34 



NOTES AND <iUEmES. 



[2"« S. VIII. July 9. '59. 



feet is a white antelope sejant, gorged and chained, 

 or. I am therefore inclined to think that the 

 antelope when found alone is the badge of 

 Henry VI. 



I shall be glad to hear of examples of this (0 

 any other king, not a saint, being painted on the 

 walls of a church, as I believe such figures are of 

 rare occurrence. The parish where the example 

 I have quoted was found was held of the Duchy 

 of Lancaster, which accounts, I think, for this 

 Lancastrian prince being set up in the church ; 

 or it may have been placed there for devotional 

 purposes by some of those who were favourable 

 to his canonisation, which was not however ef- 

 fected, either through lack of testimony to his 

 piety, or through unwillingness on the part of 

 Henry VII. to pay the cost, the sum of which, 

 according to Fuller, amounted to " fifteen hun- 

 dred duckets of gold." 



" Tantse molis erat Romanam condere sanctum." 



G. W. W. M. 



Who wrote Gil Bias ? (2"* S. v. 515.; vii. 525.) 

 — It is singular that neither of your correspon- 

 dents, Uneda nor Eric, refer to or appear to 

 know of an able article, " Who wrote Gil Bias?" 

 which is in Blackwood's Magazine^ No. 344. G. 

 Edinburgh. 



Coffins (2"'» S. vii. 516.) — The coffin of Joseph 

 is exceptional as regards the Jews, who for forty 

 years carried it in their wanderings (Gen. 1. 26. ; 

 Exod.xiii.l9.; Josh.xxiv. 32.). The Hebrew ptX, 

 aron^ means not only a coffin, but any other chest, 

 as the ark of the covenant (Gen. 1. 26. ; Exod. 

 XXV. 14.). " A box or coffin for the dead wg,s 

 not used," says Jahn {Bib. Antiq. s. 205.), " ex- 

 cept in Babylon and Egypt." And not more than 

 one in ten, according to Belzoni, were buried in 

 coffins in Egypt {Egypt. Antiq. ii. 128. L. E. K.). 

 The wood thereof was Egyptian fig sycamore {Id. 

 ii. 129.). " The last covering for the body [in 

 addition to the coffin] was a sarcophagus of stone, 

 which, as it would cause an additional and heavy 

 expense, could only, we suppose, be used for kings 

 and wealthy people" {Id. ii. 133.). The sole 

 covering of the Jewish corpse was the oOouta, 



grave-clothes ; "" •<", kefen, in Arabic (John 



xix. 40.). The Babylonian Gemara on the 

 Mishna (Beracoth iii. 1.) speaks of the bones of 

 the dead removed from one place to another as 

 not being allowed to be carried in a sack or on 

 the back of an ass, to be sat upon, except in case 

 of apprehension from the Goim (gentiles) or bri- 

 gands {W^D7=\ricral). Compare 1 Kings xiii. 

 29. The corpse was to be conveyed on a {(rophs) 

 bier, or open chest (Luke vii. 14.), similar, pro- 

 bably, to those in use by the modern Egyptians, 

 as described and figured by Lane (ii. 290. 296.). 



To the Egyptians may be ascribed originally our 

 embalmments, grave-clothes, coffins, and sarco- 

 phagi. 



Sir Gardiner Wilkinson thinks our word coffin 



is derived from the Arabic ^, kef en, grave- 

 clothes ; but this cannot be whilst we find in 

 French coffin, a round high basket, and coffre, a 

 chest; in Italian, cofano, a basket, chest, or trunk, 

 derived immediately from the Latin cophinus and 

 Greek K6(t>ivos, a basket of twigs. The art of 

 basket-making probably preceded in England • 

 and elsewhere the art of carpentry. The ancient 

 mode of preserving our writs was in a hamper, as 

 in the hanaper office of the Court of Chancery. 

 The English word basket and the thing itself were 

 borrowed by the Romans : — r 



" Barbara de pictis veni bascauda Britannis : 

 Sed me jam mavult dicere Roma suam." 



3Iartial, xiv. 99. 



T. J. BUCKTON. 



Lichfield. 



Randolph Family (2°* S. viii. 12.) — To the in- 

 quiries of your correspondent J. S. M. after the 

 family of Randolph, the few following particulars 

 of the Norfolk branch may be of some assistance, 

 and which it is not improbable may, by a strict 

 investigation, be discovered to have been the 

 founders of that noble race. 



From Blomefield we learn Rannulf was prior 

 of Norwich in 1160; and on the same authority 

 we find Ranulf was Dean of Thetford in 1175. 

 During the four succeeding centuries there are 

 numerous references to the livings and manors 

 possessed in the county by that family. 



Thomas, who died about 1680, appears to have 

 been the last of the family in Norfolk : he was 

 possessed of the manors and lands in Pulham St. 

 Mary. Henry, his son, went to Ireland, where 

 he probably joined his relatives, and was there at 

 the time of his mother's death, Jan. 2, 1692. 



Elizabeth, his daughter, married under the 

 Commonwealth ; and as the then existing forms 

 have not been noticed in your pages, the following 

 extract from the registers of the parish of St. Cle- 

 ment's Fye bridge, Norwich, is subjoined. Mar- 

 ried : — 



" Henry Daveney and Elizabeth Randolph, both single, 

 in the Clttie of Norwich. Their contract being published 

 at the Market Cross in the Cittie aforesaid, and no objec- 

 tion made against the same, were married by Thos. 

 Toftes, Esq', the 15 of May, 1659. 



" Testis — Johannes Scamber." 



Another daughter married Sayer Sayer, from 

 whom descended the late celebrated antiquary. 

 Dr. Sayer of Norwich. 



It has been observed, Elizabeth Randolph, the 

 mother, died while her son was in Ireland. In his 

 absence the grandson, Charles Daveney, took 

 charge of the funeral at Pulham ; the particulars 



