and to come to england, and that I would make a fortune in a very little time; so, Dr honny, I took his advice, and about a fortnight before Saint Patrick Day, I left my own Deer Country of a Saturday Evening, a very fine night it was; But, Dear honny, I was not verry long on board the Ship when we met with a very grate misfortune on the high road: the Saylors told me, that the ship was going at the rate of 7 mile in an hour: the Captain, Dhonny, and all the saylors were blind drunk as it was such a fine night, they would be merry, and the Captain said he would go down and play a game of cards, and he gave the tail of the ship to one of the saylors that had as much whiskey in his Belly as the Captain; Arrah, Dr honny, he had not the sloop very long in his hand when he run her against the rocks; for we maid the land on Sunday night about 11 o'clock, the place that the calls it, is the smalls; the mate of the ship was the soberest of any, for when she went upon the rocks she made as greate a noise, as if it was a stone wall fell down, and with the whack she got on the rocks, she trew the mate out of the cubbert that he was sleeping in on the cabbain floor, and he ran up stairs to see what was the matter with her, and he found that she was on the rocks: O, said the mate, we are all of us lost. At this time I went down stairs to the Captain, and woke him out of his sleep, and told him that the ship and all of us were drowned. He was just almost sober at this time, and he ran up stairs and he told the mate to turn the sails about, and to see if she would come off of the rocks, and she Did; there, says the Captain to the mate of the vessel, try the pumps, and there was 4 feet water in her, for the Captain said she knocked a Big hole in her Bottom, and we must not stop in her, for we will all be drowned. So, Dr honny, the first thing they done was to trough 6 of my pigs over Bord, that was in the Bote on the Deck of the ship, for there was not room for them in the Room Down stairs along with the rest of the pigs. We all got in to the Bote, and before we lost sight of her, she was drowned. It was a verry fine night; so, Dr honny, we were running here and there for a long time. The little money that I had. I tied up in my Hand Kerchief, and put it under my neck that it may be safe, and that is all that I saved out of my property. We was found in the morning by a ship that takes in fireing from a place the call Newport to my country, and we landed in Milford, and from that we came to Bristol, and from that, please your honour, I came to London to work at my trade; my profession is a house joiner; and when I came to London it was Saint Patrick Day, an in a little time after I got work.

Dr

honny, you can find out that I am an honest hard working industrious young man; for whilst I was in work in the summer, I put 15 Pounds in the Bishop street saving bauk, where no bad hand could get at it. So, deer honny, when I was out of work, I bought some timber to make a new plan of a chair, the pattern that you never did saw. I have 12 of them just finished, and there is not the like of them in the large City of London, tho' I am but a poor Country carpenter. When you will come to see my chairs, you will say I have a taste for work; four persons can sit down in each chair, and they won't tatch each other, that is, if the like themselves. There is about 500 Bits of timber in each of thee Chairs, and a 1000 of little nails it takes, to make each chair. Deer honney, the roome that I work in is not big enough for 4 taylers to work in, and each of my chairs is 6 feet long, and it takes me 3 week to make one of them, and I cant sell one of them under 10 Pounds, when I have them perfectly finished and painted them. There is not a soul in the whole world put a hand neer them, But, myself alone and my own too hands. You will say when you see one of them, that I had the patience of 10 Jobs to make them at all, Dr honny. You will wonder how, Dr honny, why I should write to you, above all the peeple of London. Arrah, then I will tell you how I found out your name and place, and my Big raison for troubling your Deer honours glory with this letter.-The public house that I lodge in takes in the news, and when I go down stairs to make the glew warm, I looks into the news paper, and it told me your name, and the world full of good that youre done for the poor people that ware starving with the cold aud hunger. God bless you and the Mayor, and all of you that had a hand in it! and it is my prayer to the blessed Vergen, and all the saints in heaven, that you and all of you, and the Lord mayor, may have a goolden house in heven that will always make you all happy. That is my prayer, Dr honny. Arrah please your honour, I will tell you, and dont be angry with me for troubling you with this letter the way that I am al this time back and at the present time. I am living these 3 months on praties and a grane of salt, and them only two times a day, and sometimes only 1 time in the day, and I supported myself these Three months gone back upon 2 shilling a week, and pd my landlord 2s. 6d. pr week, and I am not 1 week in his dew since I come to him, Thank God for it; and I have very good health after all, I was uste in my own countree to full and plenty, and I have had often a hungry belly this time back, and noon was the wiser of it, but the grate God

