1830.] Ancient Custom of Bull-baiting at Great Grimsby. keept in; aud then to order two or three Here closes the correspondence of One curious circumstance, however, is accounted for by the above extracts, viz. the disappearance of the keys; and it cannot be doubted that the "mad under clerk" who threw them away, or caused them to be buried with him, is the identical William Wilson, one of the under clerks of session, and deputemareschal, by whom the Regalia were delivered up, and whose protest on the occasion, dated March 26, 1707, is the only document which remained to attest their existence. It is printed in the Appendix to the Papers, No. 5, as well as the Report of 1794, with various other Tracts, concerning the History of the Regalia in the time of Cromwell, and their preservation at that period through the vigilance of Sir George Ogilvie, of Barras, Bart. A slight and imperfect sketch of this event appeared in the 90th vol. of the Gentleman's Mag. p. 31, which might *This is not the case. The Regalia suffered much less than could have been expected, and the blade of the Sword of State was but very little affected by rust. 485 be improved by a few notes from the Bannatyne publication; but I have already exceeded the limits I proposed to myself, and conclude by recommending every member of the Club to add the scraps transcribed above to his copy of the curious and well-edited volume which has occasioned these remarks. Yours, &c. YOUR FRED. MADden. MR. URBAN, Grimsby, Nov. 4. YOUR repository of fugitive literaLure is peculiarly valuable in that department which is devoted to the preservation of ancient local customs and statistical facts, which might otherwise be lost to posterity, or so distorted by tradition as to degenerate into error. In the course of a long residence at Grimsby, I have not been inattentive to the manners, customs, and propensities of the inhabitants; and being of a sedentary turn, I have often amused my leisure hours by instituting a comparison between present observances and the peculiarities which distinguished their forefathers of remote geAs the investigation pronerations. ceeded, and the rites and usages of antiquity became gradually unfolded to my view, it branched off into such a variety of ramifications, as ultimately swelled out my Common-Place Book with endless notices respecting the history and topography, as well as the general statistics of this ancient borough, at every period of its fluctuating fortunes. Some of the results of this enquiry are already before your readers; and I purpose occasionally to furnish you with such additional notices as may possess the twofold quality of affording present information and amusement, and preserving materials which promise to be useful to any future topographer who may be encouraged to write a connected history of the place. The amusement of bull-baiting is of such high antiquity in this country, that Fitz-Stephen, who lived in the reign of Hen. II. tells us it was, at that early period, the common entertainment of the young Londoners during the winter season; and Claudian says of the English mastiffs, Maguaque taurorum fracturi colla Britanni.' The county of Lincoln is eulogized by Fuller as producing superior dogs for the sport; and in Grimsby bull-baiting was pursued with such avidity, that, to increase its importance, and prevent the possibility of its falling into disuse, 486 On the Establishment of a Constabulary Force. it was made the subject of an official regulation of the Magistracy. It had been practised within the borough from time immemorial, but about the beginning of the reign of Hen. VII. the butchers finding it both troublesome and inconvenient to provide animals for the public amusement, endeavoured to evade the requisition; but it was made imperative upon them by the following edict of the Mayor and Burgesses, which was incorporated into a code of ordinances that were made and agreed to on the 23d of October, 1499, for the better government of the borough: "Also, that no Bocher flee or kill no Bull flesche w'in this Burgh, nor that none be brought to sell bot if the Bull be bayted openlye before the Mair and his burgesses, [Dec. ket towns of England, the Bull-rings to which the unfortunate animals were fastened, are remaining to the present time. At Grimsby, the arena where this brutal ceremony was performed, is still distinguished by the name of the "Bull Ring." The ancient stone and ring were removed about thirty years since, but the chain is still in possession of the Chamberlains, who pass it annually to their successors; and it is sometimes applied to the purpose of fastening up a gate, when a distress is made on a field belonging to the Corporation for rent; but its primitive use is wholly superseded by the abolition of GEO. OLIVER. · the amusement. Mr. URBAN, Summerlands, Exeter, Dec. 3. Also that the Bochers of this Francheis, and THE turbulent and disturbed state al others that kepe slaughter shopes and kill flesche in this Francheis, to sell, mak onys yerly befor the Mair and his burgesses one Bull-bayting, at convenient Tyme of the yere, according to the custom of this Francheis befor usyd, upon peyn of forfeitur of vjs. viijd." In the reign of Charles I. an instance occurs of the violation of this ordinance; and it is formally recorded in the Mayor's Court Book, that a fine was imposed by the Chamberlains on Robert Camm for "killing a bull, and not first baiting him, according to the custom of the Corporation." These sports were conducted with great cruelty. To make the animal furious, gunpowder was frequently flashed up his nose, and pepper blown into his nostrils; and if this failed to make him shew game, his flesh was lacerated, and aquafortis poured into the wound. About sixty years ago, a bull was put to the stake at Grimsby; but the animal proving too tame, one William Hall put a spike or brad into his stick, and goaded the poor creature until the blood flowed copiously from several parts of his body; and at length, by continually irritating the lacerated parts, the bull became enraged, and roaring in the extremity of his torture, succeeded in tossing his assailant, to the infinite gratification of his cruel persecutors. It is recorded, to the credit of Mr. Alderman Hesleden, that during his Mayoralty in 1779, the annual exhibition was disallowed; from which time the custom declined, although some instances of this inhuman pastime have subsequently occurred. Strutt says, that in some of the mar of a certain description of the peasantry, arises from an obvious cause; and is entirely an agricultural case, well understood by the landed proprietors. History shows us that malpractices somewhat similar to those we unfortunately witness, but not of so atrocious a character, have occurred at different periods; and much mischief has been effected, for want of some permanent local force, capable at once of checking and putting down the evil designs of the unprincipled; or of others seeking a remedy for distress, by illegal and criminal means. The regular troops and a few yeomanry cannot be every where. The Militia may not be embodied. The Volunteer corps cost aunually above a million sterling; and to have them tolerably disciplined, time, that can be but ill spared, is ma terially encroached on. There is, however, an adequate and efficient force, costing comparatively but little, and which acting pro aris et focis would readily turn out promptly on any emergency. The Constabulary is in fact the old and constitutional safeguard of the public peace, and can always be depended on, because always at hand. To come at once to the essential plan wanted for the constant maintenance of good order, when threatened by the evil disposed, let all males, of well-known orderly habits, between the age of sixteen and sixty, be sworn in as perpetual constables in their locality of towns, cities, or villages, where there may not be a sufficiently numerous and regular police. At the beating of drums, the 1830.] Families of Visc. Strangford and Sir Sidney Smith. tolling of bells, or some signal well Dec. 13. Mr. URBAN, plied to your readers for information on The family of Smythe, from which Viscount Strangford is descended, was seated at Corsham in Wiltshire as early as the fifteenth century. Robert Smythe of Corsham died in 1513, and his eldest son, John Smythe, Esq., who died in 1538, left, by Joan daughter of Robert Brouncker of Melksham (the ancestor of the Viscount Brouncker), five sons, -John, Thomas, Henry, Robert, and Richard and three daughters, Anne, Jane, and Elizabeth; who are all mentioned in their father's will, dated 1st April, 1538, and proved on the 8th of November following. Thomas Smythe, the second of these Vol. LXXIX. part ii. p. 1191. 487 sons, settled in London, and became Farmer of the Customs to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. He purchased the estate of Ostenhanger, and other property, in Kent, and died in 1591, aged 69. By Alice, daughter and heir of Sir Andrew Judde, Lord Mayor of London, with whom he acquired the Manor of Ashford, he had seven sons and several daughters. Andrew Smythe, the eldest son, died in infancy. Sir John, the 2nd son, was the ancestor of the present Viscount; Henry, the 3rd son, settled at Corsham and Baydon, and his son Thomas entered his pedigree at the Visitation of Wilts, in 1623. Sir Thomas, the 4th son, who was Ambassador to Russia in 1604, bought the manor of Bidborough, in Kent, and his male descendants became extinct on the death of the Right Hon. Sir Sydney Stafford Smythe, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, in 1778. The Right Hon. Sir Richard Smythe, the Customer, died in 1628; and, as his only son Sir John Smythe died s. p. in 1632, the male descendants of his father then failed. Robert, the 6th son, was living at Highgate in the 6th James I. and left a son named John, of whom nothing more is known. Symon, the 7th son, was killed at the siege of Cadiz, in 1597, aged 27. Sir John Smythe, the eldest son of Customer Smythe, married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of John Fineux, Esq. son of Chief Justice Fineux, of Herne, in Kent, and dying 29th Nov. 1608, left issue an only son, Thomas, 1st Viscount Strangford, who married Lady Barbara Sydney, 7th daughter of Robert 1st Earl of Leicester, whence the Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith, the defender of Acre, was unable to trace his pedigree farther back than to his great grandfather Captain Cornelius Smith, who was born at Hythe in 1661, and whose monumental inscription, in the church of New Shoreham in Sussex, stating that he died on the 26th of October, 1727, aged 66, was communicated by your correspondent "Faber" in 1809. The pedigree of so distinguished an officer is deserving of insertion in your pages, and I therefore annex it : Cor-...d.of Charles .... 488 Pedigree of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, K. C. B. [Dec. .... .... Cornelius Smith, born at Hythe, a Lieute--Mary, dau. of Colonel.... Faith, by Solo-..da. of Abel mon .. War- Smith, nelius .... dau. of.... Porringer of Ireland, mar. at Hastings, ob. circa 1741, æt. circa 64, bur. at St. Mary's, Dover. Smith, Lt. in ren, a Lieut. Smith, Navy R.N. Bowles Capt. John Doug ob. of R.N. ის. circa received at La related to the Duke of Ha ob. buried Arms granted to Sir Sidney Smith in 1803.-Azure, on a chevron engrailed between three kons passant guardant Or, a wreath of laurel Proper, between 2 crosses Calvary Sable, with a Chief of Augmentation.-Crest, a leopard's head Proper, gorged with a plain collar, therefrom a line reflexed, issuant out of an eastern Crown Or; with a Crest of Augmentation. The Arms of the Smythes of Corsham were, Azure, an escutcheon Argent within six lions rampant, Or; and were allowed to the younger branches at the Heralds' Visitation of Wiltshire in 1623, upon the production of an ancient seal, then, it is said in the Visitation, two hundred years old.t Customer Smythe, however, obtained two grants of arms to himself and his descendants, differenced from the old coat; the first grant being per pale Or and Azure, a chevron between three lions passant guardant counterchanged: and the second grant, from Claren. cieux Cooke, in 1588, was the coat and crest now used by his noble descendant; namely, "Azure, a chevron engrailed between three lions passant guardant Or." Crest-"An ounce's head erased Argent, Pelletee, and gorged with a collar Sable, edged Or, charged with three Pellets, and chained Or."— The arms and crest of Sir Sidney Smith, however they may be described in the instrument, are in fact a NEW grant, and were founded upon the coat allowed to Customer Smythe in 1588, from the idea that he was descended from that person, though the pedigree could not be deduced; a common practice where a connection between a grantee and a family entitled to Arms is presumed to exist. But an heraldic eye will at once discover, by the chevron being charged with "a wreath of laurel Proper between two crosses Calvary Sable," and by the crest being "a leopard's head Proper, gorged with a plain collar, therefrom a line reflexed," that the Arms and Crest of Sir Sidney Smith are totally distinct from those of the Viscounts Strangford. Yours, &c. N. + Harleian MS. 1442, f. 112.-"This coat produced in an old seal, to be the right coat of this family, and is said to be two hundred years old." |