Admire but do not trie," &c. BEAN FEAST. A practice prevails in the metropolis of England-that of giving an annual banquet or feast to the employed in their establishments, to which in some instances the principal customers are invited to contribute and attend. I have, on invitation, attended one this summer, which took place at Rye House, and consisted of a substantial dinner, the company playing at cricket and other games, both before and after. What I wish to inquire is simply, why it is called a bean feast? I asked this at the time, but no one could give me the informaT. B. tion. THE GAME OF CRICKET.-Strutt, in his Sports and Pastimes (book 1. ch. iii. sect. 19) holds to the opinion that the game of cricket originated from the older game of "Club Ball," in which a ball was struck from a straight bat; and admits "Cricket," behimself unable to trace the name, yond the commencement of the eighteenth century. The following extract from the Constitution Book of Guildford, as transcribed in Russell's History of that town (1801), shows the name to have been in use at least as early as the middle of the sixteenth century, and, by inference, much earlier. 66 In some legal proceedings in to respect A Garden withelde from the Towne," anno 40th Elizabeth, BOSWELL.-Where did those diligent and accurate compilers, the Messrs. Chambers, obtain their anecdote (Encyclopædia, vol. iv. art. " Execution"), of Boswell's riding to Tyburn in the same mourning-coach with the murderer Hackman, the ordinary of Newgate, and a turnkey? Seasoned as he was to the periodical gaol-deliveries which in his day "emptied our prisons into the grave," I hardly think that he would have out-Selwyned Selwyn by an excursion" to the gallows, hearsed at the side of a living murderer. (6 Our amateur des hautes œuvres was a social, kindly-natured man; but the depths of the human heart are not easily sounded, E. L. S. COURT COSTUMES OF LOUIS XIII. OF FRANCE. work containing engravings of the above costumes. A. D. SLINGSBY BETHEL, LORD MAYOR AND M.P. I shall feel obliged by any one directing me to a FOR LONDON, 1755-6.-What was the connection between this alderman and his namesake the Pres. byterian sheriff in 1680, who was tried for an assault at Southwark when a candidate for that borough, and was the author of several political pamphlets? In his Vindication, published in 1681, Sheriff Bethel describes himself as a bachelor; but as his decease did not happen till 1695, the Lord Mayor may have been his son or grandson. Query, which? Alderman Bethel died in 1758. JUXTA TURRIM. DATES WANTED. I am anxious to discover the respective months of the year 1173 in which the two following events took place: 1. The betrothal of John, afterwards King, to Alice or Agnes of Maurianna. 2. The death of William Earl of Gloucester, the father of Isabel, wife of King John. HERMENTRUDE. PETER DOS.-While on board a steamer going from the Loffoden Islands to Trondhjem in July last, we passed a great number of the Nordland Jaegts engaged in carrying dried fish from Hammerfest to Bergen. Many of these vessels had a square piece of black cloth in one corner of the mainsail, which, I was informed, was placed there in memory of a poet named Peter Dos, who formerly lived in the northern part of Norway. Where can I obtain information about Peter Dos? ALGERNON Brent. REV. WILLIAM EASTMEAD. - This gentleman, who was a Dissenting minister at Kirby Moorside, Yorkshire, was author of Historia Ricvallensis, Prideaux ErriNGTON.—I recently met with a copy of a work entitled, New Copies in Verse for the Use of Writing Schools, consisting of fiftythree alphabets, &c. &c., 8vo, published at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1734, and written by Prideaux Errington. Is the book of any value? Who was the author? and in what way did he obtain the name of Prideaux as a Christian name, as I can find no intermarriage between the families in any pedigree that I have access to? Was the author of the family of Errington of High Warden, Northumberland? G. P. L. "King John," says Speed, "divorced Hawisia his wife by advice of Philip King of France, as too neere of bloud, by sentence of the Archbishop and Bishops of Burdeaux, Poyctoirs, and Xanton." (P. 496.) Stow says: THE FLEUR-DE-LIS FORBIDDEN IN FRANCE (2nd S. xi. 167, 298.)-Has the decree of the Paris Court of Cassation in 1861, by which jewellers and others were cautioned that it was unlawful to introduce the fleur-de-lis into any piece of jewellery, &c., been repealed? In the jewellers' shops in the Palais Royal at present, the fleur-delis is very generally to be seen in the form of brooches, sleeve-links, scarf-pins, &c. J. WOODWARD. LAURENCE HALSTED. - Information is desired respecting Laurence Halsted, Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London. According to Dr. Whitaker (History of Whalley, 3rd ed. 383), son of John Halsted by his first wife Hester, daughter of William Cooke of Manchester; was born in 1638, married Alice, daughter of John Barcroft, Esq., and had issue John and Laurence, who died infants, and Charles, born 1675. Dr. Whitaker says that the Keeper of the Tower Records was so steady a Loyalist as to be excepted, according to Whitelock, out of all acts of indemnity in the treaties between Charles I. and the Parliament. If he were born in 1638, he was only about eleven years old when Charles I. was decapitated. C. H. & THOMPSON COOPER. he was "He was there [i. e. in France] by the hands of Helias Archbishop of Burdeaux, and the Bishops of Poytiers and Scone, diuorced from his wife Isabell, daughter to Robert Earle of Gloucester, because of neerenesse of bloude." Have we any reason to suppose, from this, that Isabel had accompanied John into France? Does the Romish law of divorce require the presence of both parties, or even of one, when sentence of divorce is pronounced? I should also be glad to know if any other chronicler than Speed has named the King of France as John's adviser in this matter? and what place do "Xanton" and "Scone" indicate? The divorce of John and Isabel must have taken place between the 2nd of May, 1200-on which day he returned to Normandy (see the curious Itinerary of King John, Archæologia, vol. xxii.)—and the 24th of August, when he married Isabelle d'Angoulême. HERMENTRUDE. LADY CATHERINE REBECCA MANNERS is stated by Watt to have been author of poems 1793-1799. Who was she? S. Y. R. ST. PATRICK AND THE SHAMROCK.—I am much obliged to your correspondent F. C. H. for having answered my queries respecting venomous reptiles in Ireland. The following extract from an article on "Sacred Trees and Flowers in the last number of The Quarterly (July, 1863, p. 246), suggests another Query, which probably F. C. H. will be able to answer: — "The trefoil, or 'Herb Trinity,' has an especial interest from the use, which, as tradition asserts, was made use of by St. Patrick (although the story is to be found in none of the Lives - not even the last and most legendary-printed by Colgan), as an illustration of the Divine mystery of the Trinity. The leaf, which is now generally recognised as the Irish emblem, is that of the white clover; but the name, shamrock (Seam-rog), seems to be generic, and is applied also to the purple clover, the speedwell, the pimpernel, and the wood-sorrell," &c. I propose this Query: If, as the writer of the article asserts, no mention is made in the lives of St. Patrick of his having made use of the "shamrock" as an illustration of the Blessed Trinity, how did the tradition arise ? J. DALTON. " POTHEEN.-The Emperor Julian enriched the Valhalla of royal poets by the composition of two epigrams. (Juliani Opera, Paris, 1583, p. 87.) One of these is on corn-wine, Eis olvov àrò Kpions, in which he contrasts the nectarine flavour of the grape with the goat-like relish of the cornwine, Κεῖνος νέκταρ, σὺ δὲ τράγον. Now, is not this manifestly the veritable potheen, a copious dram of which would have nicely settled the imperial stomach after a surfeit of the crass and sugared Byzantian? J. L. Dublin. PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD. In Daille's work on The Right Use of the Fathers, published in the seventeenth century, it is said (Smith's trans. ed. Jekyll, Bohn, 1843, p. 325) that the Church of Rome has abolished the custom of prayers for the saints departed. It may be my ignorance, but I do not understand this, and I shall be much obliged by an explanation in your pages. Prayer for the dead generally is of course enjoined by the Church of Rome, and, I presume, always has been. Are the "saints," or the "orthodox," or those who have "departed in the faith" (variously so described in Daillé's quotations), made an exception ? LYTTELTON. Hagley, Stourbridge. WIVES OF ENGLISH PRINCES. -I should be greatly obliged to any one who can answer the following Queries: 1. Elizabeth de Burgh, wife of Lionel Duke of Clarence.-Miss Strickland says she was buried at Clare Priory. The will of John Earl of Pembroke (Nichols's Royal Wills, p. 92), orders that his tomb be made like the tomb of "Elizabeth de Burugh, qe gist a la Menoresse en Loundre hors de Algate." Was this the same Elizabeth? and was her corpse afterwards removed to Clare Priory? 4. Information of any kind, or reference to sources whence it might be obtained, is also deWhat is sired respecting Isabel Marshall, Beatrice of Cologne, Margaret Wake, and Joan Holland. If the answers to these Queries should not be regarded as of sufficient interest for publication in "N. & Q.," I should be grateful to receive any, addressed privately, through the publishers. HERMENTRUDE. 2. Mary Bohun, first wife of Henry IV. Where may her wardrobe accounts be found? 3. Required, the names of the mothers of all the following Princesses: Sybille, wife of Robert Duke of Normandy; Isabel Marshal, first wife. of Richard, Duke of Cornwall and King of the Romans; Beatrice of Cologne, third wife of the same; Mary or Margaret de Ros, second wife of Thomas Duke of Norfolk; Margaret Wake, wife of Edmund Earl of Kent; Joan Holland, second wife of Edmund Duke of York; Jaquetta of Luxemburg, wife of John Duke of Bedford; Eleanor Cobham, wife of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. Queries with Answers. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE (3rd S. iii. 506.)- In a visit paid last autumn to St. Budeaux Church (opposite to Saltash, at a great height, overlooking the beautiful scenery of the Tamar), the rector, among other civilities bestowed upon me, though a complete stranger, showed me the Parish Register. Amongst the marriages is recorded that of 90, Great Russell Street. [We have submitted this Query to a literary friend, who has been engaged for some time upon an original Memoir of Sir Francis Drake, and in reply he says that "the Registers of St. Budeaux have revealed a new and very interesting fact in the private life of the Admiral. At least, I am not aware that any of his biographers have recorded any marriage of Drake, excepting that with the heiress of Combe Sydenham. As to reconciling the popular legends still current in Devon and Somerset, it would be a fruitless task. Such things, as you well know, generally have but very airy foundations. If any basis really existed for either of those in question, it would assuredly be for that in the first named county; where Sir Francis was born, resided when not on active service, and, as now appears, first married. The legend refers, therefore, to his first wife, Mary Newman. In the Devonshire version of it, the name as well of the lady as of the scene of the startling event are prudently omitted. The fact of Sir Francis having taken a second wife from Somerset, sufficiently accounts for the transplanting (so to speak) of the miraculous tale into that county, and for all its subsequent embellishments. But the most remarkable circumstance in connection with this newlydiscovered passage in the personal history of the great circumnavigator, is, that at the time of his first marriage he must have been absolutely penniless! In the preceding year (1568), he had lost his all by the treachery of the Spaniards in St. Juan de Ulloa; and, contrary to that prudence by which all his other steps in life were characterised, he seems to have snatched a temporary comfort in matrimony. I say 'temporary comfort,' because in the autumn of the same year (1569) he made a secret voyage to the West Indies, and repeated it twice in the following year, 'to gain intelligence' of his enemies there before systematically attacking them; and, as Camden relates, got some store of money by playing the seaman and pirate,' i. e. committing reprisals upon Don Martin Henriquez, the treacherous Viceroy of Mexico. Mary Newman, I have ascertained, was a person of very humble origin: she survived ten months to participate in the fame and dignities of her husband. Any additional facts concerning him will be, I need scarcely add, as interesting as serviceable to me."] " "Francis Drake and Marye Newman, July 4, 1569." Again, amongst the burials, [It was in the year 1720 that Ralph Harwood, whose brewhouse was on the east side of High Street, Shoreditch, conceived the idea of making a liquor which should partake of the united flavours of ale, beer, and twopenny, which he called Entire, or Entire butts. It is said to have been called Porter, either from its having been the common drink of the porters, or from Harwood sending it round to his customers by men who, when they knocked at the doors, called out Porter; meaning thereby not the "1582. Januarie 25, Marye Drake, wife of Sir Francis D., Knight." I should like to see these facts reconciled with drink, but themselves, its porters or carriers. According the "Legend of Sir Francis Drake." JOHN A. C. VINCENT. to Leigh (quoted in Haydn's Dict. of Dates) it was first Porter to rival wine, and quench the thirst; PORTER, WHERE FIRST SOLD.— Outside an old publichouse called the "Blue Last," and situate in Curtain Road (the neighbourhood of the ancient Curtain Theatre), Shoreditch, is a board which for many years past has borne the following inscription: "The House where porter was first sold." I shall be glad to know whether there is or not any truth in this statement. If it be a fiction, it will not be the first historical one which has been published by a tavern sign-board. EDWARD J. WOOD. [The names of the general officers of the army raised in Scotland by Charles II. are given in The Boscobel Tracts, edited by J. Hughes, Esq. 8vo, 1857, p. 192, viz. Lieut.Gen. David Lesley, Lieut.-Gen. Middleton (who was since created Earl of Middleton, Lord Clarmont and Fettercairn), Major-Gen. Massey, Major-Gen. Montgomery, Major Gen. Daliel, and Major-Gen. Vandrose, a DutchFor the names of those who joined the king's army at Worcester, see pp. 194, 199, 200.] man. CORN. SCHON ÆUS. Can you give me any account of C. Schonæus, a (Dutch ?) author who published Terentius Christianus, containing two Latin dramas, "Tobæus " and "Juditha," 1575 ? R. INGLIS. [Cornelius Schonæus, a distinguished poet, and Rector of the School at Haarlem, was born at Gouda in South Holland, and died Nov. 28, 1611, in his seventy-first year. (3rd S. iv. 92.) I shall take advantage of a personal appeal, addressed to me by your correspondent AN OBSERVER, to express my great disappointment that the strictures of HISTORICUS, SCRUTATOR, and others, have failed to draw from the Society calling themselves the "Illustrious and Sovereign Order of Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, Anglia," any tangible proof or evidence of the justice of their claim to be considered a legitimate branch of the famous Order, whose title and attributes they have assumed. MAJOR PORTER and ANTIQUARIUS, in taking up the gauntlet, have indeed declaimed in lofty language, but have adduced nothing in support of their cause beyond what their Synoptical Sketch had previously put forward; with what amount of claim to credit, HISTORICUS and SCRUTATOR have sufficiently demonstrated. MAJOR PORTER, in his reply to HISTORICUS, has not condescended to enlighten us on the reasons that induced him to change his opinion of the legitimacy of the soi-disant Langue of England expressed in the History of the Knights of Malta. He considers it enough for us to know, that, although an opinion adverse to their claims did once prevail in his mind, yet, having further considered the subject and held converse with some leading members of the Langue, he had become so satisfied with the justice of those claims as to enroll himself a member of the Society; and even make amends, in the second edition of his work, for untoward remarks regarding them expressed in the first, &c., &c. With your permission I will explain, as briefly as possible, why I feel so much disappointed that the gallant MAJOR has not been more explicit and communicative on the subject. In the year 1858, the Langue did me the honour to nominate me their Commissioner, to lay before the Lieutenant of the Magistery and Sacred Council of the Order of St. John, in Rome, an application on their part for some recognition by the supreme authority of the Order. I was, at the same time, presented with a copy of the Synoptical Sketch, and instructed by the Grand Secretary to consider it a text-book for general reference; and a vade-mecum, from whence to glean all the information concerning the Langue and its claims that I might require in dealing with the S. Council. In the course of my diplomatic doings I was frequently questioned as to the antecedents of the Langue, and more especially as to the authority on which their pretensions to be considered legitimate were founded. Being totally ignorant of everything concerning the body of which I was the representative, and finding the Synoptical Sketch quite insufficient to furnish any satisfactory reply, either to myself or to my interrogators, I was driven in my perplexity to apply to the late Sir Richard Broun, the Grand Secretary of the Langue, as well as to other old and distinguished members of that fraternity, for some evidence and vouchers for their claims more respectable than what I could derive from the brochure above mentioned. Sir Richard's reply may be thus condensed: He had no proofs to produce, and despaired of procuring me any; that, from 1835 to 1858, he had been trying to make himself acquainted with the early history of the Langue, but without success; that after the death of the Grand Prior Sir Robert Peat, in 1837, he (Sir R. B.) discovered that the documents connected with the revival of the Langue were scattered about in many hands, and, as he feared, for the most part lost or destroyed; that possibly some might be in possession of the family of the "Agent General" employed by the (soi-disant) French Capitular Commission, viz. a tailor, named Currie: some, again, had passed away with the late Mr. B., ci-devant Grand Secretary; and some might be, probably, found with a distinguished literary member of the Langue, &c., &c.* In short, I was given to understand that I must not expect anything more presentable than what the Synoptical Sketch afforded. Your readers will, therefore, imagine how eagerly I looked for the proofs-so powerful, efficacious, and convincing in his case-that MaJOR PORTER had been so fortunate as to discover; but which Sir Richard Broun's efforts for more than twenty years, with all his experience and advantages as Grand Secretary and principal working member of the Langue, to back those efforts, had failed to bring to light. * Letter of Sir R. Broun, penes meipsum. |