Chapter M: A. B

_Classic Authors and the Jews._--Where can I find a complete or full account of passages in Greek and Latin authors, which refer to Judea and the Jews? It has been said that these references are very few, and that in Cicero, for instance, there is not one. This last is wrong, I know. (See _e.g._ Cic. _Pro L. Flacco_, 28., and _De Prov. Consul. 5._)

B. H. C.

_Bishop Hooper's Argument on the Vestment Controversy._--Glocester Ridley, in his _Life of Bishop Ridley_, p. 315., London, 1763, states, in reference to Bishop Hooper's _Book to the Council against the use of those Habits which were then used by the Church of England in her sacred Ministries_, written October, 1550, "Part of Hooper's book I have by me in MS." Could any one state whether that MS. is now in existence, or where it is to be found? It is of much importance to obtain {222} an answer to this inquiry, as Bishop Ridley's MS. Reply to Bishop Hooper is, for the first time, about to be printed by the Parker Society, through the kind permission of its possessor, Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., in the second volume of the Writings of Bradford which I am editing; and, to make Ridley's reply fully intelligible, access is needed to Bishop Hooper's _Book to the Council_.

A. TOWNSEND.

Weston Lane, Bath,

February 23.

_The Title of "Dominus."_--How is it that at Cambridge the title of _Dominus_ is applied to B.A.'s, while at Oxford it is confined to the doctorate?

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

_The De Rous Family._--Hugh Rufus, or De Rous, was Bishop of Ossory, A.D. 1202. He had been previously an Augustinian Canon of Bodmin, in Cornwall. Query, Was he a cadet of the ancient family of De Rous; and if so, what was his descent?

JAMES GRAVES.

_Where was the Fee of S. Sanxon?_--At the end of "Ordericus Vitalis," in the _Gesta Normannorum_, is a list called the "Feoda Normanniae," wherein, under the title "Feoda Ebroic.," occurs the entry:

"S. Sanxon dim. f. in friche."

Francis Drake, in his _Antiquities of York_, London, 1736, p. 70., speaks of "Sampson, or _Sanxo_," the archbishop of that see; and elsewhere mentions the parish church of S. Sampson, "called by some Sanxo."

What I wish to ask is, Where was this half fee of S. Sanxon? Whether it had any connexion with Sanson sur Rille? And whether it was the place from which "Ralph de S. Sanson" or "Sanson Clericus" of the _Domesday Book_, who was afterwards Bishop of Worcester, derived his name?

* *

_Russian Emperors._--Is there any truth in a rumour that was current two or three years since respecting the limited period that was placed upon the reign of any Russian monarch? Twenty-five years was the time stated, at the termination of which the Emperor had to abdicate. As this period has elapsed, and no abdication has taken place by the present Autocrat, some one may perhaps be able to state how such a statement originated, and upon what grounds?

THOS. CROSFIELD.

_Episcopal Insignia of the Eastern Church._--Having seen in a late number of the _Illustrated London News_ (Feb. 11, 1854) a peculiarly shaped episcopal staff, with a cross rising from between two in-curved dragons' heads, which is represented in the hand of the metropolitan of Wallachia, I would be glad to know whether this form is peculiar to any branch of the Eastern Church. A reference to a work of authority on the subject will oblige a provincialist.

JAMES GRAVES.

_Amontillado Sherry._--What is the real meaning of this epithet? A friend, who had travelled in Spain, and visited some famous cellars at Xeres, told me that the peculiar flavour of the Amontillado Sherry was always an accidental result of mixing butts of wine brought to the merchant by a variety of growers. I mentioned this to another friend who had the wine on his table; and he ridiculed the account, saying that the Amontillado Sherry was from a grape peculiar to the district. What district, I could not ascertain.

ALFRED GATTY.

_Col. Michael Smith's Family._--Perhaps some of your readers may be enabled to give me some information of the family of Smith, to which Col. Michael Smith, Lieut.-Governor of Nevis about 1750, belongs.

A WEST INDIAN.

_Pronunciation of Foreign Names._--How shall we pronounce Sinope, Citate, and many other words which are now becoming familiar to our eyes? I think the bookseller who should give us a vocabulary of proper names of foreign persons and places, with the correct pronunciation attached, would be encouraged by an extensive sale. So far as my knowledge extends, such a work is a desideratum.

THINKS I TO MYSELF.

