Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

[The following note, from Crawford's History of the Shire of Ren-
frew, will probably explain to our correspondent what he desires to
know. The arms to which he refers are evidently those of the surname
of Shaw, and appear to be the arms contained in the wall mentioned
by Crawford.
"This wall, with most of the fabrick of the Abby that now stands
was built in the reign of King James III., by George Shaw, Abbot
of Pasly (of the family of Sauchie) anno 1484, which appears from
this inscription on the corner of that wall, viz:

Thy calit the Abbot George of Shaw
About my Abby gart mak this waw,
An thousandth four hundred Zear,
Eighty-four the date but weir;
Pray for his salvation

So,

That laid this noble foundation."-ED.] HOAX.-I cannot help thinking that this word has some little history about it. Of the earlier dictionary makers, Bailey, Ash, and Johnson have it not, and in our own day Wedgwood, for one, avoids it. Is it a fair inference from these facts that the word was, if not altogether, comparatively unknown in the first half of the eighteenth century, and has but a questionable position now? Hotten seems to think and places it, accordingly, in the Slang Dictionary, mentioning at the same time that Grose held it to be a university cant word. Not so, however, think Webster and Hyde Clarke, for both of them, as I find, admit the word as good ordinary English, and give as its root the Anglo-Saxon huex, irony. If such be the venerable origin of hoax, how comes it that the word should nave been so many centuries out of sight? Can any reader of the Antiquary furnish me with an instance of the word having been used before Grose's day? In the mean time, I am disposed to take the part of "Hocus as the ancestor of the word in question. H. P.

left, agrees to the condition, and disfigured, and dishonoured
his face according to the covenant made betwixt them,
which was no sooner done, but this inhuman Imp of Hell
fell into a loud and scornful jet of laughter, at which while
the Father stood amazed, he flung the child which he held
in his arms after the rest, and then most desperately cast
himself after, preventing a worse death, and such was the
end of this arch limb of Satan, and the fruits of malice and
revenge. Beard's Theatre." The above is from Wonderful
Prodigies of Judgment and Mercy Discovered in above three
Hundred Memorable Histories. By R. B. (Lond. 1685).*
I wish to find out the author of this story. Pontanus, whom
Beard quotes, wrote in the fifteenth century, and though I
know nothing of Budens, I suppose both of them were before
Bandello. Will any of your correspondents who may have
access to the works of either, oblige me by pointing out
where the story is to be found, or better still, quoting their
version of it?
ALISON.
LESLIE CONTROVERSY.-In my perambulations through
the second-hand book-stalls, I am frequently falling in with
pamphlets connected with this once famous case.
easily see from some of them that the "drum ecclesiastic"
must have been beaten with tremendous fury. Who
besides Dugald Stewart, Professor Playfair, and Dr.
Thomas Brown took the part of Leslie in separate pub-
lications, and who opposed him in a similar manner, in
addition to the Rev. Drs. Inglis and Macfarlane? What
publications would be required to form a tolerably complete
EGBERT.

book on the case?

Newcastle-on-Tyne.

I can

[Interesting information on the matters in question will be found in Lives of Illustrious Scotsmen, by Dr. Robert Chambers, under the the auto-biographical sketches of the late Lord Cockburn, and in the head" Leslie."-ED.]

FACTOLOGY: FACTOLOGIST.-I have often met with the

above terms, but cannot remember where. Perhaps some reader of the Antiquary can help my memory? RUBRIC.

[The terms Factology and Factologist are treated in a work by History. Dublin, 1842, p. 92.]

Torrens M'Cullagh, LL.B., entitled, The Use and Study of VICARAGE HOUSE, CRANBROOK, KENT.-The characters represented in this sketch † were discovered many years ago on a pane of glass contained within a circular frame in the Vicarage House, at Cranbrook. Antiquary favour me with the explanation? Can any reader of the

W. WINTERS.

the wrong side of the glass, and we have had the sketch reversed [We suppose our correspondent has copied the characters from before sending it to the artist. The characters seem to represent a date, but we are not very confident as to the probability of our conjecture.-ED.]

Replies.

