of hunger, a watch, a purse of gold, a small treatise on fortification, an album filled with songs, receipts, prayers, and charms, and the George with which, many years before, King Charles the Second had decorated his favourite son." -Hist. Eng., . pp. 616-618. 2nd edition. Now, this is all extremely admirable. It is a brilliant description of an important historical incident. But on what precise spot did it take place? One would like to endeavour to realise such an event at the very place where it occurred, and the historian should enable us to do so. I believe the spot is very well known, and that the traditions of the neighbourhood upon the subject are still vivid. It was near Woodyate's Inn, a well-known roadside inn, a few miles from Salisbury, on the road to Blandford, that the Duke and his companions turned adrift their horses. From thence they crossed the country in almost a due southerly direction. The tract of land in which the Duke took refuge is rightly described by Mr. Macaulay, as "separated by an inclosure from the open country." Its nature is no less clearly indicated by its local name of "The Island." The open down which surrounds it is called Shag's Heath. The Island is described as being about a mile and a half from Woodlands, and in the parish of Horton, in Dorsetshire. The field in which the Duke concealed himself is still called "Monmouth Close." It is at the north-eastern extremity of the Island. An ash-tree at the foot of which the would-be-king was found crouching in a ditch and half hid under the fern, was standing a few years ago, and was deeply indented with the carved initials of crowds of persons who had been to visit it. Mr. Macaulay has mentioned that the fields were covered-it was the eighth of July with standing crops of rye, pease, and oats. In one of them, a field of pease, tradition tells us that the Duke dropped a gold snuff-box. It was picked up some time afterwards by a labourer, who carried it to Mrs. Uvedale of Horton, probably the proprietress of the field, and received in reward fifteen pounds, which was said to be half its value. On his capture, the Duke was first taken to the house of Anthony Etterick, Esq., a magistrate who resided at Holt, which adjoins Horton. Tradition, which records the popular feeling rather than the fact, reports, that the poor woman who informed the pursuers that 66 I know not, Mr. Editor, whether these particulars are of the kind which you design to print as "NOTES." If they are so, and you give them place in your miscellany, be good QUERY" addressed to your enough to add a Dorsetshire correspondents, as to whether the ash-tree is now standing, and what is the actual condition of the spot at the present time. The facts I have stated are partly derived from the book known as Addison's Anecdotes, vol. iv., p. 12. 1794, 8vo. They have been used, more or less, by the late Rev. P. Hall, in his Account of Ringwood, and by Mr. Roberts, in his Life of Monmouth. With the best of good wishes for the success of your most useful periodical, Believe me, Mr. Editor, Yours very truly, JOHN BRUCE. SHAKESPEARE AND DEER-STEALING. In "The Life of Shakespeare," prefixed to the edition of his Works I saw through the press three or four years ago, I necessarily entered into the deer-stealing question, admitting that I could not, as some had done, "entirely discredit the story," and following it up by proof (in opposition to the assertion of Malone), that Sir Thomas Lucy had deer, which Shakespeare might have been concerned in stealing. I also, in the same place (vol. i. p. xcv.), showed, from several authorities, how common and how venial offence it was considered in the middle of the reign of Elizabeth. Looking over some MSS. of that time, a few weeks since, I met with a very singular and confirmatory piece of evidence, establishing that in the year 1585, the precise period when our great dramatist is supposed to have made free with the deer of the knight of Charlcote, nearly all the cooks'shops and ordinaries of London were supplied with stolen venison. The following letter from the lord mayor (which I copy from the original) of that day, Thomas Pullyson, to secretary Walsingham, speaks for itself, and shows that the matter has been deemed of so much importance as to call for the interposition of the Privy Council: the city authorities were required to take instant and arbitrary measures for putting an end to the consumption of venison and to the practice of deer-stealing, by means of which houses &c. of public resort in London were furnished with that favourite viand. The letter of the lord mayor was a speedy reply to a communication from the queen's ministers on the subject: Right honorable, where yesterday I receaved letters from her Mates most honorable privie councill, advertisinge me that her highnes was enformed that Venison ys as ordinarilie sould by the Cookes of London as other flesh, to the greate distruction of the game. Commaundinge me therby to take severall bondes of x1" the peece of all the Cookes in London not to buye or sell any venison