462 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd S. No 76., June 13. '67. 



[Magdalen Rackett's executor, George "Wilmot, 

 who was to have possession of " her white parch- 

 ment account book," of "George Laniont of Green 

 Street, Leicester Fields, Doctor of Physic, and 

 John Byfield of St. George the Martyr, organ 

 builder," the trustees for the issue of Robert 

 Rackett ? and are there no representatives of 

 Charles Rackett, Magdalen's grandson, or Robert 

 or George Rackett, her great grandchildren, who 

 were certainly living at Chester as late as 1779 ? 

 Some Chester correspondent of " N. & Q." may 

 find his reward in making searches in this direc- 

 tion. P. F. 



Alexander Pope, Broad Street. — It is stated in 

 the Illustrated News that the fact lately, as I sup- 

 posed, first made public that " Pope's father was a 

 merchant in Broad Street in 1677, has been a 

 patent fact for many years" and that Mr. Bolton 

 CoRNEY has the volume " containing the fact." 

 That Mr. Bolton Corney had the volume was 

 already known to the readers of " N. & Q." from 

 that gentleman's own mention of the circumstance 

 and reference to the work ; and we now know 

 that there is another copy in the Free Library at 

 Manchester; and that both, and probably other 

 copies, have been in somebody's possession these 

 180 years ; but until Mr. Hotten's correspondent 

 drew attention to the circumstance, it was not 

 known to me that therein was recorded, amongst 

 the residents in the city, " Alexand. Pope, Broad 

 Street." But even if known, this was a fact of no 

 significance or interest until the said Alexander 

 Pope of Broad Street was identified as the father 

 of the poet. There were other Alexander Popes 

 living at or about that time — one a tailor at 

 Stepney. This identification was first shown in 

 The AthencBum by, amongst other evidence, a copy 

 from St. Bennet-Fink, of the burial register of 

 Magdalen Pope, the first wife of the poeCs 

 father. I, however, who love to trace such 

 discoveries to their source, am curious to know 

 when this " patent fact " was first made public. 

 It was certainly not known to Mr. Carruthers, the 

 last of Pope's biographers ; it was not known, at 

 least I must believe so, to Mr. Cunningham, for, 

 fond as he is of recording all such matters, there 

 is no mention of it in his Handbook under the head 

 of Broad Street. In further proof that books may 

 be in possession, and books examined, and yet 

 facts of interest overlooked, I will mention that 

 Mr. Cunningham gives an account of celebrated 

 persons married, christened, and buried at St. 

 Bennet-Fink, and yet makes no mention of Mag- 

 dalen Pope. It is not likely, under these circum- 

 stances, that the "patent fact" about Pope's 

 father's residence in Broad Street was known to 

 him at the time that he compiled his Handbook. 



D. 



MONUMENTS IN BELGIUM. 



The ancient but now dismantled small fortress 

 of Lierre is situated within a short distance from 

 the village of Duffel, a station between Antwerp 

 and Malines in Belgium. From the earliest Ed- 

 wards it was intimately associated with English 

 history, and in later periods became a place of 

 refuge to many in their troubles. The subjoined 

 inscription is copied from a black marble slab, 

 inlaid with white lettering, lying in the north 

 aisle of the church of St. Gomer. This superb 

 church is singular from the clusters of columns, 

 parts of the former church at the west end, and 

 beautiful from the perfection of architecture 

 which prevailed in the fifteenth century. To this 

 must be added the unrivalled screen, a work of 

 art which defies description, and to which pictorial 

 delineation has hitherto failed to do sufficient 

 justice. 



The first and fourth quarterings of the shield 

 are worn off, and of the second and third the lions' 

 tails alone remain of the arms of England. No 

 means were left untried while a resident in the 

 country to procure the means to restore this mo- 

 nument, but every effort failed. It is to be 

 lamented a memorial to the memory of a noble- 

 man of the highest English rank should be left 

 where, under the most favourable circumstances, 

 it would be but little appreciated; but here an 

 imaginary convenience might suggest the removal 

 and application to purposes never contemplated, 

 and where ruthless hands are never wanting to 

 perpetrate wanton innovations. 

 « D. 0. M. 

 Monumentum 

 Nobilissimi Domini D. 

 Henrici Somerset 

 De Pauntley Court 

 Regali Vigorniensi 

 ProgenJe exorti 

 Piissimos habuit 

 Parentes Baronem 

 Joannem Somerset 

 et Mariam Arundelam 

 Comitissam 

 S. R. Imperii Comes 

 omnibus virtutibus 

 insignis obiit 



IX. Dec. M.D.CCVIIL 



R. I. P." 

 In the aisle of the chapel of the Archiepiscopal 

 College of Malines lie two tombstones, the only 

 monumental memorials, but worn perfectly plain ; 

 one was originally inscribed to the memory of 

 Lawrence Neesen, an eminent theologian, and 

 rector of the college. Beneath the other are de- 

 posited the remains of Peter Dens. The world- 

 wide reputation of this great Romanist author 

 makes every particular of his history acceptable 

 to his co-religionists in every country, and his 

 epitaph, conferred by the present rector, a boon 

 wherever his memory is revered. He was boru 



