Chapter C: S. W

_Vida on Chess._--I have had in my possession for more than five years a translation of Vida on _Chess_. It is in the handwriting of a celebrated poet of the last century; but whether a mere transcript or a version of his own, is more than I can affirm. Now, I shall feel obliged by any information on the subject, whether positive or negative, and transcribe the exordium with that view. It is not the version which was made by George Jeffreys, and revised by _Alexander Pope_[1]:

"Vida's Scacchis, or Chess."

"Armies of box that sportively engage,
And mimick real battels in their rage,
Pleas'd I recount; how smit with glory's charms,
Two mighty monarchs met in adverse arms,
Sable and white: assist me to explore,
Ye Serian nymphs, what ne'er was sung before."

Bolton Corney.

[Footnote 1: The only one which I have seen.]

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

_Thornton Abbey._--Can any of your readers give me some information respecting an old and ruinous building called "Thornton Abbey," situate about ten miles from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and also about two miles from the river Humber?

VICTOR.

Grimsby.

[Tanner states, the house was called Thorneton Curteis, and Torrington.
It was founded by William le Gros, Earl of Albemarle, and Lord of
Holderness, about the year 1139, for Austin Canons, and was dedicated
to the Virgin Mary. Dugdale says, that when first founded it was a
priory, and the monks were introduced from the monastery of Kirkham;
but was changed into an abbey by Pope Eugenius III., A.D. 1148. Though
Henry VIII. suppressed the Abbey, he reserved the greater part of the
lands to endow a college, which he erected in its room, for a dean and
prebendaries, to the honour of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. From the
remains it must have been a magnificent building. Originally it
consisted of an extensive quadrangle, surrounded by a deep ditch, with
high ramparts, and built in a style adapted for occasional defence. To
the east of the gateway are the remains of the abbey church. The
chapter-house, part of which is standing, was of an octangular shape,
and highly decorated. On the south of the ruins of the church is a
building, now occupied as a farm-house, which formerly was the
residence of the abbots. It was afterwards the seat of Edward {470}
Skinner, Esq., who married Ann, daughter of Sir William Wentworth,
brother to the unfortunate Earl of Strafford. The estate was purchased
from one of the Skinner family by Sir Richard Sutton, Bart.; it is now
in the possession of Lord Yarborough. In taking down a wall in the
ruins of the abbey, a human skeleton was found, with a table, a book,
and a candle-stick. It is supposed to have been the remains of the
fourteenth abbot, who, it is stated, was for some crime sentenced to be
immured--a mode of capital punishment not uncommon in monasteries. Four
views of the abbey are given in Allen's _History of Lincolnshire_, vol
ii., and some farther notices of its ancient state will be found in
Dugdale's _Monasticon_, vol. vi. pl. i. p. 324.; Tanner's _Notitia_,
Lincolnshire, lxxvii.; and _Beauties of England and Wales_, vol. ix. p.
684.]

_Bishop Wilson's "Sacra Privata."_--In the new edition of this work, p. 381., there is given a table of "The Collects, with their Tendencies." Under the head of Fasting, references are made to the First Sunday in Lent, _and the Tenth and Twenty-third after Trinity_.--There must be some mistake in this, as the last two collects refer to prayer. This for your correspondent MR. DENTON, to whom I understand the Church is indebted for the redintegration of the good bishop's journal.

A. A. D.

[We have submitted the above to the REV. WILLIAM DENTON, who expresses
his obligations to A. A. D. for pointing out the error, which seems to
have escaped the notice of all the previous editors of the _Sacra
Privata_. The second edition is now at press, and, if not too late, the
correction will be made. MR. DENTON doubts whether the list after all
is the bishop's; but thinks it was only copied by him from some work.
Can any one point out the source? It is singular that another mistake
of the bishop's should have escaped the notice of all previous editors,
namely, the tendency of the collect for Whit-Sunday being described as
_Humiliation_ instead of _Illumination_.]

_Derivation of "Chemistry."_--Are there any historical reasons for deriving the word _chemistry_ from _Chemi_, the name of Egypt, as is done by Bunsen and others?

