Feb. 28. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



2or 



Parish Registers (Vol. iv., p. 473. ; Vol. v., pp. 

 36. 141.). — Notwithstanding the high legal tone 

 which pervades the replies you have received on 

 Parish Registers, I cannot acquiesce in the con- 

 clusion that " the genealogical or archasological 

 inquirer has in general no right to inspect," much 

 less to copy, the Register Books. What object 

 could there be in enforcing the keeping and pre- 

 servation of registers by the officiating ministers, 

 even under the pain of transportation for fourteen 

 years of any person wilfully injuring them, and 

 the cost to parishes for providing iron chests, 

 except it be " for the inspection of persons desir- 

 ous to make search therein, and obtain copies from 

 and out of the same." (52 Geo. III. cap. 146.) 

 And by the act just quoted, the minister and the 

 public are bound with regard to fees due on search- 

 ing, and for copies. He is entitled " to all due 

 legal and accustomed fees on such occasions, and 

 all powers and remedies for recovery thereof." 

 And by the 49th section of a more recent Regis- 

 tration Act (6 &7 Wm. IV.), registers of baptisms 

 and burials may still be kept, and, by inference, 

 the fees are included ; because by tlie 35th section 

 the fees for the examination of the registers created 

 by this last act are defined ; but then they apply 

 only to those registers, the power of that act being 

 only prospective, not retrospective. 



The following note, made many years ago, from 

 Phillip's Law of Evidence (which, from the num- 

 ber of editions it has passed through, must be sup- 

 posed to be a work of considerable weight), will 

 probably set the question at rest, as he refers to 

 adjudged cases : 



" Parish registers are public books, and persons In- 

 terested in them have a right to inspect and take copies 

 of such parts as relate to their interest. — Geery r. Hop- 

 kins, 2 Lord Rat/m. 850. ; Warriner v. Giles, 2 Stra. 

 9,54. ; Mayor of Lond. v. Swinhead, 1 Barnardist. 

 454." 



The reply, therefore, to the Query of D, (Vol. Iv., 

 p. 474.) seems to be, that any person has a right to 

 consult the parish registers, not gratuitously, but 

 on payment of the accustomed fee. 



H. T. Ellacombe. 



Clyst St. George. 



It may be of use to D (Rotherfield), to be 

 referred to the Justice of the Peace for 31st 

 January, 1852, wherein, at p. 76., he will find an 

 opinion given, that, for the search the cler- 

 gyman has a right to charge Is. and no more, 

 whatever may be the number of names, unless the 

 search extended over a period of more than one 

 year, when he would be entitled to Qd. extra for 

 every additional year, Regedonum. 



Ornamental Hermits (Vol. v., p. 123.). — Some 

 fancy of this kind at Mr. Weld's of Lulworth 

 Castle, in Dorsetshire, exaggerated or highly 

 coloured by O'Keefe, was supposed to afford the 



title and principal incident of his extravagant 

 but laughable comedy of The London Hermit; or, 

 Rambles in Dorsetshire, first played in 1793, with 

 great success, and revived (cut down to a two-act 

 farce) in 1822. I, too, have heard the story as 

 told of Mr. Hamilton and Payne's Hill ; but I a 

 little doubt It, because In the elaborate and some- 

 what pompous description of Payne's Hill there i$ 

 no mention of the Hermitage ; and when I saw it 

 as a show place a great many years ago, I saw no 

 building of that description ; but, after all, this 

 may have been the original story which O'Keefe 

 transported into Dorsetshire. C. 



Collars of SS. (Vol. v., pp. 81. 183.). — Allow 

 me to correct one or two errors into which your 

 correspondent H. L. has fallen. 



In the first place, my letter was not intended 

 (nor, I conceive, was that of your correspondent 

 Llewellyn) either to support a favourite theory, 

 or to combat a long-established prejudice; but 

 simply to furnish a contribution to Ma. Foss's list 

 of monumental effigies decorated with this " much- 

 vext" ornament. 



As to the mistakes (If mistakes they be) which 

 H. L. assumes, they are not mine, but those of 

 persons whose authority on these subjects H. L. 

 (like the celebrated reviewer who criticised Pin- 

 dar's Greek without knowing it) might find it 

 awkward to impugn. 



I may as well Inform him, by the way, that the 

 corf de mailles, which originally covered the whole 

 head, as a sort of cowl, was diminished in size until 

 it became little more than a gorget of mail ; and 

 appears at last to have formed a portion of the 

 hauberk. The name also changed its orthography: 

 passing, as has been suggested, through the inter- 

 vening stage of cap-mail, until it was corrupted 

 Into camail. There Is, therefore, no ground for 

 " assuming" the ignorance of persons who use the 

 original, instead of the corrupted form of a word. 



Perhaps H. L. has never heard of a helmet being 

 worn over a bascinet. I can furnish him with a 

 few Instances of monumental effigies where both 

 appear. He should study the monument In ques- 

 tion before he pronounces the use of the word 

 " helmet " to be a mistake. 



I would suggest to H. L. that the next time he 

 appears In your pages he had better append his 

 name in full, that those whom he assails may be 

 better able to judge of the value of his criticism. 



I will only add that It is hardly fair to "assume" 

 that a man has never studied a subject which has 

 been his hobby for thirty years ; and who might be 

 able to prove, by ocular demonstration, that he 

 has " studied " more monumental effigies than 

 H, It. probably ever dreamt of. Lewis Evans. 



Herschel Anticipated (Vol. Iv., p. 233., &c.). — It 

 was not Herschel's discoveries relative to the sun's 

 motion, but his theory relative to its physical 