_Artesian Wells._--One who is about to dig a well on his land would be glad to know:--1. Whether, in all cases, artesian wells are preferable? 2. If yes, why they are not universally adopted, and whether they are more expensive then the common sort? 3. If not preferable in all cases, in what cases they are preferable?

STYLITES.

_Norman Towers in London._--Can you inform me it there is any other church in the city of London with a Norman tower, besides Allhallows, Mark Lane? which, by the bye, has been colour-washed: I suppose, to preserve it!

J. W. BROWN.

_Papyrus._--Where, or of whom, can a specimen of Papyrus be obtained?

R. H.

Islington.

_Mathew, a Cornish Family._--I am anxious to know the connexion of a family of Mathew, late of Tresungar, co. Cornwall, with any stock in Wales; and I will gladly defray any necessary expense of search, if can attain this object. The descent of a family of the name, apparently the same from the arms, in an old recueil of Devonshire families, is headed "nuper de Wallia;" and a visitation of that county ascribes their bearing {223} (a stork) to a marriage with an heir of Starkey, which I have been unable to verify. A Visitation of Cornwall, to which I have had access, gives a grant, or probably a confirmation of the arms by Cooke. If this celebrated Herald's grants are on record, some clew would probably be found; but I doubt not that many of your readers well versed in genealogical research can readily answer my Query, and I trust to their kindness to do so.

B.

Birkenhead.

* * * * *

Minor Queries with Answers.

_Bunyan's Descendants._--As a recent Query respecting John Bunyan may lead to some notices of his descendants, perhaps I may be informed in what edition of his works it is stated that a branch of his family settled in Nottingham? for I find in the burgess-roll of that borough that George Bunyan was entered freeman in 1752. William Bunyan, lieutenant in the navy, 1767; Thomas Bunyan, hosier, 1776. In event of the above story being verified, a pedigree may possibly be extracted hereafter from the parish registers of the town. As far as my own examination goes, the editions in the British Museum afford no corroboration to what I have heard.

FURVUS.

Plumstead Common.

[We have been favoured with the following article on this subject from
George Offor, Esq., of Hackney:

"_Where are John Bunyan's Descendants?_--It is natural to inquire after
the ancestors and descendants of great men, although experience proves
that intellectual greatness runs not in blood, for earth's _great_ and
most illustrious sons descended from and left descendants who merged
among the masses of her _little_ ones. Of his ancestors Bunyan boasted
not, but pleaded with the readers of the first edition of his _Sighs
from Hell_, 'Be not ashamed to own me because of my low and
contemptible descent in the world.' From the life of the great dreamer,
appended to my second edition of Bunyan's works (Blackie, Glasgow), it
appears that he left three children: Thomas, a valuable member of his
church; Joseph, who settled in Nottingham; and Sarah. Joseph is named
by one of Bunyan's earliest biographers, who told his father that 'a
worthy citizen of London would take him apprentice without money, which
might be a great means to advance him; but he replied to me, _God did
not send him to advance his family, but to preach the Gospel_.'

"The Rev. J. H. A. Rudd of Bedford and Elstow has most kindly searched
the registers of Elstow and Goldington, and has discovered some
interesting entries; and, as his numerous engagements will permit, he
will search the registry of the parish churches in Bedford and its
vicinity. Information would be most acceptable relative to Bunyan's
father and mother, his two wives, and his children, John, Elizabeth,
and Mary, who died in his life-time; and also as to Joseph. If your
correspondent FURVUS would search the registers at Nottingham, he might
discover some valuable records of that branch of the family. Bunyan is
said to have been baptized about 1653; and in the Elstow register it
appears that his daughter Mary was registered as _baptized_ July 20,
1650, while his next daughter, Elizabeth, is on the register as _born_
April 14, 1654, showing the change in his principles, as to infant
baptism, to have taken place between those periods. The family Bible
given by John Bunyan to his son Joseph, now in my possession, confirms
the statement verbally communicated to me by his descendant Mrs.
Senegar, that her great-grandfather Joseph, having conformed to please
his rich wife, was anxious to conceal his affinity to the illustrious
tinker. The registers contained in it begin with Joseph's son Thomas
and Susannah his wife, and it is continued to Robert Bunyan, born 1775,
and who was lately living at Lincoln. I should be most happy to show
the Bible and copies of registers in my possession to any one who will
undertake to form a genealogy."

GEORGE OFFOR.]

