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track crossing the Thames at the old "Oxna forda." In Bristol city are similar facts, one alignment crossing another at St. John's Church, which is built over a city gate, and thus proving that the church, although part of a gateway, had its site fixed by the two old tracks, here confirmed by bits of present day 'roads.

These churches over gateways are strange instances of public roads under churches. There is one, St. John's, at Warwick, and several not now existing are recorded at Bristol, York, and other old cities.

Roman pagan altars have been found under the churches at Daglingworth, and St. Swithin's, Lincoln; and under the west end of St. Michael's, Herefordshire, was dug up our only Herefordshire inscribed altar with Deo Trivii Belicvs Donavit Aram.

To the God of the three ways Belicus gave this altar." I found this church to be on a sighted track. So here is an instance of a Roman altar dedicated to the god of the trackways, probably taking the place of an earlier mark-stone and certainly deciding

the site of the church.

I should mention that there is abundant evidence that the church alignments also align with existing mounds and ancient stones, and are thus proved to be built on ancient mark-points of old tracks.

The fellow query, about such rights of ways through houses only brought out the one answer regarding halls in Iceland (see ante p. 47). In such legends there is always a germ of true fact and usually an invented explanation.

I have no doubt the halls were built on the tracks. I have heard of alleged cases of rights of way through a farm (Massington, Eastnor) in Herefordshire, and Bramwell Hall in Cheshire.

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transferred to the vicar for the annual rent of 51. whereof 31. still vests in the Crown and the other 21. per annum has been paid to several proprietors successively since the purchase of them from the Crown in King Charles the Second's time. The 31. still vesting in the Crown serves to quit the 31. pension which by the Crown is payable to the vicar.

John Throsby, a Leicester historian, who was clerk of St. Martin's from 1770 to 1803, when he died, in 1802 wrote the following copy, which is still in existence, of a note made in 1791 upon the cover of the register of baptisms at the church :

The Chancel in S. Martin's Church belongs to the King, as succeeding in rights of the Abbot of Leicester. The Vicar pays 5£ per Annum Rent to the King for which he receives the profits of the Chancel, and half a Noble per Annum from Wigston's Hospital. King Charles the First sold the chief Rent together with many others to the Fitzwilliams Family, to whom the Vicar now pays this Rent, which (in consequence of the Vicar receiving a Pension of 3 per annum from the King) amounts only to 2 per annum.

vicar of St. Martin's from 1893 to 1909, The late Dr. S. J. M. Sanders, who was after carefully investigating the facts recorded by Nichols and Throsby, vested the boys of the choir in red cassocks, and, at the installation of the cathedral chapter in 1927, the provost and the six canons of the cathedral wear were authorised to garb of royal cassocks, which are not the " Similar cassocks have chaplains" alone. Exeter Cathedral during the present year. been introduced into York Minster and

red

The provost of Leicester Cathedral, as vicar of St. Martin's, still pays a yearly sum of £2 18. 4d. to the proprietors of the in due succession from those to whom they rights that have been transferred to them were originally assigned by the Crown. S. H. SKILLINGTON.

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CANONS OF LEICESTER CATHEDRAL HAM IN THE GARB OF ROYAL CHAPLAINS (clii. 460).-The connection with the Crown of the chancel of St. Martin's Church, Leicester, which has recently become the cathedral of the new diocese of Leicester, is thus explained in Nichols's 'Leicestershire,' vol. i. pt. ii. p. 591, published in 1815::

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In the chancel (which is the property of the King, and is rented by the vicar) are three stalls Whatever the profits were that belonged to the abbey [of St. Mary in the meadows at Leicester], they were vested in the Crown upon the Dissolution, and by it were

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Having recently perused the work Shakespeare's Hand in Sir Thomas Moore.' I was interested to find allusions to several characteristics of Shakespeare's handwriting which would help to explain the misprint for of "eale evil" and of a doubt for "antidote."

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3. His " is made in a number of different ways; and might also be mistaken, in some variations, for " 0.'

4. He spells

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devil as "deule." Applying these tests to the expressions eale "" and of a doubt" in the passage now in question we find, first, that when "deule " was written, for "" devil," (in another line of Hamlet), it was misprinted "deale," the compositor working probably direct from Shakespeare's MS. Similarly, when he came to write the word "evil" he no doubt spelt it eule," the compositor fell into the same trap and printed it "" eale."

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Secondly, from the particulars given it is easy to understand how "antidote could have been corrupted into of а doubt." The only apparent difficulty would lie in the conversion of the "ti" into the single letter a. " I think, however, that a badly written ti " might easily resemble an open top one of the variations alluded to in (3)—such Shakespeare did, in fact, sometimes make, and with the appearance of which the compositor of Hamlet' was consequently familiar.

an

66 " with

a

F. H. UNDERWOOD.

as

THE TICHMARSH CEDAR (cliii. 45).— In 1916, in a correspondence on cedars, the Rev. A. M. Lucock, rector of Tichmarsh wrote:

In 1879 a note had been found unsigned and undated among parish papers, evidently in the handwriting of the Rev. L. Powys, rector for 37 years up to 1842:-The Cedar tree in the rectory garden was carried there by William Nicholls, the parish clerk for many years and died a very old man. Nicholls was about 20 years old when he carried the tree and judged the tree to be of that age when planted.

Nicholls was buried Jan. 14, 1814, aged 90, so the date of planting would be about 1744.

The village tradition has adopted another

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STRANGE FAMILY OF

are

SOMERSETSHIRE (cliii. 64).-Here a few notes about the Strange family which may be of some use to your correspondent as jumping-off points for further research. I give them at random:

Robert Strange was a pikeman, drawn with others from the parishes of Langport, Muchelney. and Pitney, at the time of the Spanish Armada.

John Strang was incumbent of Puriton, in 1425.

William Strange is mentioned in the Somerset Hearth Tax as resident in Taunton St. James, in 1664/5.

Henry, Lord Strange was a part owner in some holdings of the Manor of Nortonsub-Hamdon, in 2 and 3 Philip and Mary (1555).

In Taunton Wills are recorded the following wills: John Strange, Porlock, 1540; another John, 1587; William, Norton, 1627; William, Wooton Courtenay, 1638; Giles, Crocombe, 1662; Henry, Wooton Courtenay, 3.

arms are

An armorial badge was found at Templecombe in 1886. It was of late fifteenth or early sixteenth century date, and (says W. H. St. John Hope) the probably those of Le Strange: lions passant argent within engrailed or.

Gules, two a bordure

with heraldry. It is dated 1661. It contains I have in my possession a MS. dealing a pen-and-ink sketch of the arms of Strange, and the following description:

He beareth azure a ship under full sail or, a bar wavey argt. On a chief of the 3d. a Cross Gules thereon a Lion Passant or. On a wreath of his Colours 2 Arms of a man Couped at the Shoulders, and erected Proper, holding a Bezant by Strange.

And is thus born by the Wpfull John Strange, late of Bideford in the Co. of Devon, Gent. Mayor of the said Town and Merchant.

In a Somerset chap-book published in the early years of the seventeenth century, reference is made to serious floods in Somerset, and it is recorded:

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JOHN LEYDEN'S GRAVE (clii. 388).— Actually it would seem that John Leyden died of a fever the day after the battle which gave Java to the British Empire." The British troops landed off Batavia on Aug. 4, 1811; the battle of Cornelis was fought on Aug. 26; Leyden died, in Raffles' arms, on Aug. 27; Lord Minto published his proclamation on Sept. 11, and the final capitulation of the island was signed on Sept. 18. (See Memoir of T. S. Raffles,' by his widow, Vol. i. chap. iv.)

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DESCENDANTS OF LOUIS XIV (cliii. 45). It would be an extensive work to give a full list to H. F. of all the descendants of Louis XIV now living: they are very numerous.

By his legitimate grandson Philip V, King of Spain, who renounced all rights to the French crown, Louis XIV is the ancestor of the present King of Spain and of the Parma branch of the Spanish Bourbons. Also by the marriages of the daughters of the Spanish Bourbons he is ancestor of the Houses of HapsburgLorraine, Saxony, Savoy, Bavaria, Portugal,

and through Portugal, of Ferdinand, late King of Roumania.

also by

Through his illegitimate daughter by Madame de Montespan, Françoise Marie, d'Orléans, who married Philippe Duc ancestor of the the Regent, Louis is living members of that family; the marriage of two daughters of Louis Philippe, King of the French, ancestor of the Royal Family of of the Royal Family of Belgium and Ferdinand of Bulgaria. By their mother, Princess Marie of Orleans, the children of Prince Waldemar of Denmark count among the descendants of Louis XIV.

This is but an outline of an answer to H. F.'s question.

I should be glad to know of any work that gives the full list he seeks.

M. PETRENA BROCKLEBANK.

The statement that the legitimate line " of Louis XIV "has for many generations been extinct is not correct. A complete list will be found in any year's issue of the 'Almanach de Gotha.' These include the

Spanish Royal Family and the children of the Pretender, the late Don Carlos; the ex-Royal Family of Naples, and the surviving members of the family of the last Duke of Parma. The husband of the present Grand Duchess of Luxemburg belongs to the Bourbon-Parma branch. The French Orleans family are, of course, descendants of Louis XIII and his youngest son. Particulars of descendants of Louis XIV's natural children are only to be found by reading French Memoirs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There is no complete work on the subject.

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ANDREW DE TERNANT.

36, Somerleyton Road, Brixton.

WIN

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INDOWS OF THE SOUL (cliii. 10, 68).-Shakespeare's line

Her two blue windows faintly she upheaveth. V. & A.', 1. 482. is too pretty to leave uncited: but as the soul there is not precisely mentioned, more relevant is Mrs. Browning's stanza

And Goethe, with that reaching eye his soul looked out from, far and high, and fell from inner entity.

'A Vision of Poets,' 382-4. Upon this latter anyone desirous of amusement should refer to E. A. Poe's critique on Elizabeth Barrett Barrett " (J. H. Ingram's edition of Poe's works, vol. iv. p. 72: publ. Black, Edinburgh, 1875).

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YORKSHIRE CLERICS temp. HENRY the Morning Post one day this year between III (cliii. 24).-Roll 1045, m. 55, the 16 and 21 of May. Ralph dictus persona of Birstall' is erroneous. The only parson there at this time was Richard.

FRANKLIN

as

L. GRIFFITH.

NIGHTS (clii. 461).-I had the pleasure of taking a hand in the production of the Calendar of Somerset Customs, Superstitions, &c.,' and wrote an article on St. Dunstan. I there stated that St. Dunstan's day (May 19) is usually associated with a cold easterly blast. The story is that St. Dunstan, who was a great brewer, sold himself to the Devil on condition that the enemy of mankind should blight the apple trees, and thus stop the production of cider, the rival beverage. Of course the assertion that Dunstan was a brewer has been denied. In Devonshire the 18th, 19th and 20th May are known “Franklin Days" (or nights). When first I heard this I made some enquiries, and gleaned the information that a certain brewer of Bristol, being much disturbed by cider making, puzzled his brains to find a way to stop it. At last he decided that if the apple crop might be blighted, it would be better for the brewers of beer! So he appealed to the Evil One, who promised that if this brewer would sell his soul to him he would spoil the apple crop by sending three or more frosts from the 18th to the 23rd May in each year, and the bargain was made. Evidently this Devonshire version is associated with the Dunstan legend. There is no doubt that, generally, a few frosty nights trouble us about this period of the month of May. Perhaps a reader will tell us why. Some attribute the cold winds and frost about the middle of May to the melting of the Arctic ice and the Gulf Stream being considerably cooled in

consequence.

W. G. WILLIS WATSON.

There is an old Devonshire legend concerning Frankenmas of St. Franken's Day (19-21 May), at which times there often comes a cold snap which injures the blossom. A brewer of Exeter named Franken found cider so serious a rival to beer that he sold his soul to the devil on condition that the latter should send three frosty nights in May each year to nip the apple blossom.

The above is the substance of a note in

K. H. H. There is a convenient list of references to the authorities on the subject of Franklin Nights in an editorial note in Devon and Cornwall N. & Q. vol. xii. pp. 112-3, 1922-3.

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RETNA GREEN WEDDINGS (clii. 361,

S.v. 'Memorabilia ').-The belief in the legality of the Gretna Green wedding still appears to linger in the minds of some young people. In the Daily Journal and North Star (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), May 20th, there appeared this item of news:

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A romantic incident occurred yesterday at Gretna Green when a young couple arrived at the old Blacksmith's Shop be united in marriage. They arrived by motor from Edinburgh where they are studying as medical students.

On interviewing the priest he told them he had just received a wire from Edinburgh forbidding the marriage. The telegram was from an uncle, who said that he was a relative of the young lady, whose parents are now in Australia In the face of this message the priest did not feel at liberty to perform the rite. While they were discussing the situation the irate uncle appeared on the scene and expressed strong objections to the marriage taking place. He said the couple had more than once attempted to get married and failed. The hapless lovers soon after left the scene considerably crestfallen." H. ASKEW.

Spennymoor.

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HORNCHURCH ST. BERNARD OF MENTHON (clii. 334, 375).-J. Charles Cox's Essex (Little Guide) provides an explanation which differs from that given by Charles T. Perfect as quoted by Mr. Walter E. Gawthorpe.

ORMEROD: ARMS FOR IDENTIFICA-
TION (clii. 315, 356).—Speculation is un-
wise, but a careful study of the Venables
pedigree should answer the question.
same arms may be found borne by numbers
of families of different names and are of
no use without confirmatory evidence.

The

HERALD.

properly so she makes has been

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After saying that the Hospital (sometimes called the priory) of Hornchurch was the only English dependency of the famous hospice of St. Bernard of Savoy, Mr. Cox CUCKOO'S TUNE (clii. 461).—The female proceeds to tell us that it has been recently suggested, with much probability, that the envoys sent by Henry II to the Emperor Frederick in the winter of 1158-1159 crossed the Alps by the pass of the Great St. Bernard, and that the founding and endowing of this Hornchurch hospital was the result of their entertainment amid the snows.

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CURFEW STILL RINGING (clii. 206, 248, 266, 286, 303, 413). The curfew is not now rung at Newark(-on-Trent), but every night for two months before Christmas the Gopher' bell is. A man of that name lost his way and was guided home by the bells through a fog. He left money for the perpetuation of his gratitude.

If Harlaxton (about 2 m. S.W. of Grantham) preserves the same tradition, the duplication of it, in so limited an area, is curious and interesting.

S.

CHURCHES: DOUBLE DEDICATIONS (cl. 171, 229; cli. 87).-Although not a monastic parochial church, Dr. Henshaw (Bishop of Salford) consecrated a handsome new church in Chorlton-cum-Hardy and dedicated it to Our Lady and St. John on 11 June.

J. B. McGoVERN.

an

encouraging

cuckoo has no "" tune "" called. The sound variously described as chuckle, a gurgle,' a burble.' All earlier writers thought that it was the female, and not the male, that sang.

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HARMATOPEGOS.

TLLEGITIMATE ROYALTIES, 17601800 (clii. 119, 159, 195, 285).-Apropos of this enquiry, may I on behalf of a continental friend, ask in particular for

a list of the natural children of King George IV, and, if possible, the names of their mothers and of their husbands wives."

R. BINGHAM ADAMS.

or

SURNAMES DERIVED FROM DIVISIONS OF TIME (clii. 280, 319, 357, 393, 431).-In 'Surnames ' by Ernest Weekley, reprinted in February of this year, on pp. 235-236 are mentioned Henry Midnight, recorded in the Patent Rolls, nicknamed perhaps, for his gloomy temperament, and the contrasting fourteenth-century nickname Midday. From N. & Q.' of 30 Aug. 1873 is quoted, "In Sunderland live, in the same house, Mr. Doubleday and Miss Halfknight." Ranulf Dubleday appears in the Fine Rolls. Halfnight is generally without the k.

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