T. H. T.

[Dr. Thomson, the writer of the article "Chemistry" in the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, thus notices this derivation: "The generally
received opinion among alchymistical writers was, that chemistry
originated in Egypt; and the honour of the invention has been
unanimously conferred on Hermes Trismegistus. He is by some supposed to
be the same person with Chanaan, the son of Ham, whose son Mizraim
first occupied and peopled Egypt. Plutarch informs us that Egypt was
sometimes called _Chemia_: this name is supposed to be derived from
Chanaan. Hence it was inferred that Chanaan was the inventor of
_chemistry_, to which he affixed his own name. Whether the Hermes of
the Greeks was Chanaan, or his son Mizraim, it is impossible to decide;
but to Hermes is assigned the invention of _chemistry_, or _the art of
making gold_, by almost the unanimous consent of the adepts." Dr.
Webster says, "The orthography of this word has undergone changes
through a mere ignorance of its origin, than which nothing can be more
obvious. It is the Arabic _kimia_, the occult art or science, from
_kamai_, to conceal. This was originally the art or science now called
alchemy; the art of converting baser metals into gold." Webster says
the correct orthography is _chimistry_.]

_Burning for Witchcraft._--When and where was the last person burned to death for witchcraft in England?

W. R.

[We believe the last case of burning for witchcraft was at Bury St.
Edmunds in 1664, tried by Sir Matthew Hale, although some accounts
state that the victims, Amy Duny and Rose Callender, were executed. In
the same year Alice Hudson was burnt at York for having received 10s.
at a time from his Satanic majesty. The last case of burning in
Scotland was in Sutherland, A.D. 1722: the judge was Captain David
Ross, of Little Dean. At Glarus, in Ireland, a servant girl was burnt
so late as 1786. The last authenticated instance of the swimming ordeal
occurred in 1785, and is quoted by Mr. Sternberg from a _Northampton
Mercury_ of that year:--"A poor woman named Sarah Bradshaw, of Mears
Ashby, who was accused of being a witch, in order to prove her
innocence, submitted to the ignominy of being dipped, when she
immediately sunk to the bottom of the pond, which was deemed to be an
incontestable proof that she was no witch!"]

_The Small City Companies._--Where does the fullest information appear respecting their early condition, &c.? Herbert's work only occasionally refers to them, and I am aware of many incidental notices of them in Histories of London, &c.; but it does not amount to much, and I should be glad to know if there is no fuller account of them. The companies of Pewterers or Bakers, for example.

B.

[Beside the incidental notices to be found in Stow, Maitland, and
Seymour, our correspondent must consult the Harleian MSS.; and if he
will turn to the Index volume at p. 294., he will find references to
the following companies:--Bakers', Drapers', Painters', Stainers',
Pinners', Scriveners', Skinners', Wax-chandlers', Wharfingers',
Weavers', and other miscellaneous notes relating to the city of London
generally.]

_Rousseau and Boileau._--Are there any full and complete English translations of Rousseau's _Confessions_ and Boileau's _Satires_?

ALLEDIUS.

[The following translations have been published:--_The Confessions of
J. J. Rousseau_, in two Parts, London, 12mo., five vols., 1790;
Boileau's _Satires_, 8vo., 1808: see also his _Works_ made English by
Mr. Ozell and others, two vols. 8vo., London, 1711-12, and three vols.
8vo., London, 1714.]

_Bishop Kennett's MS. Diary._--Where is Bishop Kennett's MS. Diary, from which his often-cited description of Dean Swift is taken, to be found? {471} Sir Walter Scott (Swift's _Works_, vol. xvi. p. 76.) says "it was formerly in the possession of Lord Lansdowne, and is now in the British Museum." I have never been able to find it.

F. B.

[The _Diary_ here referred to by Sir Walter Scott will be found at p.
428. in Lansdowne MS. 1024., which forms the third and last volume of
Bishop Kennett's "Materials for an Ecclesiastical History of England."]

* * * * *

Replies.

MILTON'S WIDOW.

(Vol. vi., p. 596.; Vol. vii., pp. 12. 134. 200. 375.)