_Epigram on Dennis._--

"Should Dennis publish you had stabb'd your brother,
Lampoon'd your monarch, or debauch'd your mother," &c.

is printed as by Savage in Johnson's _Life of Savage_. In the notes to _The Dunciad_, i. 106., it is said to be by Pope. _Utri credemus?_

S. Z. Z. S.

[From the fact, that this epigram was not only attributed to Pope, in
the notes to the second edition of _The Dunciad_, published in 1729,
but also in those of 1743, the joint edition of Pope and Warburton, and
both published before the death of Pope, it seems extremely probable
that he was the author of it; more especially as he had been
exasperated by a twopenny tract, of which Dennis was suspected to be
the writer, called _A True Character of Mr. Pope and his Writings_;
printed for S. Popping, 1716. D'Israeli however, in his _Calamities of
Authors_, art. "The Influence of a bad Temper in Criticism," quoting it
from Dr. Johnson, conjectures it was written on the following occasion:
"Thomson and Pope charitably supported the veteran Zoilus at a benefit
play, and Savage, who had nothing but a verse to give, returned them
very poetical thanks in the name of Dennis. He was then blind and old,
but his critical ferocity had no old age; his surliness overcame every
grateful sense, and he swore as usual, 'They could be no one's but that
_fool_ Savage's,' an evidence of his sagacity and brutality. This
perhaps prompted 'the fool' to take this fair revenge and just
chastisement." After all, Dr. Johnson, who was at that time narrating
Savage's intimate acquaintance with Pope, may have attributed to the
former what seems to have been the production of the latter.]

_Football played on Shrove Tuesday._--The people of this and the neighbouring towns invariably play at football on Shrove Tuesday. What is the origin of the custom? and does it extend to other counties?

J. P. S.

Dorking.

["Shrove-tide," says Warton, "was formerly a season of extraordinary
sport and feasting. There was {224} anciently a feast immediately
preceding Lent, which lasted many days, called _Carniscapium_. In some
cities of France an officer was annually chosen, called Le Prince
d'Amoreux, who presided over the sports of the youth for six days
before Ash Wednesday. Some traces of these festivities still remain in
our Universities." In these degenerate days more is known, we suspect,
of pancakes and fritters, than of a football match and a
cock-fight:--the latter, we are happy to say, is now almost forgotten
among us. As to the pancake custom, no doubt that is most religiously
observed by the readers of "N. & Q.," in obedience to the rubric of the
_Oxford Sausage_:

"Let glad Shrove Tuesday bring the pancake thin,
Or fritter rich, with apples stored within."

According to Fitz-Stephen, "After dinner, all the youths go into the
fields to play at the ball. The scholars of every school have their
ball and bastion in their hands. The ancient and wealthy men of the
city come forth on horseback to see the sport of the young men, and to
take part of the pleasure, in beholding their agility." And till within
the last few years:

"... The humble play
Of trap or football on a holiday,
In Finsbury fields,"--

was sufficiently common in the neighbourhood of London and other
places. See Brande's _Popular Antiquities_, vol. i. pp. 63-94. (Bohn's
edition), and Hone's _Every-Day Book_, vol. i. pp. 244. 255-260.]

_Vossioner; its Meaning._--In looking over a parcel of brass rubbings made some years since, I find the word _vossioner_ used, and not knowing its signification, I should be glad to be enlightened on the subject; but, in order to enable your readers to judge more correctly, I think it better to copy the whole of the epitaph in which the word occurs. The plate is in Ufton Church, near Southam, county Warwick; it measures eighteen inches in width by sixteen deep.

"Here lyeth the boddyes of Richard Hoddomes, Parsson and Pattron and
_Vossioner_ of the Churche and Parishe of Oufton, in the Countie of
Warrike, who died one Mydsomer Daye, 1587. And Margerye his Wiffe
w^{th} _her_ seven Childryn, as namelye, Richard, _John_, and _John_,
Anne, Jane, Elizabeth, Ayles, _his_ iiii Daughters, _whose soule_
restethe with God."

I give the epitaph _verbatim_, with its true orthography. There are some curious points in this epitaph. First, the date of the death of the clergyman only is given; second, the children are called _hers_, while the four daughters are _his_; and two of the sons bear the same Christian name, whilst only one _soul_ is said to rest with God. The family is represented kneeling. Above the inscription, and between the clergyman and his lady, is a desk, on which is represented two books lying open before them.

