Chapter V

_Sirloin._--When on a visit, a day or two since, to the very interesting _ruin_ (for so it must be called) of Haughton Castle, near Blackburn, Lancashire, I heard that the origin of this word was the following freak of James I. in his visit to the castle; a visit, by the way, which is said to have ruined the host, and to have been not very profitable even to all his descendants. A magnificent loin of meat being placed on the table before his Majesty, the King was so struck with its size and excellence, that he drew his sword, and cried out, "By my troth, I'll knight thee, Sir Loin!" and then and there the title was given; a title which has been honoured, unlike other knighthoods, by a goodly succession of illustrious heirs. Can any of your correspondents vouch for the truth of this?

H.C. Bowden, Manchester.

_Thomson of Esholt._--In the reign of Henry VIII. arms were granted to Henry Thomson, of Esholt, co. York, one of that monarch's gentlemen-at-arms at Boulogne. The grant was made by Laurence Dalton, Norroy. The shield was--Per fesse embattled, ar. and sa., three falcons, belted, countercharged--a _bend_ sinister. Crest: An armed arm, embowed, holding a lance, erect. Families of the name of Thompson, bearing the same shield, have been seated at Kilham, Scarborough, Escrick, and other places in Yorkshire. My inquiries are,--

1. Will any of your readers by kind enough to inform me where any mention is made of this grant, and the circumstances under which it was made?

2. Whether any _ancient_ monuments, or heraldic bearings of the family, are still extant in any parts of Yorkshire?

3. Whether any work on Yorkshire genealogies exists, and what is the best to be consulted?

JAYTEE.

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Pension_ (Vol. ii., p. 134.).--In the _Dictionnaire Universelle_, 1775, vol. ii. p. 203., I find the following explanation of the French word _Pension_:--

"Somme qu'on donne pour la nourriture et le logement de
quelqu'un. _Il se dit aussi du lieu o˘ l'on donne ‡ manger._"

May not the meeting of the benchers have derived its name for their dining-room in which they assembled?

BRAYBROOKE.

_Execution of Charles I._ (Vol. ii., pp. 72. 110-140. 158.).--In Lilly's _History of his Life and Times_, I find the following interesting account in regard to the vizored execution of Charles I., being part of the evidence he gave when examined before the first parliament of King Charles II. respecting the matter. Should any of your correspondents be able to substantiate this, or produce more conclusive evidence in determining who the executioner was, I shall be extremely obliged. Lilly writes,--

"Liberty being given me to speak, I related what follows: viz.,
That the next Sunday but one after Charles I. was beheaded,
Robert Spavin Secretary to Lieutenant-General Cromwell at that
time, invited himself to dine with me, and brought Anthony
Pearson and several others along with him to dinner. That their
principal discourse all dinner time was only who it was that
beheaded the king. One said it was the common hangman; another,
Hugh Peters; others were also nominated, but none concluded.
Robert Spavin, so soon as dinner was done, took me by the hand,
and carried me to the south window. Saith he, 'These are all
mistaken; they have not named the man that did the fact: it was
Lieutenant-Colonel Joice. I was in the room when he fitted
himself for the work; stood behind him when he did it; when
done, went in with him again: there is no man knows this but my
master, viz. Cromwell, Commissary Ireton, and myself.'--'Doth
Mr. Rushworth know it?' saith I. 'No, he doth not know it,'
saith Spavin. The same thing Spavin since has often related to
me, when we were alone."

R.W.E. Cheltenham.

_Paper Hangings_ (Vol. ii., p. 134.).--"It was on the walls of this drawing-room (the king's at Kensington Palace) that the then new art of paper-hangings, in imitation of the old velvet flock, was displayed with an effect that soon led to the adoption of so cheap and elegant a manufacture, in preference to the original rich material from which it was copied."--W.H. Pyne's _Royal Residences_, vol. ii. p. 75.

M.W.

_Black-guard._--There are frequent entries among those of deaths of persons attached to the Palace of Whitehall, in the registers of St. Margaret's, Westminster, of "----, one of the blake garde." about the year 1566, and later. In the Churchwarden's Accompts we find--

"1532. Pd. for licence of 4 torchis for Black Garde, vj. d."

The royal Halberdiers carried black bills. (Grose, _Milit. Antiq._, vol. i. p. 124.) In 1584 they behaved with great cruelty in Ireland. (Cornp. Peck's _Des. Curios._, vol. i. p. 155.) So Stainhurst, in his _Description_, says of bad men: "They are taken for no better than rakehells, or the devil's blacke guarde."--Chap. 8. Perhaps, in distinction to the gaily dressed military guard, the menial attendants in a royal progress were called black-guards from their dull appearance.

I remember a story current in Dublin, of a wicked wag telling a highly respectable old lady, who was asking, where were the quarters of the guards, in which corps her son was a private, to inquire at the lodge of Trinity College if he was not within those learned walls, as the "black guards were lying there."

M.W.

