66

COCKED-HAT RACES.-I have never been able to understand what the purpose of cocked-hat races was. There were many curious events on race cards a century or so ago-ass races, for instance; but these were obviously_intended to give hilarious amusement. Doncaster introduced a cocked-hat stakes years ago, and there were similar events elsewhere. In these races jockeys had to ride in three-cornered hats. Capt. R. H. Radford has sent me an interesting extract from The News (a London weekly) of Sunday, July 6, 1823, which is headed " Court Races, Wednesday, July 2nd," and

continues:

the unjustness of his fate, particularly as he The third heat was run only by four horses, had brought six horses to promote the sport. one having been drawn after the first heat, and Amey after the second. It was most beautifully contested; a sheet might have covered them all. Domenichino won it. Cap tain Berkeley, R.N., with a cocked hat rode Amey. Captain A. Berkeley (cocked) rode Little Mab,

Considerable altercation took place prior to starting for these eccentric stakes between the gentlemen who rode, in consequence of Mr. Braithwaite being but half-cocked, that is his hat had a cock projecting one inch only, instead of the regular cock. The Stewards, Sir George Berkeley and the Hon. Grantly Berkeley interfered and requested Mr. B. either to wear the proper hat or carry the extra 6lbs. with which, after much chaffing in a high tone, he was compelled to comply, thus carrying 6lbs. more than the favourite

horse.

1st Heat.-A well-contested head and tail race between Domenichino, Tom Tough and Amey, and won by a length. After this heat Mr. Braithwaite desired to be allowed to ride the remainder of the race in a cocked hat, then being enabled to procure one, but this the regulations could not permit. Some more chaffing ensued and Mr. Berkeley offered to bet the Hon. George Berkeley 100 gns, that he was so entitled according to the rules of racing. The Steward refused; but replied that Mr. B, if he pleased, might lay the business before the Jockey Club, and thus the matter ended. Second heat was well contested, and produced fine sport. Inferior, having won it, there were cries "Mind Inferior's weight.' Mr. B, however, passed the scales, but still kept ineffectually harping on

Domenichino, Mr. Portle (cocked) Tom Tough; Captain Price (cocked) rode Mr. Braithwaite, in a cap rode Inferior, and Mr. Husham, with a cap, Stonemason. 6 to 4 on Tom Tough and Inferior against the Second heat, 6 to 4 on Domenichino. the field. A cocked hat was never before run Third heat, Inferior against at Hampton, and the moment the gentlemen were full trimmed a hearty laugh pervaded the course. J. FAIRFAX-BLAKEBOROUGH.

Grove House, Norton-on-Tees,

THE PRESERVATION OF FAMILY LETTERS.-In these days, when a considerable proportion of the population lives in flats, and is, moreover, continually on the move, there is a tendency to destroy rather than to accumulate.

Acting in the capacity of executor on several occasions recently, I have noticed that it has become the custom to destroy all letters, except those of a purely business nature.

an

The destruction of family letters is a matter for regret, and I would suggest that attempt should be made to preserve for future generations, and hand down, at least one letter from each near relative selecting, if possible, characteristic specimens, dealing with intimate topics.

Letters to be preserved should bear a short note giving some particulars of the writers for the sake of identification.

Such records will be valuable to future genealogists, and certainly cannot fail to be of interest to descendants, to whom, otherwise, the individuals will be mere names and traditions.

Collections of old letters throw a vivid light on domestic life of the past, and there seems no reason to suppose that letters of the present date (and certainly of the Victorian era) will not eventually acquire the same attraction which pertains now-a-days to the letters of Georgian ancestors.

It is even conceivable that a time may come when the notion of a motor drive at twentyfive miles an hour may be invested with the romance " which now pertains to a journey by stage coach.

P. D. M.

Readers' MONTSERRAT.

Queries.

Montserrat

(literally "serrated mountain ") is the name of a massif of peculiar shape, attaining to a height of 1,300 metres and rising from the plains of Catalonia, within a day's journey of Barcelona. The rock of which it is formed is an extremely hard conglomerate, decomposing into very original cylindrical shapes, the whole formation being in a manner unique. In the side of the mountain there has stood since the ninth century, a Benedictine abbey dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, an ancient image of whom was found (traditionally re-discovered) at that period in a grotto of the mountain. This image has ever been an object of peculiar veneration and has attracted pilgrims continuously from most parts of Europe.