J. B. WHITBORNE.

[Vossioner seems to be corruption of the Italian _vossignor_, your
lord, or the lord, _i.e._ owner or proprietor. Many similar words were
introduced by the Italian ecclesiastics inducted into Church livings
during the sixteenth century. The inscription is given in Dugdale's
_Warwickshire_, vol. i. p. 358.]

_The Game of Chess._--At what period was the noble game of chess introduced into the British Isles; and to whom are we indebted for its introduction among us?

B. ASHTON.

[The precise date of the introduction of this game into Britain is
uncertain. What has been collected respecting it will be found in the
Hon. Daines Barrington's paper in _Archaeologia_, vol. ix. p. 28.; and
in Hyde's treatise, _Mandragorias, seu Historia Shahiludii_. Oxoniae,
1694.]

_A Juniper Letter._--Fuller, in describing a letter written by Bishop Grosthead to Pope Innocent IV., makes use of a curious epithet, of which I should be glad to meet with another instance, if it be not simply a "Fullerism":

"Bishop Grouthead offended thereat, wrote Pope Innocent IV. such a
_juniper letter_, taxing him with extortion and other vicious
practices."--_Church History_, book III., A.D. 1254.

J. M. B.

["A juniper lecture," meaning a round scolding bout, is still in use
among the canting gentry.]

* * * * *

Replies.

CLARENCE.

(Vol. ix., p. 85.)

Clarence is beyond all doubt the district comprehending and lying around the town and castle of Clare in Suffolk, and not, as some have fancifully supposed, the town of Chiarenza in the Morea. Some of the crusaders did, indeed, acquire titles of honour derived from places in eastern lands, but certainly no such place ever gave its name to an honorary feud held of the crown of England, nor, indeed, has _ever_ any English sovereign to this day bestowed a territorial title derived from a place beyond the limits of his own nominal dominions; the latest creations of the kind being the earldoms of Albemarle and Tankerville, respectively bestowed by William III. and George I., who were both nominally kings of Great Britain, _France_, and Ireland. In ancient times every English title (with the exception of Aumerle or Albemarle, which exception is only an apparent one) was either personal, or derived from some place in England. The ancient earls of Albemarle were not English peers by virtue of that earldom, but by virtue of the tenure of lands in England, though, being the holders of a Norman earldom, they were known in England by their higher designation, just as some of the {225} Barons De Umfravill were styled, even in writs of summons, by their superior Scottish title of Earl of Angos. If these earls had not held English fees, they would not have been peers of England any more than were the ancient Earls of Tankerville and Eu. In later times the strictness of the feudal law was so far relaxed, that in two or three instances English peers were created with territorial titles derived from places in the Duchy of Normandy.

As to the locality of Clarence, see Sandford's _Genealogical History_, 1707, p. 222. There is a paper on the subject in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for November, 1850. The king of arms called Clarenceux, or in Latin _Clarentius_, was, as it has been very reasonably conjectured, originally a herald retained by a Duke of Clarence. (Noble's _History of the College of Arms_, p. 61.) Hoping ere long to send you some notes respecting certain real or seeming anomalies amongst our English dignities, I reserve some particulars which may, perhaps, farther elucidate the present question.

GOLDENCROSS.

Your correspondent HONORE DE MAREVILLE has wandered too far in going to the Morea to search for this title. Clare in Suffolk was one of the ninety-five manors in that county bestowed by the Conqueror upon Richard Fitzgilbert, who (as well as his successor Gilbert) resided at Tunbridge, and bore the surname of De Tonebruge. His grandson Richard, the first Earl of Hertford, fixed his principal seat at Clare, and thenceforth the family took the surname of De Clare; and in the Latin documents of the time the several members of it were styled _Ricardus_ (or _Gilbertus_), _Dominus Clarensis_, _Comes Hertfordiensis_. The name of the lordship thus becoming the family surname, it is easy to see how in common usage the formal epithet _Clarensis_ soon became Clarence, and why Lionel, the son of Edward III., upon his marriage with Elizabeth de Burgh, the grand-niece and heiress of the last Gilbertus Clarensis, should choose as the title for his dukedom the surname of the great family of which he had now become the representative.

VOKAROS.

* * * * *

MILTON'S WIDOW.

(Vol. viii., pp. 12. 134. 200. 375. 452. 471. 544. 594.)