THE CRUEL BLACK.-The following is evidently the original of this ballad, which is printed in Prof. Child's Ballads, vol. iii., in A Collection of Old Ballads (1723) ii. p. 152, and in Evans's Old Ballads, iii. p. 232, and which Prof. Child states is entered in the Stationers' Registers, 1569-70. In the British Bibliographer iv. p. 182, he mentions also, it is said to be a verse form of one of Bandello's Novels (London, 1793), pt. 3, novel 21st:—“ XXXII. Johannes Portanus and Johannes Budens give a very strange account of a malicious Servant whom the Devil had possest with his own cursed Spirit of Cruelty, this Person having taken a virulent spleen against his Master for some rough usage, was resolved to be revenged, and therefore watching his opportunity, when the master and the rest of the Family were abroad, he shut and baracado'd all the doors about the House, and then broke open the chamber upon his Mistris, and after he had abused and affronted her, he bound her hand and foot and so left her groveling upon the ground, then this limb of the Devil took her three Children, the eldest not being seven years old, and carried them up to the battlements, and when he espied his Master coming home, he called to him, and first threw down one Perhaps the following account of the "Law of Gavelkind" child and then another, from the top of the house to the may in some way satisfy the curiosity of your correspondent pavement, whereby their bodies were miserably shattered, "XXXV." Some very clever etymologists have derived and dasht to pieces; and then held up the other in his arms the word "Gavelkind" from the Saxon phrase "Gif eal to do the like; at which sight the miserable Father being Cynn," or "give of all kind," or from other words to extreamly stupified (as well he might), fell upon his knees that purport. In the "Kentish Traveller's Companion,” and humbly besought the bloody villain, to spare the life of I extract the following "Some writers consider the the third, and he would pardon him the death of the 2 term to have originally denoted the nature of services former; to which the barbarous wretch replyed, there was yielded by the land, and have therefore imagined it to but one way in the world for him to redeem its life; the be a compound of the word 'Gavel,' which signifies indulgent Father with tears and intreaties desired to know rent or customary performance of husbandry works, and what that way was, who presently replyed, that he should of Gecynde,' which means nature, kind, quality, &c., instantly with his knife cut off his nose, for there was no and that the proper interpretation of Gavelkind' is thereother ransom for the child: The passionate Father who dearly tendered the safety of his Child, having now no more

* That is the servants, as in the Latin usage.

GAVELKIND.

(VOL. ii., 266, 278, 290).

[ocr errors]

The third edit. of this curious book, by Nath. Crouch. See Hearne's Remains (1869), iii. p. 235.

The publication of the engraving referred to is unavoidably postponed until our next issue.

Seye is wedne
Seye is lenedy

WALSINGHAM.

MONUMENTAL BRASSES (Vol. ii. 249, 265, 290).—I have pleasure in sending you the following list, showing the date of the earliest brass in each county in England. It may possibly be useful to "Wilfrid of Galway," who will see, on comparing it with his list, printed on p. 249, that in several counties there are older brasses than those he has named::

fore land of that kind or nature that yielded rent, in contra- | And in the other :distinction to lands holden by military tenure, which yielded no rent or service in money, provisions, or words of agriculture." The joint inheritance of all the sons to the estate of At present, however, without producing any positive proof the father is the principal branch of the "Law of Gavel- of a widow's incontinency, to deprive her of her dower, it is kind," and if the father outlives the son then the portion sufficient to show that she has been " caught tripping." which should have come to THAT son, descends to the sons Should any of your correspondents be able to furnish me of THAT son (if any), otherwise to his daughters. But should the father die without MALE issue, the property through the columns of your paper, I should esteem it a with any further information on the "Law of Gavelkind" descends to the daughters, who divides it between them great favour. equally. All surviving brothers, on the decease of any brother without issue, inherit the estate (if any) of the brother so dying, in equal portions, but in the event of the brother so dying leaving issue, then the issue of the brother so dying inherit in equal portions their deceased father's property, to the exclusion of the surviving brothers or relations of the one deceased. The law of gavelkind is very prevalent in the county of Kent, in fact so general was it, that in "Stat. 18, Hen. VI." it is expressly declared that well nigh all the "County was of that tenure." A great many kings endeavoured to disgavel many parts of Kent, and " Disgavelling Acts of Parliament were passed accordingly. These Acts merely divested the lands of their partible property only without in the least any of their qualities incident to them. Another special property of the "Gavelkind Law" is, that lands in Kent do not escheat to the king or other lord of whom they were holden, in case of a conviction and execution for felony. Also any heir to an estate, notwithstanding any offence or misdemeanour of his ancestor, shall come into possession of his father's or relative's estate immediately after their decease, and enjoy the lands by descent, observing the same customs and services, by which the estates were before holden, according to the old proverb:

The Father to the Bough,
And the son to the plough.