God and Blessed vergen Mary the queen of beven. I can tell you, Dr honney, and put you in the right road to find out what I say to be true, at Mr. Parkes, I think that is his name, whare I do buy 52 Pounds of praties evry thursday morn, and he will tell you that I takes them in a little bag from him, and he wont tell you a lie, and I gets 52 pounds for a shilling from him, and they serves me until thursday again; he lives, Deer honey, in Fleet market. The landlord and his wife, and all the logers in the house can tell you that I eats praties 2 times in a day, for they sees me Boiling them morning and night on the tap room fire; they dont know what I have with them, for they never sees me eating them, for I dont make them a poor mouth to them nor any body else. But the landlord and his wife suspects that I dont have any thing wid them But a grane of salt. gods blessed vergen and St. peeter knows what I say to be true and no lie. Please your honours glory, if you find me telling you a lie about what I say in this letter; you may put what pennance you plase upon me, and I will take it as well as if it was the priest put it on me; isn't that as fare as I can say to you? Dr honny, you can find out at loyds, I think the coffee shop, that the vessell was drowned, you wont find me out in a lie, Dr honney, for it is the truth that I am telling

you.

"Note a Bener: Dr honny, what I want you to do for me is to give me 2 shillings worth of praties every week for a short time, about three week, and against that time I will have my chairs finished, and I will return Back what you will give me, and thank you for ever for so doing. I dont want the money from you, dr honny, but the praties, that you may see what I write to you is true; indeed, Deer honny, if I had any way in the world to buy praties, I would not trouble you but eate them with pleasure, as I have this time back, and thank the Lord for his goodness. Deer honny, I have not a friend nor a foe in London to go to, for I am a stranger in this kingdom; all the friends that I have in London is one, and I cant find him out; his name is Christopher Hutchinson, parlamentman, for I gave the priest my vote to make him a parlamentman, when he stood him up for one. I was, three days back, wating at parlament house door to see if I could see him go in, until I was as cold as the stone pillers round parlament house, and tired of treling of him. Dr Honny, I would have wrote a letter to

the Mayor and his wife, But I did not

know how to put it into her hands, for if

I gave it to them grand looking sarvants, I would think it would never come into her hands or to his hand, for I herd that she was a very good lady to them that is

in want; I am indeed in want of this. Dr honny, you and the gentlemen can be my friend, if you like, yourselves. Time, Dr honny, it will take myself, but I tell you the truth as if you were the priest. Dr honny, do come, for the sake of the Blessed vergen, to my little haBitation, and you will see that I am telling you the truth, and that I am in want of what I write to you for. Indeed, deer honny, I did not eate a bit of mate these 3 months But 4 times, that I got it from the Landlady of the house. This is the first time that I asked for any Charity in my life; so, dr houny, if you come to look for me, you will see on the street door posts marked 129; ask for " the irishman" that is making of the chairs, if İ live there, and he will say i do; so come up stairs as high as you can go, and facing your nose before you, you will see my room, and I will be at home at work, for i work day and night, and dont go out at all at all, only when I am going for the praties, deer honey. I have a little Bit of spirit, and Dont tell any one in the house that I went looking for charity to you. But if you are not satisfied with what you will see when you will come, Why you may ask them; for charity is no shame. Dr honny, my people thinks, Dr honey, that I am either killed Ded, or drowned, for I did not send them word I was Ded or a live, since I left my own deer Country. Dr honny, you would not give a 13 penny for all the tooles that I have making my chairs wid.

"I will call to you Bine By, for Answer from you, Dr honny. I am, Dr honey, your Dr honours verry humble servant, for ever and ever. W. H."

I

Mr. URBAN,

Oct. 17.. HOPE some of your Antiquarian Correspondents may feel inclined to throw some light upon the origin of the bearing of " a Buckle," as a crest, used for many centuries by the old Sussex family of Pelham, formerly Duke of Newcastle, and since 1801, Earls of Chichester. Seated for so many generations in this county, it justly calls forth more than ordinary consideration, and it has accordingly met with the particular attention of the "learned" Camden, who points it out, in his days, as a house" titled to especial respect," and more recently by the late Rev. Mr. Hayley, Rector of Brightling, a gentleman who devoted a great part of a long life, to elaborate Antiquarian researches, and who, I have understood, bestowed much pains on this subject, and completed a treatise on

en

the

the bearing, in question, of this antient family. Not having been fortunate enough to procure a sight of this paper, I am not acquainted with the particular grounds upon which Mr. Hayley built his hypothesis-but I will take the liberty of giving the account collected by John Philpot, Somerset herald, who in 1632 made out the pedigree of this family. He says,

"John de Pelham was a person of great fame in the reign of Edw. III. and in memory of his valiant acts, his figure in armour, with the arms of his family on his breast, was painted on glass, in the Chapter House at Canterbury. He attended that victorious monarch in his wars with the French, and was a competitor, in taking John King of France prisoner, at the battle of Poictiers, Sept. 19, 1356. An. 30 Edw. III. Froysart says, that with the King were taken, besides his son Philip, the Earl of Tankerville, Sir Jacques of Bourbon, the Earls of Pouthieu and Eue, with divers other noblemen, who, being chased to Poiċtiers, the town shut their gates against them, not suffering any to enter; so that divers were slain; and the press being great to take the King, such as knew him cried out, Sir, yield, or you are dead :' whereupon he yielded himself to Sir Dennis Morbeck, a knight of Artois, in the English service, and being afterwards forced from him, more than ten Knights and Esquires challenged the taking of the King. Amongst these, Sir Roger la War, and John. de Pelham, were most concerned; and in memory of so signal an action, and the King surrendering his sword to them, Sir Roger la War had the crampet or chape of the sword (Leigh's Accedence of Armoyre) for a badge of that honour, and John de Pelham (afterwards knighted) had the buckle of a belt, as a mark of the same honour, which was sometimes used by his descendants as a seal manual, and at others, the said buckle on each side a cage being au emblem of the captivity of the said King of France, and was borne for a crest, as in those times was customary. The buckles, &c. were likewise used by their descendants, in their great seals, as is evident from several of them, appendant to old deeds."

Thus far John Philpot. Whether this account be true or not, it cannot be contested, that this bearing is very antient; for it appears that from an acquittance to Thos. la War, given at Pevensey, 7 Julii 1400, 1 Hen. IV. signed by John Pelham, that he attached his seal, viz. the buckle of a belt, and on each side thereof, the letters J. P.

Antient Heralds, says Monsr. Porny, in his "Elements of Heraldry," considered the buckle, .66 as a token of the surety of the faith and serIvice of the bearer." We find individuals of this family, in reward for "great achievements and honourable exploits," antiently invested with offices of great trust and responsibility. In the 17th Rich. II. the Duke of Lancaster, "knowing and confiding in the loyalty and discretion of his most dear and well-beloved John Pelbaur, Esquire," grants him the office of Constable of Pevensey, &c. Again, Hen. IV. confirms to John Pelham, the office of Constable of Pevensey Castle; and in the 7th year of his reign, committed to his keeping, iu the Castle of Pevensey, Edw. Plantagenet Duke of York, who was accused of taking out of the Castle of Windsor the sons of Roger Mortimer Earl of March (who by his descent from Lionel Duke of Clarence, was declared in the Parliament held 9 Rich.II. heir apparent to the Crown), and conveying them into Wales to Owen Glendour. In the 11th year of his reign King Hen. IV. "having experienced his fidelity," commits to the charge of Sir John Pelham, Edmund Earl of March, son of Roger Earl of March, who had been declared heir apparent of the crown.

