Northamptonshire respecting some comic verses of the poet Wycherley on Plowden, of Plowden Hall, and the Countess of Sunderland. I cannot find these verses in Wycherley's Works in the British Museum. Can any of your readers inform me where they are to be found? Baker seems to allude to them as being well known in his time.

ALBION.

Minor Queries Answered.

"Salusbury Welsh Pedigree Book."

—Having sometimes occasion to investigate the lineage of Irish families derived from Wales, I am very anxious to learn, through your valuable oracle, where may now be that genealogical collection. According to the notes I have of it, it contained "the pedigrees of all the gentlemen in North Wales, and of some adjacent counties, with their arms finely illuminated;" and took its name from the compiler, John Salusbury, Esq., of Erbistock, who lived about the middle of the seventeenth century, and is reported as having executed the labour with great accuracy. Does its actual scope justify the above description, and where is it now? About the year 1780 it was in the possession of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, the very surname on which I am at present engaged.

JOHN DALTON.

48. Summer Hill, Dublin.

[In all probability, the present Sir W. W. Wynn could give some information upon the subject if applied to.]

The Earl of Erroll.

—I have somewhere seen it stated, that in virtue of his distinguished office as Great Constable of Scotland, which was granted to his ancestry by King Robert Bruce, in 1312, his lordship is by birth the first subject in Scotland; and in right of this privilege, on all state occasions, where the sovereign is present, appears at his or her right hand, and takes precedence of the entire peerage of Scotland. Is it so?

PETROPROMONTORIENSIS.

[His Lordship cannot be by birth entitled to precede the whole peerage of Scotland, though as Lord High Constable, when attending the sovereign, he may have that precedence.]

Heraldic.

—A friend has sent me the following Note "from a local paper:"

"In the hall, Fawsley, Northamptonshire, is an escutcheon, containing no less than 334 quarterings."

Can any of your correspondents verify this statement, or refer me to any other example of so full a blazonry?

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

[The shield is probably that of Knightley, whose quarterings are very numerous. We do not know where to refer our querist to an emblazoned shield, but there are other families whose quarterings would be as numerous, viz. Howard Percy, and Brydges Chandos, Duke of Buckingham, &c.]

Family of Grey.

—Thomas, second Marquess of Dorset, had four sons; Henry, Thomas, Leonard, and John. Henry was created Duke of Suffolk, and was with his two brothers, Thomas and Leonard, beheaded in 1555, for taking part in Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion. John was ancestor of the Earl of Stamford. The Queries I wish to make are, were Thomas and Leonard, or either of them, married? If they were, what were the names of their wives, and did they leave issue? And most particularly did Thomas?

C. DE D.

[Thomas, the second brother of the Marquess of Dorset, married and left a daughter and heir, Margaret, wife of John Ashley, Esq., Master of the Jewels to Queen Elizabeth, and she left issue. Edward, the third son, died s.p. Some pedigrees call Edward Leonard, but upon what authority does not appear.]

Coinage of Richard III.

—Is the mint mark of the cross to be found on any of the coins of Richard III. struck at London? I am aware that it is to be found on pieces from the country mints; but on metropolitan coins his heraldic cognizance (the boar's head) is the more usual, if not the only mark impressed.

RICHARD F. LITTLEDALE.

Dublin.

[We are not aware that the cross occurs as a mint mark on the coins of Richard III., either of the London or provincial mints. If our correspondent has a coin of Richard III., with the plain cross on the reverse for M. M., the probability is that it is struck from the die of a reverse of Edward IV., on whose coins it does occur.]

Edward Bagshaw.

—Can any of your correspondents inform me whether Sir Edward Bagshaw, of Finglas, near Dublin, who settled in Ireland about the commencement of the seventeenth century, left other children besides two daughters; one of whom married William, eldest son of Sir William Ryves, and by him had issue Bagshaw, William, Thomas, and Francis Ryves, together with a daughter married to a Captain Burrowes? I also wish to ascertain whether Castle Bagshaw, co. Cavan, the seat of the late Sir William Burroughs, derives its name from this branch of the family of Bagshaw. Any information, genealogical or historical, concerning the above Sir Edward Bagshaw, would be acceptable.

W. B.

Cambridge.

[This statement does not appear quite correct. Thomas Ryves, the second son of William, is said to have married Jane, daughter of Captain Burrows. See Hutchins's Dorset, vol. iii. p. 366., ped. of Ryves.]

Couched, to couch.

—What is the earliest example of the use of this word in the sense of "to embody," thus: "he couched his thoughts in excellent language?" Johnson cites Dryden and Atterbury as authorities for the word, which, me judice, ought to be banished from the English dictionary, since we have several older and more expressive terms of synonymous import.

MARK ANTONY LOWER.

[In Baret's Alvearie (1580) we find the meanings of the word couch, "The knitting and couching of wordes in talke—Sermonis compositio.—Quintil. To joine and couch—componere et coagmentare verba.—Cic." In Cotgrave, "mettre par escrit" is explained, to "couch in writing:" and in Phillips' World of Words, couch is defined "to comprehend, or comprise." These are somewhat analogous uses of the word.]

Marriage of Mrs. Claypole.

—What was the date of the marriage of Oliver Cromwell's daughter with Mr. Claypole? Any one giving a Note in reply to this Query, will much oblige

B. N.

[Noble, vol. ii. p. 375., says that Claypole "in 1645-6 was married to Mary, the second and most favoured daughter of Oliver Cromwell, then of Ely in Cambridgeshire, Esquire."]