532 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 136, 



At p. 163. the Discurs {us} Modest [ms] de 

 Jesuit, referred to, and occupying several pages of 

 discussion in the " N. & Q." in the early volumes, 

 is certainly the Latin version of A Sparing Dis- 

 coverie of our ISnglish Jesuits, 4to., Franc. 1601, 

 pp. 70, and to be found in the Catalogue of the 

 J3ritish Museum^ under " Jesu Societas." 



EUPATOB. 



ANCIENT GUILDHALLS IN ENGLAND. 



If a history of the ancient Guildhalls of England 

 could be compiled, it would form an interesting 

 volume ; as the ancient fabrics wherein our fore- 

 fathers met to transact their civic affairs may 

 almost be said to have symbolised the status of 

 the municipalities in which they stood at various 

 epochs of their history. Our old English boroughs 

 cannot boast the possession of halls equal to the 

 Hotels de Ville of Belgium or France, or the 

 Math-hdusen of Germany. We cannot show in 

 this country edifices equal to the Hotel de Ville 

 of Brussels, or Aix-la-Chapelle, or Rouen, in 

 point of architectural extent or beauty ; or of 

 Katisbon, or other German towns, in point of 

 venerable and antique interest. But we have 

 buildings yet standing among us which, if less 

 imposing in their exteriors, are nevertheless asso- 

 ciated with historic memories of no common 

 order, and secondary in this respect to none of 

 the grander town-halls of ancient Flanders. 



The guildhall of Leicester cannot boast of any 

 outside show. It is plain to meanness in this 

 respect ; it is on one side a mere barn in appear- 

 ance ; yet it has its claim on the attention of the 

 antiquary. 



The first distinct mention of a guildhall in 

 Leicester is in a small charter, executed in the 

 mayoralty of Peter Rogerson. From this it ap- 

 pears that in 1250 William Ordriz, the son of 

 Stephen, conveyed to the mayor and burgesses a 

 building which became the guildhall. The deed 

 is endorsed Charta de la Gild Salle. It contained 

 three bays of buildings, was twenty yards in 

 length, and about eight yards from front to back. 

 It had solars, cellars, and dungeons. There was 

 then an older fabric, known as the guildhall, 

 which was conveyed to a private townsman in the 

 year 1275. The hall, of which the corporation 

 became the possessors in 1250, remained in use 

 until the reign of Elizabeth, and even at intervals 

 until the date of the Commonwealth, being some- 

 times called the old Moot Hall, and at others the 

 " Old Shop." 



Anterior to the Reformation two religious 

 guilds had halls, known as St. George's and 

 Corpus Christi Halls. When these fraternities 

 ■were dissolved, the buildings remained ; one near 

 the east of St. Martin's church, the other near its 

 western extremity. The first of these fell into 



entire disuse and decay ; while the latter. Corpus^ 

 Christi Hall, gradually superseded as a civic edi- 

 fice the old Moot Hall. I have found in the hall 

 books of the borough of Leicester entries as early 

 as the 10th of Henry VIII., in which the hall of 

 Corpus Christi Guild is referred to as the occa- 

 sional place of meeting of the municipal body. 

 A deed, bearing date the 5th of Elizabeth, states 

 that the queen had conveyed the hall to Cecily 

 Pickerell of Norwich, widow, who reconveyed it 

 to the recorder of Leicester, Braham, evidently as 

 the representative of the mayor and burgesses, 

 not then formally incorporated. 



Meanwhile, the old hall seems to have served as 

 a lock-up or gaol, and was finally sold in 1653 to 

 a maltster, who would undoubtedly convert the 

 roomy old structure into a malt-house. 



The Corpus Christi Hall would appear to have 

 been enlarged when it was fairly in the hands of 

 the civic authorities, not only in the reign of 

 Elizabeth (about the year 1586), but in that of 

 Charles I. Many particulars about the building 

 will be found in the Handbook of Leicester. 



The guildhall of Leicester is within one of the 

 most picturesque old structures of the country, 

 and is well described by your correspondent Kt. 

 As you enter, its rude rafters rise directly from 

 the ground on either hand, and embrace over the 

 head of the visitor, forming pointed arches. As 

 you advance along the floor the beams widen, 

 and the Tudor timbering and architectural detail 

 are clearly discernible ; two staples still remaining 

 on one of the braces, which tradition says sus- 

 tained the scenery of the players in the time- 

 when theatrical performers were allowed to act 

 there, and when even Shakspeare figured In the 

 histrionic group. Having reached the western 

 end you find yourself in front of the bench on 

 which the mayor and magistrates sit to dispense 

 justice, the ancient gilded frame for the mace 

 (now tenantless) surmounting the chief magis- 

 trate's chair. The rich old mantelpiece of the 

 mayor's parlour, and the fragments of painted 

 glass in its windows, enhance and complete the 

 antiquarian attractions of this relic of Edwardia» 

 and Elizabethan architecture. Jayteb. 



THE SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON. 



Amongst the oddities which cross our path, I re- 

 collect one which, at the time it occurred, caused na 

 small surprise to the young, of which I then was 

 one. I think It must be about forty-six years ago, a 

 man travelled about Hampshire professing to cure 

 the blind, sick, and lame ; and although he did not 

 belong to the medical order, yet numerous cures 

 were attributed to him, and he had quite a collec- 

 tion of crutches and walking-sticks, left by his 

 patients, who, it was said, no longer required his 



