386 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



-F 



[No. 130. 



Sir William Dugdale, both Heralds like himself; 

 and with the latter he at length became most in- 

 timately connected bj marrying his daughter. 

 To them was also added, in his official capacity, 

 Sir William Glascock, a Master in Chancery. 

 Ti-edescant's widow, as may be imagined, did not 

 very quietly submit to this, as it seemed to her, 

 unjust decree; but all her endeavours at opposi- 

 tion were fruitless; she was constrained to yield; 

 and it seems probable that the depressing influence 

 of this struggle affected her so much as to cause 

 her death. She was found drowned in the pond 

 in the garden cultivated by her husband and his 

 father at South Lambeth, on the 3rd of April, 

 1678. 



Whatever may have been the legal or equitable 

 right of Ashmole, upon which the decree in Chan- 

 cery was founded, it is impossible for a generous 

 mind to come to any other conclusion than that 

 the course he pursued was unworthy of him as a 

 man of education, and of his wealth and station ; 

 for it must be obvious from the will of Tredescant, 

 that even supposing he had willingly and wittingly 

 made a deed of gift of his treasures to Ashmole, 

 and given him formal possession by handing over 

 tlie Queen Elizabeth's shilling, it is next to impos- 

 sible to believe that Ashmole did not know that he 

 repented that act, and wished to connect his own 

 name with the bequest to the University. Dr. 

 Hamel * is induced to think that many of Tredes- 



* Dr. Hamel sought in vain at the Ashmolean 

 Museum for some of the articles which the elder 

 Tredescant brought home from Russia ; among others, 

 for au article occurring at p. 46. of the Tredescant 

 C(ftalogue, described as " The Duke of Muscovy's vest, 

 wrought witli gold upon the breast and arms," which 

 hje thinks may have belonged to the Wojewode of 

 Archangel, Wassiljewitch Chilkow. He however 

 found nothing but the head of a Sea-diver, the remains 

 of a whole bird described by Tredescant as a " Gorara 

 or Colymbus from Muscovy : " the body seems to have 

 shared tlie same fate as that of the Dodo. Another 

 remarkal)le article occurring in the Catalogue is pointed 

 out by Dr. Hamel, viz. " Blood that rained in the Isle 

 of Wight, attested by Sir Jo. Oglander." This article, 

 had it been preserved, he thinks might have proved of 

 great scientific importance, as it is possible that it may 

 have been some of that meteoric red dust which is re- 

 corded in the Chronicle of Bromton as having fallen in 

 the Isle of Wight in the year 1 177. The words of the 

 Chronicle are: " Anno 1177 die Dominica post Pente- 

 costes sanguineus imber cecidit in insula de Whit, fere 

 per duas boras integras, ita quod panni linei per sepes 

 ad siccandum suspensi, rore illo sanguineo sic aspersi 

 fuerant acsi in vasoaliquo pleno sanguine mersi essent." 

 Sir John Oglander, whose attestation is mentioned, was 

 the immediate descendant of Richard de Okelander, 

 who came over with William tlie Conqueror. Tredes- 

 cant most probably became known to him when gar- 

 dener to the Duke of Buckingham, with whom Sir 

 John was joint commissioner for levies in Hampshire. 



cant's curiosities were never sent to Oxford ; that 

 there had been a careful suppression of every 

 written document which might serve to connect 

 the name of the Tredescants with the collection ; 

 and that the relation of the voyage to Russia only 

 escaped because it bore no mark by which it could 

 be recognised as Tradescant's. 



" The more we examine the Catalogue of the Museum 

 Tredescantianum," says Dr. Hamel, " the more we are 

 astonished that it was possible for these Gardeners (for 

 such, we see, is the modest denomination the younger 

 Tredescant assumes in his will) to got together so 

 many and such various objects of curiosity, and to be- 

 come the founders of the first collection of curiosities 

 of Nature and Art in England." 



Such men, and their endeavours to promote a 

 love for, and to advance natural science, deserved 

 at least to have had their names perpetuated with 

 their collection ; and whatever may be the merits 

 of Ashmole as an antiquary, notwithstanding I am 

 one of the fraternily, 1 must confess that although 

 he has some claim to consideration for having aug- 

 mented the collection, the Tredescants rank far 

 above him as benefactors of mankind. 



The mention, in the will of Robert and Thomas 

 Tredescant, of Walberswick, in the county of Suf- 

 folk, is, I think, decisive that the elder Tredescant 

 was an Englishman. In the relation of his voyage 

 to Russia he shows that he was familiar with the 

 aspect of the two adjoining counties of Essex and 

 Norfolk. Dr. Hamel has directed his inquiries 

 toward the registry of the church at Walberswick, 

 in which he was aided by Mr. Ellis of Southwold; 

 but unfortunately the existing register commences 

 a century too late, the first entry being of tiie year 

 1756. In Gardner's Historical Account of JDun- 

 wich, Bliihhurg, and Southioold, 1754, there are 

 notices of Walberswick, but the name of Tredes- 

 cant does not occur. 



I have just learned that the late Mb. Tkades- 

 CANT Lay claimed descent from the Tredescants ; 

 and it seems probable that it was through the 

 Mrs. Lea, to whom Ashmole paid the lOOl. on 

 account of Tredescant's bequest. Ashmole may 

 have written Lea for Lay, or the name, as often 

 happens, may have assumed the latter form in the 

 lapse of time. 



It is remarkable that Mr. Tradescant Lay was 

 the Naturalist attached to Beechey's expedition, 

 and published 2'he Voyage of the Uimmaleh. He 

 went subsequently to Cliina, on account of the 

 missions, but afterwards received an appointment 

 under the government (probably that of inter- 

 preter). In the year 1841 he put forth an inte- 

 resting little work, entitled The Chinese as they 

 are ; and he was at least worthy of the descent he 

 claimed. 



I have only to add, that I have not seen the 

 original will, or the documentary evidence in the, 

 suit in Chancery. Desirous of losing no time in this 



