Part 3

Though not very germane to the matter, except as being a point of chronology, I may add here that the remarkable solar eclipse, long remembered in Scotland by the name of the "Dark Hour," did not occur, as stated by Mr. Tytler, on 17th June, 1432, but on the same month and day of the following year.

J. S. WARDEN.

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DE BEAUVOIR PEDIGREE.

I have in my possession a curious ancient pedigree of De Beauvoir and Harryes, headed thus:

"The name De Beauvoir is from ---- in the kingdom of England; came into England with y^e Conquest of the Norman Duke, from whom is descended all that are now in England, they bearing for their coate armour the _first_, Azure, a chevron or, between three cinquefeuilles argent, by the name of De Beauvoir. The _second_ he beareth the guelles a chevron between three hayeres heads erased, by the name of Harreys. The _third_ (or) a lyon rampant azure, by the name of Throlpe. The _fourth_, Argent, a fess between three cressentes azure, by the name of ... within a mantle doubled guelles on two helmetes and torseyes proper and the first a demy-dragon, adorned properly guelles and argent, vert, by the foresaid name De Beauvoir; on the second a harye sitting argent between two bushes vert."

The pedigree begins with "Sir Robert Beauvoir, Lord Beauvoir, Lord Baron of Beaver Castle, Knt.;" and the maternal line with "Sir Robert Harryes of Malden in Essex, Knt., came into England with the Saxons."

In the tenth descent the sole heiress is represented as marrying "Robert, Lord Bellmoint," whose sole daughter married "John, Lord Manners, father of Edmund Manners, first Earl of Rutland, from whom is descended Roger, Earl of Rutland, now living."

The pedigree ends with the nineteenth descendant, Henry de Beauvoir, of the Isle of Guernsey, who married the daughter of Peter Harreys of the Isle of Guernsey.

Can any reader of "N. & Q." inform me whether descendants of that marriage are still to be found, and where?

There are points in the pedigree, as genealogists will see, totally discrepant from the Peerages.

THOMAS RUSSELL POTTER.

Wymeswold.

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Minor Queries.

_Dog-whippers: Frankincense._--Can any reader throw light upon the following entries in the churchwardens' account-book for the parish of Forest Hill, near Oxford?

"1694. P^d to Tho. Mills for whipping dogs out of church, 1 shilling.

"1702. P^d for frankincense for the church, 6 pence."

The only passage which occurs to me as at all bearing upon so late a use of incense in parish churches in this country, is the following extract from Herbert:

"The country parson hath a care that his church be swept and kept clean; and at great festivals, strewed and stuck with boughs, and perfumed with incense."

This hardly brings the custom later than 1630.

As regards the former entry, I am told by a friend that the office of dog-whipper existed about fifty years ago for the church of Heversham in Westmoreland.

C. F. W.

_Atchievement in Yorkshire--Lipyeatt Family._--Found and noted in a Yorkshire church tower, an atchievement painted apparently about forty or fifty years ago, of which no account can be given by the sexton or parish clerk. Query, to what names do the bearings belong? viz. Vert, on a fess or, between three bezants, three lions passant azure. Impaling: Vert, three swans in tri, statant, wings erect, argent. Crest, a lion passant azure, langued gules. The swans have head, neck, and body like swans, but their legs appear to have been borrowed from the stork. It is suspected that the dexter coat belongs to one of the Wiltshire Lipyeatts.

Is there any pedigree of the Lipyeatt family, who were burghers of wealth and consideration in the town of Marlborough, from the middle of the seventeenth century down to the latter part of the eighteenth?

PATONCE.

"_Waestart._"--A common expression of sorrow or condolence among the lower classes in the manufacturing district around Leeds, in Yorkshire. Whence does it arise? Is it an abbreviation of "Woe to my heart," "Woe is me"?

J. L. S., Sen.

_Rebellion of 1715._--Has any report been published of the trial of the prisoners taken at Preston? Mr. Baron Bury, Mr. Justice Eyre, and Mr. Baron Montague opened the Commission at Liverpool. The trials began on January 20, 1716, and lasted till February 8.

THOMAS BAKER.

{350}

"_Athenian Sport._"--Who was the writer of _Athenian Sport, or Two Thousand Paradoxes, merely argued to amuse and divert the Age_, by a Member of the Athenian Society, London, 1707?[1] It would almost appear to have been a burlesque upon the _Athenian Oracle_.

HENRY T. RILEY.

[Footnote 1: Lowndes has attributed this work, but we think incorrectly, to the celebrated John Dunton.--ED.]

_Gutta Percha made soluble._--Can any one inform me how gutta percha may be made so soluble, that a coating of it may be given any article, which shall dry as hard as its former state? I have tried melting it in a ladle, but it never hardened properly.

E. B.

Leeds.

_Arms of Anthony Kitchen._--Can any of your correspondents inform me what were the arms of Anthony Kitchen, Bishop of Llandaff in 1545? And what relation, if any, of Robert Kitchen, who was Mayor of Bristol in 1588? The latter was of Kendal in Westmoreland.

D. F. T.

_Griesbach Arms._--Could any correspondent versed in German heraldry tell me the arms of the German family of Griesbach, or refer me to any work containing a collection of German arms?

CID.

_Postage System of the Romans._--Could any of your correspondents inform me where I may find a perfect account of the postal system of the Romans? We know that they must have had such a system, but I have forgotten the author who gives any description of it.

ARDELIO.

_Three Crowns and Sugar-loaf._--Passing through Franche (a village near Kidderminster in Worcestershire) the other day, I saw an inn called "The Three Crowns and Sugar-loaf." As there seems to me not the _least_ connexion between a crown and a sugar-loaf, I send this to "N. & Q." in hopes of an explanation from some of its readers more skilled than myself in such matters.

CID.

_Helen MacGregor._--In Burke's _Landed Gentry_ (Supplement, art. "MacGregor of Craigrostan and Inversnaid") this redoubted heroine is described as "a woman of _agreeable temper_ and domestic habits, active and careful in the management of her family affairs." This is so directly opposed, not only to Scott's description, but to the generality of traditions about her, that, as Campbell says, "it makes the hair of one's literary faith stand on end." Helen was, very likely, a different person from what she afterwards became, ere the events happened that drove Rob Roy "to the hill-side to become a broken man;" but one can hardly imagine her, in her most happy days, to have been such a person as is above depicted--an amiable wife and clever housekeeper. The pen of a descendant is evident, in the partial description given of both husband and wife.

J. S. WARDEN.

_Francis Grose the Antiquary._--Francis Grose, the distinguished antiquary, was Captain and Adjutant of the Surrey Militia, commanded by Col. Hodges, in which regiment he served for many years; but on some occasion, probably breach of discipline, he was brought to a general court-martial. The regiment formed part of the large encampment of 15,000 men on Cocksheath, near Maidstone, in 1778. I think the trial took place then, or within a year or two of that date; and should be thankful to any reader of "N. & Q." who would supply me with the precise date when the court-martial assembled?

[Greek: Ss.]

"_King of Kings:" Bishop Andrews' Sermons._--From MS. Account of Fellows of Kings, compiled from 1750, A.D. 1583, Geffrey King, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, Cambridge, first chaplain to Bancroft and James I., whether he or Thos. King, 1605, or James King, 1609? One of them began his sermon at St. James: "I, King of Kings, come to James the First and Sixth, nothing wavering."

"These puns much applauded in those times, insomuch that the preacher would stop to receive applause, which was expressed by loud and repeated hums. In Bishop Andrews' printed Sermons, these stops may be discovered."

Is this true of Bishop Andrews' _Sermons?_

J. H. L.

_Scroope Family._--Will any one be so good as to clear up the doubts noticed in the peerage books as to the family of Henry Lord Scroope, of Bolton, who died about 22 Henry VII.? His wives are generally stated to have been daughters of the Earl of Northumberland and Lord Scroope of Upsal; but other accounts are to be met with. What however I particularly refer to, is the question, who was the mother of his daughter Alice, who married Sir Gilbert Talbot? Lady Talbot could not have been by the daughter of Lord Scroope of Upsal; as, if so, she and her issue would have inherited her grandfather's barony, which it is certain was enjoyed by his younger brothers. Very likely Mr. Scroope's unpublished volume on the Lords Scroope and their seat Coombe Castle explains this.

S. N.

_Harrison the Regicide--Lowle._--Thomas Willing, son of Joseph Willing and Anne Lowle (his second wife), married July 16, 1704, Anne Harrison, a grand-daughter of the Regicide. Charles (son of Thomas and Anne, born in Bristol, 1710) married Anne Shippen. One of their daughters married Sir Walter Stirling; and a {351} great-granddaughter (Miss Bingham) married Mr. Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton. I should be obliged for information as follows:

1. Through what descent was Anne Harrison a descendant of the Regicide?

2. Is anything known of the Lowle family? Their arms were, "Sa., a hand grasping three darts argent."

T. BALCH.

Philadelphia.

_"Chair" or "Char."_--I am desirous of ascertaining the meaning of this term, as occurring frequently in the Cambridgeshire Fens. It is variously spelt, _chair_, _chaire_, _chare_, or _char_. In the Cambridgeshire dialect it may be remarked, _air_ or _are_ is pronounced as "ar." Thus, _upstairs_, _bare_, are "upstars," "bar." There is a Char Fen at Stretham, laid down in Sir Jonah Moore's Map (1663). There is also a Chare Fen at Cottenham; and at Littleport is a place called Littleport Chair. This last had the name at least as early as Edward II.'s reign; as in a description of a neighbouring fen, not later than that date, one boundary is "A le _chaire_ per Himmingslode usque Gualslode End." A friend who has searched the documents in the Fen Office at Ely on this subject for me, has been unable to discover the least clue to the meaning of the term.

At Newcastle-on-Tyne, a narrow street or passage between houses is called a _chare_; but there is nothing narrow about Char Fen, which was part of an open common. The course of the rivers at Littleport may be imagined to form a rude outline of a chair or seat; but this does not apply to the other instances in which the name occurs.

There are numerous local names in the fens, of which the history may be traced for some centuries, deserving investigation.

E. G. R.

_Aches._--I am aware that there is abundant proof of "aches" being a dissyllable when Shakspeare wrote, and long after; but I wish to know whether there is any _rhyme_ earlier than that in Butler, which fixes the pronunciation as _artches_.

S. S.

_Leeming Hall._--There was formerly a mansion somewhere between Liverpool and Preston, called Leeming Hall. Can any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." inform me if it still exists, and what is the name of the present owner? I should also be glad to have some information respecting the genealogy of the family of Leemings, who formerly lived there, or to learn the name and residence of some member of the family to whom I could apply for such information.

G.

_Caricature; a Canterbury Tale._--Many facts are recorded in the caricatures of the day, of which there is no other account. The reference of the following may be well known, but I should feel obliged by any of your correspondents explaining it. Fox, the Prince of Wales, and a third figure (?), are in a boat pushing off from shore, with Burke looking over a wall with a large bag in his hand. He says, "D----me, Charley, don't leave me in the lurch;" who replies, "Self-preservation is the first law of nature." His companions joining with "Push off, Charley, push off."

H.

_Perpetual Curates not represented in Convocation._--In _Lectures on Church Difficulties_, by the Rev. J. M. Neale, I find this statement:

"Under the old regime rectors and vicars were alone, generally speaking, allowed a vote in the election of proctors, to the exclusion from that privilege of even perpetual curates."--Lecture xi., p. 133.

I believe that this is correct, and that the curates spoken of as having their votes rejected in Day _versus_ Knewstubbs, were perpetual curates: but can some of your correspondents confirm this view by facts?

WM. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

_Dr. Whichcote and Dorothy Jordan._--In the preface to the edition of the plays of Wycherley and others, edited by Mr. Leigh Hunt, the following passage occurs:

"The two best sermons we ever heard (and no disparagement to many a good one from the pulpit) were a sentence of Dr. Whichcote's against the multiplication of things forbidden, and the honest, heart and soul laugh of Dorothy Jordan."

I feel rather curious to read a sentence which is said to possess so much instruction.

[Greek: Xanthos].

_Moral Philosophy._--What English writers have treated of the obligation of oaths and promises, or generally of moral philosophy, between the Reformation and the time of Bishop Sanderson?

H. P.

_Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound."_--Can any of your correspondents, by conjecture or reference to the original MS., elucidate the meaning of the following passage, which occurs in Act II. Sc. 4. of this extraordinary poem? It sounds so sweetly that one cannot but wish it were possible to understand it.

"_Asia._ Who made that sense which, when the winds of spring In rarest visitation, or the voice Of one beloved heard in youth alone, Fills the faint eyes with falling tears which dim The radiant looks of unbewailing flowers, And leaves this peopled world a solitude When it returns no more?"

Shelley's mysticism is very often such as to render him unintelligible to ordinary readers, but it is combined here with a want of grammatical {352} connexion that makes obscurity ten times more obscure. I have not the least idea whether "fills" refers to "sense which," or to "voice;" but whichsoever it may belong to, it is evident that the other nominative singular, as also the plural "winds of spring," have no verbs, either expressed or understood, to govern. A line or two may have dropped out; but all editions as far as I am aware, give the passage as above. In Act I., at p. 195. line 7 of the edition of 1853, occurs a curious error (I presume of the press); Mercury, addressing the Furies, says:

"Back to your towers of iron, And gnash beside the streams of fire, and wail Your foodless teeth."

The having no food to put between one's teeth is no doubt a very sufficient cause for wailing, but still I think the passage would run better if "gnash" and "wail" exchanged places. How do other editions give it?

J. S. WARDEN.

_Turkish Language._--Are there any easy dialogues in the Turkish language, but in the English type, to be obtained; and where? If there be not, I think it would be desirable to publish some, with names of common objects, &c.

HASSAN.

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Minor Queries with Answers.

_Illustrated Bible of 1527._--Can you inform me whether there is any Bible published in 1527 at Lyons, with Hans Holbein's cuts in it, and what engraver used this monogram, as I have a Bible of that date, the plates of which are almost fac-similes (some of them) of Holbein's cuts, which were published by Pickering? The date of the Bible is 1527.

"Impressa autem Lugduni per Jacobum Mareschall feliciter explicat, anno nostri Salutis 1527."

L. S. C.

[Several editions of the Bible were printed in the early part of the sixteenth century at Lyons, some of them ornamented with cuts from designs similar to those of Holbein. Two or three from the press of Mareschall are in the British Museum. We believe there were no Bibles printed at Lyons in which it was acknowledged that the cuts were designed by Holbein. The following notice of the monogram occurs in _Dictionnaire des Monogrammes_, par F. Bruilliot, part i. p. 421., No. 3208.: "Cette marque, dont on ne connait pas la signification, se trouve sur une copie d'une gravure en bois de Jean Springinklee, représentant l'enfant Jésus couché à terre, entouré de trois anges, et adoré par St. Joseph et par la Ste. Vierge. A droite au travers d'une fenêtre près d'une colonne on remarque le boeuf et l'âne, et au milieu du fond deux bergers dont l'un ôte son chapeau. La marque est au bas à gauche près de l'habit de St. Joseph. Bartsch décrit l'original, _P. Gr._ t. vii. p. 328., No. 51."]

_Heraldic Query._--Can you help me towards ascertaining the date and meaning of the following device, which I find upon an old picture-frame, the portrait once inclosed in which has long since been destroyed?

On a disk, of about six inches in diameter, are engraved the royal arms of Great Britain, without the harp, but with the Scots lion. You will at once perceive the peculiarity of this bearing, the harp and the lion having been added at the same time by James I. The leopards occupy the first quarter, the ground of which is seméed with _hearts_; the Scots lion the second, his feet resting upon a quaint band, which seems to occupy the place of the usual bordure. The three fleurs-de-lis, very much broadened, and taking almost the shape of crowns, occupy the places of the third and fourth quarters.

The only instance I can find of a single lion or leopard appearing upon a coin without the harp, is a coin (a half-florin) of Edward III., on the obverse of which appears a leopard crowned, with a banner of the arms of England fastened to his neck, and flowing back upon his shoulder.

RUDING.

Oxford and Cambridge Club.

[Our correspondent has wasted his ingenuity: the bearings are, first quarter, Denmark, Or, semée of hearts gules, three lions passant guardant. Second quarter, Norway, a lion crowned, or holding a Danish battle-axe. In base Azure, three crowns, or two and one, Sweden. Surmounted by the royal crown. See _Souverains du Monde_, t. iii. p. 430.]

_Richard de Sancto Victorie._--In Anthony Mundy's _Successe of the Times_, under the head "Scotland," he says,--

"In this King Alexander's reign (1110) lived also the holy man, Richard de Sancto Victorie, being a Scot borne, but lyving the more part of his time at Paris, in Fraunce, where he died, and lieth buried in the Abbey of S. Victorie, he being a brother of the same house."

Can you furnish any particulars of my countryman Richard?

PERTHENSIS.

[Richard, Abbot of St. Victor, was born in the reign of David I. After such education as Scotland afforded, in polite literature, the sacred Scriptures, and mathematics, the principal objects of his early studies, he went over to Paris. Here the fame of Hugh, Abbot of St. Victor, induced him to settle in that monastery, to pursue his theological studies. In 1164, upon the death of Hugh, he was chosen prior, which office he filled for nine years with great wisdom and prudence. He died March 10, 1173, and was buried in that monastery. He was the author of several treatises on subjects of practical divinity, and on scripture criticism, particularly on the description of Solomon's temple, Ezekiel's temple, and on the apparent contradictions in the books of Kings and Chronicles. They were all published at Paris in 1518 and 1540 in {353} two vols. folio, at Venice in 1692, at Cologne in 1621, and at Rouen in 1650, which is reckoned the best edition. A summary account of his works is given in Mackenzie's _Lives and Characters of Writers of the Scots Nation_, vol i. p. 147., edit. 1708.]

_St. Blase._--In Norwich, every fifty years, the festival of Bishop Blase is observed with great ceremony. What connexion had he with that city?

W. P. E.

[Norwich formerly abounded with woolcombers, who still esteem Bishop Blase as their patron saint, probably from the [Combe of Yren] with which he was tortured previously to his martyrdom. "No other reason," says Alban Butler, "than the great devotion of the people to this celebrated martyr of the Church, seems to have given occasion to the woolcombers to choose him the titular patron of their profession; on which account his festival is still kept by them with a solemn guild at Norwich."]

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Replies.

LEICESTER AS RANGER OF SNOWDON.

(Vol. ix., p. 125.)

In a note to Parry's _Royal Visits and Progresses in Wales_, p. 317., I find the following allusion to the circumstances mentioned in ELFFIN AP GWYDDNO'S Query regarding Leicester's Rangership of Snowdon, and the patriotic opposition offered to his oppressions. I regret I am unable to afford the desired information respecting the imprisonment of the Welsh gentleman in the Tower. Could not this be furnished by some of your readers who have access to public documents and records of the period? This imprisonment is not mentioned either in the account I append, or in a longer one to be found in Appendix XVI. vol. iii. of Pennant's _Tour in Wales_: