588 Cross-legged Sepulchral Fffigies. MAY not your correspondent Vecta He be(p. 400), be in error? lieves that all the cross-legged effigies refer" to persons who had either undertaken or performed the crusade,' and that they are "confined to military persons." I shall first quote a passage from Mr. Lethieullier's article in the Archæologia, vol. ii. p. 294. "Knights Templar were received, cherished, and enriched, throughout Europe; and they being usually buried cross-legged, in token of the banner they fought under, and completely armed in regard to their being soldiers, this sort of monument grew much in fashion; and though all that we meet with in that shape are vulgarly called so, yet I am certain many are not, and indeed I have rarely found any which I could be certain were for persons who had been of that order." There are many instances of crosslegged figures belonging to a period subsequent to the last crusade-the close of the thirteenth century—and to the suppression of the order, A.D. 1313. Those given by Mr. L. in the communication above referred to, are, 1. A monument in the church of Leckhampton, co. Glouc., ascribed by tradition to Sir John Giffard, who died in the 3d Edward III.; and 2. A monument in Hungerford church, co. Berks, in memory of Sir Robert de Hungerford, who died 28 Edw. III. (see p. 296). In addition to these, Mr. Gough (Sep. Mon. 1. p. xcvi.) enumerates, 1. Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, murdered in France 1323, buried at Westminster; 2. A Bensted, supposed to have died about the same time, buried at Bennington, Herts; 3. John Sturmy, buried at Tenbury, Worcestershire; 4. John of Eltham, died A.D. 1334, buried at Westminster; 5. One of the Husseys, buried at *Want of room has compelled us materially to abridge our correspondent's final reply.-EDIT. [VOL. C. Flintham, Notts, where his family had That these monuments were not Mr. URBAN, Dec. 29. CANNOT better meet the doubt expressed by VECTA on the crosslegged effigy in Brading Church, than by referring to my former communication (p. 399), in which it is said that the monument is of the age of Elizabeth, and the effigy "is in the plate armour of the time." The age of a monumental statue can be best determined by the costume. Now, as the crusades began in 1096, and ended about 1291, we should expect to see the effigy of an actual crusader in chain armour, or in a mixture of chain and plate, as for instance the conical basinet, with the large gorget of chainwork, which is seen on the heads of statues of the fourteenth century; but by what chance the representation of such a personage could be attired in the armour of the time of Elizabeth, I will leave VECTA to explain. feel no hesitation in assigning both the statue and monument to the above period, I wait for something beyond As I * "Supposed a Helion, lord here about the reign of Edw. III."-Gough, from Duncumb's MSS. in Sepul. Mon., Int. to V. 11. p. 110.-I was informed that a tradition exists of this figure having been brought from the neighbouring parish of Castle-Frome. My informant suspects, ingeniously enough, that this was one of the moveable lay figures used in funerals, to represent the deceased, and which remained in the church until a more costly and durable monument could be erected. a mere hypothetical question on the age of the statue, before I give my assent to a contrary opinion. That the Brading monument is not unique, will appear by the following quotation, which also shews Mr. Pennant's opinion on the intention of this position in monumental effigies. "I observe that the piety of the Catholics has given the same attitude (he is speaking of a cross-legged monument in Coleshill church, co. Warwick) to several of the Sherburns, in the Church of Mitton, in Yorkshire, who were interred in the seventeenth century; so that I suspect it to have sometimes been considered merely as a reverential sign of our Saviour's suffering." -Journey from Chester to London. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, WHAT E. I. C. Clifton, Dec. 6. HAT a pleasure is recollection! said I to myself, waking from a reverie in which I had been indulging one day after dinner, and in which I had been picturing to my mind's eye scenes far distant, and pleasures long gone by; so, thinking their pleasurable effect would be increased by their being embodied in writing, I resolved without loss of time to commit them to paper. The circumstance which first struck me, probably from the deep impression it had made upon my mind at the time it happened, was my visit to an Asylum for Lunatics at a town in Germany. It was situated without the walls, by the river, and commanded a most beautiful prospect. To the east the valley opened far and wide, clothed in all the richness of summer's luxuriance; while, toward the west, the opposite ranges of mountain gradually approached each other, and then terminated in an amphitheatre of rugged magnificence. The gloomy building, however, but ill accorded with the rest of the scenery. In former ages it had been used as a fortress; its walls were black and time-worn, and of considerable height; its windows narrow, and secured with iron bars; the fosse and outworks were converted into a shrubbery for convalescents to take exercise; an air of melancholy hung around it, and occasionally the loud laugh, and mournful lamentation of its inhabitants, fell upon the ear. Having obtained admission, the first apartment into which I was ushered was one appropriated to females. On entering with the keeper, several of the poor 589. women came about us, some with the smile and frank address of welcome, while others eyed us with the sidelong glance of suspicion and fear. One or two hardly noticed us, and seemed completely absorbed in their own thoughts. I was particularly struck with the appearance of a young woman, of rather superior air and manner to the rest of her unhappy companions. Her complexion was fair, with light-coloured hair, and blue eyes. Her expression was the most disconsolate I have ever beheld; it seemed as if grief had entered into her very soul, and fixed his abode there for ever. She leant her arm upon the table, while her head rested upon her hand; and she sat, with her eyes fixed upon the opposite wall, in a fit of melancholy abstraction. On inquiring of the keeper about her, he replied, "Her story, Sir, is a sad one; she was fondly attached to a young officer, who fell at the battle of Jena-a day so fatal to the Prussian arms. The marriage was fixed for that very day on which the action took place. The shock of his sudden removal from her, the general alarm of the public mind, and, last of all, the death of her betrothed, completely overcame her reason. When first brought here her madness was wild and extravagant, but gradually subsided into the calm settled form it now wears. A brother officer brought away the cockade which the poor lad wore at the engagement; and there you see the girl has got it, fastened in her breast, nor will she part with it on any account. Wilhelm Koffner was his name." At the sound of the well-known name the mourner cast a keen glance upon the speaker. "Wilhelm," said she, "Wilhelm! comes he to-morrow? Oh! be tarries long-long is the night, and the moonlight is cold and cheerless. But know you, Sir," putting her hand upon his arm, "I saw my Wilhelm but this night. He was beautiful as ever his cheek was white as the snow-wreath, but kind was his eye. He said he was going a long march, and a far journey, and then would he come for his Henriette." She uttered a feeble exclamation of joy, accompa nied with as feeble a laugh, sunk again into her chair, and again assumed her disconsolate expression and vacant indifference. 590 Inquisitions published by Record Commission of Ireland. [VOL. C. On going to the wards for males, the keeper informed me that among them there was a French nobleman, who had long been an inmate of the house; indeed, his case was considered perfectly hopeless. When we entered the apartment where he was, he rose and welcomed us with the most finished urbanity of manner. He was a tall, handsome man, apparently about sixty years of age. His face and expression were quite French, his forehead was finely formed, and he wore powder in his hair, and a queue, and dressed somewhat in the style of the age of Louis XV. He begged we would be seated, while he himself continued standing, and then entered upon a long incoherent harangue upon the military glory of his country. Sometimes he paused and gazed with intense eagerness upon some battle scene, which his wandering imagination brought before him, and, carried away by the impetuosity of his martial feelings, waved his hand to the advancing columns, calling out, "En avant, en avant! Vive le Roi! Vive la France !-Monsieur," said he, addressing himself to me, "c'est la bataille de Rocroi." And here his bewildered spirit seemed to rally for a time, for he entered upon a clear, calm, and historically correct account of that brilliant victory of the Duc d'Enghien, in which one of his ancestors had particularly distinguished himself, and upon this his mind dwelt with all the enthusiastic fondness of a Frenchman. Exhausted by the paroxysm he sat down, and when a little recovered he rose up and walked away, humming a French air. I was particularly struck with this melancholy case. "And here," thought I, "is the last scion of a long and illustrious line of ancestry, famed in the annals of their country's history, whose fathers may have guided and enlightened her senates, and led on her armies to victory and triumph, but whose crimes and guilt may have drawn upon the head of their unhappy descendant the fearful retribution of the Almighty's vengeance; whose life appears an existence at once miserable and useless, the calm light of reason being supplied by the irregular flashes of a disturbed imagination. Here he has paced the halls of this gloomy abode for many a long year, and probably will continue to do so till his dying day, a kind of titled spectre; the blood of no bility flowing in his veins, but the immortal spirit shrouded in the shades of insanity; and did not reason and religion point to an hereafter, debased beneath the brutes that perish."" Yours, &c. J. S. M. Inquisitiones post Mortem, and on Attainder, SOME of your numbers have presented the public with notices of certain of the publications of the Commission appointed in England for the preservation and better arrangement of Public Records, but I do not think that the labours of the Commission named in Ireland for similar objects have excited your notice. Two volumes, deserving of attention, have recently come under my observation, and cannot be too generally known. They are entitled, "Inquisitionum in officio Rotulorum Cancellariæ asservatarum, Repertorium."— vol. i. fol. 1826; vol. ii. fol. 1829. They are edited by Mr. Hardiman, one of the Sub-Commissioners; who states, in his prefatory observations, that these Inquisitions are preserved in the Rolls'-office of the Court of Chancery of Ireland, and consist of Inquisitiones post mortem, which are the most numerous, and Inquisitions on attainder. They are divided according to the four provinces, and the several counties of Ireland, into reigns, and commence in the time of Queen Elizabeth, there being few prior to that period. The former class cease soon after the restoration of Charles II. when feudal tenures were abolished by act of Parliament; the latter extends to the reign of William III. The Inquisitiones post mortem were taken under writs directed to the escheators, in a manner similar to those taken in England, and the return is made upon the oath of the jurors. The Inquisitions on attainders were taken generally under commissions, directed to commissioners in the several counties, and state whether the person was attainted; and if so, his lands and property which were seized into the King's hands. The first volume comprises the province of Leinster, comprehending the counties of Catherlogh, Dublin, City of Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, City of Kilkenny, King's County, Longford, PART II.] Old existing Kentish Families. Louth, Drogheda, Meath, Queen's County, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow. The second volume comprises the province of Ulster, comprehending the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, Monaghan, and Tyrone. Of the value of Inquisitiones post mortem, it would be a useless occupation of your pages to enlarge upon, because, if regarded only in reference to the evidence they afford of the descent of families, and the transfer of property, their importance will be readily acknowledged and appreciated. Here also will be found recited, in numerous instances, family settlements, deeds, leases, and other instruments affecting Irish property; independently of which, the following information may in general be collected from these inquisitions; viz.-the date and place where taken; the names of parties; the lands they were seised of, with the real or nominal value; time of death; the heir or heirs; his or their age or ages, and whether married or not; the tenure by which the lands were held under the crown, or its tenant in capite, or by knight's service, &c. is The repertory of each county preceded by a catalogue of its Inquisitions, and followed by indices of names and places. It seems that there exist in Ireland some Inquisitions enrolled on the Patent Rolls in Chancery, not comprised in those volumes, as the originals are not remaining in the Rolls'-office, from the records of which office these volumes have been compiled. Some of them, however, of a special nature, relating to ecclesiastical and other escheated lands in Ulster, are given in the Appendix to the Second Volume; where also will be found the commission for dividing the province into shire-ground, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; as also surveys of two of the newly-formed shires, Monaghan and Fermanagh; and of the territory of Iveagh, in the county of Down. The Inquisitions for the provinces of Munster and Connaught are to follow. It would not be rendering justice to the Commissioners to pass over, without notice, the excellent plan of this publication, which presents indeed a complete abstract of the contents of the Inquisition; and it is impossible to commend too highly the liberality and intelligence displayed in affording 591 such full and perfect information, which must be doubly valuable to English historians, who would not other. wise have had the means of obtaining the valuable historical and genealogical matter they contain. They afford a striking contrast to the Inquisitiones post mortem published in England, which omit the most useful information, viz. the name and age of the heir, and form only tantalizing references, rendering them nearly useless and valueless to the historian, the antiquary, and the public in general, for whose advantage they were always considered to have been printed; for otherwise they might as well have remained in manuscript in the closets of the Record, office. F. E. MR. URBAN, HOUGH my knowledge of the Tcounty of Kent is very limited, I venture to suggest to your Correspondent, W. M-G, that some of the ancient aboriginal families (of Kent) are not, as he suggests, extinct, such as Aucher, Fogge, and most of the numerous branches of Boys. Four gentlemen of the name of Boys were Commissioners of Sewers in the county in 1821. The Rev. D. Boys held a living in that year in Romney-marsh. Is not Fogge corrupted into Fagg? There was a Sir John Fagg, Bart. in my time at Chatham, and several families of lower degree in the neighbourhood of Elham. The Argars, or as they commonly call themselves Agers, are numerous in the neighbourhood of Folkstone, They, I conceive, are the descendants of the Auchers, alias Agers or Augers, whose ancestor was a Sir Fitz Aucher, temp. Hen. II. Mr. URBAN, P. Dec. 10. PERHAPS many of your readers not a little quaint and pedantic, in using the word Nunchion, on the authority of Dr. Johnson, in the stead of Luncheon, which (though properly meaning only a handful of food) is commonly heard in the sense of a short meal between breakfast and dinner: such may find equal satisfaction with myself, in being able to prove that the former is correct, as not only being the learned, but as having been also the vulgar word. From the antient accounts of certain repairs made in 592 Noontion explained.-Stallingborough. London, in the years 1422 and 1423, It'm to on Rob't Dawber' for his daw- [VOL. C. chyn, Noonshyn, and Nonsenche: and there cannot be any doubt that it was derived from Noon, the time of the meal; which word, though for several ages appropriated to midday,† was antiently the hora nona, or the ninth hour, between two and three o'clock, the hottest part of the day. Hence it was probably at first in the form of a French verbal noun, nounacion or nouncion, as if in Latin nonatio, a NoonING: and though I have not found any proof of this hypothesis, I still hope to do so; that you, Mr. Urban, and all who love propriety of speech, may henceforth eat their NooNTION in peace which is the earnest desire of MELAS. MR. URBAN, Grimsby, Nov. 8. It'm paid to Raff Worsted' hewer' of THE village of Stallingborough oc Freston for vij dayes, ye day viij d.— 4s. 8d. I'm for his noounchyns yn ye forseide dayes w reward-2d. It' to ij Masons ye s'uauntes of Henr' Botston' Mason' be ij wekes to eche Mason', be ye weke 4s. 3d. w' her' noounchyns, yn ye makyng of ye walles of ye p'vie [privy] and a wall' ycleped resedose yn y kechon', w.t pavyng of ye same kechon'-17s. It'm to ij. Carpent's be j. day to ech' of hem, wt her' Nonsenches 84d. for to make ye forseid' goter'-17d. It'm for iij. carpenters be ij. daies ech' of hem takyng ye day 8d. to make the same werke-4s. I'm for her' noonchyns cu'y day to ech' of hem ob'-3d. It'm yn a reward goven for noonchyns to ye same Tiler' and his man, be all' the tyme [29 days]-3d.* It'm to j. tiler be j. day & di' yn tilynge of ye forseide houses, takynge ye day wt hijs noonchyns 84d.-13d. It'm for his s'uaunt be j. day & di' takynge ye day w his noonchyns6d.-9d. It'm to an laborer' for ye seide ij. daycs at 5 d. wt his noonshyns―11d. Thus it that this word was appears antiently written Noonchyn, Nooun Perhaps a mistake for three shillings. The sums are here put in the common figures for convenience. In the proceedings of the Court Military, Le Scrope v. Grosvenour, temp. Ric. II. "eodem die circa horam terciam post horam nonam dicti diei," is rendered in French, "a trois de la Clok apres noune." cupies a very conspicuous place in Domesday. From that venerable record it appears that William divided the lordship amongst four great proprietors. The Archbishop of York held an estate, to which was attached the half share of one mill, the site of another, two salt pits, and half a slaughter-house. The Bishop of Bayeux had an estate assigned to him here, with a manor-house, one hundred and eighty acres of meadow, and the half part of a mill. Hugh, the son of Baldrick, was another proprietor who possessed a domain in Stallingborough, with five tofts, and a retinue of servants. He held also two mills and a half, two salt-pits, and two hundred acres of meadow. Norman de Adreci had several hundred acres of land here under the cultivation of the plough, with four hundred acres of imeadow, half the advowson of the church, the site of a mill, and two salt-pits. This property was tallaged at twenty shillings. The lordship of Stallingborough subsequently centered in the Ayscoghes, a family of great opulence and distinction in this county, who maintained a noble establishment here, and exercised the rites of old English hospitality for many centuries. Another branch of and a third resided in the borough of the same family had a Hall at Kelsey, Grimsby. Of the last the following This word, in the sense of a repose at noon, is found in the Dictionaries; but it is used in some parts of Kent for a repast at that time. |