In Lincoln's Inn library, in a MS. of "The Customs of
Kent," it is thus expressed :-

The Fader to the bonde,

And the son to the londe.

This privilege is not extended to treason, for if a person be
indicted for that high offence, his gavelkind lands, notwith-
standing their usages, are forfeited to the Crown. Neither
are heirs entitled to their gavelkind properties if their
ancestors, being indicted for felony, become outlaws by
absconding; and in Catholic times if a person had taken
refuge in sanctuary, and abjured the realm, the immunity
of his property became null and void. A wife's dower out
of gavelkind lands is in no way forfeited even if her husband
be attainted of felony. A widow who may be possessed of
a dower out of her late husband's estates, entirely forfeits it
under the Law of Gavelkind," if she becomes married
again, or if she be guilty of incontinence. In case of the
widow committing an act of incontinency, before her dower
can be forfeited, it must be first thoroughly proven against
her, by attainting her of childbirth, according to the ancient
usage, which Lambard translates from a French MS.
entituled, "The Costumal of Kent," in the following words,
"That when she be delivered of a child the infant be heard
cry, and that the hue and cry be raised, and the country be
assembled, and have the view of the child so born, and of
the mother, then let her lose her dower wholly, otherwise
not so long as she holdeth her a widow, whereof it is said in
Kentish:-
:-

He that doth wende her
Let him lende her.

There are two other copies of the "Costumal," in one of which the foregoing phrase or proverb is thus expressed :

Sey is wedne
Sep is levedne

Bedfordshire-Wimington, 1391. The early brass at Cople
is without date, probably it is not earlier than the begin-
ning of the 15th century.
Berkshire-Wantage, cir. 1320.

Buckinghamshire-Taplow, cir. 1350. There does not
appear to be a brass at Stone older than 1470.
Cambridgeshire-Trumpington, 1289.
Cheshire-Wilmslow, 1460.
Cornwall-Cardynham, cir. 1400.
Cumberland-Greystoke, 1451.
Derby-Dronfield, 1399.

Devon-Stoke-in-Teignhead, cir. 1370. There is a frag-
ment at Ottery St. Mary, dated 1348. The Stoke
Fleming example was probably engraved some thirty
years after the decease of John Corp, in 1361.
Dorset-Wimborne Minster, cir. 1440. There was for-
merly a brass at St. Peter's, Dorchester, dated 1436.
Durham-Greatham, cir. 1350.
Essex-Pebmarsh, cir. 1320.

Gloucestershire-Winterbourne, cir. 1370.
Hampshire-Sherborne, St. John, cir. 1360.
Herefordshire Hereford Cathedral, 1360.
Hertfordshire-Berkhampstead, 1356.

Huntingdon-Sawtrey, 1404. The brass at Offord Darcy
was not engraved until cir. 1440.
Kent-Chartham, cir. 1306.

Lancashire Winwick, 1492. There appears to be no brass
at Sefton earlier than 1528.
Leicestershire-Wanlip, 1393.

Lincolnshire-Buslingthorpe, cir. 1310; also Croft, cir.

1310.

Middlesex-Harrow, cir. 1370; also Hayes, cir. 1370.
Norfolk-Elsing, 1347.

Northampton-Higham Ferrers, 1337.
Northumberland-Newcastle, All Saints, 1429.

There

is a fragment at St. Andrew's, Newcastle, date 1387.

Nottingham-Newark, 1361.

Oxford-Merton College, cir. 1310.

Rutland-Little Casterton, cir. 1410.

Shropshire-Burford, cir. 1370.

Somerset South Petherton, cir. 1430. There does not
seem to be a brass at Ilminster, dated 1410, but there is
one cir. 1440.

Stafford-Clifton-Campville, cir. 1360.
Suffolk-Acton, 1302.

Surrey-Stoke D'Abernon, 1277.
Sussex-Trotton, cir. 1310.
Warwickshire-Astley, cir. 1400.
Wilts-Salisbury Cathedral, 1375.
Worcestershire-Strensham, cir. 1390.
Yorkshire-York Minster, 1315.

