The summe of all that hath been spoken may be comprised thus:

Anon.

LEADING ARTICLES OF FOREIGN NEWSPAPERS.

The foreign correspondence of the English press is an invaluable feature of that mighty engine of civilisation and progress, for which the world cannot be too thankful; but as the agents in it at Paris, Berlin, Vienna, &c., are more or less imbued with the insular views and prejudices which they carry with them from England, Scotland, or Ireland, it were well if the daily journals devoted more attention than they do to the leading articles of the Continental press, which is frequently distinguished by great ability and interest, and would enable Englishmen, not versed in foreign languages, to judge, from another point of view, of Continental affairs—now becoming of surpassing interest and importance. Translations or abstracts of the leading articles of The Times, Morning Chronicle, Morning Post, &c., are constantly to be met with in the best foreign papers. Why should not our great London papers more frequently gratify their readers with articles from the pens of their Continental brotherhood? This would afford an opportunity also of correcting the false statements, or replying to the erroneous judgments put forth and circulated abroad by writers whose distinguished position enables them, unintentionally no doubt, to do the more mischief. A surprising change for the better, however, as respects Great Britain, is manifest in the tone and information of the foreign press of late years. Let us cherish this good feeling by a corresponding demeanour on our part.

Alpha.

Minor Notes.

Materials for a History of Druidism.—

"It would be a commendable, useful, and easy task to collect what the ancients have left us on the subject of Druidism. Such a collection would form a very small but interesting volume. It would supersede, in every library, the idle and tedious dreams and conjectures of the Stukeleys, the Borlases, the Rowlands, the Vallanceys, the Davies's, the Jones's, and the Whitakers. Toland's work on the Druids, though far from unexceptionable, has more solid intelligence than any other modern composition of its kind. It is a pity that he or some other person has not given as faithful translations of the Irish Christian MSS. which he mentions, as these have, no doubt, preserved much respecting Druidical manners and superstitions, of which many vestiges are still existing, though not of the kind usually referred to."

"The Roman history of Britain can only be collected from the Roman writers; and what they have left is very short indeed. It might be disposed of in the way recommended for the History of the Druids."—Douce's notes on Whitaker's History of Manchester, vol. i. p. 136. of Corrections in Book i., ibid. p. 148.

Anon.

Domestic Chapels.—There is an interesting example of a domestic chapel, with an upper chamber over it for the chaplain's residence, and a ground floor underneath it for some undiscoverable purpose, to be seen contiguous to an ancient farm-house at Ilsam, in the parish of St. Mary Church, in the county of Devon.

The structure is quite ecclesiastical in its character, and appears to have been originally, as now, detached from the family house, or only connected with it by a short passage leading to the floor on which the chapel itself stood.

John James.

Ordinary.—The following is a new meaning for the word ordinary:—"Do ye come in and see my poor man, for he is piteous ordinary to-day." This speech was addressed to me by a poor woman who wished me to go and see her husband. He was ordinary enough, although she had adorned his head with a red night-cap; but her meaning was evidently that he was far from well; and Johnson's Dictionary does not give this signification to the word.

A cottage child once told me that the dog opened his mouth "a power wide."

Old English W. N.

Thom's Irish Almanac and Official Directory for 1854.—In the advertisement prefixed to this valuable compilation, which, according to the Quarterly Review, "contains more information about Ireland than has been collected in one volume in any country," we may find the following words:

"All parliamentary and official documents procurable, have been collected; and their contents, so far as they bore on the state of the country, carefully abstracted; and where any deficiencies have been observable, the want has been supplied by applications to private sources, which, in every instance, have been most satisfactorily answered. He [Mr. Thom] is also indebted to similar applications to the ruling authorities of the several religious persuasions for the undisputed accuracy of the ecclesiastical department of the Almanac."

I wish to call attention to the latter words; and in so doing, I assure you, I feel only a most anxious desire to see some farther improvements effected by Mr. Thom.

I cannot allow "the undisputed accuracy of the ecclesiastical department," inasmuch as I have detected, even on a cursory examination, very many inaccuracies which a little care would certainly have prevented. For example, in p. 451. (Ecclesiastical Directory, Established Church and Diocese of Dublin), there are at least five grave mistakes, and four in the following page. These pages I have taken at random. I could easily point out other pages equally inaccurate; but I have done enough I think to prove, that while I willingly accord to the enterprising publisher the full meed of praise he so well deserves, a little more attention should be paid in future to the preparation of the ecclesiastical department.

