304 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»<i S. VIIL Oct. 15, '59. 



1665. Cumberlaud, Yorkshire. 



1666. Durham, Northumberland. 

 1668. Norfolk. 



1686. Hants. 



1687. London. 



Z. z. 



JACK OF NEWBURY. 



Jack of Newbury, whose patronymic was Winch- 

 combe, was the greatest clothier of England at the 

 period when he lived. Some years after the ter- 

 mination of his apprenticeship, and he had with 

 unwearied industry got a perfect insight into the 

 business, his master died, leaving the entire in- 

 terest in the trade, with some property, to his 

 widow. The lady strictly observed all the bien- 

 seances of society during her widowhood, but in 

 due time, divesting herself of her *' weeds," she 

 had three suitors : the vicar of Speen, and two 

 opulent tradesmen, each desiring to lead her to 

 the hymeneal altar ; our hero also proffered his 

 suit. It seems the latter was preferred, and they 

 soon entered the connubial state, and Jack be- 

 came prosperous and extremely wealthy. Joined 

 to his great opulence there was an equal stock of 

 public-spiritedness and patriotism, which he dis- 

 played in the early part of the reign of Henry 

 VIII., by equipping at his sole expense one hun- 

 dred of his followers ; and marching with them, 

 he joined the Earl of Surrey, and bravely dis- 

 tinguished himself in the battle of Flodden Field 

 in 1513. . 



John Collet, in his Historical Anecdotes, p. 113., 

 Addit. MS. 3890, Brit. Museum, informs us, that 

 ** John Winscombe, commonly called Jack of 

 Newbury, was the most considerable clothier 

 England ever had. He kept 100 looms in his 

 house, each managed by a man and a boy. He 

 feasted King Henry VIII. and his first Queen 

 Catharine at his own house in Newbury, now 

 divided into sixteen clothiers' houses. He built 

 tlie church of Newbury from the pulpit westward 

 to the tower." 



The above is a sketch of the general history of 

 the above Berkshire worthy. I have only farther 

 to state, that some years ago I saw at Chavenage 

 House, near Tetbury, a portrait which I was told 

 was that of Jack of Newbury. It was a very old 

 mansion, which formerly belonged to the family of 

 Stephens of Eastington andLypiat, owners of many 

 manors in that county (Gloucestershire). There 

 was a large hall in the building, decorated with a 

 great abundance of antique curiosities collected 

 with no little judgment and taste by the last pos- 

 sessor of the Stephens family. The authentica- 

 tion of the portrait should, however, be proved 

 before it can be put down as an original. Cha- 

 venage House is now the residence of the Hon. 

 Mr. Butler, son of Lord Churston. Amicus. 



ROMANCE OF THE SANGRAAL. 



From the fact of Geoffry of Monmouth making 

 no allusion whatever to the institution of the 

 Round Table or the quest of the Sangraal, many 

 have lightly concluded that those two notable 

 features of the Arthurian cyclus were added to it 

 after the appearance of his wonderful history (a.d. 

 1138). However difficult it may be to account 

 for such omissions, certain it is that, over-credu- 

 lous as he was, Geoffry had far from exhausted all 

 the materials at his command. This is evident 

 from the compositions of Wace and Layamon (the 

 one cotemporary with him, and a native of Jer- 

 sey, the other an Anglo-Saxon priest who flour- 

 ished half a century after him) ; each of whom, 

 like their predecessor, had access to independent 

 sources of information. 



For^tbe true origin of the Round Table, of. 

 Myvyrian Archniology, iii. 363., 8vo. Lond. 1807, 

 and The Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales 

 (Venedotian code, b. ii. xi.), published in 1841 by 

 the Commissioners of Public Records. In his- 

 torical romance, the earliest mention of it occurs 

 in the first book of Master Wace's metrical Bnit 

 d' Angleterre (1150), founded on Geoffry 's Hist. 

 Britonum. 



It is not quite so easy a matter to determine 

 when the fable of the Sangraal (the hanap or holy 

 vessel used by our Lord at his last supper) was 

 invented. The late Mr. Douce referred it to the 

 eighth century : — 



"There are" (he says) « Welsh MSS. of it still exist- 

 ing, which, though not very old, were probably copied 

 from earlier ones, and are, it is to be presumed, more 

 genuine -copies of the ancient romance than any other 

 extant." (Quoted in Warton's Hist, of Poet. I. iii., Tay- 

 lor's edit. 8vo. Lond. 1840.) 



The oldest Welsh MS. extant, containing any 

 account of the Sangraal, is in the Hengwrt library, 

 and is supposed to belong to the age of Henry I. 

 (1068-1135). It has never been edited. Assum- 

 ing, with our best modern bibliographers, that 

 VHistoire, ou le Roman du St. Graal, or, as it is 

 sometimes called, lioman de Joseph d'Arimathie, 

 usually attributed to Robert de Borron, and the 

 Roman de Merlin, by the same, preceded by a feV 

 years the publication of the Biut d Angleterre 

 (1150), in both of which Wace is anticipated in the 

 history of the Sangraal, neither the contents nor 

 the great antiquity of the Hengwrt MS., in that 

 case, will excite so much surprise. 



In the first-named early prose work (i. e.'Rom. 

 du St. Gr.), the tradition is briefly recorded in the 

 following terms : — 



" Enfin Joseph (d'Arimathie) avoit eth dans la maison 

 oil Jesus Christ avoit fait la cene avec ses Apotres, et 

 y trouva I'escuelle, oil le fiex Dieu avait mangle, il s'en 

 sesist, il la porta chez lui, et il s'en servit pour remasser 

 le sang, qui coula du cote et des autres plaies ; et cette 

 escuelle est appellSe le St. Graal." (Paris edit. 1523. fol. 

 6°.) 