E. H. W. DUNKIN. BURN (Vol. ii. 289).-Burn, or Bourne, is a stream or rivulet, and appears in the modern Scotch, Gaelic, Belgic, and Teutonic and other languages, e.g., Sc, burn a brook,

Gae. burn, fresh water; B. bron; T. born; Ger. brunnen;
Gothic, brunna a spring, from the verb to run. But burn
must not be confused with the Bourney, a place in Ireland,
for this is from the Irish Boireann (burren), a large rock; and
is applied to a stony, rocky district. Burren, a river joining
the Barrow, at Carlow, means a rocky river.
J. J.
CURMUDGEON (Vol. ii. 289) is an expressive term for "one
who is churlish-minded." The prefix, in its original form, is
ceor, a bondsman; connected with ceorl, literally one who is
collared," and finally "churl," the lowest grade of Saxon
freeman; the root of the two last syllables is in mód, i.e.,
mood or mind, amplified we get “módig,” our moody. Thus
ceorl-midig-an, or “churlish in mood," is the precursor of
our curmudgeon.
A. HALL.

66

SIDE SADDLE (Vol. ii. 275).—The side-saddle, TURNSPIT says, came in with Anne of Bohemia. That the older fashion was not entirely displaced, however, by 1390, is plain from Chaucer's graphic description of the riding attire of the Wife of Bath :

Uppon an amblere esely sche sat,

Z.

Wymplid ful wel, and on hire heed an hat As brood as is a bocler or a targe; A foot-mantel aboute her hupes large, And on hire feet a paire of spores scharpe, In felawschipe wel cowde lawghe and carpe. READY RECKONERS (Vol. ii. 299).-The late Professor De Morgan, a highly competent authority, was of opinion that the earliest English Ready Reckoner was Leybourne's Panarithmologia, published in London in 1693. A second edition of this book, I have reason to know, came out in London in 1709. The third edition of the Comes Commercii; or, the Trader's Companion, by "Edw. Hattan, Gent." was published in London in 1716. I never saw a copy of the first edition of this work. Mr. De Morgan speaks of a Ready Reckoner, by John Playford, entitled the Vade Mecum; or, the Necessary Pocket Companion, which, in 1756, had reached its nineteenth edition.

ZERO.

MERTON COLLEGE HALL (Vol. ii. 279).-May I point out that you have mixed up the restoration of the Hall at Merton and the Cathedral at Christchurch. The first half of the paragraph relates to Merton, the latter half relates to Christchurch. It seems a pity that the Antiquary should copy paragraphs from other newspapers without great care being exercised, for what is pardonable in a daily paper is not so in one devoted entirely to antiquarianism.

Oxford.

J. P. EARWAKER. [We admit the justice of the censure contained in the remarks of our correspondent, but must plead in extenuation that the paragraph in question had been in type before we entered upon the editorial supervision, and for which we cannot fairly be held responsible.-ED.] TULIP MANIA (Vol. ii. 299).-Dr. Charles Mackay's work is the Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions, in two vols. My copy is dated 1852. The article on tulips is very full and exhaustive. Vol. i. pp. 85-92. Andover.

SAMUEL SHAW.

THEYDON GERNON CHURCH, ESSEX (Vol. ii. 283) On comparing the article on Theydon Gernon with previously published inscriptions, the variations are numerous, Page 284, line 15, is evidently a misprint. "The Grocers' are there given a chevron between nine doves!

arms,

speaking of the Norwegian kingdom of Waterford, says:
"The Irish called the town Port Lairge;' to which name,
however, modern Irish scholars wouid ascribe a 'Danish
origin, as it is supposed to be derived from a Danish chief
called Lairge, mentioned in the Irish Annals in the year
951."
J. CK. R.

FLY-LEAF SCRAPS (Vol. ii. 297).-On the fly-leaf of a copy of Rudiman's Rudiments, used by me at a Scotch Grammar School forty years ago, is scribbled a scrap consisting of five words, which read up or down, backwards or forwards, gives the same words—

Bristol.

SATOR
A REPO
TENET
OPERA
ROTAS

RAMPLIN.

[blocks in formation]

CHURCHWARDENS' ACCOUNTS OF HORLEY, SURREY (Vol ii. 299). This curious and interesting old folio is preserved in the Manuscript Department of the British| Museum (see Add. MSS., 6173). The book appears to commence in 1519, according to what is stated on the flyleaf; but the date on fol. 5 is much earlier, i.e. 1505-7. The back of the book and the first fol. reveals something of The binding is, no doubt, original, but the clasps are missing. Brit. Ex Dono Gul. Bray Armig." &c. A member or two of its history. "Parish Acc. of Horley, Co., Surrey. Illus. the Bray family are noticeable in the latter part of the book W. WINTERS.

also.

CHURCH PROPERTY (Vol. ii. 298).-I cannot refer INVESTIGATOR to histories, and fear, indeed, that very few records exist in print of improvements in church livings, and augmentations of the values caused by the voluntary munidoubtedly been of enormous extent even within the present ficence of patrons and incumbents, yet such have ungeneration. Can any estimate be formed of what has been done by the clergy in the restoration of churches, or the building of new district churches and schools? I will mention only three instances which have come incidentally under my observation. St. Margaret's Church, Canterbury, a living worth less than 100l. a year, was restored about fifteen years ago, and the then rector gave 6007. out of his S. own pocket towards the restoration, and that was only one THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON (Vol. ii. 267; 301).- out of several munificent donations. 2. A rector of Exford, A writer in the Adventurer (No. 81, Tuesday, August 14, near Minehead, not only rebuilt the rectory-house, which 1753) states, that after Crichton's death, "the palaces of had fallen- into a ruinous state, and was occupied by a Italy were adorned with pictures, representing him on horse- labourer, entirely at his own cost, and made roads and back, with a lance in one hand and a book in the other." hedges, greatly improving the value of the living, but also Are there any engravings now extant in which he is thus bought back a field which had once been part of the glebe, portrayed? J. PERKY. but had long been alienated, and bequeathed it as a perLAIRG, LARGS, LARGO (Vol. ii. 277).-Here is an expla-petual augmentation of the living, to the college which had nation from the Gothic side of the question, from the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland, by J. J. A. Worsaae, London, 1852. Whether or not satisfactory to E. D. will be for him to judge. The Danish antiquary,

This should be nine cloves.

presented him to it. 3. A former rector of a living in Lincolnshire, near Boston, gave the ground and 1000l. towards a new district church, and the ground on which to build a school for the same district, and he and his family

have derived no pecuniary advantage from the new church in any way. The above instances have come to my knowledge quite accidentally, and I have no doubt that the total number of such benefactions and donations by the clergy themselves during the present century would be found, if they could be computed, to have increased vastly the aggregate of church property. F. J. L., M.A.

Beplies to Queries ab extra.

FINGER: PINK.

In a recent issue of a contemporary (see Notes and Queries 4 S. 472), I notice a query by Dr. Hyde Clarke about the word pink, and whether it is used in any part of England to signify the little finger.

In Scotland pinkie is a very common term for this finger. The word is met with in the popular nursery rhyme.

There's the ane that broke the barn,
There's the ane that stole the corn,
There's the ane that sat and saw,
There's the ane that ran awa,

And there's wee wee pinkie that paid for a'. These lines correspond to the five digits, beginning with the thumb, giving each a shake while repeating this appropriate line, and finishing off the climax at pinkie with a double shake. Like all nursery rhymes in which the child is the principal, it never fails to amuse, and it is very probable that the | youngster will ask for "more," or produce the other hand to be operated upon in the same way. ROBERT DRENNAN.

Richmond-road, Barnsbury, N.

[Pink means a fish, a minnow, and in a secondary sense seems to have the significance of small or young, Belgic pink, small. In the dialect of Craven pinky-winky means peeping with small eyes. A Netherdutch Dictionarie (Het Goot Woorden Boeck), Rotterdam, 1658, has de Pink, the little finger.-ED.]

Proceedings of Societies.

SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.-A meeting of this society will be holden on Tuesday, January 7, 1873, when the following papers will be read: 1. On the Tomb of Joseph at Shechem. By Professor Donaldson, Ph.D., K.L., F.R.I.B.A., F.S.A. 2. On Some Recent Discoveries in S.W. Arabia. By Captain W. F. Prideaux, F.R.G.S. (of Aden). The following candidates will be balloted for :Rev. John Finlayson, M.A., Right Hon. William Ewart Gladstone, M.P., D.C.L.; D. Clewin Griffith, Esq., F.R.G.S.; John Henry Gurney, Esq.; Rev. W. Houghton; B. G. Jenkins, Esq.; Charles T. Newton, Esq., M.A., F.R.S.L.; George Warrington, Esq., B.A., F. R. S.; Rev. John Wells, M.A.

Obituary.

On the fifth bell the

St. Michaels Mount, we are told, have really very pretty designs, each arm of the initial cross terminating in claborate Fleurs-de-lis. founder's initials are omitted. We believe the MS, has never been The inscriptions are generally correct. printed verbatim; but the inscriptions appeared once in Notes and Queries, and were copied thence into a work on Church Bells. Student-at-Law.-Consult Part II. of Notes on the Temple Church, to be found in No. VII., new series, of the Law Magazine and Review for the month of August, 1872.

J. B.-The best account of Durham is the History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham, by Robert Surtees, London, 1816-40. This work may be consulted in the British Museum. E. (Bristol).-The Abbe L. Roger was Dean of Bourges. He published some theological dissertations about the year 1715.

M.A. Oxon.-The quotation you give is in substance what Porson docs say; but his ipsissima verba are," As the orthodox are never weary in repeating the same baffled and exploded reasons, we here tics must never be weary of answering them." We cannot notice your query other than in this form. We eschew everything tending to theological discussion.

J. C. Stanley-Arms are granted by the Earl Marshal through the College of Arms, Bennet's Hill, the fees for which amount to some seventy or eighty pounds. Arms are granted to any one of the requisite social status, that is, to Clergymen, Physicians, Surgeons, Barristers-at-law, Officers of the Army and Navy, Bankers, Merchants, and the like, but not to shopkeepers, unless such happen to be Mayors or Aldermen, who, on account of the dignity of their respective offices, are admitted into the category of gentlemen. In Scotland the fees and stamp (which latter, we believe, is in every case ten pounds) amount to about forty-three pounds. We are not informed regarding the fees payable at the office of the Ulster King.

C. J. L.-The monumental effigies on the floor of the Temple buried in the habit of their order. This was a long white mantle, Round are not those of Knights Templars. The latter were always with a red cross on the left breast. The mail-clad figures are those of secular warriors, who, by virtue of a rule of the order, had been admitted Associates of the Temple.

C. Maclean.-The late Dr. F. C. Husenbeth was designated by Notes and Queries, Very Reverend, for the reason that the deceased was a Canon of the Church of Rome, and such are so styled by members of their own communion. In the Church of England, which alone in England can confer a legal right to ecclesiastical titles, a canon is simply Reverend, the title Very Reverend being an appendant to the office of Dean. The Presbyterian Church of Scot land-the State Church of that kingdom-limits the title Very Rever end to the heads of colleges and universities when presided over by ministers of the established Church, as the Very Reverend Principal So-and-so.

Jaycee. It was Cobbett who termed Fitzgerald the "Small Beer Poet."

T. D.-Byron states that Jeffrey and Moore met at Chalk Farm, and that the duel was prevented by the police. "On examination," he says, "the balls of the pistols, like the courage of the combatants, were found to have evaporated. This incident," Lord Byron continues, gave occasion to much waggery in the daily prints."

[ocr errors]

R. Paget. An account of the Highland sentinel who so gallantly lost his life while defending his post in front of the gaol at Castlebar, will be found in Sir Richard Musgrave's Rebellions in Ireland, Dublin, 1801. "The French approached the new gaol," he says, “to break it open. It was guarded by a Highland Fraser sentinel, whom his friends had desired to retreat with them; but he heroically refused to quit his post, which was elevated, with some steps leading to it. He charged and fired five times successively, and killed a Frenchman at every shot; but before he could charge the sixth time they rushed upon him, beat out his brains, and threw him down the steps, and the sentry-box on his body." In the history by Maxwell, the Highlander is represented in an illustration by George Cruik

shank.

C. C. B.-The name of the editor of the publication called the

WE have to record the death, on the 7th ult., of the Rev. Robert James Brown, D.D., Professor of Greek in Maris-Black Dwarf was T. J. Wooler. chal College, Aberdeen. Professor Brown was son of the Very Reverend Dr. Brown, Principal of Marischal College and University, and one of the ministers of the city of Aberdeen.

PROFESSOR BÄHR, the well-known editor of Herodotus, died at Heidelberg on the 28th of last November. He was seized with apoplexy while present at a banquet given to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Godfrey Hermann, and expired the same night.

Notices to Correspondents.

J. J. Jr. will please take note that communications for the editor are required to be addressed to the publishing office-not to the printers.

B. R. S. Frost.-We return with thanks Dr. Oliver's MS. under a registered cover. We regret that this is not suitable to print with illustrations in the Antiquary, and for the reason that the representation of the stamps are very inaccurate. The stamps on the bells at

E. What is called the "Breeches Bible" is by no means a rarity. W. Winters.-In regard to the letters from the monumental brass at Cranbrook, we submitted your sketch to a gentleman to whose judgment in such matters we attach importance. He says it belongs probably, of the deceased. The centre device is a merchant's mark, to a late sixteenth century brass. The letters are T. S., the initials, such as is frequently found on old tombs. Sometimes this is very elaborate in design, occasionally suggesting the idea of a monogram.

NOTICE.

We shall be glad to receive contributions from competent and capable persons accomplished in literature or skilled in archaeology, and generally from any intelligent reader who may be in possession of facts, historical or otherwise, likely to be of general interest.

To all communications should be affixed the name and address of the sender; not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

Communications for the Editor should be addressed to the Pub'lishing Office, 11, Ave Maria-lane, E.C.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1873.

CONTENTS.-No. 45.

But the interest which belongs to this bell lies not so much in its antiquity, for there are many bells in existence as old as the sixteenth or even the fifteenth century, but in the antiquarian problem which the first few letters of the MISCELLANEA:-Scraps of Bell Archeology, 13-Narrative of the ur? To increase the difficulty of solution there is a little inscription presents. In fact, who was is de B armig et Shipwreck of William Duncan, 14-Lockit Buik of the Burgesses indistinctness in the first letter which has caused it to be of Dundee, 15. NOTES:-Fly-leaf Scraps, 16-Unpublished Letter of Lord Broug- taken by some for a t, and by others for an i. It would ham-Prince of Wales Heraldry-Amy Robsart's Tomb-Christseem that the latter is the correct reading. Those, however, mas "Boar's Head"-Shakespeare's Commentators-Odds and who have adopted the t have considered the initials to refer Ends, Slang Sayings, and Folk Lore-Effigy of Tom Paine- to Thomas Stanley, of Burscough; but as he was Earl of Folk Lore-Curious Squint in Faversham Church. QUERIES:-Electoral Bonnet, 20-Photogram-Arms and Armour-bell would be inadmissible. With greater probability the Derby, the title of armiger which follows the initials on the Heraldic: Frasier-Merchants' Marks-Vicarage House, Cranbrook, Kent-Recumbent Tombstones-Wood Engraving-Old Tower, Dundee-Emblem of St. Ann-Teetotaller-Quotations: Authors Wanted.

REPLIES:-Lord Justice Selwyn, 20-Chaff-Roger of that Ilk
Athenæum-Hoax-Tulip Mania-The Earliest Advertisement-
Curmudgeon-Tradesmen's Tokens-Husband.

Replies to Queries AB EXTRA:-Pennytersan, Cunstone, &c., 22

Surnames-Owen.

FACTS AND JOTTINGS, 23.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES, 24.

NOTICES OF Books, 24.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS, 24.

Miscellanea.

SCRAPS OF BELL ARCHEOLOGY.

III.

[ocr errors]

donor belonged to the family of Scaresbreck, who possessed estates in the neighbourhood. Mr. Brooke Herford has so with the point at issue that we do not hesitate to quote his ably condensed and further investigated the facts connected own words. After referring to the doubtful rendering of the first letter of the inscription, he proceeds, it has been conjectured that they were the initials of James Scaresbreck, who, by an inquisition of 4 Henry VII., held lands in Burscough,' or else of another James Scaresbreck, who married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Atherton, of Bickerstaffe, and whose daughter, Elizabeth Scaresbreck, married Peter Stanley, of Aughton. Neither of these conjectures, however, is admissible. The first named James Scaresbreck, whose inquisition is dated 24 Henry VII., was a minor at his death in 1508, while the second named, the uncle of the first, would not be of Bickerstaff' until after his father-in-law's death in 1514, while his wife, whose initial would be м not E, was, at her father's death, only OLD DATED BELLS.-In a former article (Vol. ii. 260) thirty years old, and consequently could not have been we stated that the oldest dated bell known to exist in this married 1497. By the kindness of Mr. William Hardy, of country belongs to the village church of Duncton, in Sussex. the Duchy of Lancaster Office, I have, however, obtained This bell, which, by the way, bears the inscription + DE copies of the various inquisitions referred to, which show E LA HAGUE FET LAN MCCCLXIX, has that there was another James Scaresbreck (hitherto overbeen for a long time regarded by those who interest them-looked in the controversy), father of James Scaresbreck, who selves in the archæology of bells, as possessing a just claim married Margaret Atherton, and grandfather of James to that distinction. Such, however, is not the case. Scaresbreck, who died a minor in 1508. His wife's name Claughton, a village situate in the Hundred of Lonsdale, was Elizabeth; he held estates in both Burscough and Lancashire, is a bell on which is the date 1296, thus claim Bretherton; he is found living in 1494, dying some time ing a precedence over that of Duncton by more than seventy between that date and 1501, his wife surviving him; and his years. A drawing of the inscription on this ancient bell son Gilbert's will shows the family's interest both in the was, among others, lately exhibited by Mr. Stainbank, at a mine ex's content and pay towards the buying of a cross to priory of Burscough and Ormskirk church. I will that meeting of the British Archaeological Association. The letters, as one might expect on a bell of such antiquity, are that we have in this James Scaresbreck, the elder, the donor the church of Ormskirke 5s.' Thus it seems not improbable in the character called Lombardic, and are arranged as follow;-ANNO DNI M° CC NONOG AI°, the V being turned of the bell J. S. de B et E ux--1497.' One difficulty, upside down. Although unknown to most bell-hunters, indeed, still remains; James Scaresbreck, the elder, was 'of the antiquity of this bell was ascertained in 1853 by the Scaresbreck,' and though he held lands both in Burscough Rev. W. B. Grenside, when curate of the parish. Before and Bretherton, would hardly be named from them. If he be this date nobody was aware that of the two bells belonging sought." not the donor, the solution of the enigma has still to be to the church, one was really a campanological curiosity.

FLOTHEA.

At

at.

[ocr errors]

Little can be added to these interesting particulars, which appear to us to embody as probable a solution of the question, as at this distance of time can possibly be arrived There have been other suggestions as regards the donor's name, but with these it is useless to trouble the reader, as they will conclude by observing that the remaining bells of the cannot stand in the face of the above explanation. We peal, of which this old one forms the tenor, bear the following inscriptions, and were cast in 1714 and 1774, at the foundry of the Rudhalls, at Gloucester. 1. 1774

There is another old bell in Lancashire deserving a few remarks. We refer to the tenor at Ormskirk. Though it is dated 1497, a subsequent date on the waist shows that the bell was recast in 1576, and the old inscription reproduced, perhaps through the instrumentality of the descendants of the donor. The inscription runs:-is de B armig et e ur me fecerunt in honore trinitatis R.B. 1497. Be tween the several letters and words are ornamental stops, on which are various devices, embracing floral badges, pairs of roses, the red dragon, the portcullis, and the fleur-de-lis, while below is a neat border with similar devices, the design being repeated so as to encircle the bell. It should be said 2. PEACE AND GOOD NEIGHBOURNOOD 1774 that tradition points to the original bell as having belonged to Burscough Priory, and when the effects of this religious W GRICE, P'SH CLERK A [a bell] R 1714 house were sold at the Dissolution, the bell was purchased. ARCHIPPUS KIPPAX VICAR A [a bell] R 1714 4. HENRY HELSBY A [a bell] R 1714 by the parishioners, and transferred to the parish church. 6. BENI FLETCHER, THOS MOORCROFT, THOS ASPINThe recasting not having taken place till 1576, in the reign of Elizabeth, it is probable that the damage it had sustained, which rendered this necessary, occurred while the bell was suspended in the tower of the parish church.

WALL CHWARDENS 1714

7. THOMAS RUDHALL, GLOCESTER, FOUNDER, 1774

E. H. W. DUNKIN.

« AnteriorContinuar »