Abhba.

Antiquity of the Word "Snub."—

"Beware we then euer of discontente, and snubbe it betimes, least it overthrowe us as it hath done manie."

"Such snubs as these be little cloudes."—Comfortable Notes on Genesis, by Gervase Babington, Bishop of Exeter, 1596.

J. R. P.

Charles I. at Little Woolford.—There is an ancient house at Little Woolford (in the southeast corner of Warwickshire) connected with which is a tradition that Charles I., after the battle of Edge Hill, which is not far distant, secreted himself in an oven there. This oven is preserved for the inspection of the curious.

B. H. C.

Coincidences between Sir Thomas Browne and Bishop Ken.—Sir Thomas Browne wrote his Religio Medici in 1533-5; and in it suggested some familiar verses of the "Evening Hymn" of his brother Wykehamist Bishop Ken. The lines are as follows:

I have never seen this curious coincidence noticed by any of the good bishop's biographers, Hawkins, Bowles, or Mr. Anderdon.

Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.

The English School of Painting.—In a note to a volume of poems by Victor Hugo, published in 1836, occur these remarks:

"M. Louis Boulanger, à qui ces deux ballades sont dédiées, s'est placé bien jeune au premier rang de cette nouvelle génération de peintres, qui promet d'élever notre école au niveau des magnifiques écoles d'Italie, d'Espagne, de Flandre, et d'Angleterre."

Does this praise of the English school of painting show a correct appreciation of its claims to distinction? or am I in error in supposing, as I have done, that our school of painting is not entitled to the pompous epithet of "magnifique," nor to be named in the same category with the Italian, Spanish, and Flemish schools? I am aware of the hackneyed and somewhat hyperbolical employment, by French writers and speakers, of such terms as magnifique, superbe, grandiose; and that they do not convey to a French ear the same idea of superiority, as they do to our more sober English judgment; but making every allowance on this score, I confess I was not a little startled to find such a term as magnifique, even in its most moderate acceptation, applied to our efforts in that branch of art. Magnifique, in truth, must be our school, when the French can condescend to speak of it in such language!

Henry H. Breen.

St. Lucia.

"A Feather in your Cap."—My good friend Dr. Wolff mentioned in conversation a circumstance (also stated, I fancy, in his Journey to Bokhara) which seemed to afford a solution of the common expression, "That's a feather in your cap." I begged he would give it me in writing, and he has done so. "The Kaffr Seeyah Poosh (meaning the infidels in black clothing) living around Cabul upon the height of the mountains of the Himalaya, who worship a god called Dagon and Imra, are great enemies of the Muhamedans; and for each Muhamedan they kill, they wear a feather in their heads. The same is done among the Abyssinians and Turcomans."

Has the feather head-dress of the American Indian, and the eagle's feather in the bonnet of the Highlander, any connexion with keeping a score of the deaths of the enemies or game they have killed?

Alfred Gatty.

Queries.

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE: LICENCES TO CRENELLATE.

Previous to the publication of the second volume of the Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages, you were kind enough to insert some Queries for me respecting existing remains of houses of the fourteenth century, which elicited some useful Notes, partly through your columns and partly from private friends who were thus reminded of my wants. I am now preparing for the press the third and concluding volume of that work, comprising the period from the reign of Richard II. to that of Henry VIII. inclusive. I shall be glad of information of any houses of that period remaining in a tolerably perfect state, in addition to those mentioned in the Glossary of Architecture. I have reason to believe that there are many; and one class, the halls of the different guilds, seem to have been generally overlooked.

With the kind assistance of Mr. Duffus Hardy, I have obtained a complete list of the licences to crenellate contained in the Patent Rolls, and some other records preserved in the Tower. Most of these have the name of the county annexed; but there are a few, of which I add a list, in which no county is mentioned, and local information is necessary in order to identify them. Perhaps some of your numerous readers will be able to assist me.

Licences to Crenellate.

J. H. Parker.

DIXON OF BEESTON.

Will the Editor be kind enough to insert the accompanying letter, for if true it is worthy of a place in the heraldic portion of "N. & Q.," and if not true, its imposture should stand recorded? On receiving it I sent a copy to my brother, Mr. J. H. Dixon, an able antiquary, and late of the council of the Percy Society, who, somewhat too hastily I think, and without sufficient proof, rejected the information offered. That the family which my brother represents is a "good old" one, is sufficiently attested by the pedigree furnished by Thoresby in the Ducatus Leodiensis, and thence copied by Mr. Burke in his Landed Gentry; but of its earlier history there is no reliable account, unless that by Mr. Spence can be considered such.

