376 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»<> S. VIII. Nov. 5. '69. 



head, in particular, seems to have miraculously 

 multiplied after his death. R. R. 



An Ancient Strike. — In the Calendar of State 

 Papers is the following entry : — 



[1535]. "Aug. 17, Dover. Sir W. Fitzwilliams to Mr. 

 SecJ' Oromwell. Refusal of the workmen to work except for 

 6* a day. Two of the ringleaders had beea some time of 

 the Black guard of the Kings kitchen." 



This is another illustration of the jocular name 

 given to the lowest menials of the court. 



POLECABP CheNEB. 



iRxxcxiti* 



8TEATFOED FAMILT. 



In various notices and histories of Stratford- 

 upon-Avon, I find it stated that there is only one 

 instance of the Great Seal of England being held 

 by two brothers, John and Robert de Stratford, 

 who were said to be natives, and took their sur- 

 names from this place. John was Lord Treasurer 

 in the reign of Edward II., and Lord Chancellor 

 in the reign of Edward III. Robert, previous 

 to his being Chancellor, was Archdeacon of Can- 

 terbury, and was raised to the woolsack on the 

 elevation of his brother to the primacy of all 

 England, and afterwards became Bishop of Chi- 

 chester. Lord Campbell, in his Lives of the 

 Chancellors, states that John was chancellor in 

 1334, again in 1337 ; Robert in 1338, John again 

 in 1340, and Robert again in 1340. 



I find there was Ralph de Stratford, Bishop of 

 London, in the reign of Edward III., who also was 

 a native of Stratford-upon-Avon. lie founded a 

 chantry for secular priests in a castle that he had 

 in the village of Stratford in Essex, and died at 

 Stepney or Bethnal Green, in v;hat is now an 

 ancient house, called the bishop's house, where 

 the Bishops of London then resided. I have by 

 me a published sermon preached by a Dr. Nicho- 

 las Stratford, Dean of St. Asaph, preached to his 

 parishioners at Manchester in 1680, on his leaving 

 them. 



In Burke's Peerage there is a Stratford, Earl 

 of Aldborough, whose ancestor Robert Stratford 

 left England and settled in Ireland in 1660, whose 

 arms are a barry of ten, argent and azure, over 

 all a lion rampant : whilst in his General Ar- 

 moury there is another Stratford with the same 

 arms, described as " Stratford of Farnscott, Haw- 

 ling, and Nether-Guiting, co. Gloucester, and 

 Nuneaton, co. of Warwick." 



Can you inform me through the pages of your 

 journal what part of England Robert Stratford, 

 the ancestor of the Earl of Aldborough, was lo- 

 cated in previous to his settling in Ireland ? what 

 family he was of? but I should think, from the 

 sameness of his coat of arms, he is of the same 

 family. Is this so ; and which branch P as there 



were, I believe, Stratfords located at each of the 

 places mentioned in Burke's Armoury. Can you 

 inform me when the arms were granted, and to 

 whom ? Also who was the Dr. Stratford, Dean 

 of St. Asaph ? * What became of him when he 

 left Manchester, and what position in the Church 

 did he occupy at his death ? Was Ralph de Strat- 

 ford, the Bishop of London, related to the two 

 chancellors? And whether the other Stratfords 

 were of the same family as the chancellors or the 

 bishop ? Could you inform me on these matters 

 you would greatly oblige. Thomas Nicholson. 

 Sheffield. 



QUERIES AS TO SEALS. 



When the Pope issues any important official 

 documents, or writes letters to dignitaries of t]je 

 Church, they generally conclude thus : " Given at 

 Rome, the See of Peter, under the Seal of the 

 Fisherman." Some correspondent will perhaps 

 kindly give a description of this seal, of its device, 

 legend, and other particulars, or say where I can 

 see an engraving or copy of it. 



The seal of Hedon in Yorkshire has an antique 

 and weird-looking vessel, with a solitary and very 

 grim-visaged mariner standing at its prow, for 

 a device, the legend being " H. Camera Regiss. 

 1598." Is there any local tradition relative to the 

 origin of this singular device and legend ? I have 

 an engraving of the seal, but would like greatly 

 to possess a copy of it on wax or gutta-percha. 



1 lately saw in one of the Edinburgli papers 

 that the provost, bailies, and other magistrates of 

 the ancient barony of Broughton had just been 

 elected, and as I was under the impression that 

 this old barony had long since become incorporated 

 with the city of Edinburgh, like the other burghs 

 of barony of the Canongate and Portsburgh, I 

 would like much if some Edinburgh correspon- 

 dent would say if it is really yet in existence, — if 

 it has a corporation seal ; and, if so, who is the 

 keeper of the latter ? Having copies of the seals 

 of the now extinct baronies of the Canongate and 

 Portsburgh in my collection, it would render my 

 series of seals connected with Edinburgh much 



[* Nicholas Stratford, Fellow of Trinity College, Ox- 

 ford, B.D. 1G64, D.D. 1673, was Warden of Manchester 

 College from 1667 to 1684 : collated to the prebend of 

 Leicester St. Margai-et in Lincoln cathedral, 26 March, 

 and installed 7 April, 1670 ; appointed Dean of St. Asaph, 

 11 Mav, 1674; .consecrated Bishop of Chester 15 Sept. 

 1689; and died 12 Feb. 1706-7. An account of his other 

 preferments is given in the inscription on his monument, 

 printed in Willis's Cathedrals, and in Bp. Nicolson's Let- 

 ters, i. 170. Mr. Crossley has a note respecting him in 

 Worthington's Diary, ii. 243., which states that "Bishop 

 Stratford's publications manifest his learning, ability, and 

 zeal, and the common consent of his contemporaries bears 

 witness to his charity and benevolence, his humility and 

 devotion." — Ed.] 