It might, therefore, have been bestowed in the light given to it by Monsr. Porny, in consideration of service of fidelity and trust, and have been borne, as such, by the descendants of this distinguished house.

There is an instance, in which Mr. Pegge, in his "Anecdotes of Old Times," says, the buckle admitted of a religious interpretation; and he mentions the arms of the Scots Earls Rothes, viz. a bend charged with three buckles.' The buckles, he says, may have regard to that strong metaphorical description of Christian defence, against the powers of darkness, vi. chap. Ephesians, or 1 Epist. Thessalonians, chap. v. 21. "Hold fast that which is good," viz. the faith and hope of the cross of Christ. One of the family, Leslie of Burdsbank carries the quartered coat of the Earl of Rothes with differences; with the crest "a buckle Or," and the motto, “Keep fast.”

John de Pelhain, who in the reign of Edw. III. accompanied that king

to

to France, was probably a great be nefactor to the Cathedral of Christ at Canterbury, from being buried in the Chapter-house of that Cathedral, and having the figure of himself in armour painted on glass in the windows of that edifice. Sir John Pelham by his grant 14 Hen. IV. appears to have given his lands and tenements at Warbleton, for the building of a new Church and Convent in honour of the blessed Trinity, the old Priory at Hastings, founded by Sir Walter Biscet, knt. being rendered uninhabitable by the inundation of the sea, and thus, according to Speed, was reputed the founder of that Priory of Canons regular of St. Augustine. He probably was a benefactor also to the Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Robertsbridge; for by his last will and testament he directs his body to be buried in the Church of that Abbey.

The bearing might, therefore, be conferred in testimony of the substantial proof of their piety, afforded at different times; but as these marks of devotional feeling were so common in those days, it would puzzle one to conjecture, why the like honourable distinctions were not given to other families, on this account alone, equally entitled to them. Some abler pen than mine, Mr. Urban, may on this subject be tempted, in the language of Camden, "to renew ancientry, enlighten obscurity, clear doubts, recall home verity by way of recovery, which the negligence of writers had in a manner proscribed and banished from amongst us.” Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

IN

DE BELLO.

Νου. 1.

N your Magazine for October (p. 326) I observed a letter relative to the confiscation of the Manors of Tring, Wenge, and Ivinghoe; by which it should appear that the family of Hampden were as little inclined in the days of Edward III, to pay any deference to their Sovereign, as in those of Charles I. The story is to be found in Noble's Memoirs of the Protectorate House of Cromwell, with some little difference of versification, but without any enquiry into its authenticity, to which it does not seem to possess any claim whatever. To corroborate this tradition, we have anoGENT. MAG. November, 1820.

ther deserving equal credit, which may serve to inform your Correspondent how the Manors in question were afterwards disposed of. In a MS legend of the Derby family, preserved by Mr. Cole (the Cambridge Antiquary, and to whom our county of Buckingham has particular obligations), I find that one of that family having killed the Admiral of Hainault in single combat, King Edward IV. bestowed upon him, by way of re ward, these three Manors: "Thus falls the fatall pride of France to th' ground,

Smother'd in blood and ashie funerall: The Kinge was joyous, and his Champion

crown'd

With Knighthood, and gave him there withall,

Besides his vowes ever to hold him deare, Wing, Tring, and Iving in Buckingham, shier."*

This history is at least as probable as one in the same legend, concerning an intrigue between Stanley and the Turkish Emperor's daughter.

In the Magazine for September, in a list of eminent Men educated at Oxford, your Correspondent BYRO has omitted the loyal and venerated Dr. Francis Mansel, of All Souls, afterwards Provost of Jesus College; concerning this divine I shall have occasion to speak at greater length hereafter.

In the list of Worcester College, or rather Gloucester Hall, I do not

perceive the name of John d'Amersham; and what Fuller and Newcome have recorded, Byro need not reject.