I shall feel very much obliged if any of your correspondents learned in the genealogies of Yorkshire and Cheshire could either corroborate the genuineness of the information tendered by Mr. Spence, or prove the reverse; and it is only fair to that gentleman to add that he is entitled to credibility on the written testimony of the Rev. Mr. Knox, Incumbent of Birkenhead.

R. W. Dixon, J.P.

Seaton Carew, co. Durham.

Sir,

Having been engaged by Miss Cotgreave, of Notherlegh House, near Chester, to inspect and arrange the title-deeds and other documents which belonged to her father, the late Sir John Cotgreave, I find a very ancient pedigree of the Cotgreaves de Hargrave in that county; which family became extinct in the direct male line in the year 1724, but which was represented through females by the above Sir J. C.

It is the work of the great Camden, anno 1598, from documents in the possession of the Cotgreave family, and contains the descents of five generations of the Dixons of Beeston, in the county of York, and Congleton, Cheshire, together with their marriages and armorial bearings, commencing with "Ralph Dixon, Esq., de Beeston and Congleton, living temp. Hen. VI., who was slain whilst fighting on the part of the Yorkists, at the battle of Wakefield, A.D. 1460."

Presuming that you are descended from this ancient family, I will (if you think proper) transmit to you extracts from the aforesaid pedigree, as far as relates to your distinguished progenitors, conditionally that you remunerate me for the information and definition of the armorial bearings, there being five shields, containing twelve quarterings connected with the family of Dixon.

Miss Cotgreave will allow me to make the extracts, and has kindly consented to attest the same.

The arms of Dixon, as depicted in the Cotgreave pedigree, are "Sable, a fleur-de-lis or, a chief ermine," quartering the ensigns of the noble houses of "Robert Fitz-Hugh, Baron of Malpas in the county of Chester, temp. William the Conqueror; Eustace Crewe de Montalt, Lord of Hawarden, Flintshire, during the said reign; Robert de Umfreville, Lord of Tours, and Vian, and Reddesdale, in Northumberland, who flourished in the same reign also; Pole, Talboys, Welles, Latimer," and others.

In the pedigree, Camden states that the aforesaid "Ralph Dixon quartered the ensigns of the above noble families in right of his mother Maude, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Ralph Fitz-Hugh de Congleton and Elton in the county palatine of Chester."

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your very obedient humble servant,

William Sidney Spence.

Priory Place, Birkenhead,

Chester.

Dec. 14. 1848.

Minor Queries.

Atherstone Family.—Can any of your readers oblige me with information concerning the Atherstone family? Is it an old name, or was it first given some three or four generations back to a foundling, picked up near the town of Atherston?

M. A. B.

Classic Authors and the Jews.—Where can I find a complete or full account of passages in Greek and Latin authors, which refer to Judea and the Jews? It has been said that these references are very few, and that in Cicero, for instance, there is not one. This last is wrong, I know. (See e.g. Cic. Pro L. Flacco, 28., and De Prov. Consul. 5.)

B. H. C.

Bishop Hooper's Argument on the Vestment Controversy.—Glocester Ridley, in his Life of Bishop Ridley, p. 315., London, 1763, states, in reference to Bishop Hooper's Book to the Council against the use of those Habits which were then used by the Church of England in her sacred Ministries, written October, 1550, "Part of Hooper's book I have by me in MS." Could any one state whether that MS. is now in existence, or where it is to be found? It is of much importance to obtain an answer to this inquiry, as Bishop Ridley's MS. Reply to Bishop Hooper is, for the first time, about to be printed by the Parker Society, through the kind permission of its possessor, Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., in the second volume of the Writings of Bradford which I am editing; and, to make Ridley's reply fully intelligible, access is needed to Bishop Hooper's Book to the Council.

A. Townsend.

Weston Lane, Bath,

February 23.

The Title of "Dominus."—How is it that at Cambridge the title of Dominus is applied to B.A.'s, while at Oxford it is confined to the doctorate?

W. Fraser.

Tor-Mohun.

