2'HiS. Vm. July23,'o9.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



65 



cal prediction that he would be emperor), and for 

 carrying about a map of the earth on parchment, 

 and speeches of kings and generals extracted from 

 Livy. (Suet. Dom. 10.) The latter offence con- 

 sisted in a supposed ambition to be a king or 

 general. Vespasian had been cautioned against 

 the same person, in consequence of his having 

 this nativity. (Suet. Vesp. 14.) Bentivoglio, the 

 lord of Bologna, likewise subjected the celebrated 

 astrologer, Luca Gaurico, to five inflictions of the 

 torture called the strappado, for having predicted 

 that he would be expelled from his states. See 

 " N. & Q.," 2""^ S. iv. 353. L. 



MEMOBIALS TO THE TREASURY. 



The early correspondence and papers of the 

 Treasury now deposited at the Public Record 

 Office contain information of so varied and mis- 

 cellaneous a description, that there are but few 

 features of English History, either in its state or 

 diplomatic relations, or in its less important, but 

 not the less interesting incidents, which may not 

 meet with ample illustration from these docu- 

 ments. 



From a perusal over any extended period of the 

 correspondence addressed to the Treasury, or the 

 memorials and petitions presented to that Board, 

 it would appear that the community were in the 

 habit of asking the advice and assistance of the 

 Treasury upon all occasions, even the most tri- 

 vial ; hence arises the great mass of papers con- 

 taining detailed narratives of many private 

 grievances, and altogether forming a curious and 

 valuable illustration of. the domestic life and man- 

 ners of the English people. 



A large portion of the memorials consists of 

 applications for places under government, in which 

 the petitioners' claims, if any, are set forth, such 

 as the following : — 



" To the Rt Hono''i« the Lords Com" of their Maj«'«' 

 Tieasury. 

 " The humble Peticoa of Joha Baskett, 

 " Sheweth 



" That your Pef being the first that undertook to 



serve his Maj*'<= with Parchment Cartridges for his 



Maj*'" Fleet, by which meanes he saved his Maj"« 



severall thousand pounds, And there being now severall 



places to be disposed of by the late duty upon Paper, &c, 



" Your Pef therefore humbly prays yo"' LordPP^ 



to grant him the place of one of the Com'"% 



Comptroller or Eeceiver of the said Duty. 



" And your Pef^ shall ever pray." 

 (In dorso) 

 " The Peticon of John Baskett. 

 " Recommended hy my L"! Privy Seale. 

 " Paper, &e." 



Or we may look at a humbler sphere of^ action : 

 a woman advanced in years has a scaffold erected 

 before her house in Westminster to view the coro- 

 nation of one of the kings ; but the erection gives 



' way, and the old dame pays for peeping by a 

 broken thigh, while her mother, an aged person, is 

 nearly killed. This is a case where the charity of 

 the Treasury may be tried, so off we start to the 

 Cockpit at Whitehall with the following tale of 

 distress : — 



"To The R* Honi'ie The L^' CoDaissioners of His Ma- 

 jesties Treasury. 

 " The Humble Petition of Ann Ansell, Spinster, 

 1 " Sheweth, 



" That j'our Petitioner had her Thigh broke at the 

 Coronation of his Late Majesty, at her House in the 

 Sanctuary, by the Fall of a Scaffold, and it was so much 

 bruised that it could not be set, wherebj' she continues 

 very lame ever since, which has render'd her incapable 

 I of her Business, being now in the 60"' year of her Ag^, 

 her Mother also was almost killed at the same Time. 



" Your Petitioner therefore most humbly prays 

 your Honours to take her distressed condition 

 i into your Consideration, and in regard to the 



I Great Losses she has sustained thro' this mis- 



fortune to grant for her relief, She may be 

 thought a proper object of his ]Maje8tj''s Com- 

 I passion and Charity in what manner your 



Honours shall think fit. 



" And your Petitioner as in Duty bound 

 shall evepjwray," &c. 



We now come to a repentant blasphemer, who 

 for disseminating his unseemly writings was com- 

 pelled to flee from the vengeance of an ex-officio 

 information of the Attorney- General. This is 

 illustrated by the following curious petition. It 

 is undated, but there is plenty of internal evidence 

 whereby the period may be approximately deter- 

 mined : — 



" To the most Noble Thomas Holies, Duke of Newcastle, 

 First Lord Commissioner, and the rest of the Lords 

 Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury. 



"The Petition of Elizabeth Cannon, Widow and 

 Relict of the Revi D"" Cannon, late Dean of Lincoln, 

 deceased, and of Thomas Cannon, her Son, and of Ed- 

 ward Brooman and Redshaw. 



" Most humbly Sheweth, 



" That about five years since j-our PetitS Thomas 

 Cannon, was taken into the Custody of a Messenger upon 

 the Information of one Purser, a Printer (who was like- 

 wise taken into Custody at the same time), Your said 

 Petif being charged with the heinous Offence of Compo- 

 sing, as Purser was of Printing and Publishing, a certain 

 Tract or Pamphlet, containing the most detestable Prin- 

 ciples of Impurity, not fit to be even remembred in the 

 Title. 



"That after a short Confinement at the Messenger's 

 house, j'our said Petif and the Printer both obtained 

 their Enlargement, upon Bail given for their Appearance, 

 to Answer to any Information or Charge which the Oifi- 

 cers of the Crown should be pleased to Exhibit against 

 them. Your said Petif being bound in a Recognizance of 

 £400 penaltj-, together with your other Petit" Brooman 

 and Redshaw as his Suretvs. who severally engaged 

 themselves in the Penalty of £200 each, but with the 

 Precaution of taking a previous Indemnity, by Counter 

 Bond, from your Petif Elizabeth Cannon. 



" Thjit an Information was afterwards exhibited in the 

 Court of King's Bench in the Name of his Majesty's At- 

 torney General against the Printer, who appeared, and 

 took his Tryal, and underwent one part of the Sentence 