It may be worth recording, that among the MS. papers of the late James Boswell, which were I believe sold by auction by Messrs. Sotheby and Co., there was the office copy and probate of the will of Milton's widow. She was described as Elizabeth Milton of Namptwich, widow; and it was dated the 27th of August, 1727. In the will she bequeathed all her effects, after the payment of her debts, to be divided between her nieces and nephews in Namptwich; and named as her executors, Samuel Acton and John Allcock, Esqs. Probate was granted to John Allcock, October 10, 1727.

Beside this, there was a bond or acquittance, dated 1680 from Richard Mynshull, described of Wistaston in Cheshire, frame-work knitter, for 100_l_. received of Mrs. Elizabeth Milton in consideration of a transfer to her of a lease for lives, or ninety-nine years, of a messuage at Brindley in Cheshire, held under Sir Thomas Wilbraham.

There were also receipts or releases from Milton's three daughters, Anne Milton, Mary Milton, and Deborah Clarke (to the last of which Abraham Clarke was a party): the first two dated Feb. 22, 1674; the last, March 27 in the same year; for 100l. each, received of Elizabeth Milton their step-mother in consideration of their shares of their father's estate. The sums were, with the consent of Christopher Milton and Richard Powell, both described of the Inner Temple, to be disposed of in the purchase of rent-charges or annuities for the benefit of the said daughters.

Two of these documents appear to be now in the possession of your correspondents MR. MARSH and MR. HUGHES; but I have met with no mention hitherto of the destination of the others.

These may seem trifling minutiae to notice, but nothing can fairly be considered unimportant which may lead to the elucidation of the domestic history of Milton.

S. W. SINGER.

Mickleham.

* * * * *

OATHS.

(Vol. viii., p. 364.)

There can be no doubt that, as your correspondent suggests, the judicial oath was originally taken without kissing the book, but with the form of laying the right hand upon it; and, moreover that this custom is of Pagan origin. Amongst the Greeks, oaths were frequently accompanied by sacrifice; and it was the custom to lay the hands upon the victim, or upon the altar, thereby calling to witness the deity by whom the oath was sworn. So Juvenal, _Sat._ XIV. 218.:

"Falsus erit testis, vendet perjuria summa
Exigua, et Cereris tangens aramque pedemque."

Christians under the later Roman emperors adopted from the Greeks a similar ceremony. In the well-known case of Omychund _v._ Barker, heard in Michaelmas Term, 1744, and reported in 1 Atk. 27., the Solicitor-General quoted a passage from Selden, which gives us some information on this point:

"Mittimus hic, principibus Christianis, ut ex historiis satis obviis
liquet, solennia fuisse et peculiaria juramenta, ut per vultum sancti
Lucae, per pedem Christi, per sanctum hunc vel illum, ejusmodi alia
nimis crebra: _Inolevit hero tandem, ut quemadmodum Pagani sacris ac
mysteriis aliquo suis aut tactis aut praesentibus jurare solebant, ita
solenniora Christianorum juramenta fierent, aut tactis sacrosanctis
evangeliis, aut inspectis, aut in eorum praesentia manu ad pectus amota,
sublata aut protensa_; atque is corporaliter seu personaliter
juramentum praestari dictum est, ut ab juramentis per epistolam, aut in
scriptis solummodo praestitis distingueretur, inde in vulgi passim ore."

Lord Coke tells us, in the passage quoted at p. 364., that this was called the corporal oath, because the witness "toucheth with his hand some part of the Holy Scripture;" but the better opinion seems to be, that it was so called from the ancient custom of laying the hands upon the _corporale_, or cloth which covered the sacred elements, by which the most solemn oath was taken in Popish times.

As to the form of kissing the book, I am inclined to think that it is not of earlier date than the latter part of the sixteenth century, and that it was first prescribed as part of the ceremony of taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. In the _Harl. Misc._, vol. vi. p. 282. (edit. 1810), is an account of the trial of Margaret Fell and George Fox, for refusing to take the oath of allegiance, followed by "An Answer to Bishop Lancelot Andrewe's Sermon concerning Swearing." At p 298., Fox brings forward instances of conscientious scruples among Christians in former times, respecting the taking of oaths. He says:

"Did not the Pope, when he had got up over the churches, give forth
both oath and curse, with bell, {472} book, and candle? And was not the
ceremony of his oath, to lay three fingers a-top of the book, to
signify the Trinity; and two fingers under the book, to signify
damnation of body and soul if they sware falsely? And was not there a
great number of people that would not swear, and suffered great
persecution, as read the _Book of Martyrs_ but to Bonner's days? And it
is little above an hundred years since the Protestants got up; and they
gave forth the oath of allegiance, and the oath of supremacy: the one
was to deny the Pope's supremacy, and the other to acknowledge the
kings of England; _so we need not tell to you of their form, and show
you the ceremony of the oath; it saith_, '_Kiss the book_;' and the
book saith 'Kiss the Son,' which saith 'Swear not at all.'"