The De Rous Family.—Hugh Rufus, or De Rous, was Bishop of Ossory, A.D. 1202. He had been previously an Augustinian Canon of Bodmin, in Cornwall. Query, Was he a cadet of the ancient family of De Rous; and if so, what was his descent?

James Graves.

Where was the Fee of S. Sanxon?—At the end of "Ordericus Vitalis," in the Gesta Normannorum, is a list called the "Feoda Normanniæ," wherein, under the title "Feoda Ebroic.," occurs the entry:

Francis Drake, in his Antiquities of York, London, 1736, p. 70., speaks of "Sampson, or Sanxo," the archbishop of that see; and elsewhere mentions the parish church of S. Sampson, "called by some Sanxo."

What I wish to ask is, Where was this half fee of S. Sanxon? Whether it had any connexion with Sanson sur Rille? And whether it was the place from which "Ralph de S. Sanson" or "Sanson Clericus" of the Domesday Book, who was afterwards Bishop of Worcester, derived his name?

*   *

Russian Emperors.—Is there any truth in a rumour that was current two or three years since respecting the limited period that was placed upon the reign of any Russian monarch? Twenty-five years was the time stated, at the termination of which the Emperor had to abdicate. As this period has elapsed, and no abdication has taken place by the present Autocrat, some one may perhaps be able to state how such a statement originated, and upon what grounds?

Thos. Crosfield.

Episcopal Insignia of the Eastern Church.—Having seen in a late number of the Illustrated London News (Feb. 11, 1854) a peculiarly shaped episcopal staff, with a cross rising from between two in-curved dragons' heads, which is represented in the hand of the metropolitan of Wallachia, I would be glad to know whether this form is peculiar to any branch of the Eastern Church. A reference to a work of authority on the subject will oblige a provincialist.

James Graves.

Amontillado Sherry.—What is the real meaning of this epithet? A friend, who had travelled in Spain, and visited some famous cellars at Xeres, told me that the peculiar flavour of the Amontillado Sherry was always an accidental result of mixing butts of wine brought to the merchant by a variety of growers. I mentioned this to another friend who had the wine on his table; and he ridiculed the account, saying that the Amontillado Sherry was from a grape peculiar to the district. What district, I could not ascertain.

Alfred Gatty.

Col. Michael Smith's Family.—Perhaps some of your readers may be enabled to give me some information of the family of Smith, to which Col. Michael Smith, Lieut.-Governor of Nevis about 1750, belongs.

A West Indian.

Pronunciation of Foreign Names.—How shall we pronounce Sinope, Citate, and many other words which are now becoming familiar to our eyes? I think the bookseller who should give us a vocabulary of proper names of foreign persons and places, with the correct pronunciation attached, would be encouraged by an extensive sale. So far as my knowledge extends, such a work is a desideratum.

Thinks I to Myself.

Artesian Wells.—One who is about to dig a well on his land would be glad to know:—1. Whether, in all cases, artesian wells are preferable? 2. If yes, why they are not universally adopted, and whether they are more expensive then the common sort? 3. If not preferable in all cases, in what cases they are preferable?

Stylites.

Norman Towers in London.—Can you inform me it there is any other church in the city of London with a Norman tower, besides Allhallows, Mark Lane? which, by the bye, has been colour-washed: I suppose, to preserve it!

J. W. Brown.

Papyrus.—Where, or of whom, can a specimen of Papyrus be obtained?

R. H.

Islington.

Mathew, a Cornish Family.—I am anxious to know the connexion of a family of Mathew, late of Tresungar, co. Cornwall, with any stock in Wales; and I will gladly defray any necessary expense of search, if can attain this object. The descent of a family of the name, apparently the same from the arms, in an old recueil of Devonshire families, is headed "nuper de Walliâ;" and a visitation of that county ascribes their bearing (a stork) to a marriage with an heir of Starkey, which I have been unable to verify. A Visitation of Cornwall, to which I have had access, gives a grant, or probably a confirmation of the arms by Cooke. If this celebrated Herald's grants are on record, some clew would probably be found; but I doubt not that many of your readers well versed in genealogical research can readily answer my Query, and I trust to their kindness to do so.

B.

Birkenhead.

Minor Queries with Answers.

Bunyan's Descendants.—As a recent Query respecting John Bunyan may lead to some notices of his descendants, perhaps I may be informed in what edition of his works it is stated that a branch of his family settled in Nottingham? for I find in the burgess-roll of that borough that George Bunyan was entered freeman in 1752. William Bunyan, lieutenant in the navy, 1767; Thomas Bunyan, hosier, 1776. In event of the above story being verified, a pedigree may possibly be extracted hereafter from the parish registers of the town. As far as my own examination goes, the editions in the British Museum afford no corroboration to what I have heard.

Furvus.

Plumstead Common.

Epigram on Dennis.—

is printed as by Savage in Johnson's Life of Savage. In the notes to The Dunciad, i. 106., it is said to be by Pope. Utri credemus?

S. Z. Z. S.

Football played on Shrove Tuesday.—The people of this and the neighbouring towns invariably play at football on Shrove Tuesday. What is the origin of the custom? and does it extend to other counties?

J. P. S.

Dorking.

Vossioner; its Meaning.—In looking over a parcel of brass rubbings made some years since, I find the word vossioner used, and not knowing its signification, I should be glad to be enlightened on the subject; but, in order to enable your readers to judge more correctly, I think it better to copy the whole of the epitaph in which the word occurs. The plate is in Ufton Church, near Southam, county Warwick; it measures eighteen inches in width by sixteen deep.

"Here lyeth the boddyes of Richard Hoddomes, Parsson and Pattron and Vossioner of the Churche and Parishe of Oufton, in the Countie of Warrike, who died one Mydsomer Daye, 1587. And Margerye his Wiffe w^th her seven Childryn, as namelye, Richard, John, and John, Anne, Jane, Elizabeth, Ayles, his iiii Daughters, whose soule restethe with God."

I give the epitaph verbatim, with its true orthography. There are some curious points in this epitaph. First, the date of the death of the clergyman only is given; second, the children are called hers, while the four daughters are his; and two of the sons bear the same Christian name, whilst only one soul is said to rest with God. The family is represented kneeling. Above the inscription, and between the clergyman and his lady, is a desk, on which is represented two books lying open before them.

J. B. Whitborne.

The Game of Chess.—At what period was the noble game of chess introduced into the British Isles; and to whom are we indebted for its introduction among us?

B. Ashton.

A Juniper Letter.—Fuller, in describing a letter written by Bishop Grosthead to Pope Innocent IV., makes use of a curious epithet, of which I should be glad to meet with another instance, if it be not simply a "Fullerism":

"Bishop Grouthead offended thereat, wrote Pope Innocent IV. such a juniper letter, taxing him with extortion and other vicious practices."—Church History, book III., A.D. 1254.

J. M. B.

Replies.

CLARENCE.

(Vol. ix., p. 85.)

Clarence is beyond all doubt the district comprehending and lying around the town and castle of Clare in Suffolk, and not, as some have fancifully supposed, the town of Chiarenza in the Morea. Some of the crusaders did, indeed, acquire titles of honour derived from places in eastern lands, but certainly no such place ever gave its name to an honorary feud held of the crown of England, nor, indeed, has ever any English sovereign to this day bestowed a territorial title derived from a place beyond the limits of his own nominal dominions; the latest creations of the kind being the earldoms of Albemarle and Tankerville, respectively bestowed by William III. and George I., who were both nominally kings of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. In ancient times every English title (with the exception of Aumerle or Albemarle, which exception is only an apparent one) was either personal, or derived from some place in England. The ancient earls of Albemarle were not English peers by virtue of that earldom, but by virtue of the tenure of lands in England, though, being the holders of a Norman earldom, they were known in England by their higher designation, just as some of the Barons De Umfravill were styled, even in writs of summons, by their superior Scottish title of Earl of Angos. If these earls had not held English fees, they would not have been peers of England any more than were the ancient Earls of Tankerville and Eu. In later times the strictness of the feudal law was so far relaxed, that in two or three instances English peers were created with territorial titles derived from places in the Duchy of Normandy.

As to the locality of Clarence, see Sandford's Genealogical History, 1707, p. 222. There is a paper on the subject in the Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1850. The king of arms called Clarenceux, or in Latin Clarentius, was, as it has been very reasonably conjectured, originally a herald retained by a Duke of Clarence. (Noble's History of the College of Arms, p. 61.) Hoping ere long to send you some notes respecting certain real or seeming anomalies amongst our English dignities, I reserve some particulars which may, perhaps, farther elucidate the present question.

Goldencross.

