462 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'>d S. VII. Junk 4. '59. 



name that he had made illustrious, and thus preventing 

 any doubt of their connexion with him. Of this we have 

 an instance before his death, in his preat-nephews, who 

 threw aside the name of their father. William Parrot, and 

 ■were admitted, under the name of VVykeham, as fellows 

 of the college which he founded. Another of his kindred, 

 John Fyvyan, made the same alteration ; so that we may 

 fairly conceive that the rest would adopt a course which, 

 while it gratified their renowned patron, would tend to 

 promote their own interests." 



" The Bishop mentions his father and mother only by 

 their christian names, John and Sybil; and we differ 

 from Dr. Lowth's inference, that their surname was there- 

 fore the same as his own. It seems to us that the omis- 

 sion rather shows a desire to avoid the revival of a name 

 that had been dropped. That his father's name was not 

 Wvkeham is proved by the almost contemporary testi- 

 mon}' of a pedigree in which Alicia is called the sister of 

 John Lnrige, the father of William Wykeham, Bishop of 

 Winchester. The same pedigree says that this John 

 Longe had a brother named Henry Aas ; a further proof 

 that members of the same family were then distinguished 

 by different surnames. Felicia Aas, one of this Henry's 

 daughters, is distinguished from the other nuns of Rom- 

 sey Abbey bj' a large legacj' in Wykeham's will. 



'" His parents were of good reputation and character, 

 but not sufficiently prosperous in their circumstances to 

 be able to advance the education of their son. His mother 

 was of gentle extraction, being the daughter of William 

 Bowade, whose wife was the daughter of William and 

 Amicia Stratton, of Stratton, near Selborne. The date of 

 their death is not mentioned; but that they and his 

 sister were buried in the church of Suthwyk Priory, not 

 far from Wykeham, appears from a payment made by the 

 Bishop's executors for the roof of the vault in which 

 their remains were deposited." — Archaol. Journal, iii. 221. 



D. S. 



CBBEMONl FOR THE SOULS OF THE SLAIN IN 

 BATTLE. 



(2"^ S. vii. 210. 322. 361.) 



With sincerity I can assure the Rev. Db. Todd 

 that I have the most profound respect for him, as 

 a scholar of great eminence, as a linguist, and for 

 the high character and position which he so ably 

 fills, and the world-wide reputation that he has 

 so justly earned for all the good qualities of our 

 nature. In April, 1856, at the opening of the 

 Session of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, Dr. 

 Todd read the opening address, on " The ancient 

 Golden Relics of Ireland " — an able paper, but 

 with which I had the misfortune to differ in points 

 of fact and historical records. My reply to that 

 paper appeared in the I'Vexford Independent news- 

 paper of the 10th and 24th May, and was copied 

 into almost all the Irish and many English and 

 Scotch journals. The late Mr. Hitchcock, of 

 Trinity College, Dublin (and many other gentle- 

 men) corresponded with me on that subject, and 

 Mr. Hitchcock requested copies of my paper, for 

 the Rev. Dr. Todd, but I could not furnish 

 him. I subsequently understood he procured 

 them. In the next bi-monthly number of the 

 Kilkenny Archceological Journal., Mr. Hitchcock 



had a paper on the same subject, and in sustain- 

 ment of his views he quoted my paper. (See the 

 Transactions.) My paper was freely criticised by 

 the press, and the unanimous opinion expressed 

 was, I had the " best of it ; " but whether I had 

 or not, the learned Doctor did not reply, one way 

 or other. It is true I never had any correspond- 

 ence directly with him, on that or any other sub- 

 ject ; but I am sure when these facts are laid 

 before him, his memory will be refreshed. I am 

 sure the Editor of " N. & Q." will kindly oblige 

 me, by inserting this explanation, in reference to 

 the first paragraph in the Rev. Doctor's last com- 

 munication. 



I confess that his reply, or explanation, (2"^ S. 

 vii. 361.) of the " two manifest errors" has not 

 shaken the opinion I had formed. In his original 

 note he says, in reference to the " Course of 

 Newcastle," — "That it was even then, in the 

 tenth century, used as a race course." I have 

 searched all the English dictionaries, but I have 

 failed to find any other meaning attached to a 

 " race course " than that which is known to the 

 public — "a place where horses run races for 

 prizes," &c. It is true the word horse was not 

 used by Dr. Todd ; but if every man in the three 

 kingdoms had the question put to him, " what is 

 a race course ? " the answer would be, " a place 

 where horses run races;" so that I am not sin- 

 gular in understanding the " race course" in the 

 same sense. By the way, the Newcastle Course 

 is not in the county of Clare, but in the county 

 of Limerick ; that error, however, of Dr. Todd's 

 was easily corrected. So much for the first error. 



With regard to the ceremony being connected 

 with the " rounds or stations," there is no " pro- 

 bability" at all that it was. Indeed, I have shown 

 that the " probabilities " are all against such a 

 supposition. If the " Stations " or " Rounds " 

 existed at tKat period, such were religious cere- 

 monies, and it is clear that the conquerors would 

 not mock such rites, by driving a crowd of women 

 to Imitate them, even in a manner to humiliate 

 and ridicule the women and their dead friends. 

 I pass over the other points of the learned Doc- 

 tor's " Note," with this remark. I do conscien- 

 tiously believe that the Rev. Dr. Todd would be 

 the last man on earth to speak " irreverently " of 

 any man's religion ; he is too high-minded, and 

 too well-known, for any one to suspect such a 

 thing. 



He confesses that he never met with, nor heard 

 of, such a ceremony before. Here, then, we are 

 agreed : but It is pretty certain that if such a 

 ceremony had any relation to, or connexion with, 

 the " rounds" or " stations," or any other rite, 

 Dr. Todd, in his wide researches and known 

 experience in ancient Irish literatui'e, could not 

 have passed It, if recorded; but not being re- 

 corded, of course shows It was no ceremony at 