GARLICHITHE is again on the wrong scent. In his first communication on this subject, he allowed himself to go astray by mistaking Randle Minshull the _grandfather_ for Randle Minshull the _son_; and now, with the like fatality, he fails to discriminate between Richard Minshull the _uncle_, and Richard Minshull the _brother_, of Elizabeth Milton. A second examination of my Reply in Vol. viii., p. 200., will suffice to show him that Richard Minshull, the party to the deed there quoted, was named by me as the _brother_, and not the _uncle_, of Milton's widow, and that therefore his argument, based on disparity of age, &c., falls to the ground. On the other hand, Richard Minshull of Chester, to whom the letter alluded to was addressed, was the brother of Randle Minshull of Wistaston, and by the same token, uncle of Elizabeth Milton, and of Richard Minshull, her brother and co-partner in the deed already referred to.

GARLICHITHE, and all others who have taken an interest in this discussion, will now, I trust, see clearly that there has been nothing adduced by either MR. MARSH or myself inconsistent with ages or dates; but that, on the contrary, all our premises and conclusions are borne out by evidence clear, irreproachable, and incontestable.

All objections being now, as I conceive, fully combated and disposed of, the substance of our investigations may be summed up in a very few words. The statement of Pennant, adopted by all succeeding writers, to the effect that Elizabeth, the widow of John Milton, was a daughter of Sir Edward Minshull of Stoke, is clearly proved to be a fiction. It has been farther proved, from the parish registers, as well as from bonds and other documentary evidence, that she was, without doubt, the daughter of Randle Minshull of Wistaston, a village about three miles from Nantwich; that she was the cousin of Milton's familiar friend, Dr. Paget, and as such became entitled to a legacy under the learned Doctor's will, and that she is expressly named by Richard Minshull as his sister in the deed before quoted.

T. HUGHES.

Chester.

* * * * *

THREE FLEURS-DE-LYS.

(Vol. ix., pp. 35. 113.)

DEVONIENSIS is informed that an example of this occurs in the arms of King James's School, Almondbury, Yorkshire. The impression, as taken from the great seal of the school, in which however the colours are not distinguished, may be imperfectly described as follows: Three lions (two over one) passant gardant ----, on a chief ----, three fleurs-de-lys ----.

As it is not unlikely that some other of King James's foundations may have the same arms, it would be considered a favour if any reader of "N. & Q." possessing the information would communicate the proper colours in this case, or even the probable ones.

CAMELODUNENSIS.

DEVONIENSIS is quite right in supposing that the bearing of three fleurs-de-lys alone, horizontal, in the upper part of the shield,--in other words, {226} in chief, fess-ways,--is a very rare occurrence. I know of no instance of it in English blazon. Coupled with another and principal charge, as a fess, a chevron, a lion, &c.; or in a chief, it is common enough. Nor have I ever met with an example of it in French coat-armour. An English family, named Rothfeld, but apparently of German extraction, gives: Gules, two fleurs-de-lys, in chief, ermine. Du Guesclin bore nothing like a fleur-de-lys in any way. The armorial bearings of the famous Constable were: Argent, a double-headed eagle, displayed, sable, crowned, or, debruised of a bend, gules.

JOHN O' THE FORD.

Malta.

P.S.--Since writing the above, I have read three replies (Vol. ix., p. 84.), which do not appear to me to exactly meet the Query of DEVONIENSIS.

I understand the question to be, does any English family bear simply three fleurs-de-lys, in chief, fess-ways--without any additional charge? And in that sense my reply above is framed.

The first example given by MR. MACKENZIE WALCOTT would be most satisfactory and conclusive of the existence of such a bearing, could it be verified; but, unfortunately, in the _Heraldic Dictionaries_ of Berry and Burke, the name even of Trilleck or Trelleck does not occur. And in Malta, I have no opportunity of consulting Edmondson or Robson.

Your correspondent A. B. (p. 113.) has mistaken the three white lilies for fleurs-de-lys in the arms of Magdalen College, Oxford. Waynflete, the founder, was also Provost of Eton, and adopted the device from the bearings of that illustrious school; by which they were borne in allusion to St. Mary, to whom that College is dedicated.

MACKENZIE WALCOTT, M.A.

* * * * *

BOOKS BURNED BY THE COMMON HANGMAN.

(Vol. viii., pp. 272. 346. 625.; Vol. ix., p. 78.)

