344 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'«i S. VII. April 23. '59. 



Piozzi at eighty, at persons who said they could 

 not see — only (so said the octogenarian at least) 

 because they did not know how to look. Mother 

 George, at the great age mentioned, injured her 

 back by a fall, and died, even more time-honoured 

 than that oft-cited Countess of Desmond, — 



"Who lived to the age of a hundred and ten, 

 And died of a fall from a cherry-tree then." 



Were the Oxford ale-tipplers at all like those 

 noticed by HoUinshed ? " They will drink," says 

 the chronicler, " till they be red as cocks, and 

 little wiser tlian their combs." When the old 

 Hall at BalHol had its central-fire, every member 

 of the University was entitled to spend one night 

 in the year there, if he chose, and be treated with 

 good cheese and bright ale, the condition, how- 

 ever, being that he should sing a song, tell a story, 

 or accomplish that anti-social feat, permission to 

 achieve which, in company, was, by special decree 

 of the Emperor Claudius, granted to every man. 

 Oxford scholars of Mother George's time were 

 not so nice as to care for the like authority for 

 the feat in question. J. Doran. 



WILLIAM CODDINGTON, ETC. 



(2°'> S. vii. 235.) 



William Coddington lived at Boston, co. Lin- 

 coln, England, before he went to America, if he 

 was not born there. On Friday, October 2, 1857, 

 being engaged in making a tour through Lincoln- 

 shire for the purposes of family research, I ex- 

 tracted (in Cotton's chapel) the following facts 

 from the Boston parish register : ' — 



"March 22, 1626, Mirhah[?] y° sonne of William 

 Coddington. [Buried]. 



" April 7, 1628, Samuell y" sonne of Willm Coddington. 

 [Baptized]. 



" June 30, 1629, Clarke fifortree [ ?] and Katheren Cod- 

 dington. [Married]. 



"Augt. 21, 1629, Samuell y<= sonne of Willm Codding- 

 ton. [Buried, sixteen months old."] 



This is the earliest mention I have met with 

 respecting the Coddington family. But I had 

 previously seen in some books on heraldry a coat 

 of arms purporting to belong to Coddington of 

 Gainsborough, co. Lincoln, as thus — Paly of six, 

 ar. and az. on a chief gu., a lion passant gardant 

 or. No crest recorded. If this were an ancient 

 grant, it occurred to me that possibly I might 

 trace something of the family at Gainsborough ; 

 so I proceeded thither. On Monday, October 12, 

 1857, I went over the Gainsborough register at 

 the vicarage ; from its commencement (1 think in 

 1564) down to 1636 inclusive, by which time the 

 Coddingtons had long been in America; but I 

 failed to discover any trace of the name. Prom 

 this I infer two things: 1. That William Cod- 

 dington had not belonged to Gainsborougli before 

 he lived at Boston ; and, 2. That the said armorial 



achievement cannot be fixed upon him. Neither 

 did I meet with the name of Coddington in the 

 Alford register, which I went over on Monday the 

 5th and Tuesday the 6th October, 1857, devoting 

 to it two hours the first day, and three the second. 

 I began with the beginning on the 19th April, 

 1561, and searched as before down to 1636 inclu- 

 sive. I found that William and Ann Hutchinson 

 had no less than thirteen children baptized at Al- 

 ford; that William was born August 14, 1586, 

 and that his father, Edward, was buried there, 

 February 14, 1631, which is forty-five years from 

 William's birth, during which long period he was 

 probably a resident at Alford. I also extracted 

 the following, to which I must again allude pre- 

 sently : — 



" 1629, EUena uxor Samuelis Sanforde, sepult, Jan. 20. 



" 1629, Samuel Sanforde, sepult, Feb. 20." 



Samuel dies but one month after his wife. I 

 take these to be the father and mother of John 

 Sanforde, who married Bridgetta Hutchinson, 

 daughter of William and Ann, baptized January 

 15, 1618, of whom hereafter Sanford bore ar. a 

 chief gu. No crest recorded. [I should much like 

 to know where William married his wife Ann 

 Marbury. Was it at Gresby ?] At Alford I also 

 observed that William Hutchinson was church- 

 warden in the years 1620 and 1621. We may 

 presume he was of the established church. 



The following facts referring to William Cod- 

 dington I have collected from Governor Hutchin- 

 son's History/, 1st edition : — 



March 18, 1630, he was at Southampton, with 

 others, preparing to embark for America, i. 16. 



He was on board the " Arbella " [sic] at Yar- 

 mouth, in the Isle of Wight I suppose, being near 

 Southampton, April 7, i. 489. The " Arabella " 

 sailed between the 7th and 10th April, and arrived 

 at Salem in Massachusetts on the 12th June, 1630, 

 i. 19, 20. 



At p. 18. (note) we have : — 



" Mr. Coddington was of Lincolnshire, zealous to a 

 great degree; was afterwards father of Rhode Island 

 Colony, where his zeal abated, and he promoted a general 

 toleration. He was many years their governor, and would 

 gladly have joined in confederacy with the other colonies, 

 but diflferent sentiments upon religion prevented." 



In 1631 he returned to England in the " Lyon" 

 to fetch his family, for he appears to have made 

 this first experimental trip without them, i. 24. 



Being in London in 1632, he wrote on the 4th 

 June to the Rev. John Cotton, vicar of Boston 

 (England), when he says : — 



" I am, I thank God, in bodily health, yet not enjoying 

 that freedom of spirit, being withheld from that place 

 which my soul desireth, and my heart earnestly worketh 

 after : neither, I think, shall 1 see it till towards the next 

 spring, my wife being with child, and all her friends un- 

 willing she should go in that condition." — i. 24. note. 



After apparently waiting for the birth of this 

 child he went out again, taking his family along 



