month of June, 1647, and incurred some blame for having permitted Cornet Joyce to visit the King. Anthony à Wood (Fasti Oxon. ii. 139), says that he " got happily out of their reach." Did he retire to Ireland in consequence? Any facts will be welcome. C. J. R. DOUGLAS HAMILTON, DUKE OF HAMILTON BRANDON.-Some years ago I purchased a series of very curious letters, and other MS. documents, which had belonged to Madame de Genlis. Could I be informed to which of the Hamiltons belongs, and where is to be found, an "Epitaph on the most noble Douglass Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton Brandon"?. "Here lies repos'd beneath this sculptur'd stone, And the rash youth, who runs his rash career, LITTLE FOSTER HALL.-Can your correspondent F. J. F., or MR. ALBERT WAY, give me any particulars of Little Foster Hall, near Egham? It is now, I believe, called Egham Lodge. This mansion is mentioned in Manning and Bray's Surrey as having belonged to the Vernons. It belonged to my great uncle, James Vernon of Antigua, &c., whose ancestor, the Hon. Colonel John Vernon, Speaker of the House of Assembly of Antigua, settled in that island soon after the Restoration. W. J. VERNON. to London, and was in the hands of "Seguir," the picture-cleaner. It is believed Sir James exchanged it for some other picture. I am very much interested in ascertaining where it is to be heard of, and I shall feel great gratitude to any one who will give me any information on the subject. The costume of the portrait is black and gold. It has a large Spanish ruff, and a sort of diadem of feathers and jewels, on one side of the head. L. M. M. R. PLAGUE SHIP.-I shall feel obliged if any of your correspondents can inform me if there is any foundation for the following story, which I heard many years ago, and refer me to the book in which it is to be found? The story is to the effect that a British frigate (the "Indefatigable," if my memory serves me), forming one of the Mediterranean fleet at the time, got the plague on board, and in consequence was ordered to be sunk with all hands a-board; but the crew, receiving timely warning, made their escape by beating through the "Gut" of Gibraltar-a feat that has never been performed since. The story goes on to say that the crew landed on some desolate island, where many of them recovered, and bringing the ship home, rejoined the service. Whether the above is one of the tough yarns said to be spun by the " bluejackets "for the "marines," I do not know, but "I tell the tale as 'twas told to me," and ask for confirmation from some of your correspondents before I credit it. WM. J. CAHILL I have but a very scanty account:-Thomas BarSERJEANTS-AT-LAW.-Of the following serjeants nardiston, born 1736, ob. 1752. William Conyers, ob. 1659. Tristram Conyers, ob. 1684. Sir John Darnall, ob. 1731. Sir Thomas Hardres, ob. 1681. William Hawkins. - Edward Leeds, ob. 1758. William Salkeld, temp. Queen Anne. Thompson, temp. Charles II., James II., and William III. Wanted also the birth-places of the following:1. Sir John Chesshyre. 2. Samuel Heywood. 3. George Hill, b. 1716, ob. 1808. 4. Sir Robert Hitcham of Nacton, Suffolk. 5. Sir John Kelyng (ob. 1681), not the Chief Justice. 6. Matthew Skinner, ob. 1749. 7. William Whitaker, ob. 1777. 8. William Wynne, author of the Serjeantat-law, temp. George II. H. W. WOOLRYCH, Serjeant-at-Law. 9, Petersham Terrace, Kensington, W. TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS. —I am desirous of knowing the best method of making out the inscriptions on those old gravestones which are so thickly incrusted with lichens, &c. as to have hitherto defied all my attempts to decipher them. T. P. F. Queries with Answers. - THE RIVER LEA.· A Royal Commission some time since appointed to inquire into the best means of preventing the pollution of rivers, in one of their reports recently issued, has given a new name to this river by spelling it with an e final (Lee). Perhaps some of your readers may be able to inform me whether any authority really exists for this apparent error, which, if the Lee River Conservancy Bill, now in the House of Commons, pass into law, will shortly be confirmed by Act of Parliament ? C. PETTET. Bayswater. [In the sixteenth century this river was spelt Lee, as appears from the following work: "A Tale of Two Swannes: wherein is comprehended the original and increase of the River Lee, commonly called Ware River: together with the Antiquitie of Sundrie Places and Townes seated upon the same. Pleasant to be read, and not altogether unprofitable to be understood. By W. Vallans. Printed at London by Roger Ward for John Sheldrake, 4to, 1590." In the "Commentarie" at the end of it, we read "Lee, called also Lygan, Lygean, and Luy." In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle it is variously spelt Lyga, Liggea, Ligena, Lygea, Ligea. Drayton, in his Poly-olbion, edit. 1613, fol., in the sixteenth song, spells it in several places Lee; and this spelling is followed in "The Bye Laws made by the Trustees of the River Lee Navigation, Hertford, 8vo, 1827." There are two rivers in Ireland, and one in Cheshire, of the same name, and each of them spelt Lee.] SACRE-CUT.-What is a sacre-cut? It is some kind of cannon. One was captured in a sally by the besieged at Hull, on October 11, 1643. (Rushworth, part III. vol. ii. p. 281). A. O. V. P. [As the invention of fire-arms took place at a time when hawking was in high fashion, some of the new weapons were named after those birds, probably from the idea of their fetching their prey from on high. "The saker," says the Gentleman's Recreation, “is a passenger, or peregrin hawk, for her eyrie hath not been found by any." Hence the sacre or saker, a sort of great gun, is named from this species of hawk: "The cannon, blunderbus, and saker, Of this sort of cannon there are three sizes, the least, ordinary, and extraordinary. The ordinary size is thus described in Sir William Monson's Naval Tracts, printed in Churchill's Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1704, fol., vol. iii. p. 343: "A Sacar, the bore three inches and a half; the weight 1400 lbs.; the weight of the shot five pounds and a half; the weight of the powder five pounds and a half; the breadth of the ladle five inches and threequarters; the length of the ladle eighteen inches; shoot point-blank 170 paces; shoot at random 1700 paces."] MARBLING.-Would you or any of your correspondents give me any information as to the origin of the process in bookbinding technically J. MANUEL. known by the name of marbling? Newcastle-on-Tyne. [According to Mr. C. W. Woolnough (The Art of Marbling, Lond. 1853, p. 10), the origin of this art is unknown. He says, "When the art of marbling was first discovered, and by whom, or in what city or country it was first practised, it is hardly possible to determine. I do not think we can go farther back than the beginning of the seventeenth century, as I have not been able to find any of it on books bound before that time; but in this I will not speak positively. With regard to the country, I am inclined to give my opinion in favour of Holland, and consider the old Dutch, and some drawn and antique patterns with Stormont and other spots, to be the most original."] SIR JOSEPH MAWBEY.-Will some one of your readers kindly tell me when the title became extinct of the Mawbeys of Botley, Surrey, and who is the present representative of the family? Sir Joseph Mawbey was, fifty years ago, member for Southwark. H. M. Athenæum, Bristol. [The second and last baronet was Sir Joseph Mawbey, who married on August 9, 1796, Charlotte Caroline Maria, only daughter, by his first wife, of Thomas Henchman, Esq. of Littleton, co. Middlesex. Sir Joseph died on August 28, 1817, leaving issue two daughters, one of whom, Emily, died unmarried in March, 1819; the other, Anna-Maria, married in the same year John Ivatt Briscoe, of Fox Hills, co. Surrey. On the decease of Sir Joseph, the Botley estate (described as consisting of 575 acres including the Fox Hills and Coney-Burrow hill) was sold by auction, by order of the trustees in July, 1822. Botleys is now the seat of Robert Gosling, Esq.] ANONYMOUS. Who is the author of a book entitled, Three Dramas (1815?), by a Governess ? The dramas: 1. "The Ball Ticket"; 2. "The Mysterious Packet"; 3. "The Heiress, or False Indulgence." The volume was published by Bowdery and Kerby, Juvenile Library, 190, Oxford. Was it printed in London ? and is it dedicated to anyone? R. INGLIS. [The Three Dramas, 12mo, 1814, was printed by W. Smith and Co., King Street, Seven Dials. There is no Dedication.] Replies. PARISH REGISTERS. (4th S. i. 477.) I think I may claim to have had as much rummaging amongst the registers of this neighbourhood as most men living; and the decided conviction at which I have arrived is, that it is a simple act of fatuity on the part of the powers that be to suffer these precious documents (in many instances, be it remembered, the only available records of a whole parish) any longer to remain under their present insecure and capricious guardianship. Here and there, it is true, one may find a parson or churchwarden conscientiously alive to their immense and growing importance; but, as a rule, the utter indifference to their value, and consequent religious preservation, cannot but strike the most indifferent inquirer. Each year adds to their interest; and each year, in their present keeping, detracts from their legibility and completeness. What I would suggest is, that Government should at once lay violent hands on all the earlier books-say up to the middle of the last centuryand either have them printed in their entirety (the better course), or, at least, as soon as may be, furnish each parish with authenticated lists of every name, date, &c. contained in its own so abstracted registers; such indexes to be treated as public property by, certainly, all parishioners; and the originals to be available at a very moderate charge-6d. or even less, for each extract-the historical and genealogical student having free access to them, as he is already supposed to have to all other records. This will doubtless entail a heavy expense; but what will that weigh set against the fact of otherwise seeing our most interesting local records perishing before our very eyes, through lack of the most ordinary care? And at what price can we estimate the loss of those which have already disappeared through the crass stupidity or wilful negligence of their so-called custodians? Only think of what a Utopian boon to the at present discomfited genealogist would be a general index of all the parishes in the United Kingdom. Appended are a few excerpta from more copious jottings which have already appeared in our useful local quarterly, The Reliquary, and which may prove interesting to the general reader. Thornbridge, Bakewell. Ashford-in-the- Water. JOHN SLEIGH. "Ye forme of an affed: "Mary of Ashforde, in ye parish of Bakewell, maketh oathe that she was not buryd in any material. but what was made of sheep's-wool only, according to an act of Parliament intituled an act for burrieing in woollen." (Worthy of Sir Boyle Roche or Mr. Home.) 1608. 1644. more. Fenny-Bentley. Sir John Stannehop, Knight, was maried to ye 1665. sep: Elizth ye wife of Thon:as Cope, supposed to die 1725, 1730, May 23. By virtue of a mandate from the Bishop's Court, James Meakin, jun', was excommunicated for contempt of the said court, he being charged with fornication and not appearing to answer the charge. May 19. Mem: that James Meakin, jun', did penance in this church, and was thereby restored to the communion of the church, pursuant to a mandate and absolution taken out of the Bishop's Court, dated Cheadle, April 23, 1730. 1743, Octr. ye 6. Kill'd a Wood-cock (!) 1764, Feb. 17. bp: Josiah, son of Henry and Mary Bold of Martinside (ob. 4 Jany, 1866.) If, as he asserted, the subject of this entry was two years old at his baptism, he must have been in his 104th year when he died. I can testify to his clearness of intellect and comparative activity to within a few months of his death; facts which he attributed to early hours and the possession of an excellent set of teeth, enabling him to masticate the ordinary food of the country-but more espe⚫ cially to the avoidance through his protracted career of anything like 'doctor's stuff." 1775, April 16. sep: William Bagnall of Martinslow, aged 97. Leek. 1641-2, Jan. 11. md Simon Anson and Anna Legh. 1654. Tho Lee of Darwell, in ye county of Chester, esq., and ffrancess Venables, were marryed Jan. 11, by Mr Antony Rudyerd, J. P. Mr Tho' Parker and Mr Henry Newcome being present at ye contract or solemnity. 1654, Feb. 23. bp: Thomas, son of John Ashenhurst, equestoris. (Anna Blincomb went towards London, 2 Jully, 1654.) 1656, May 4. bp: Richard (afterwards lord chief-justice of Ireland) son of Maister Richard Leving and Anne his wife. 1659, Mch. 5. sep: Henry Wilshawe, of Leekefrith, and Jane, his wife, were both buryed at one time and in one grave. 1667, Aug. 8. bp: Thomas (afterwards earl of Macclesfield and lord chancellor of England), son of T. Parker, gen. and Anne, his wife. 1698, Mch. 15. bp: John, son of John Messenger, centuarii. Aug. 22. bp: Wm son of John Condliff, pensorii. 1709, Octr. 11. sep: Tho Fenton, vicar of Bullock's-hill, Beds. 1725, Dec. 4. sep: Maria Ashenhurst, quæ convulsiva, in focum decidens, miserè periit. 1737, Feb. 7. sep: Mrs Ellen Gent, widow, at. 104; and had her senses perfeet to the last. 1745, Dec. sep: Mary, wife of Rev: John Daintry, LL.D. vicar of Leek, dyed on Sunday ye 15 Dec. and was bd on Tuesday. (Tradition runs that when the Highland_army passed through Leek on its retreat from Derby, the young Chevalier wished to spend the night at the vicarage; but that this good lady met him on the door-step, and-molliter manus imposuit-simply pushed him out. The shock, however, proved too much for her enfeebled constitution, and she succumbed within a few days.) 1748, Feb. 16. sep: Elizabeth Lockett, æt. 100. 1797, Augt sep: William Johnson, æt. 87; for 68 years sexton. Taddington. An Account of ye materialls belonging to ye comuñontable at Taddington: One large silver calice, given by Rd Goodwin, año 1651. One small silver bowle, with a silver cover. One large flaggon of pewter, one pewter bason, one large leather bottle. One table-cloth for the comunion-table, &c. 1674. Nicholas Bagshawe, clerke and schoole-master, for want of a better. 1720, March 20, bp: Esther da. James and Susannah Brindle, de Tunstead. (Query, sister to James Brindley, the canal engineer, the entry of whose baptism is unfortunately missing?) Youlgrave (? Giolgrave, mount of burnt offering.) (These are unquestionably the finest and best preserved registers I have yet come across. They, as well as Leek and Wormhill, are particularly rich in briefs and letters-patent, some of which are sufficiently amusing and instructive. A notice of the great snow of 1614, herein recorded, I hope to give at some future time.) 1610, Oct. 14. md: Henry Cavendish, gen: and Bridget Sterley, gen. 1620, May 2. sep: Gulielmus Ferne, qui centessimum complexit annum. 1624, May 20. sep: Johanna Rydiard, alias Kanarden, æt. 105. 1629, Jany. 27. sep: Nicholas Frost, æt. 100. 1669, Mch. 12. sep: Richard Bramhall, æt. 103. 1690, Dec. 17. bp: Roger, ye son of William Hudson, citizen of London, a haberdasher of Hats, liveing at ye signe of ye Hat-in-hand, at Foster-laneend, in Cheapside. £ S. d. 6 0 500 60 100 673 1613. spent at Bakewell about recusants 1614. Bread at a Comunion on Chryst hys day 1619. to ernest, a new byble (total cost £2 4/.) 1623. to ye ringars, at ye returne of Prince Charles from Spayne. 1624. for ringing, Nov. 23, at his Mties contract with ye ladye of Fraunce 1630. spent at making a coffint for ye poore 1633. for a sheet to wind a poore man in 1666. for two howre glasses £ s. d. 0 4 4 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1688. given to ye ringars for ye bishops' delivery forth of Tower 0 1672. Repairing the vicar's pewle ffor one little leich-gate &c. &c. Monyash. 1721, Jany 26. md Joshua, s. John Dancer, of Steynsham, co. North" gen: and Lenox, da. Hugh and Lenox Sheldon. 1772, Feb. 5. sep: John Allcock, blacksmith, and Richard Boham, a baker. N.B. These two were starved to death in coming from Winster market, on Middleton Common. 1776, Oct. 14. sep: Ye rev: Mr Lomas: he was killed by a fall from a rock in Lathkill-dale, in ye night. (See the ballad thereanent in Reliquary, vol. iv. p. 170.) 1703. spent upon ye parson of Edensor when he preached here spent at paying, in palphry money 1704. given to ye ringers upon ye newes of yo victory at Holchstett. (Blenheim, Augt 2, 1704, O. S.) 1706. given to ye ringers upon ye newes of yo victorie at Ramilies 1707. for a new pair of stocks 1711. to ye ringers upon ye newes of ye victory over ye Spaniards (Villa-Viciosa, Dec. 1710 ?) 0 2 6 0 14 0 0 2 6 Many of your readers take an interest in this subject; allow me therefore to state that the necessity for the preservation and concentration of these national records will probably be considered by the Government before long, supported by the testimony of some of the most eminent record keepers of the kingdom. I beg to refer those gentlemen who have written to me on the subject to Lord Romilly's last Report on the Public Records (Feb. 7, 1868, p. xix.), and to the state of the disgusting decomposition and filth' of the palatinate records at Durham, p. 107. Where ancient records are seldom referred to, and the custos is unpaid for their arrangement and preservation, the state of things disclosed by this report must not be surprising. JOHN S. BURN. The Grove, Henley. QUEEN BLEAREYE'S TOMB: PAISLEY ABBEY. (4th S. i. 309, 486.) AS ANGLO-SCOTUS alleges, it is certainly not known that the Hamiltons of Innerwick ever possessed Crookstoun (Croestoun, Cruxtoun), on the Cart near Paisley. But a Crookstoun anywhere else than there owned by the Stewarts is equally unknown; and without doubt the reference by Nisbet and others is to this place. It is Seton, in his Law and Practice of Heraldry (p. 110), who says, inadvertently probably, that Hamilton of Innerwick "married the daughter and heiress of Stewart of Cruxton," and in consequence placed the fess cheque, for Stewart, between the three cinquefoils, his paternal arms. Nisbet only says, that John Hamilton, the second son or grandson of Sir Walter Hamilton (as Walter, the son of Gilbert, he is best known), "married Elisabeth Stewart, a daughter of Stewart of Cruxton, and got with her the lands of Ballencrieff, in West Lothian." Andrew Stewart, in his History of the Stewarts, and Anderson in his History of the Ducal House of Hamilton, both concur in that view. This Elisabeth Stewart, as is allowed, was the daughter of Sir Alan Stewart of Dreghorn, Dernley, and Crookstoun, who was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir John Stewart (brother of this Elisabeth; and he dying, as well as an immediate younger brother, Walter, the succession devolved upon Sir Alexander Stewart, the youngest brother. It is true that Sir Alexander Hamilton, the son of John, first of Innerwick, married Elisabeth Stewart, the younger of two daughters of Thomas Stewart, Earl of Angus, and that Elisabeth was & substitute heir to the Earldom of Angus, by an entail executed by her elder sister Margaret, first the wife of the Earl of Mar, without issue, and in the next place of William Earl of Douglas, by whom she had a son George. That he was a lawful son, and that Margaret was lawfully married to the Earl of Douglas, is denied by some. At any rate George became Earl of Angus, and failing him and heirs of his body, Elisabeth Stewart and her heirs by Sir Alex. Hamilton were called in. But it is to the marriage of John Hamilton with the daughter of Sir Alan Stewart of Cruxton that Nisbet ascribes the adoption of the fess cheque (i. 385). He may be wrong in this view, no doubt; at the same time it is not known that Sir Alex. Hamilton and his wife ever had any connection with Paisley or its monastery. The shield on the sinister side of the centre one bears certainly the same arms as those long carried by the Stewarts of Blackhall. But this fact cannot be held as conclusively fixing the date of erection of the tomb to a period not earlier than the reign of Robert III. (1390-1406), as is the view of ANGLO-SCOTUS. For these arms were borne by Robert Duke of Albany, brother of the king, before they were adopted by Sir John Stewart of Blackhall, his nephew, to whom it has been supposed they were assigned specially by the duke when he assumed a different coat; and they may have been carried, for aught known to the contrary, even by some other person prior to Duke Robert. John assuredly was the name of the natural son of Robert III., who received Blackhall, as well as the baronies of Auchengowan in Loch winnoch parish, and Ardegowan in the parish of Inverkyp, from his father by three separate charters-still, we believe, preserved-dated in 1390 (Auchengowan), 1396 (Blackhall), and 1404 (Ardegowan). ANGLO-SCOTUS seems inclined, however, to throw some doubt upon the name being John; and no doubt the two charters by Robert III. to which he refers, contained in the published register of the great seal, mentions a son of the king, Robert by name, thus in the one charter: "dilecto filio nostro Roberto Senescallo, militi"; and thus in the other: "Roberto Senescalli militi filio nostro dilecto." Both charters are of the same date (February 8, 1393-4), and granted at the same place, Perth. The same charters mention also the king's first-born son (primogenito) David Stewart, who is there designed Earl of Carrick, but in somewhat different terms from Robert- "Carissimo primogenito nostro David Senescallo, comiti de Carrie.' These charters then show certainly that the king had a son whose name was Robert, but whether he was a lawful son, a spiritual son |