Your correspondent Honoré de Mareville has wandered too far in going to the Morea to search for this title. Clare in Suffolk was one of the ninety-five manors in that county bestowed by the Conqueror upon Richard Fitzgilbert, who (as well as his successor Gilbert) resided at Tunbridge, and bore the surname of De Tonebruge. His grandson Richard, the first Earl of Hertford, fixed his principal seat at Clare, and thenceforth the family took the surname of De Clare; and in the Latin documents of the time the several members of it were styled Ricardus (or Gilbertus), Dominus Clarensis, Comes Hertfordiensis. The name of the lordship thus becoming the family surname, it is easy to see how in common usage the formal epithet Clarensis soon became Clarence, and why Lionel, the son of Edward III., upon his marriage with Elizabeth de Burgh, the grand-niece and heiress of the last Gilbertus Clarensis, should choose as the title for his dukedom the surname of the great family of which he had now become the representative.

Vokaros.

MILTON'S WIDOW.

(Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134. 200. 375. 452. 471. 544. 594.)

Garlichithe is again on the wrong scent. In his first communication on this subject, he allowed himself to go astray by mistaking Randle Minshull the grandfather for Randle Minshull the son; and now, with the like fatality, he fails to discriminate between Richard Minshull the uncle, and Richard Minshull the brother, of Elizabeth Milton. A second examination of my Reply in Vol. viii., p. 200., will suffice to show him that Richard Minshull, the party to the deed there quoted, was named by me as the brother, and not the uncle, of Milton's widow, and that therefore his argument, based on disparity of age, &c., falls to the ground. On the other hand, Richard Minshull of Chester, to whom the letter alluded to was addressed, was the brother of Randle Minshull of Wistaston, and by the same token, uncle of Elizabeth Milton, and of Richard Minshull, her brother and co-partner in the deed already referred to.

Garlichithe, and all others who have taken an interest in this discussion, will now, I trust, see clearly that there has been nothing adduced by either Mr. Marsh or myself inconsistent with ages or dates; but that, on the contrary, all our premises and conclusions are borne out by evidence clear, irreproachable, and incontestable.

All objections being now, as I conceive, fully combated and disposed of, the substance of our investigations may be summed up in a very few words. The statement of Pennant, adopted by all succeeding writers, to the effect that Elizabeth, the widow of John Milton, was a daughter of Sir Edward Minshull of Stoke, is clearly proved to be a fiction. It has been farther proved, from the parish registers, as well as from bonds and other documentary evidence, that she was, without doubt, the daughter of Randle Minshull of Wistaston, a village about three miles from Nantwich; that she was the cousin of Milton's familiar friend, Dr. Paget, and as such became entitled to a legacy under the learned Doctor's will, and that she is expressly named by Richard Minshull as his sister in the deed before quoted.

T. Hughes.

Chester.

THREE FLEURS-DE-LYS.

(Vol. ix., pp. 35. 113.)

Devoniensis is informed that an example of this occurs in the arms of King James's School, Almondbury, Yorkshire. The impression, as taken from the great seal of the school, in which however the colours are not distinguished, may be imperfectly described as follows: Three lions (two over one) passant gardant ——, on a chief ——, three fleurs-de-lys ——.

As it is not unlikely that some other of King James's foundations may have the same arms, it would be considered a favour if any reader of "N. & Q." possessing the information would communicate the proper colours in this case, or even the probable ones.

Camelodunensis.

Devoniensis is quite right in supposing that the bearing of three fleurs-de-lys alone, horizontal, in the upper part of the shield,—in other words, in chief, fess-ways,—is a very rare occurrence. I know of no instance of it in English blazon. Coupled with another and principal charge, as a fess, a chevron, a lion, &c.; or in a chief, it is common enough. Nor have I ever met with an example of it in French coat-armour. An English family, named Rothfeld, but apparently of German extraction, gives: Gules, two fleurs-de-lys, in chief, ermine. Du Guesclin bore nothing like a fleur-de-lys in any way. The armorial bearings of the famous Constable were: Argent, a double-headed eagle, displayed, sable, crowned, or, debruised of a bend, gules.

John o' the Ford.

Malta.

P.S.—Since writing the above, I have read three replies (Vol. ix., p. 84.), which do not appear to me to exactly meet the Query of Devoniensis.

I understand the question to be, does any English family bear simply three fleurs-de-lys, in chief, fess-ways—without any additional charge? And in that sense my reply above is framed.