The well-known law dictionary, entitled _The Interpreter_, by John Cowel, LL.D., was burned (1610) under a proclamation of James I. (D'Israeli's _Calamities of Authors_, ed. 1840, p. 133.)

In June, 1622, the Commentary of David Pare, or Paraeus _On the Epistle to the Romans_, was burned at London, Oxford, and Cambridge, by order of the Privy Council. (Wood's _Hist. and Antiq. of Univ. of Oxford_, ed. Gutch, vol. ii. pp. 341-345.; Cooper's _Annals of Cambridge_, vol. iii. pp. 143, 144.)

On the 12th of February, 1634, _Elenchus Religionis Papisticae_, by John Bastwicke, M.D., was ordered to be burned by the High Commission Court. (Prynne's _New Discovery of the Prelates' Tyranny_, p. 132.)

On the 10th of February, 1640-1 the House of Lords ordered that two books published by John Pocklington, D.D., entitled _Altare Christianum_, and _Sunday no Sabbath_, should be publicly burned in the city of London and the two Universities, by the hands of the common executioner; and on the 10th of March the House ordered the Sheriffs of London and the Vice-Chancellors of both the Universities, forthwith to take care and see the order of the House carried into execution. (_Lords' Journals_, vol. iv. pp. 161. 180.)

On the 13th of August, 1660, Charles II. issued a proclamation against Milton's _Defensio pro Populo Anglicano_, his _Answer to the Portraiture of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitude and Sufferings_, and a book by John Goodwin, late of Coleman Street, London, Clerk, entitled _The Obstructors of Justice_. All copies of these books were to be brought to the sheriffs of counties, who were to cause the same to be publicly burned by the hands of the common hangman at the next assizes. (Kennett's _Register and Chronicle_, p. 207.) This proclamation is also printed in Collet's _Relics of Literature_, with the inaccurate date 1672, and the absurd statement that no copy of the proclamation was discovered till 1797.

In January, 1692-3, a pamphlet by Charles Blount, Esq., entitled _King William and Queen Mary, Conquerors, &c._, was burned by the common hangman in Palace Yard, Westminster. (Bohun's _Autobiography_, ed. S. W. Rix, vol. xxiv. pp. 106, 109. 113.; Wilson's _Life of De Foe_, vol. i. p. 179 _n_.)

The same parliament consigned to the flames Bishop Burnet's _Pastoral Letter_, which had been published 1689. (Wilson's _Life of De Foe_, vol. i. p. 179.)

On the 31st of July, 1693, the second volume of Anthony a Wood's _Athenae Oxonienses_ was burned in the Theatre Yard at Oxford by the Apparitor of the University, in pursuance of the sentence of the University Court in a prosecution for a libel on the memory of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. (_Life of Mr. Anthony a Wood_, ed. 1772, p. 377.)

On the 25th of February, 1702-3, the House of Commons ordered De Foe's _Shortest Way with the Dissenters_ to be burned by the hands of the common hangman on the morrow in New Palace Yard. (Wilson's _Life of De Foe_, vol. ii. p. 62.)

In or about 1709, John Humphrey, an aged non-conformist minister, having published a pamphlet against the Test, and circulated it amongst the members of parliament, was cited before a committee, and his work was ordered to be burned by the common hangman. (Wilson's _Life of De Foe_, vol. iii. p. 52.)

The _North Briton_, No. 45., was on the 3rd of December, 1763, burned by the common hangman at the Royal Exchange, by order of the House of {227} Commons. The following account is from Malcolm's _Anecdotes of London_, 4to., 1808, p. 282.:

"The 3rd of December was appointed for this silly ceremony, which took
place before the Royal Exchange, amidst the hisses and execrations of
the mob, not directed at the obnoxious paper, but at Alderman Harley,
the sheriffs, and constables, the latter of whom were compelled to
fight furiously through the whole business. The instant the hangman
held the work to a lighted link it was beat to the ground, and the
populace, seizing the faggots prepared to complete its destruction,
fell upon the peace-officers and fairly threshed them from the field;
nor did the alderman escape without a contusion on the head, inflicted
by a bullet thrown through the glass of his coach; and several other
persons had reason to repent the attempt to burn that publicly which
the _sovereign people_ determined to approve, who afterwards exhibited
a large _jack-boot_ at Temple Bar, and burnt it in triumph, unmolested,
as a species of retaliation."

I am not aware that what Mr. Malcolm terms a "silly ceremony" has been repeated since 1763.