As souvenirs of the pilgrimage it was customary for strangers to bring away objects of different kinds marked with the characteristic device of the monastery, which is a mountain crowned with a big saw. Such mementoes

are met with in many countries to-day, but their origin and significance have been, for the most part, forgotten. The principal forms taken by the souvenirs include, beside medals and rosaries, wooden spoons and forks such as are now sold for the purpose crosses incised with the emblems of the Passion, dishes decorated in blue or lustre, articles in jet, glass and metal; and a multitude of prints and broadsheets, which were also published in Flanders, France and Germany by houses that supplied pedlars. These pictures have for their backgrounds a more or less conventionalised view of the Montserrat, covered with little chapels, the big building of the monastery, and the Virgin, supporting upon her knees the Infant Christ, who is sawing with his own hand one of the rocks near by. The same composition occurs also in sculptures and paintings.

With a view to the publication of an iconographical work upon this ancient and very popular cult and its ramifications throughout the world, I would appeal to church authorities, museum curators, antiquaries, ethnographers, collectors, and others, for their esteemed co-operation, and shall be deeply obliged if they will inform me of anything they may possess that is connected with the subject, be it antiquarian, iconographical, or literary--such as diaries of the pilgrimage, translations of hymns, or references to books. Any expense which such collaboration may

PAPIST IN THE GUARDS, 1727.

ante p. 362 (s. v. Two Hundred Years Ago '), a paragraph from the London Journal, dated Nov. 18, 1727, is reproduced, in which it is stated that a private sentinel in the Guards, having been detected in frequenting Popish conventicles, was whipped on the Parade in St. James's Park by about 300 men, receiving three lashes from each sentinel, and was afterwards drummed out of the regiment.

Can any reader say if there are any particulars extant concerning this remarkable case, and whether the unfortunate guardsman was convicted under civil or military law? H. J. AYLIFFE.

20, College Road, Brighton. "TO GET RORKE'S DRIFT."-I have

been asked recently, by an ex-Service man, the meaning of this expression. I have never heard the name of the famous ford on the borders of Zululand used in this way. I would suggest that the name given to the gallant action where Padre Smith won his Victoria Cross and with a handful of sick and wounded soldiers saved Natal from invasion after the disaster of Isandlwana, was used in the same sense that the name of Waterloo is used, that is, to mean meeting with an insuperable obstacle, being brought to a sudden stop. Has any reader come across the expression, and with what meaning?

A. H. RADICE.

CAPTAIN ALEXANDER HAMILTON.

6

The author of the New Account of the East Indies' is, at the head of the article in the D. N.. B.,' said to have died in 1732; but at the end of the article Professor Laughton merely says that " a" Captain A.. H. died in that year, quoting the Gentleman's Magazine. That notice must refer to another of the same name, because, according to the Court Minutes of the East India Company, the Captain Hamilton of the New Account' in 1733 applied to the Company for the office of Surveyor of Shipping: the date of his death is thus yet unknown. The first edition of his book was published at Edinburgh in 1727, and it is likely that Hamilton spent his last years there, or elsewhere in Scotland. Can any of your Scottish readers dis

10, Elm Avenue, Long Eaton.

PRAYER FOR CHURCH BUILDERS.— The following inscription is carved on a stone now at the west end of the south aisle of Market Rasen Church, co. Lincoln: "[Wh]o so lokes yis W[o]rk upon pray for al yat yt bygan a pater nos." The stone above bears remains of carving said to represent the Fall of Man. The stones were formerly built into the tower, which is of Perpendicular style. A similar inscription, now almost illegible, was round the (Perpendicular) west door of Yarburgh Church, about thirty miles away, also accompanied by Adam and Eve and the Tree. Is this verse known elsewhere, and is there any reason for association with Adam

and Eve?

CHALK FAMILY.-This family originally came from Long Ashton, co. Somerset ; then migrated to Avington, Berks, and finally a branch settled in the neighbourhood of Thatcham, Berks, where they remained from 1500 to 1900. Does any reader know anything of their pedigree? The name was spelt variously Chokke, Chok, Choke, Chaulk, Information Chawke and Chalke. (inter alia) is required respecting issue of Dame Mary Chalke, who died about 1700, and was Her buried at Welsh Bicknor (Hereford). third husband was a Vaughan, and her maiden name Pitt. Possibly some of the Chalk family have a pedigree, and I should be most grateful to them for any information of the family they may possess.

H. C.

QUARILLS. What are quarills "?

In

the Churchwardens' accounts of S. Mary's at Barton-on-Humber, for the year 1660, there is a payment of 4s. 2d. "for six dussan quarills and one pecke of cooles." W. E. V.

TURTLE SOUP AT LORD MAYOR'S BANQUET. Why is this delicacy a sine qua non at this festival, and when did it first become so?

PAROCHIAL LIBRARIES.

W. E. G.

On Nov. 7

the parochial library of Whitchurch, according to the sale catalogue, English works Hants, was sold at Sotheby's. It comprised, in divinity and general literature, published before 1640, including Wynkyn de Worde's 'Description of Britain,' 1498, and Chronicles of Englaond,' 1497. The sale was made at the request of the Vicar and Parochial Church Council of Whitchurch; though not without protests, in which The Times of 13 Oct. joined. Neither the British Museum nor the Library of Winchester Cathedral was given a chance to acquire this library by private treaty, but the British Museum, by public bidding, rescued two or three books from vanishing into private collections.

This dispersal suggests the question whether the Act 7. Annae Cap. xiv, entitled 'An Act for the better preservation of Parochial Libraries,' is to be regarded as a dead letter. The Act provides (Sec. ii):

That every Incumbent, Rector, Vicar or Curate of a Parish, before he shall be permitted to use or enjoy such library, shall enter into such security or bond or otherwise, for preservation of such library the proper Ordinaries shall think fit. The same Section makes treble damages

as

and costs recoverable for a book taken away and detained; and Section x gives power to a Justice of the Peace to grant a search warrant. Section iii empowers the Archdeacon, provided he is not the incumbent of the place where such library is, to enquire during his visitation into the state and condition of the library, and to redress grievances and defects concerning the same. Catalogues are to be kept by the library and by the Ordinary.

The whole tenor of this Act makes it clear that these ancient parochial libraries are held in trust for the parishes, and may not be caused to disappear at the whim of the incum

bents and Church Councils.

The Royal Commission on Public Records (Vol. iii. Pt. i. pp. 29, 45) recommend that parish records should be systematically inspected by the Archdeacons. Such inspection might profitably cover parochial libraries, even where they still exist only in a fragmentary state. Some village churches jealously preserve the handful of books that remain. By making this enquiry during their Visitations the Archdeacons would be doing no more than their statutory duty.

I hope that readers of N. & Q.' who know of the existence of any of these ancient parochial libraries, will communicate their information.

G. W. WRIGHT.

LETTERS OF PROTECTION, 1204. An Archdeacon of Nottingham had letters of protection given to him, dated Sept. 28, 1294. What is the precise meaning of this? It was not apparently with a view to his travelling abroad.

H. C. C.

APPOINTMENT OF INTRUDED MINISTERS.-By whom were the Ministers, intruded into benefices circ. 1640-60, appointed? Was there a central committee, or were there district committees for the purpose? If so, how were they formed?

H. C. C.

AUTHOR WANTED-Can anyone give me think it was published in John Bull during the war; I have tried to find the poem and author in several works of reference, but without success.

information about the verse below?

"The Roman stood with folded arms,
And faced the world in certain faith
That, were he wronged, Rome surely would
Avenge the wrong, e'en death for death;
And they who dared to put to test
The strength of Rome's avenging sword,
Repented, when in vengeful quest,
The nation's arms upheld its word."
E. H. BAXTER.

Replies.

CHURCH INSCRIPTIONS AND

THE PRESERVATION OF

VILLAGE RECORDS.
(cliii. 361, s.v. ' Memorabilia ').

THE suggestion of the REV. S. CLAUDE
TICKELL is a very valuable one, but
one would like to see it extended, if it were
possible. Might we not eventually aspire to
a museum of local interest in every village
(or group of villages), which would record the
past history of the Church, the Manor, the
farm-houses, and the cottage homes, preserv
1
ing for future generations a vivid picture of
the life of other days? At present, to a small
degree, the village church tells this story. It
is there that we can piece together to some
extent the history of the parish-from the
church architecture, from the memorials to
old families, and possibly from a few engrav-
ings on faded photographs in the vestry.

But, obviously, the church is not intended to take the place of a museum, and paintings, drawings, plans and photographs cannot be preserved there. If, however, they are deposited in the County Museum, their local

value is largely lost, and they certainly fail

to cultivate the historic sense of the village dweller or of the visitor.

If possible, let the village tell its own story in its own rural surroundings. In its early days it might be possible to incorporate the village museum with the headquarters of

some other branch of activity, such as the Women's Institute. Eventually one would like to see some native-born pensioner as its custodian.

Some clergy have thoughtfully placed in their churches a brief typed history of the building, and of its special architectural features. One wishes this were more nearly

universal. It should not be difficult to compile such notes from the pages of County Histories, and from the publications of Antiquarian Societies.

At present, half the visitors to the village church, in the absence of knowledge or guidance, make a dismal tour of the nineteenth century mural memorials, and depart whence they came, little the wiser.

A useful method is to paste the typed notes on to small boards, so that they can be carried round by visitors during their tour of inspection. P. D. M.

In the Diocese of Salisbury a form has recently been issued to all parishes for an inventory of church goods, and it provides a space for the older and more interesting inscriptions. Copies are to be kept at Salisbury and in each parish, and if this plan is adopted in all dioceses there will be little danger of losing any more of these valuable records.

In our own parish the more perishable and interesting inscriptions had already been deciphered and recorded in the Parish Magazine. This is probably the safest and most convenient method of preservation. Several of the inscriptions would have utterly disappeared within a few years, and they need restoration. The Latin, and faded and archaic letters and abbreviations, demanded considerable care; and one difficult expression that appeared at cl. 25, has not yet been explained by any of your readers. It is doubtful, therefore, whether the task of transcription could be safely entrusted to teachers and school-children, unless they were assisted or supervised by experts.

Your correspondent has called attention to an important matter, and I hope your readers throughout the country will take steps to secure the preservation of our old records. W. J. HARDING.

Lyme Regis.

CALCULATION OF SHIPS TONNAGE (cliii. 189, 232, 304, 340).—While editing The Papers of Thomas Bowrey,' recently produced by the Hakluyt Society, I found myself deeply involved in an enquiry into ship-building in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and a point on the spelling of tonnage was brought powerfully to my notice. The tonnage of a ship of war is stated in the weight of water in tons displaced by the ship. The tonnage of other ships is measured on another principle altogether, viz., the number of tuns, 2.e., casks of a conventional size, it is supposed to be able to carry. Consequently the two measurements are incapable of comparison, and the use of the same term spelt in the same way is therefore misleading. As the number of tons of which a man-of-war is said to consist represents tons of water, and the number of tons of which a merchant vessel is said to consist represents the tuns or casks it is able to carry, it has struck me that we ought, for the sake of clearness, to write of the tonnage "of a man-of-war and the tunnage of all other vessels.

R. C. TEMPLE.

In connection with the correspondence on this subject, the following specification, extracted from the Articles of Agreement' for the building of the MARY GALLEY, merchantman, in 1704 (The Papers of Thomas Bowrey,' ed. R. C. Temple, Hak. Soc., Ser. II, Vol. lviii, pp. 129-30) may be of interest: The "Good New and Substantial Ship or Vessell is "To be and Containe the dimensions following: That is to say in Length by the keel from the touch of the sweep to the back of the mainepost to be sixty three foot and the maine breadth from Outside to Outside of the Outer plank to be twenty One foot Six Inches. The depth in hold from plank to plank to be Nine foot Nine Inches and highth between decks to be three foot three Inches. The Rake of the stem to be twelve foot Eight Inches and of the post three foot six Inches, and the depth of the wast to be two foot."

See also Mr. G. S. Laird Clowes' notes on the above, and his article on the method of calculating tonnage (ibid. pp. 127-8). L. M. ANSTEY. M.D.,

WALTER NEEDHAM,

F.R.S.

(cliii. 371). He was a native of Surrey, educated at Westminster School, whence elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1650; M.D. as a member of Queen's College, 5 July, 1664; Hon. Fellow College of Physicians, December, 1664. Prior to this was in practice at Shrewsbury for a short time, but left for Oxford, attracted by the fame of its

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anatomical school. Here he studied under then Willis, Lower, and Millington, and removed to London. Admitted F.R.S. 6 April, 1671 (is not Mr. JOSEPH NEEDHAM thinking of Casper Needham when he says 1666?); on 7 Nov., 1673 was appointed physician to the Charterhouse, but lived in Great Queen Street and not in the Charterhouse as the rules of the Foundation required. Became a Fellow of the College of Physicians by the Charter of James II, 12 April, 1687. He died 16 April, 1691, and was buried obscurely at St. Giles-in-the-Fields, tions,' says Wood, being out to seize both body and goods. In Sydenham's dedicatory letter to Dr. Mapletoft, allusion is made to their common friendship for Needham, and he is called " tam medicinæ artis quam rei literariæ decus et laus." His standard work O Dissertatio Anatomica de Formato Foetu' was published Lond. 8vo. 1667, Amsterdam, 12mo.1668. Mangetus reprinted it in his 'Bibliotheca Anatomica,' and it was characterised by Heller as egregius liber et per experimenta natus." It has been criticised on the ground that Needham relied altogether on his experiments on animals and did not