_Pilgrims' Road_ (Vol. ii., p. 237.).--Your correspondent S.H., in noticing the old track "skirting the base of the chalk hills," and known by the name of the "Pilgrims' Road," has omitted to state that its commencement is at Oxford,--a fact of importance, inasmuch as that the Archbishops of Canterbury had there a handsome palace (the ruins of which still exist), which is said to have been the favourite residence of Thomas ‡ Becket. The tradition in the county thereupon is, that his memory was held in such sanctity in that neighbourhood as to cause a vast influx of pilgrims annually from thence to his shrine at Canterbury; and the line of road taken by them can still be traced, though only portions of it are now used as a highway. The direction, however, in which it runs makes it clear (as S.H., no doubt, is aware) that it cannot be Chaucer's road.

While on the subject of old roads, I may add that a tradition here exists that the direct road between London and Tunbridge did not pass through Sevenoaks; and a narrow lane which crosses the Pilgrims' road near Everham is pointed out as the former highway, and by which Evelyn must have been journeying (passing close, indeed, to the seat of his present descendant at St. Clere) when he met with that amusing robber-adventure at Procession Oak.

M(2).

_Pilgrims' Road to Canterbury._--In the _AthenÊum_ of Nov. 2nd, 1844, there is a notice of _Remarks upon Wayside Chapels; with Observations on the Architecture and present State of the Chantry on Wakefield Bridge_: By John Chessell and Charles Buckler--in which the reviewer says--

"In our pedestrianism we have traced the now desolate ruins of
several of these chapels along the old pilgrims' road to
Canterbury."

If this writer would give us the results of his pedestrianism, it would be acceptable to _all_ the lovers of Chaucer. I do not know whether PHILO-CHAUCER will find anything to his purpose in the pamphlet reviewed.

E.S. JACKSON.

_Combs buried with the Dead._--In Vol. ii., p. 230., the excellent vicar of Morwenstow asks the reason why combs are found in the graves of St. Cuthbert and others, monks, in the cathedral church of Durham. I imagine that they were the combs used at the first tonsure of the novices, to them a most interesting memorial of that solemn rite through life, and from touching affection to the brotherhood among whom they had dwelt, buried with them at their death.

M.W.

_The Comb_, concerning "the origin and intent" of which MR. HAWKER (Vol. ii., p. 230.) seeks information, was for ritual use; and its purposes are fully described in Dr. Rock's _Church of our Fathers_, t. ii. p. 122., &c.

LITURGICUS.

_AÎrostation._--C.B.M. will find in the _AthenÊum_ for August 10th, 1850, a notice of a book on this subject.

E.S. JACKSON.

_St. Thomas of Lancaster_ (Vol. i., p. 181.).--MR. R.M. MILNES desires information relative to "St. Thomas of Lancaster." This personage was Earl of Leicester as well as Earl of Lancaster; and I find in the archives of this borough numerous entries relative to him,--of payments made to him by the burgesses. Of these mention is made in a _History of Leicester_ recently published. The most curious fact I know of is, that on the dissolution of the monasteries here, several relics of St. Thomas, among others, his felt hat, was exhibited. The hat was considered a great remedy for the headache!

JAYTEE.

_Smoke Money_ (Vol. ii., p. 120.).--"Anciently, even in England, were Whitsun farthings, or smoke farthings, which were a composition for offerings made in Whitsun week, by every man who occupied a house with a chimney, to the cathedral of the diocese in which he lived."--Audley's _Companion to the Almanac_, p. 76.

Pentecostals, or Whitsun Farthings, are mentioned by Pegge as being paid in 1788 by the parishioners of the diocese of Lichfield, in aid of the repairs of the cathedral, to the dean and chapter; but he makes no allusion to the word _smoke_, adding only that in this case the payment went by the name of Chad-pennies, or Chad-farthings, the cathedral there being dedicated to St. Chad.

C.I.R.

_Robert Herrick_ (Vol. i., p. 291.).--MR. MILNER BARRY states that he found an entry of the burial of the poet Herrick in the parish books of Dean Prior. As MR. BARRY seems interested in the poet, I would inform him that a voluminous collection of family letters of early date is now in the possession of William Herrick, Esq., of Beaumanor Park, the present representative of that ancient and honourable house.

JAYTEE.

_Guildhalls._--The question in Vol. i., p. 320., relative to guildhalls, provokes an inquiry into guilds. In the erudite and instructive work of Wilda on the _Guild System of the Middle Ages (Gildenwesen im Mittel‰lter)_ will be found to be stated that guilds were associations of various kinds,--convivial, religions, and mercantile, and so on; and that places of assembly were adopted by them. A guild-house where eating and drinking took place, was to be met with in most villages in early times: and these, I fancy, were the guild-halls. On this head consult Hone's _Every-day Book_, vol. ii. p. 670., and elsewhere, in connexion with Whitsuntide holidays.

JAYTEE.

_AbbÈ Strickland_ (Vol. ii., pp. 198. 237.).--The fullest account of the AbbÈ Strickland, _Bishop of Namur_, is to be found in Lord Hervey's _Memoirs_ (Vol. i., p. 391.), and a most curious account it is of that profligate intriguer.