82 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'><> S. yil, Jan. 29. 'SJT. 



service should be performed ; and in this case the 

 old stalls might be brought into actual use. Thus, 

 after a lapse of three hundred years, the clergy 

 and choir would find themselves occupying the 

 very seats of their pious predecessors ; and then 

 once more in that old, deep, chancel might the 

 grand, solemn, music of the church be heard to 

 resound as if those three hundred years had been 

 but a dream. 



The neighbouring church, Shorne, near Gad's 

 Hill, has been treated even worse than that of 

 Cobham. The chancels are cut up and partitioned 

 off for the purposes of parochial schools, and a 

 small brass is thus included in the portion allotted 

 to the girls, thereby enduring much wear and 

 tear. The chancel-screen is thrown back and 

 whitewashed ; and to crown all there are fresco- 

 paintings on the wall entirely covered with white- 

 wash. Of this I was informed by the clerk, an 

 intelligent man, and who seemed to lament the 

 perversion of everything that was church-like in 

 the sacred edifice. The whitewash of the interior 

 is varied by huge black stripes running round the 

 arches, and everywhere else, according to the taste 

 of the restorers, whose labours are duly recorded 

 in the usual inscription, which mocks the reader 

 by telling him that church was " beautified " and 

 repaired, instead of being spoiled. 



The extraordinary passion evinced for white- 

 wash in so many of our old churches can only be 

 accounted for in two ways : it arises either from 

 gross ignorance of the commonest principles of 

 decorative art, or else from a Puritanical hatred 

 of everything that is symbolical and beautiful in 

 the house of prayer and praise, and a determina- 

 tion to wipe away everything which shall remind 

 us of the ancient glories of the old English 

 churches which the zeal and piety of our fore- 

 fathers have left us, not merely as mementos of 

 themselves, but as legacies, with which any tam- 

 pering is little less than sacrilege. The age, how- 

 ever, of whitewash-churchwardens is past ; they 

 have had their day ; may it be long before ever 

 their reign returns ! 



I will close these remarks with a suggestion, 

 which, I think, would be found to work very ad- 

 vantageously in its results ; viz. that through the 

 medium of your pages there should be established 

 an exchange of rubbings of brasses. It frequently 

 happens that one is anxious to form a collection of 

 these interesting memorials, but yet cannot spare 

 the necessary time to visit churches at a distance ; 

 but by the system of cooperation which I will ex- 

 plain, a person may possess a valuable series of 

 rubbings without the expense of journeying be- 

 yond his own locality. The plan 1 would suggest 

 is, that a column in "N. & Q." should be opened, 

 similar to that proposed by Mr. Gabstin, in which 

 anyone desirous of obtaining a rubbing of a dis- 

 tant brass may signify his want, and at the same 



time state what rubbing he will give in exchange. 

 Thus — 



I intend this not merely as an example, but as 

 a bona fide offer, in which I shall have much plea- 

 sure in fulfilling my part. It should always be 

 premised that the labour be equally divided; that 

 is, that the rubbings exchanged be of equivalent 

 size, or if circumstances do not admit of this, then 

 that three or four small rubbings be judged a 

 return for one large specimen, according to the 

 exigencies of each case : but I do not anticipate 

 any difficulty on this score. 



William Henet Hart. 

 Folkestone House, 

 Roupell Park, Streatham, S. 



fox's " marttrologt." 



A reference in a recent number of " N. & Q." 

 (2°^ S. vii. 39.) led me to look at an article in the 

 Edinburgh Review (vol. Ixxxv. No. 172. for April, 

 1847), on the subject of " The Marian Exiles."" 

 The reviewer, having occasion (at p. 416.) to men- 

 tion the small volume which is commonly con- 

 sidered as the original or first edition of Fox's 

 Martyrology, and stated some particulars respect- 

 ing its history, goes on to say : — 



*' The book, thus limited in subject, is a small 8vo. 

 volume, 6 inches by 3^, and contains 212 numbered 

 leaves, with seven leaves of title-page and dedication, 

 which are not numbered. It was printed at Strasburgh, 

 by Wendelin liihelius, and was dedicated, on the 31st 

 August, 1554, to Christopher Duke of Wirtemburg." 



To this the reviewer appends the following 

 note : — 



" The title-page runs thus : ' Commentarii rerum in 

 ecclesia gestarum, maximarumque, per totam Europam, 

 persecutionum a Vuicleui temporibus ad banc usque seta- 

 tern Descriptio. Liber primus Autore Joanne Foxo Anglo. 

 Hiis in calce accesserunt Aphorismi Joannis Vuicleui, 

 cum coUectaneis quibusdam, lleginaldi Pecoki Episcopi 

 Cicestrensis. Item, oiri,a-Toypa<l)Ca quasdam ad Oxonienses. 

 Argentorati. Excudebat Yuendelinus Rihelius. Anno 



SLD.UIII.' " 



After some farther remarks, he adds : — 



" Such is the history of the first design, and of the 

 first-published portion of Foxe's ultimately ponderous 

 work. The particulars we have stated are not to be 

 found in the works of our bibliographers, which may be 

 accounted for by the extreme rarity of the little book to 

 which they relate. There are copies of it, however, in 

 the British Museum, and at the Bodleian, and a copy was 

 recently secured for the library of her Majesty ; but few 

 books of that particular period are, on the whole, more 

 difficult to be met with." 