hereafter, uppon payne of forfayture of the same bondes; neyther to receave any venison to bake without keepinge a note of theire names that shall deliver the same unto them. Whereuppon presentlie I called the Wardens of the Cookes before me, advertisinge them hereof, requiringe them to cause theire whole company to appeare before me, to thende I might take bondes accordinge to a condition hereinclosed sent to your Ho.; whoe answered that touchinge the first clause therof they were well pleased therewith, but for the latter clause they thought yt a greate inconvenience to theire companie, and therefore required they might be permitted to make theire answeres, and alledge theire reasons therof before theire honors. Affirmed alsoe, that the Tablinge howses and Tavernes are greater receyvors and destroyers of stollen venison than all the rest of the Cittie: wherefore they craved that eyther they maye be likewise bounden, or els authoritie maye be geven to the Cookes to searche for the same hereafter. I have therefore taken bondes of the wardens for theire speedy appearance before theire honors to answere the same; and I am bolde to pray your Ho. to impart the same unto theire Ho., and that I maye with speede receyve theire further direction herein. And soe I humbly take my leave. London, the xjth of June, 1585. "Your honors to commaunde, "THOMAS PULLYSON, maior." I dare say that the registers of the Privy Council contain some record of what was done on the occasion, and would enable us to decide whether the very reasonable request of the Cooks of London had been complied. with. Whether this be or be not so, the above document establishes beyond question that in the summer of 1585 cooks'-shops, tabling-houses (i. e. ordinaries), and taverns, were abundantly supplied with stolen venison, and that the offence of stealing must have been very common. J. PAYNE COLLIER. Kensington, Oct. 26. 1849. "PRAY REMEMBER THE GROTTO!" ON WHEN the great popularity which the legends of the Saints formerly enjoyed is considered, it becomes matter of surprise that they should not have been more frequently consulted for illustrations of our folk-lore and popular observances. The Edinburgh Reviewer of Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, has, with great judgment, extracted from that work a legend, in which, as he shows very clearly*, we have the real, although hitherto unnoticed, origin of the Three Balls which still form the recognised sign of a Pawnbroker. The passage is so curious, that it should be transferred entire to the "NOTES AND QUERIES." "None of the many diligent investigators of our popular antiquities have yet traced home the three golden balls of our pawnbrokers to the emblem of St. Nicholas. They have been properly enough referred to the Lombard merchants, who were the first to open loan-shops in England for the relief of temporary distress. But the Lombards had merely assumed an emblem whieh had been appropriated to St. Nicholas, as their charitable predecessor in that very line of business. The following is the legend: and it is too prettily told to be omitted: "Now in that city (Panthera) there dwelt a certain nobleman, who had three daughters, and, from being rich, he became poor; so poor that there remained no means of obtaining food for his daughters but by sacrificing them to an infamous life; and oftentimes it came into his mind to tell them so, but shame and sorrow held him dumb. Meantime the maidens wept continually, not knowing what to do, and not having bread to eat; and Edinburgh Review, vol. lxxxix. p. 400. their father became more and more desperate. When Nicholas heard of this, he thought it shame that such a thing should happen in a Christian land; therefore one night, when the maidens were asleep, and their father alone sat watching and weeping, he took a handful of gold, and, tying it up in a handkerchief, he repaired to the dwelling of the poor man. He considered how he might bestow it without making himself known; and, while he stood irresolute, the moon coming from behind a cloud showed him a window open; so he threw it in, and it fell at the feet of the father, who, when he found it, returned thanks, and with it he portioned his eldest daughter. A second time Nicholas provided a similar sum, and again he threw it in by night; and with it the nobleman married his second daughter. But he greatly desired to know who it was that came to his aid; therefore he determined to watch: and when the good Saint came for the third time, and prepared to throw in the third portion, he was discovered, for the nobleman seized him by the skirt of his robe, and flung himself at his feet, saying, "O Nicholas! servant of God! why seek to hide thyself?" and he kissed his feet and his hands. But Nicholas made him promise that he would tell no And many other charitable works did Nicholas perform in his native city.' man. "These three purses of gold, or, as they are more customarily figured, these three golden balls, disposed in exact pawnbroker fashion, are to this day the recognised special emblem