2'"' S. VII. Mai^ 26. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



259 



Cambridge University MSS. — 1. Are the MSS. 

 of the University Library of Cambridge open to 

 strangers ? 



2. If open, on what days, and what time of the 

 day ? 



3. Are MSS. allowed to be copied ? 



4. To whom is application for admission to be 

 made, and where is he to be addressed ? 



5. Is any testimonial, like that at the British 

 Museum, necessary ? Bertrand du Guesclin. 



[The University Library at Cambridge is not open to 

 strangers without special permission in each case. Stran- 

 gers are occasionally permitted to use the library, includ- 

 ing the MSS., and to copy them. All applications for 

 such permission must be addressed to the Vice- Chancel- 

 lor, and should be accompanied by testimonials.] 



Thomas Atkinson's " Homo" — In Harl. MS. 

 6925. is a Latin tragedy Homo, by Thomas At- 

 kinson of St. John's College, Oxford. Can you 

 inform me where the scene is laid, and whether it 

 appears to have been acted ? R. Inglis. 



[The scene is laid partly upon earth, and partl3' in 

 Olympus. The story is that of Prometheus (vide Lem- 

 priere). It is dedicated to Abp. Laud : " Quod si placu- 

 erit Tu£B Reverential facili Candoris fronte banc meam 

 npoTOfirjv aspicere, derivatum fulgorem quasi k Lucis radio 

 illustrata fwlicissimfe contrahet."] 



Robert the Bruce. — What is the exact date of 

 the birth of Robert I., and where was he born ? 



J.M. 



Edinburgh. 



[Robert the Bruce was born July II, 1274. — The Bruce, 

 by John Barbour, edit. 1790, i. 5G ; and Kerr's Hist, of 

 Scotland, i. p. xlvi.] 



Walter Frost. — My copy of Joannis Miltoni 

 Angli pro Populo Anglicano Defensio, 8fc. edit. 

 1651, has this autograph, " Gualter Frost, ex dono 

 Authoris." Who was this Frost ? L. of L. 



[Gualter Frost was Secretary to the Commonwealth 

 Parliament, and Licenser of the Press.] 



Burial of a Clergyman. — The pastor of a neigh- 

 bouring parish, lately deceased, was buried with 

 his head towards the East, exactly the reverse 

 position to that in which laymen are usually 

 buried ; the reason given was, that at the resur- 

 rection he might be ready to face his people. I 

 should like to know more about this bit of folk 

 lore. J. Eastwood. 



Derb3'shire. 



[Tradition authorises the expectation that our Lord 

 will appear in the East ; therefore all the faithful dead are 

 buried with their feet towards the East to meet Him. 

 Hence in Wales, the East wind is called " The wind of 

 the dead men's feet." The Rev. R. S. Hawkeb of Mor- 

 wenstow, in our 1" S. ii. 408., requested illustrations of the 

 usage of the burial of ecclesiastics the reverse of the secu- 

 lar dead. In the same volume (p. 452.) our learned cor- 

 respondent R. G. stated he believed there was no earlier 

 authority for the sacerdotal privilege than a rule contained 

 in the Rituale Romanum sanctioned by Pope Paul V. in 

 June, 1614.] 



Dress in the Time of Charles 7. — Thos. Taylor, 

 in his Progress of Saints to full Holiness, 1631 

 (p. 121.), warns his readers against "strange 

 fashions" : — 



" How hath God visited the late strange fashion and 

 coulorof j'ellow ruffs, both in the deviser and first wearers ; 

 on which God hath cast special reproach, that in scorn 

 not only chimney-sweepers, but hangmen in their office, 

 take it np." 



Taylor probably refers to the notorious robber, 

 MuU'd Sack (John Cottington), under whose por- 

 trait, in whimsical costume, are eight lines : — 



" My feather and my yelloiv band accord to prove me 

 courtier." 



Query, Were these ruffs much worn ? To what 

 part of the person were they attached ? Mother 

 Louse, of Louse Hall, wore "a ruffe" round her 

 neck. But, query, was it yellow ? 



" Is it at me, or at my ruff, you titter? 

 Your grandfather, you rogue, ne'er wore a fitter," &c. 

 See Granger's Hist, of Eng., iv. 217. 



George OrroB. 



[In the reign of James I. the ruff worn round the neck 

 was stiflFened with yellow starch. This fashion was in- 

 troduced from France by Mrs. Turner, a physician's widow, 

 who was afterwards executed at Tyburn for poisoning 

 Sir Thomas Overbury. " Mrs. Turner," says the author 

 of The History of the First Fourteen Years of King James 

 I., 1651, "was sentenced to be hanged at Tiburn in her 

 yellow tiffanj', ruff, and cuffs, she being the first inventor 

 and wearer of that horrid garb. Were there now in these 

 dales the like upon such notorious black-spotted faces, 

 naked breasts and backs, no doubt but that ugly fashion 

 would soon there end in shame and detestation, which is 

 now too vainly followed. For never since the execution 

 of her in that yellow ruff and cuffs, there hanged with 

 her, was ever any seen to wear the like." This writer, 

 however, is not quite correct, for the execution of Anne 

 Turner did not turn them out of fashion. Sir Simonds 

 D'Ewes, in his Diary, speaking of the short progress of 

 James I. from Whitehall to Westminster, Jan. 20, 1620-1, 

 informs us, " that the King looking up to one window as 

 he passed, full of gentlewomen or ladies, all in yellow 

 bands, he cried out aloud, ' A pox take ye ! are ye there ? ' 

 At which being much ashamed, they all withdrew them- 

 selves suddenly from the window." In Thomas Killi- 

 grew's Parson's Weddhig, 1664, he alludes to the time 

 [James 1.1 when "yellow starch and wheel vardingales 

 were cried down." But in a play. The Blind Lady, 

 printed as late as 1661, a serving-man says to a chamber- 

 maid : " You had once better opinions of me, though now 

 you wash every day your best handkerchief in yellow 

 starch."] 



County Arms. — May I ask whether the inform- 

 ation I lately received is correct, that the fifteen 

 balls thus placed, 



o 



o o 



coo 



coco 



o 



o 



o 



and frequently to be seen in Cornwall, are the 

 arms of that county ? If so, can any cause or 

 historical circumstance be assigned for this ? Also, 