The first example given by Mr. Mackenzie Walcott would be most satisfactory and conclusive of the existence of such a bearing, could it be verified; but, unfortunately, in the Heraldic Dictionaries of Berry and Burke, the name even of Trilleck or Trelleck does not occur. And in Malta, I have no opportunity of consulting Edmondson or Robson.

Your correspondent A. B. (p. 113.) has mistaken the three white lilies for fleurs-de-lys in the arms of Magdalen College, Oxford. Waynflete, the founder, was also Provost of Eton, and adopted the device from the bearings of that illustrious school; by which they were borne in allusion to St. Mary, to whom that College is dedicated.

Mackenzie Walcott, M.A.

BOOKS BURNED BY THE COMMON HANGMAN.

(Vol. viii., pp. 272. 346. 625.; Vol. ix., p. 78.)

The well-known law dictionary, entitled The Interpreter, by John Cowel, LL.D., was burned (1610) under a proclamation of James I. (D'Israeli's Calamities of Authors, ed. 1840, p. 133.)

In June, 1622, the Commentary of David Pare, or Paræus On the Epistle to the Romans, was burned at London, Oxford, and Cambridge, by order of the Privy Council. (Wood's Hist. and Antiq. of Univ. of Oxford, ed. Gutch, vol. ii. pp. 341-345.; Cooper's Annals of Cambridge, vol. iii. pp. 143, 144.)

On the 12th of February, 1634, Elenchus Religionis Papisticæ, by John Bastwicke, M.D., was ordered to be burned by the High Commission Court. (Prynne's New Discovery of the Prelates' Tyranny, p. 132.)

On the 10th of February, 1640-1 the House of Lords ordered that two books published by John Pocklington, D.D., entitled Altare Christianum, and Sunday no Sabbath, should be publicly burned in the city of London and the two Universities, by the hands of the common executioner; and on the 10th of March the House ordered the Sheriffs of London and the Vice-Chancellors of both the Universities, forthwith to take care and see the order of the House carried into execution. (Lords' Journals, vol. iv. pp. 161. 180.)

On the 13th of August, 1660, Charles II. issued a proclamation against Milton's Defensio pro Populo Anglicano, his Answer to the Portraiture of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitude and Sufferings, and a book by John Goodwin, late of Coleman Street, London, Clerk, entitled The Obstructors of Justice. All copies of these books were to be brought to the sheriffs of counties, who were to cause the same to be publicly burned by the hands of the common hangman at the next assizes. (Kennett's Register and Chronicle, p. 207.) This proclamation is also printed in Collet's Relics of Literature, with the inaccurate date 1672, and the absurd statement that no copy of the proclamation was discovered till 1797.

In January, 1692-3, a pamphlet by Charles Blount, Esq., entitled King William and Queen Mary, Conquerors, &c., was burned by the common hangman in Palace Yard, Westminster. (Bohun's Autobiography, ed. S. W. Rix, vol. xxiv. pp. 106, 109. 113.; Wilson's Life of De Foe, vol. i. p. 179 n.)

The same parliament consigned to the flames Bishop Burnet's Pastoral Letter, which had been published 1689. (Wilson's Life of De Foe, vol. i. p. 179.)

On the 31st of July, 1693, the second volume of Anthony à Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses was burned in the Theatre Yard at Oxford by the Apparitor of the University, in pursuance of the sentence of the University Court in a prosecution for a libel on the memory of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. (Life of Mr. Anthony à Wood, ed. 1772, p. 377.)

On the 25th of February, 1702-3, the House of Commons ordered De Foe's Shortest Way with the Dissenters to be burned by the hands of the common hangman on the morrow in New Palace Yard. (Wilson's Life of De Foe, vol. ii. p. 62.)

In or about 1709, John Humphrey, an aged non-conformist minister, having published a pamphlet against the Test, and circulated it amongst the members of parliament, was cited before a committee, and his work was ordered to be burned by the common hangman. (Wilson's Life of De Foe, vol. iii. p. 52.)

The North Briton, No. 45., was on the 3rd of December, 1763, burned by the common hangman at the Royal Exchange, by order of the House of Commons. The following account is from Malcolm's Anecdotes of London, 4to., 1808, p. 282.:

"The 3rd of December was appointed for this silly ceremony, which took place before the Royal Exchange, amidst the hisses and execrations of the mob, not directed at the obnoxious paper, but at Alderman Harley, the sheriffs, and constables, the latter of whom were compelled to fight furiously through the whole business. The instant the hangman held the work to a lighted link it was beat to the ground, and the populace, seizing the faggots prepared to complete its destruction, fell upon the peace-officers and fairly threshed them from the field; nor did the alderman escape without a contusion on the head, inflicted by a bullet thrown through the glass of his coach; and several other persons had reason to repent the attempt to burn that publicly which the sovereign people determined to approve, who afterwards exhibited a large jack-boot at Temple Bar, and burnt it in triumph, unmolested, as a species of retaliation."