of the charitable St. Nicholas." And now for the more immediate object of the present Note, which is to show - what, when once pointed out, will, I think, readily be admitted, namely, that in the grotto formed of oyster shells, and lighted with a votive candle, to which on old St. James's day (5th August) the passer by is earnestly entreated to contribute by cries of, "Pray remember the Grotto!" we have a memorial of the world-renowned shrine of St. James at Compostella. The popularity which St. James formerly enjoyed in England, and the zeal with which his shrine was visited by natives of this country, have recently been so clearly shown by Mr. J. G. Nichols, in his interesting little volume, Pilgrimages to St. Mary of Walsingham and St. Thomas of Canterbury, that I need not here insist upon these points. What the original object of making these grottoes may have been I can only suggest: but I shall not be surprised if it should turn out that they were formerly erected on the anniversary of St. James by poor persons, as an invitation to the pious who could not visit Compostella, to show their reverence for the Saint by almsgiving to their needy brethren. Oysters are only allowed to be sold in London (which city, by the by, levied a tax of two pence on every person going and returning by the river Thames on pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James), after St. James's day. Why is this? I wish Mr. Wansey, who is an able antiquary, and one authorised to look into the records of the Fishmongers' Company, would give us the information upon this point which these documents may be expected to furnish. WILLIAM J. THOMS. NOTE OF A MS. VOLUME OF CHRONICLES AT REIGATE. Amongst the objects of the useful medium of literary communication afforded by the publication of "NOTES AND QUERIES," one appears to be a record of the casual notice of 66 some book or some edition, hitherto unknown or imperfectly described." I am induced therefore to inquire, whether the existence of an ancient MS. volume of Chronicles, which I have recently noticed in the little library adjoining Reigate Church, is already known to those who investigate our monastic annals? This volume may probably not have escaped their research, especially since the republication and extension of Wharton's Collection, have been recently proposed. A chronological series of chronicles relating to the see of Canterbury was announced amongst the projected publications of the "Anglia Christiana Society." The Reigate library, of which brief mention is made in Manning's and Bray's History of Surrey (vol. i. p. 314.) without any notice of its contents, is preserved in the upper chamber of a building on the north side of the chancel, erected in 1513, and designated as a "vestibulum" in a contemporary inscription. The collection is small, and amongst the most interesting volumes is a small folio, in the original oaken boards covered with white leather, presented to the library. 7. June, 1701, by William Jordan, of Gatwick, in the adjacent parish of Charlwood, probably the same person who was member for the borough of Reigate in 1717. Of previous possessors of the book nothing is recorded. It comprises several concise chronicles, which may be thus described: 3. "Compilacio Cronicorum de diversis Archiepiscopis ecclesie Cantuariensis:" - the chronicle of Stephen Birchington, a monk of Canterbury, printed by Wharton, from a MS. in the Lambeth collection. The text varies in many particulars, which may be of minor moment, but deserve collation. The writing varies towards the close, as if the annals had been continued at intervals; and they close with the succession of Archbishop William de Witleseye, in 1368, as in the text printed by Wharton (Anglia Sacra, vol. i. pp. 1—48.). 4. "De principio mundi, et etatibus ejusdem. De insulis et civitatibus Anglie:". forming a sort of brief preface to the following -"Hic incipit Bruto de gestis Anglorum." The narrative begins with a tale of a certain giant king of Greece, in the year 3009, who had thirty daughters: the eldest, Albina, gave her name to Albion. The history is continued to the accession of William Rufus. 5. "Incipit Cronica de adquisicione Regni Anglie per Willelmum Ducem Normannorum,' &c. closing in 1364, with the birth of Edward of Engolesme, eldest son of the Black Prince. Wharton speaks of "Historiæ de regibus Anglorum, de Pontificibus Romanis, et de Im peratoribus Romanis," as found together with the chronicle of the archbishops of Canterbury; both in the Lambeth MS. and in another formerly in the possession of William Reede, Bishop of Chichester: and he was inclined to attribute the whole to the pen of Birchington. 6. "Gesta Scotorum contra Anglicos:" commencing in 1066, with the times of Malcolm, king of Scotland, and ending in 1346, with the capture of David II., and the calamitous defeat of the Scots near Durham. At the commencement of the volume are found some miscellaneous writings of less interesting character. I noticed, however, an entry relating to the foundation of a chapel at "Ocolte," now written Knockholt, in Kent, by Ralph Scot, who had erected a mansion remote from the parish church, and obtained license for the consecration of the chapel in the year 1281, in the time of Archbishop Kilwardeby. The writing of this MS. appears to be of the latter half of the fourteenth century. Possibly there be readers of these "NOTES may quiries than myself, who may have examined AND QUERIES," more familiar with such inother contemporary MSS. of the compilations of Stephen Birchington. I shall be thankful for any information regarding them, and especially as regards the existence of any transcript of the Canterbury Annals, extended beyond the year 1368, with which this copy as well as that used by Wharton closes; whilst he supposes that in the chronicle as cited by Jocelin, chaplain to Matthew Parker, they had been carried as far as the year 1382. ALBERT WAY. THE MORNING CHRONICLE, ETC. WHEN FIRST 66 a trea Sir,- My attention has been particularly engaged by one suggestion in your Prospectus, because it seems to hold out a hope that your intended work will furnish what has long been a desideratum in literature. We really do want something that may form a supplement to works already in existence. sury for enriching future editions of them;" while it may also receive (as I have no doubt you meant to include,) such contributions of moderate extent, as may tend to render fuller and more correct some works which have little or no chance of future editions. In this way you may be of great use in every department of literature; and especially in works of reference. With them, indeed, correctness is everything; perfect accuracy is not to be attained, and the nearest possible approximation to it can be made only by many little careful steps, backwards as well as forwards. By works of reference, however, I do not mean Dictionaries, though I would include them, as a class of works for which I have a singular respect, and to which my remark particularly applies. There are many other books, and some which very properly aspire to the title of History, which are, in fact and practically, books of reference, and of little value if they have not the completeness and accuracy which should characterise that class of works. Now it frequently happens to people whose reading is at all discursive, that they incidentally fall upon small matters of correction or criticism, which are of little value to themselves, but would be very useful to those who are otherwise engaged, if they knew of their existence. I might perhaps illustrate this matter by referring to various works; but it happens to be more in my way to mention Herbert's edition of Ames's Typographical Antiquities. It may be hoped that, some day or other, the valuable matter of which it consists will be reduced to a better form and method; for it seems hardly too much to say, that he appears to have adopted the very worst that could have been selected. I need not tell you that I have no idea of undertaking such a thing, and I really have no suspicion (I wish I had) that anybody else is thinking of doing it: or, in other words, I am not attempting to make use of your columns by insinuating a preparatory puff for a work in progress, or book as one of a class which may be esseneven in contemplation. I only mention the tially benefited by your offering a receptacle for illustrations, additions, and corrections, such as individually, or in small collections, are of little or no value, and are frequently almost in the very opposite condition to those things which are of no value to any body but the owner. For instance, when I was in the habit of seeing many of the books noted by Herbert, and had his volumes lying beside me, I made hundreds, perhaps thousands, of petty corrections, and many from books which he had not had an opportunity of seeing, and of which he could only reprint incorrect descriptions. All of these, though trifling in themselves, are things which should be noticed in case of a reprint; but how much time and trouble would it cost an editor to find and collate the necessary books? That, to be sure, is his business; but the question for the public is, Would it be done at all? and could it in such cases be done so well in any other way, as by appointing some place of rendezvous for the casual and incidental materials for improvement which may fall in the way of feaders pursuing different lines of inquiry, and rewarded, as men in pursuit of truth always are, whatever may be their success as to their immediate object, by finding more than they are looking for-things, too, which when they get into their right places, show that they were worth finding-and, perhaps, unknown to those more conversant with the subject to which they belong, just because they were in the out-of-the-way place where they were found by somebody who was looking for something else. S. R. MAITLAND. A FLEMISH ACCOUNT. T. B. M. will be obliged by references to any early instances of the use of the expression "a Flemish account," and of any explanation as to its origin and primary signification. |