Still the laying of the hand on the book seems to have been an essential form; for, during the trial, when the oath was offered to Margaret Fell, "the clerk held out the book, and bid her pull off her glove, and lay her hand on the book" (_H. M._, p. 285.). And directly after, when the oath had been read to Fox, the following scene is described:

"'Give him the book,' _said they_; and so a man that stood by him held
up the book, and said, 'Lay your hand on the book.'

"_Geo. Fox._ 'Give me the book in my hand.' Which set them all
a-gazing, and as in hope he would have sworn."

And it appears from the case of Omychund v. Barker, that, at that time, the usual form was by laying the right hand on the book, and kissing it afterwards (1 Atk. 42.). It seems not improbable that Paley's suggestion, in his _Moral Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 192. (10th edit.), may be correct. He says:

"The kiss seems rather an act of reverence to the contents of the book,
as, in the Popish ritual, the priest kisses the gospel before he reads
it, than any part of the oath."

The Query respecting the Welsh custom I must leave to those who are better informed respecting the judicial forms of that country; merely suggesting whether the practice alluded to by your correspondent may not originally have had a meaning similar to that of the three fingers on the book, and two under, as described by Fox in the passage above quoted.

ERICA.

Warwick.

In the bailiwick of Guernsey the person sworn lifts his right hand, and the presiding judge, who administers the oath, says "Vous jurez par la foi et le serment que vous devez a Dieu que," &c. Oaths of office, however, are taken on the Gospels, and are read to the person swearing by the greffier, or clerk of the court. The reason of this difference may be accounted for by the fact that the official oaths, as they now exist, appear to have been drawn up about the beginning of the reign of James I., and that in all probability the form was enjoined by the superior authority of the Privy Council.

Which of the two forms was generally used before the Reformation, I have not been able to discover; but in an account of the laws, privileges, and customs of the island, taken by way of inquisition in the year 1331, but more fully completed and approved in the year 1441, it appears that the juries of the several parishes were sworn "sur Sainctes Evangiles de Dieu par eulx et par chacun d'eulx corporellement touche,"--"par leurs consciences sur le peril de la dampnation de leurs ames."

I remember to have seen men from some of the Baltic ports, when told to lift their right hands to be sworn, double down the ring finger and the little finger, as is done by bishops in the Roman Catholic Church when giving the benediction.

In France the person making oath lifts his right hand. The oath is administered by the presiding judge without any reference to the Deity, but the person who swears is required to answer "Je le jure." I observed that in Britanny, when the person sworn was ignorant of the French language, the answer was "Va Doue," which, I believe, means in the Breton dialect, "By God."

In the Ecclesiastical Court of Guernsey I have seen the book presented to the person swearing open at one of the Gospels; but in the Royal Court the book is put into the right hand of the party making oath, shut. In either case it is required that the book should be kissed.

HONORE DE MAREVILLE.

Guernsey.

* * * * *

COMMINATORY INSCRIPTIONS IN BOOKS.

(Vol. viii., pp. 64. 153.)

Many inscriptions, comminatory or exhortatory, written in books and directed to readers, have been commemorated in "N. & Q." Towards the beginning of the present century, the most common epigram of the kind in the French public schools was the following elegant motto, with its accompanying illustration:

"Aspice _Pierrot_ pendu,
Quota librum n'a pas rendu!"

Poor Pierrot is exhibited in a state of suspension, as hanging from the inverted letter L ([Gamma]), which symbolises the fatal tree. Comminatory and exhortatory cautions not to soil, spoil, or tear books and MSS. occur so frequently in the records of monastic libraries, that a whole album could easily be filled with them. The coquettish bishop, Venantius Fortunatus, has a distich on the subject. Another learned Goth, Theud-wulf, or Theodulfus, Charlemagne's _Missus dominicus_, {473} recommends readers a proper ablution of their hands before turning the consecrated leaves:

"Utere me, lector, mentisque in sede locato;
Cumque librum petis hinc, sit tibi _lota_ manus!"--_Saith Library._

Less lenient are the imprecations commemorated by Don Martenne and Wanley. The one inscribed on the blank leaf of a Sacramentary of the ninth century is to the following effect:

"Si quis eum (librum) de monasterio aliquo ingenio non redditurus,
abstraxerit, cum Juda proditore, Anna et Caipha, portionem aeternae
damnationis accipiat. Amen! Amen! Fiat! fiat!"--_Voyage Litteraire_, p.
67.

That is fierce and fiery, and in very earnest. A MS. of the Bodleian bears this other inscription, to the same import:

"Liber Sanctae Mariae de Ponte Roberti. Qui eum abstulerit aut vendiderit
... aut quamlibet ejus partem absciderit, sit anathema maranatha."

Canisius, in his _Antiquae Lectiones_ (I. ii. p. 3. 320.), transcribes another comminatory distich, copied from a MS. of the Saint Gall library:

"Auferat hunc librum _nullus hinc_, omne per aevum,
Cum Gallo partem quisquis habere cupit!"

Such recommendations are now no longer in use, and seem rather excessive. But whoever has witnessed the extreme carelessness, not to say improbity, of some of the readers admitted into the public continental libraries, who scruple not to soil, spoil, and even purloin the most precious and rare volumes, feels easily reconciled to the _anathema maranatha_ of the ninth and tenth centuries.

P.S.--Excuse my French-English.

PHILARETE CHASLES, Mazarinaeus.

Paris, Palais de l'Institut.

* * * * *

LIVERIES WORN, AND MENIAL SERVICES PERFORMED, BY GENTLEMEN.

(Vol. vi., p. 146.)

However remarkable the conduct of the rustic esquire of Downham may appear in the present duly, when he accepted and wore the livery of his neighbour the Knight-Baronet of Houghton Tower, it was a Common practice for gentlemen of good birth and estate to accept and wear, and even to assume without solicitation, upon state occasions, the livery of an influential neighbour, friend, or relation, in testimony of respect and affection for the giver of the livery.

Thus it appears in the Diary of Nicholas Assheton that, in 1617, to the Court at Mirescough "Cooz Assheton came with his gentlemanlie servants as anie was there," and that the retinue of menial servants in attendance upon Sir Richard Houghton was graced by the presence of more than one country gentleman of good family. Baines, in his _History of Lancashire_, vol. ii. p. 366., also relates concerning Humphrey Chetham, that--

"In 1635 he was nominated to serve the office of sheriff of the county,
and discharged the duties thereof with great honour, several gentlemen
of birth and estate attending and wearing his livery at the assizes, to
testify their respect and affection for him."

Evelyn, in his _Diary_, gives a similar account of the conduct of "divers gentlemen and persons of quality" in the counties of Surrey and Sussex:

"1634. My father was appointed sheriff for Surrey and Sussex before
they were disjoyned. He had 116 servants in liverys, every one livery'd
in greene sattin doublets. Divers gentlemen and persons of quality
waited on him in the same garbe and habit, which at that time (when
thirty or forty was the the usual retinue of the high sheriff) was
esteemed a great matter. Nor was this out of the least vanity that my
father exceeded (who was one of the greatest decliners of it); but
because he could not refuse the civility of his friends and relations,
who voluntarily came themselves, or sent in their servants."

The practice of assuming the livery of a relation or friend, and of permitting servants also to wear it, appears to have existed in England in the time of Richard II., and to have had the personal example of this sovereign to support it. He seems, however, to have thereby excited the disapprobation of many of his spiritual and temporal peers. I produce the following passage with some hesitation, because it is by no means certain that any one of the liveries thus assumed by Richard was a livery of cloth:

"17^{th} Richard II. A.D. 1393-4.

"Richard Count d'Arundell puis le comencement de cest present Parlement
disoit au Roy, en presence des Achevesques de Canterbirs et d'Everwyk,
le Duc de Gloucestr', les Evesques de Wyncestre et Saresbirs, le Count
de Warrewyk et autres....

"Item [=q] le Roy deust porter la Livere de coler le Duc de Guyene et
de Lancastr'.

"Item [=q] gentz de retenue de Roi portent mesme la Livere....

"A qei [=n]re S[=r] le Roi alors respondi au dit Count ... [=q] bientot
apres la venue son dit uncle de Guyene quant il vient d'Espaign darrein
en Engleterre [=q] mesme [=n]re S[=r] le Roi prist le Coler du cool
mesme son uncle et mist a son cool demesne et dist q'il vorroit porter
et user en signe de bon amour d'entier coer entre eux auxi come il fait
les Liveres ses autres uncles.

"Item (quant au tierce) [=n]re S[=r] le Roi disoit [=q] ceo fuist de
counge de luy et de sa volunte [=q] gentz de sa retenue portent et
usent mesme la Livere de Coler."--_Rolls of Parliament_, vol. iii. p.
313.

"Richard Earl of Arundel, after the commencement of this present
parliament, said to the King in the presence of the archbishops of
Canterbury and of York, {474} the Duke of Gloucester, the Bishops of
Winchester and Salisbury, the Earl of Warwick, and others....

"Item. That the King uses to wear the livery of the collar of the Duke
of Guienne and of Lancaster.

"Item. That persons of the retinue of the King wear the same livery.

"To which our lord the King then answered to the said earl....

"That soon after the coming of his said uncle of Guienne, when he came
from Spain last into England, that himself our lord the King took the
collar from the neck of the same his uncle and put it on his own neck,
and said that he vowed to wear and to use it in sign of good love of
whole heart between them also, as he did the liveries of his other
uncles.

"Item (as to the third). Our lord the King said that it was by leave
from him, and by his wish, that persons of his retinue wear and use the
same livery of the collar."

This practice of one of our early sovereigns seems to afford a precedent for the mode in which divers gentlemen and persons of quality voluntarily showed civility towards Richard Evelyn, and for that in which several gentlemen of birth and estate testified their respect and affection for Humphrey Chetham. Nicholas Assheton also appears to have the support of this royal precedent in so far as relates to his accepting and wearing the livery of a friend and neighbour; and the custom of his day evidently lends its sanction to his forming, upon a state occasion, one of the body of menial servants in attendance upon Sir Richard Houghton, when he went to meet the king.

Another passage in the _Rolls of Parliament_ seems to afford a respectable civic precedent for the services performed by Nicholas Assheton and other liveried gentlemen, when they waited at the lords' table at Houghton Tower:

"11^{th} Edward III. A.D. 1337.

"A [=n]re Seigneur le Roy et a son conseil monstre Richard de Bettoyne
de Loundres, qe come au Coronement [=n]re Seigneur le Roy [=q] ore est
il adonge Meire de Loundres fesoit l'office de Botiller ove CCC e LX
vadletz vestutz d'une sute chescun portant en sa mayn un coupe blanche
d'argent come autres Meirs de Loundres ountz faitz as Coronementz des
[crossed p]genitours nostre Seigneur le Roy dont memoire ne court pars
et le fee q appendoit a cel jorne c'est asavoir un coupe d'or ove la
covercle et un ewer d'or enamaille lui fust livere [crossed p] assent
du Counte de Lancastre et d'autres Grantz qu'adonges y furent du
Conseil nostre Seigneur le Roy [crossed p] la mayn Sire Ro[/b]t de
Wodehouse et ore vient en estreite as Viscountes de Londres hors del
Chekker de faire lever des Biens et Chateux du dit Richard xx/iiii
ix_li._ xiis. vid. pur le fee avant dit dont il prie qe remedie lui
soit ordeyne.

"Et le Meire et Citoyens d'Oxenford ount [crossed p] point de chartre
q'ils vendront a Londres l'Encorronement d'eyder le Meire de Loundres
pur servir a la fest et toutz jours l'ount usee. Et si i plest a [=n]re
Seigneur le Roy et a son Conseil nous payerons volonters la fee issent
qe nous soyons descharges de la service."--_Rolls of Parliament_, vol.
ii. p. 96.

"To our lord the King and to his Council sheweth Richard de Bettoyne of
London, that whereas at the coronation of our lord the King that now
is, he their mayor of London performed the office of butler with three
hundred and sixty valets clothed of one suit each, bearing in his hand
a white cup of silver, as other mayors of London have done at the
coronations of the progenitors of our lord the King, whereof memory
runneth not, and the fee which appertained to this day's work, that is
to wit, a cup of gold with the cover, and a ewer of gold enamelled,
were delivered to him by assent of the Earl of Lancaster, and of the
other grandees who then there were of the council of our lord the King,
by the hand of Sire Robert de Wodehouse, and now comes in estreat to
the viscounts of London out of the Checquer, to cause to take the goods
and chattels of the said Richard, eighty-nine pounds twelve shillings
and sixpence, for the fee aforesaid, whereof he prays that remedy be
ordained to him.

"And the mayor and citizens of Oxford have, by point of charter, that
they shall come to London to the coronation, to help the mayor of
London to serve at the feast, and always have so done. And if it please
our lord the King and his Council, we will pay willingly the fee,
provided that we be discharged of the service."

There can be little doubt that the citizens of Oxford bore their own travelling expenses; and it seems probable that the citizens of London and Oxford bore the cost of the three hundred and sixty suits of clothes and three hundred and sixty silver cups; but this is scarcely sufficient to account for their willingness to pay a sum of money equivalent to about fifteen hundred pounds in the present day, in order to be relieved from the honourable service of waiting clothed in uniform, each with a silver cup in his hand, helping the Mayor of London to perform the office of butler at coronation feasts. However this may be, it is still somewhat remarkable that, in the seventeenth century, Nicholas Assheton of Downham, Esq., and other gentlemen of Lancashire, upon a less important occasion than a coronation feast, dressed in the livery of Sir Richard Houghton and voluntarily attended, day after day, at the lords' table at Houghton Tower, and served the lords with biscuit, wine, and Jelly.

J. LEWELYN CURTIS.

* * * * *

FEMALE PARISH CLERKS.

(Vol. viii., p. 338.)

The cases of Rex _v._ Stubbs and Olive _v._ Ingram, mentioned in the following extracts from Prideaux's _Guide to Churchwardens_, p. 4., may be of service:

"Generally speaking, all persons _inhabitants_ of the parish are liable
to serve the office of churchwarden, {475} and from the cases of Rex
_v._ Stubbs (2 T. R. 395.; 1 Bott. 10.), in which it was held that a
woman is not exempt from serving the office of overseer of the poor,
and Olive _v._ Ingram (2 Str. 1114.), in which it was held that she may
be a parish sexton, there may, perhaps, be some ground for contending a
woman is not exempt from this duty."

RUSSELL GOLE.

A few years ago (she may still be so) there was a gentlewoman the parish clerk of some church in London; perhaps some of your readers may be able to say where: a deputy officiated, excepting occasionally. But many such instances have occurred.

In a note in Prideaux's _Directions to Churchwardens_ (late edition), the following references are given as to the power of women to fill parochial and other such offices: Rex _v._ Stubbs, 2 T. R. 359.; Olive _v._ Ingram, 2 Strange, 1114.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Rectory, Clyst St. George.

I beg to inform Y. S. M. that when I went to reside near Lincoln in 1828, a woman was clerk to the parish of Sudbrooke, and died in that capacity a very few years after. I do not remember her name at this moment, but I could get all particulars if required on my return to Sudbrooke Holme.

RICH. ELLISON.

Balmoral Hotel, Broadstairs, Kent.

I am able to mention another instance of a woman acting as parish clerk at Ickburgh, in the county of Norfolk. It is the parish to Buckenham Hall, the seat of the Honourable Francis Baring, near Thetford. A woman there has long officiated as parish clerk, and still continues acting in that capacity.

F. R.

I beg to refer Y. S. M. to the following passage Madame d'Arblay's _Diary_, vol. v. p. 246.:

"There was at Collumpton only a poor wretched ragged woman, a female
clerk, to show us this church: she pays a man for doing the duty, while
she receives the salary in right of her deceased husband!"