I am not aware that what Mr. Malcolm terms a "silly ceremony" has been repeated since 1763.

C. H. Cooper.

Cambridge.

I know not whether you have noticed the following:

"Droit le Roy; or, A Digest of the Rights and Prerogatives of the Imperial Crown of Great Britain. By a Member of the Society of Lincoln's Inn. 'Dieu et Mon Droit.' [Royal Arms, with G. R.] London: printed and sold by W. Griffin, in Fetter Lane, MDCCLXIV."

Lord Mahon (History of England, vol. v. p. 175.) says:

"It was also observed, and condemned as a shallow artifice, that the House of Lords, to counterbalance their condemnation of Wilkes's violent democracy, took similar measures against a book of exactly opposite principles. This was a treatise or collection of precedents lately published under the title of Droit le Roy, to uphold the prerogative of the crown against the rights of the people. The Peers, on the motion of Lord Lyttleton, seconded by the Duke of Grafton, voted this book 'a false, malicious, and traitorous libel, inconsistent with the principles of the Revolution to which we owe the present happy establishment;' they ordered that it should be burned by the hands of the common hangman, and that the author should be taken into custody. The latter part of the sentence, however, no one took any pains to execute. The author was one Timothy Brecknock, a hack scribbler, who, twenty years afterwards, was hanged for being accessary to an atrocious murder in Ireland."

A copy of the book (an octavo of xii. and 95 pages) is in my possession. It was apparently a presentation copy, and formerly belonged to Dr. Disney; at whose sale it was purchased by the late Richard Heber, as his MS. note testifies. Against the political views which this book advocates, I say not one word; as a legal treatise it is simply despicable.

H. Gough.

Lincoln's Inn.

The following extract is at the service of Balliolensis:

"In the seventh year of King James I., Dr. Cowel's Interpreter was censured by the two Houses, as asserting several points to the overthrow and destruction of Parliaments and of the fundamental laws and government of the kingdom. And one of the articles charged upon him to this purpose by the Commons, in their complaint to the Lords, was, as Mr. Petyt says, out of the Journal, this that follows:

"'4thly. The Doctor draws his arguments from the imperial laws of the Roman Emperors, an argument which may be urged with as great reason, and with as great authority, for the reduction of the state and the clergy of England to the polity and laws in the time of those Emperors; as also to make the laws and customs of Rome and Constantinople to be binding and obligatory in the cities of London and York.'

"The issue of which complaint was, that the author, for these his outlandish politics, was taken into custody, and his book condemned to the flames: nor could the dedication of it to his then grace of Canterbury save it."—Atterbury's Rights, Powers, and Privileges of Convocation, p. 7. of Preface.

Wm. Fraser, B.C.L.

Tor-Mohun.

I possess a copy of The Case of Ireland being bound by Acts of Parliament in England stated, by William Molyneux of Dublin, Esq., which appears to have been literally "plucked as brand from the burning," as a considerable portion of it is consumed by fire. I have cut the following from a sale catalogue just sent to me from Dublin:

"Smith's (Matthew) Memoirs of Secret Service, Lond. 1696. Written by Charles, Earl of Peterborough, and is very scarce, being burnt by the hangman. MS. note."

James Graves.

Kilkenny.

A decree of the University of Oxford, made July 21, 1683, condemning George Buchanan's treatise De jure regni apud Scotos, and certain other books, the names of which I do not know, was on March 25, 1710, ordered by the House of Lords to be burned by the hangman. This was shortly after the trial of Dr. Sacheverel.

W. P. Storer.

Olney, Bucks.

DIFFERENT PRODUCTIONS OF DIFFERENT CARCASES.

(Vol. vi., p. 263.)

Up to a very recent period, it was held, even by philosophers, that each of the four elements, as well as every living plant and animal, both brute and human, generated insects; but of all sources of this equivocal generation, none was considered more potent than the putrefaction or corruption of animal matter: as Du Bartas says: