Part 3

John Thornholme, of Gowthorpe, near York, to whom arms were granted Sept. 11, 1563, was probably not of the same family? These arms are--On a shield argent, three thorn-trees vert. Crest: On a mount vert, a tower argent. Motto: "Probitas verus honos."

Any particulars as to the early and subsequent history of this last-named family would also be valuable.

[Theta].

_Poisons._--What are supposed to have been the _poisons_ used for bouquets, gloves, &c., in the time of Catherine de Medici, and her friend René?

H. A. B.

_Open Seats or Pews in Churches._--Mr. Barr (_Anglican Church Architecture_: Oxford, Parker, 1846) gives measurements, as by experience, found most convenient for many parts of this description of church fitting; but he gives not the length of each sitting, or, in other words, the space, measured along the length of the bench, that should be allowed for each person. Neither does he give the height nor the breadth of the flat board to rest the elbows on when kneeling, or to place the books upon, which he proposes to substitute for the common sloping bookboard. Neither does he appear to have paid any attention to the disposal of the hats with which every male worshipper must, I fear, continue to be encumbered, and which I like not to see impaled on the poppy-heads, nor plied on the font, nor to feel against my knees when I sit down, nor against my feet when I kneel. If any of your correspondents could name a church in the open seats of which these things have been attended to, and well done, I should be much disposed to go and study it as a model for imitation; and if satisfied with it, I should want little persuasion for commencing the destruction of my old manor pew, and the fixing of open seats on its site.

REGEDONUM.

_Burial of unclaimed Corpse._--In the parish of Markshall, near Norwich, is a piece of land now belonging to the adjoining village of Keswick. Tradition states that it was once a part of Markshall Heath; but, at the enclosure, the parishioners of Keswick claimed and obtained it, because some years before they had interred the body of a murdered man found there; the expenses of whose funeral the rate-payers of Markshall had inhumanly refused to defray. I think I have somewhere read a similar statement respecting a portion of Battersea Fields. Can either of these cases be authenticated; or is there any law or custom which would assign a portion of a common to a parish which paid for the burial of a corpse found on it?

E. G. R.

Minor Queries with Answers.

_Sir John Powell_--the judge who tried the seven bishops. Where was he buried? _i.e._ where is his epitaph (which is given in Heber's _Life Of Jeremy Taylor_) to be seen?

A. C. R.

[He was buried on September 26, 1696, in the chancel of the church of Langharne, in Carmarthenshire, where there is a tablet to his memory, with a Latin inscription, recording that he was a pupil of Jeremy Taylor. The Judge had a residence in the parish.]

"_Reynard the Fox._"--There was a book printed in 1706 entitled _The secret Memoirs of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Prime Minister and Favorite of Queen Elizabeth, written during his Life, and now published from an old Manuscript never printed_; by Dr. Drake: printed by Samuel Briscoe, 1706. In his Preface he alludes to the _History of Reynard the Fox_:

"There is an old English book, written about the time that these memoirs seem to have been, which now passes through the hands of old women and children only, and is taken for a pleasant and delightful tale, but is by wise heads thought to be an enigmatical history of the Earl of Leicester and his family, and which he that compares with these memoirs, will not take to be an idle conjecture, there are so many passages so easily illustrable, by comparing it with these memoirs. The book I mean is the _History of Reynard the Fox_, in which the author, not daring to write his history plainly, probably for fear of his power, has shadowed his exploits under the feigned adventures and intrigues of brutes, in which not only the violence and rapaciousness, but especially the craft and dissimulation, of the Earl of Leicester is excellently set forth."

I shall feel much obliged to any of your readers who can inform me of the earliest English edition of _Reynard the Fox_, and whether others besides Dr. Drake have taken the same view of the history.

W. D. HAGGARD.

Bank of England.

[The earliest edition of _Reynard the Fox_ is that printed by Caxton in 1481. Caxton's Translation was again printed by Pynson, and afterwards by Thomas Gualtier in 1550. Caxton's edition is of extreme rarity; but there is a reprint of it by the _Percy Society_ in 1844: with an introductory Sketch of the literary history of this popular romance, in which our correspondent will find a notice of the principal editions of it which have appeared in the various languages into which it has been translated.]

_Campvere, Privileges of._--May I ask the kind assistance of any of your readers on the following subject? Sir W. Davidson, who was political agent or envoy in Holland under King Charles II., is stated to have been "resident for H.M. kingdom of Scotland, and conservator of the Scots privileges of _Campvere_ in the Low Countries," &c.; {263} and under his portrait, engraved by Hagens, he is described, among other titles, as being "conservitor and resident for His Majestie's most ancient kingdome of Scotland in the Seventein Provinces." What were these privileges, and whence was the term _campvere_ derived?

I have seen mention made of a mercantile house at Calais, in the sixteenth century, who had their "campfyer schypp, hyr saylls hallfe blewyw hallfe yewllow:" but this, I think, must refer to the trade in camphor, in the purification of which the Venetians, and afterwards the Dutch, exclusively were occupied.

J. D. S.

[Campvere is another name given by the English to Veere, or Ter Veere, a fortified town of the province of Brabant, and the kingdom of the Netherlands. It was formerly the staple-town for the trade between Scotland and Holland; but its privileges, and much of its commerce, have been removed to Rotterdam.]

_Bishops Inglis and Stanser of Nova Scotia._--In addition to the very interesting notice of the former given in Vol. vi., p. 151., I beg to ask where and when he was born? whether an Englishman or American? No reply has yet been given regarding _Bishop Stanser's_ death, or resignation of see.

A. S. A.

Wuzzeerabad.

[As Sabine has included Bishop Inglis among the _American Loyalists_, it would appear that he was a native of the United States. His article commences, "Charles Inglis, of New York;" but it does not state that he was a native of that city. Bishop Stanser resigned his see through indisposition in the year 1825, and died at Hampton, Jan. 23, 1829. See "N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 425.]

* * * * *

Replies.

MONUMENT TO BARBARA MOWBRAY AND ELIZABETH CURLE AT ANTWERP.

(Vol. v., pp. 415. 517. &c.)

I adopt the above heading in preference to that which your correspondents C. E. D., M. W. B., F. H., and NHRSL have, I think improperly, selected. The monument, which is to be seen in the church of St. Andrew at Antwerp, is said by them to have been erected by the two ladies Barbara Mowbray and Elizabeth Curle to the memory of their beloved mistress the Queen of Scots; but it will be found to have been rather erected to the memory of those two ladies by Hippolytus Curle, the son of the former, and nephew of the latter, in or subsequent to the year 1620. The notice of it in my Murray's _Handbook_ of 1850 is brief but accurate:

"Against a pillar, facing the right transept, is a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, attached to a monument erected to the memory of two English ladies named Curle, who served her as ladies in waiting. One of them received her last embrace previous to her execution."

I beg to refer your correspondents to a Memoir by Mons. C. P. Serrure, which appeared in tom. iii. of the _Messager des Sciences et des Arts de la Belgique_, 1835, pp. 89-96., and was afterwards published at Ghent in a separate form, under the title of _Notice sur le Mausolée de Barbe Moubray et Elizabeth Curle, dames d'honneur de la reine Marie Stuart, qui se voit dans l'Eglise paroissiale de Saint André, à Anvers_, with an engraving of the monument. As the inscription conveys some biographical particulars of the ladies whose virtues it commemorates, and as this information is asked for by NHRSL, I have copied it: premising, however, that M. Serrure takes credit to himself for being the first to give it in a correct shape. It is as follows:

"Deo Opt. Max. Sacr. Nobiliss. Dvar. e Britannia Matronar. Monvmentvm viator spectas: Quæ ad Regis Cathol: tvtel. orthodo. religion. cavsa A patria profvgæ. hic in spe resurrect. qviescvnt.

In primis Barbaræ. Movbrayd. Iohan. Movbray Baronis F. Qvæ Sereniss. Mariæ Stvartæ Reginæ Scot. a cvbicvlis Nvptvi data Gvilberto Cvrle, qui ann. amplivs. xx. A. secretis Reg. fverat vnaq sine qverela ann. xxiiii. Vixervnt, liberosq. octo svstvler. sex cælo transcriptis Filii dvo svperstites, in stvdiis liberaliter edvcati. Iacobvs socie. Iesv sese Madriti aggregavit, in Hisp. Hippolytvs natv minor in Gallo. Belg. Societ. Iesv Prov. adscribi Christi militiæ volvit. Hic moestvs cvm lacrymis optimæ parenti. P. C. Quæ prid. Kalend. Avgvst. an^o. D. [M.DCXVI]. æt LVII. Vitam cadvcam cvm æterna commvtavit.

Item Elizab. Cvrlæ amitæ ex eadem nob. Curleor. stirpe Mariæ qvoq. Reginæ a cvbicvlis, octo aunis vinc[=v]lr. Fidæ sociæ, cvi moriens vltimvm tvlit svavivm. Perpetvo cælibi, moribvsq. castiss. ac pientissimæ Hippolytvs Cvrle fratris eivs f. hoc monvm. Grati animi pietatisq. ergo lib. mer. posvit. Hæc vltimvm vitæ diem clavsit, an^o. Dni 1620. Ætat. LX^{mo}. die 29 Maij. Reqviescant in pace. Amen."

The inscription under the queen's portrait is correctly given by M. W. B.; except that, in the sixth line, the word "invidia" occurs after "hæret," and the "et" is omitted.

Touching this same portrait, and the selfish, silly, sight-loving Englishman, M. Serrure writeth as follows:

"Les Anglais, si avides de tout voir quand ils sont en pays étranger, et si curieux de tout ce qui appartient à leur histoire, ne manquent jamais d'aller visiter l'Église de St. André. Leur admiration pour ce monument, sans doute plus intéressant sous le rapport du souvenir qui s'y rattache, que sous celui de l'art, va si loin, que plus d'une fois on a prétendu, non-seulement {264} que le Portrait est un de ceux qui retrace le plus fidèlement les traits de la malheureuse Marie Stuart, mais qu'on a été jusqu'à l'attribuer au pinceau de Van Dyck. Aussi bon nombre d'amateurs d'outre-mer l'ont-ils fait copier dans les derniers temps."

W. M. R. E.

* * * * *

RIGBY CORRESPONDENCE.

(Vol. vii., p. 203.)

I am a little surprised at the slight knowledge K. K. seems to have of Mr. Rigby--nor do I quite understand his statement: he says he possesses sixty-seven letters of Mr. Rigby to his _own grandfather_, and that his object is to discover, what he calls, the _counterpart of the correspondence_: and then he talks of this _counter-correspondent_, as if he knew no more of him than that he was an M. P., and "seems" to have done so and so. Now this counter-correspondent must have been his grandfather: and it would surely have simplified the inquiry if he had stated at once the name of his grandfather, whose letters he is anxious to recover. Mr. Rigby was one of the busiest politicians of the busy times in which he lived. He did not, as K. K. supposes, reside _altogether_ in England. He was chief secretary to the Duke of Bedford when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, from 1757 to 1761; in which period he obtained the lucrative sinecure of Master of the Rolls in Ireland, which he enjoyed for upwards of twenty years; during which he was a prominent figure in English and Irish politics, and was long the leader of the Bedford party in the English House of Commons. His correspondence would be likely to be, with any one he confided in, important; and with any body, very amusing: for, though a deep politician, he was of a gay, frank, jovial, and gossiping disposition. It was he who, when some questions were carried against him in the Irish parliament, and that some of his English friends wrote to ask him whether he would not resign on such an affront, concealed his political feelings under the jolly _bon-vivant_ style of answering: "What care I about their affronts! there is nothing in the world I like half so well as woodcock-shooting and claret-drinking, and _here_ I have both in perfection: why should I resign?" He died in 1788; and was succeeded in his estate at Mirtley, in Essex, by _Lieut.-Col. Hale Rigby_ (who, I think, but am not sure, assumed the name of Rigby for the estate), and who had an only daughter who married the late Lord Rivers; and whose son is now, I presume, the representative of Mr. Rigby--the owner of Mirtley--and probably, if they be in existence, the possessor of the "counter-correspondence" that K. K. inquires after. I have been thus particular in answering, as far as I can, K. K.'s _Query_, because I believe that any confidential correspondence of Mr. Rigby must be very interesting, and I am glad to suggest where K. K. may look for the "counterpart;" but, whether they be obtained or not, I am inclined to believe that Mr. Rigby's own letters would be worth publication, if, as I have already hinted, his correspondent was really in either his private or political confidence.

C.

A considerable number of this gentleman's letters were addressed to his friend and patron, John, fourth Duke of Bedford, and are among the MSS. at Woburn Abbey. A selection of the most interesting are printed in the _Bedford Correspondence_, three vols. 8vo.

W. A.

Richard Rigby, Esq., of Mirtley Hall, in Essex, was Paymaster-General of the Land Forces from 1768 to 1782, when he was succeeded by Edmund Burke.

Horace Wm. Beckford, the third Baron Rivers, married, in Feb. 1808, Frances, the only daughter of Lieut.-Colonel Frances Hale Rigby, Esq., of _Mirtley Hall_.[8] It is therefore probable, that the correspondence and papers referred to by K. K. may be in the possession of the present Lord Rivers.

J. B.

[Footnote 8: See Burke.]

* * * * *

MARIGMERII--MELINGLERII--BEREFELLARII.

(Vol. vii., p. 207.)

P. C. S. S. has ascertained that all the barbarous terms mediævally applied to certain classes of the inferior clergy, and referred to by MR. JEBB (_antè_, p. 207.), are explained in the _Glossarium_ of Ducange. They are identical in meaning and derivation, though slightly differing in point of spelling, with "Marigmerii" and "Melinglerii" (cited by MR. JEBB), "Marellarii," "Meragalarii," and "Malingrerii," and are all to be found in the learned work to which reference is now made. Of the last of these words, Pirri himself (who is quoted by MR. JEBB) gives the explanation, which is equally applicable to them all. He says (in _Archiepisc. Messan._, sub an. 1347):

"_Malingrerium_, olim dictum qui hodie _Sacrista_ est."

Ducange also thus explains the cognate word _Marrellarius_:

"Ædituus, custos ædis sacræ, vulgo _Marguillier_," &c.

MR. JEBB is therefore undoubtedly right in identifying the signification of these terms with that of the French "Marguillier," the Latin phrase for which is _Matricularius_, so called because those officers were selected from the paupers who were admitted into the _Matricula_, or _hospice_ adjoining the church or convent:

"Ex Matriculariis pauperibus quidam seligebantur ad viliora Ecclesiarum adjacentium munia, _v.g._ qui {265} campanas pulsarent, ecclesiarum custodiæ invigilarent [_church-wardens_ in the true sense of the word], eas scoparent ac mundarent. Atque inde Matriculariorum (nostris _Marguillier_) in ecclesiis parochialibus origo."

Of another singular word, _Berefellarii_, and of the adoption of _Personæ_ instead of it, the history is very amusing, though, perhaps, scarcely fit for the pages of "N. & Q." It would seem that these inferior servitors of the church were not very cleanly in their person or habits. The English populace, by a not very delicate pun on their name, were wont to call them _bewrayed fellows_, the meaning of which it is not necessary farther to explain. In a letter of Thomas, Archbishop of York (preserved in Dugdale's _Monasticon_, tom. III. p. ii. p. 5.), the good prelate says:

"Scilicet Præcentoris, Cancellarii, et Sacristæ, ac Septem Personarum qui olim _Berefellarii_ fuerunt nuncupati.... Sed quia eorum turpe nomen _Berefellariorum_, patens risui remanebat, dictos Septem de cætero non _Berefellarios_ sed _Personas_ volumus nuncupari."

The glossarist adds, with some _naïveté_:

"Cur autem ita obscæna hujusmodi iis indita appellatio, dicant Angli ipsi!"

P. C. S. S.

MR. JEBB, in his Query respecting the _exoticæ voces_ "Marigmerii" and "Melinglerii," seems to be right in his conjecture that they are both of them corruptions of some word answering to the French _Marguillier_, a churchwarden. The word in question is probably _Meragularius_. It appears to be a term but rarely used, and to occur but once in Martene, _De Antiq. Eccl. Ritibus_, tom. i. p. 233., Venice, 1783, in the conclusion of his extract "de ordinario MS. ecclesiæ Cabilonensis;" where the officer in question performs the duty of the Vestararius:

"Diaconus et Subdiaconus inter se plicant vestimenta sua, Meragularius præstat auxilium sacerdoti."

Though elsewhere Martene explains the term by "Ædituus, custos ædis."

With regard to the latter word, the meaning of which MR. JEBB inquires, _Berefellarii_, I may suggest that he will find, on reading somewhat further in the archbishop's _Statuta_ for Beverley, a further account of these same _Berefellarii_; which almost precludes the likelihood of a blunder in the original document, or at least of _Beneficiarii_ being the correct word. For the archbishop, having occasion to mention them again, gives the origin of their institution:

"Quos quidem Berefellarios recolendæ memoriæ Dom. Johannes de Thoresby dudum Eborum Archiepiscopus ad honorem dictæ Ecclesiæ Beverlaci, et majorem decentiam ministrantium in eadem provincia ordinabat."

He then proceeds:

"Sed quia eorum turpe nomen Berefellariorum, patens risui remanebat, dictos Septem de cætero non Berefellarios sed Personas volumus nuncupari."

And accordingly we find them called hereafter in this document by the very indefinite appellation, _Septem Personæ_.

The word _Berefellarii_ seems obviously to be of Anglo-Saxon origin; as well from the extract I have given above, as from the absence of the term in works on the continental rituals, as Martene for instance. And I would suggest, in default of a better derivation, that the word may have been Latinised from the Anglo-Saxon _bere fellan_ or _sellan_. The office would then be that of almoner, and the _Berefellarii_ would be the "persons" who doled out victuals to the poor; literally, _barley-givers_. Such an original would make the term liable to the objection to which the archbishop alluded; and the office does not altogether disagree with what was stated as the object of its institution, viz.:

"Ad honorem ecclesiæ Beverlaci, et majorem decentiam ministrantium in eadem."

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

* * * * *

PHOTOGRAPHIC NOTES AND QUERIES.

_Replies to Photographic Questions._--SIR WILLIAM NEWTON is right respecting the active properties of sulphuric acid; it should therefore not be stronger than merely tasting of the acid; but it has appeared to me to possess a superior effect in setting the alkalies free. I believe muriatic acid would have precisely the same effect, or Beaufoy's acetic acid, though it would be rather expensive. Starch would be invaluable both for positives or negatives, if it could be laid on perfectly even; but if pinned up to dry it all runs to one corner, and if laid flat it runs into ridges. Perhaps some artist may be able to favour us with the best mode of treating starch; its non-solubility in cold water makes it an invaluable agent in photography.

The above includes a reply to MR. J. JAMES' first Query: to his second, the solution may be either brushed or floated, but all solutions require even greater care than doing a water-colour drawing, to lay them perfectly flat. The remaining questions depend for answer simply on the experience of the operator: the formula given was simply for iodizing paper; the bringing out, exposure in the camera, &c., have been so clearly described lately by DR. DIAMOND, it would be useless to give further directions at present.

G. H. should dispense with the aceto-nitrate and gallic acid, and bring up with gallic acid and glacial acetic acid only. This makes no dirt whatever, and is quite as effective. The marbling {266} he alludes to proceeds from the sensitive solution not being sufficiently dry when put into the camera. Even if prepared paper is blotted off, which I think a very bad plan, it should have some time allowed it to dry; also the faintness of the image depends either upon not giving time enough, or the aperture he uses for his lens is much too large; or again, he has not found the true chemical focus,--it varies in single meniscus lenses sometimes as much as three-eighths of an inch nearer the eye than the visual:--all these are causes of indistinct images, and require patience to rectify them.

I beg leave to subscribe entirely to MR. W. BROWN'S remarks on the subject of Mr. Archer and collodion. I have one of Mr. Horne's handbills, circulated with the first samples of collodion, headed "Archer's prepared collodion" in 1851, and had some of the earliest in the market. That Mr. Archer should fail in trying his own preparation goes for nothing at all, because, at the best of times, and with the most skilful, failures are often numerous and mortifying, in photography above all other arts; therefore, unless some more correct data are given, the merit rests entirely on Mr. Archer.

WELD TAYLOR.

Bayswater.

_Developing Paper Pictures with Pyrogallic Acid_ (Vol. vii., p. 117.).--Your correspondent R. J. F. asks if any of your photographic correspondents have developed their paper negatives with pyrogallic acid. I have long been in the habit of doing so by the following process. Of Mr. Archer's developing solution, viz.,

Pyrogallic acid 3 grs. Acetic acid 1 drachm. Distilled water 1 oz.

take twenty grs. (minims): add an equal quantity of distilled water, and five drops (minims) of acetic acid. I pour the mixture upon a glass plate, and put the sensitive surface of any picture upon it; moving, it up and down by one corner, to prevent the paper being stained, and to observe the development of the picture; which, when sufficiently come out, I blot and wash immediately, and fix with hyposulphite of soda or bromide of potassium.

THOMAS WYATT.

Manchester.