2»* S. No 65., Mar. 28. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



257 



Filiiis Populi (2"'' S. iil. 107. 158.) — May not 

 the distinction between registering a child as 

 baseborn or as child of the people consist in this : 

 that in the first case the paternity is known and 

 acknowledged, and not in the second case ? The 

 extract from the register of Lawrence Waltham, 

 given by Lord Bratbrookb, though at first 

 sight it seems adverse to this view, may on 

 second thoughts be held to confirm it. The mo- 

 ther had sworn, says the note, that John Ford 

 was the father ; but this being probably denied 

 by Ford, the child is entered as having the ge- 

 neral public only for father. Stilites. 



This phrase is well known to lawyers, and has 

 always been used to signify a bastard. In Termes 

 de la Ley^ supposed to have been written by Wil- 

 liam Rastal, a judge of the Court of Common 

 Pleas in the reign of Queen Mary, it is said : 



" Bastard is he that is born of any woman not married, 

 so that his father is not known by order of law — et pur 

 <xo il est dit Filius Populi." — Tit. Bastard. 



Nulliusfilius was used to signify the same thing. 

 (Litt. s. 188.) Lord Coke adds these lines : 



" Cui pater est populus, pater est sibi nullus et omnis, 

 CiH pater est populus, non habet ille patrem : " 



which are thus translated in the English version of 

 Termes de la Ley, tit. Mulier : 



" To whom the People Father is, 

 To him is Father none and all, 

 To whom the People Father is, 

 Well fatherless we may him call." 



J. W. Phillips. 



Haverfordwest. 



Leaning Towers and Spires (2°* S. iii. 18. 175.) 

 — Among the leaning spires I do not observe 

 that any of your correspondents have mentioned 

 one which is probably the most remarkable in the 

 kingdom. In the fens of Lincolnshire lies the old- 

 world town of Spalding, which could not keep up 

 with the railway, and so has been left behind. 

 Its old church is a fine one, but the spire leans, 

 and will probably ere long tumble down, unless 

 the sleepy old folks there bestir themselves. They 

 ought to repair the church they have, and also to 

 build a new one. But four miles off stands Sur- 

 fleet, which is indeed a singular object. The 

 foundation seems to have sunk, probably on ac- 

 count of the marshy ground, and the whole steeple 

 leans in a frightful way to the west. But there is 

 no danger of its falling. .A hundred years ago 

 old Mr. Buckwater, who lived near, always used 

 to get off his horse while passing Surfleet Church, 

 but there it stands as stout as ever. P. D. P. 



Archbishops Abbot and Sheldon (2"* S. iii. 207.) 

 — 'For information respecting these two prelates 

 I beg to refer Mr. Wynen to the Biographia 

 Britannicaf and Chalmers's Biographical Dic- 



tionary, and the works mentioned therein. Being 

 public characters, many notices of them are to be 

 met with in various works treating of the times in 

 which they lived. Archbishop Abbot's life in the 

 Biographia Britannica was reprinted with some 

 additions and corrections in 8vo. at Guildford, 

 1777, with his character, by the Right Hon. Ar- 

 thur Onslow, late Speaker of the House of Com- 

 mons ; a description of the hospital which he 

 erected and endowed in his native town of Guild- 

 ford, in Surrey ; correct copies of the Charter and 

 Statutes of the same, his will, &c. ; lives of his two 

 brothers, Dr. Robert Abbot, Bishop of Salisbur3', 

 and Sir Morris Abbot, Knt., Lord Mayor of Lon- 

 don. The book contains five copper-plates, and 

 is now very scarce. The archbishop was never 

 married. W. H. W. T. 



Somerset House. 



First Actress and First Scene (2°* S. iii. 206.) 

 — It seems generally admitted that Mrs. Coleman, 

 who represented " lanthe " in D'Avenant's Siege 

 of Rhodes in 1656, was the first actress who ap- 

 peared upon the stage. 



The use of scenes, however, was known before 

 the time mentioned in Mr. R. W. Hackwood's 

 Query, as is shown by the following extract from 

 Evelyn's Diary, under date May 5, 1659 : 



" I went to my brother in London, and next day to see 

 a new opera after ye Italian waj- in recitative music and 

 sceanes, much inferior to the Italian Composure and mag- 

 nificence ; but it was prodigious that in a time of such 

 publiq consternation such a vanity should be kept up or 

 permitted." 



The opera referred to was the — 



" Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, expressed by vocal 

 and instrumental music and by art of perspective and 

 scenes, by Sir W. D'Avenant, represented daily at the 

 Cockpit inDrury Lane at 3 o'ck in the afternoon punctu- 

 ally." 1658. 



I have somewhere seen it stated that "Ann 

 Marshall " was the first actress on the stage, and 

 that the part was " Desdemona," but for this I 

 have mislaid my authority. It is likely that both 

 the ladies named, as well as Miss Saunders (after- 

 wards Mrs. Betterton) appeared very nearly at the 

 same time. Charles Wylie. 



Two Turkey ses (2"^ S. iii. 168.) — In the Cor- 

 respondence of Bishop Bedell, chap, iv., when 

 treating of " Fraud and Corruption in alledging 

 Councils, Fathers, and Doctors," he states : 



" The King's Letters to the Duke of Espernon of this 

 Victory, were blown over France, sent to Kome, printed 

 with a Discourse thereabout, set forth at Antwerp, and 

 translated into English, with some alterations and Tur- 

 keysing by F. Parsons," &c. 



John Hussand. 



Berwick. 



DeviVs Seat, Yarmouth (2°'' S. iii. 150.) — The 

 seat to which reference is here made is at Great 



