Chapter C: Mansfield Ingleby

Birmingham.

_Detached Church Towers_ (Vol. vii. _passim_; Vol. viii., p. 63.).--At Morpeth, in Northumberland, the old parish church stands on an eminence at the distance of a mile from the town. In the market-place is a square clock tower, the bells in which are used for ordinary parochial purposes.

At Kirkoswald, in Cumberland, where the church stands low, the belfry has been erected on an adjoining hill.

E. H. A.

_Bishop Ferrar_ (Vol. viii., p. 103.).--Bishop Ferrar, martyred in Queen Mary's reign, was not of the same family with the Ferrers, Earl of Derby and Nottingham. Was your correspondent led to think so from the fact of the martyr having been originally a bishop of the Isle of Man?

A LINEAL DESCENDANT OF THE MARTYR.

Cambridge.

"_They shot him by the nine stone rig_" (Vol. viii., p. 78.).--This fragmentary ballad is to be found in the _Border Minstrelsy_. It was contributed by R. Surtees of Mainsforth, co. Durham, and described by him as having been taken down from the recitation of Anne Douglas, an old woman who weeded in his garden. It is however most likely that it is altogether factitious, and Mr. Surtees' own production, Anne Douglas being a pure invention.

The ballad called "The Fray of Haltwhistle," a portion of which, "How the Thirlwalls and the Ridleys a'," &c., is interwoven with the text in the first canto of _Marmion_, is generally understood to have been composed by Mr. Surtees. He, however, succeeded in palming it upon Scott as a genuine old ballad; and states that he had it from the recitation of an ancient dame, mother of one of the miners of Alston Moor. Scott's taste for old legends and ballads was certainly not too discriminating, or he would never have swallowed "The Fray of Haltwhistle." Perhaps he suspected its authenticity, for he says of it:

"Scantily Lord Marmion's ear could brook
The harper's barbarous lay."

T. D. RIDLEY.

_Punning Devices_ (Vol. viii., p. 270.).--In the 4th volume of Surtees' _History of Durham_, p. 48., there is an account of the Orchard Chamber in Sledwish Hall:

"In the centre is a shield of the arms of Clopton; being two coats
quarterly, a lion rampant and a cross _pattee fitchee_; over all, a
crescent for difference.[1] On two other shields, impressed from one
mould, are the initials E. C., the date 1584, and a _tun_ with a rose
_clapt on_."[2]

OLD GRUMBLEUM.

[Footnote 1: This note says the arms are reversed, being impressed from a mould.]

[Footnote 2: "The crest of Clopton is a falcon _clapping_ his wings, and rising from a tun; and I verily believe the rose _clapt on_ to be the miserable quibble intended."]

_Ashman's Park_--_Wingfield's Portrait_ (Vol. viii., p. 299.).-Could any correspondent in Suffolk inform me if Ashman's Park has been sold; and if the pictures are anywhere to be found, especially that of Sir Anthony Wingfield? The communication of H. C. K. relative to the above subject is very interesting.

Q.

"_Crowns have their compass_," _&c._ (Vol. iv., p. 428.).--In the well-known lines attributed to Shakspeare, and quoted in the above volume, the third stands thus:

"Of more than earth can earth make none partaker."

I find that Quarles has borrowed this in his _Emblems_, book i. Emblem vi.:

"Of more than earth can earth make none possest."

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia.

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_Ampers_ & (Vol. ii., pp.230. 284.; Vol. viii., pp. 173. 223. 284.).--Allow me to thank both [Phi]. and MR. HENRY WALTER for their replies to my Query; but I am unhappily no wiser than MR. LOWER was after [Phi].'s first response. What on earth "et-per-se" or "and-per-se-and" can mean, I am at a loss to imagine. Why should _et_ be called "_et_ by itself?" Until this Query is answered, I am as much in the dark as ever. While I am upon the matter, I would farther ask this mysterious _Ampers and_, "who gave thee that name?" May it find a proxy to answer for it!