472 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»«i S. VIII. Dkc. 10. '59. 



James II.'s reign, as I am extremely desirous of 

 knowing something more about liim ? J. R. 



l_Very little seems to be known of Colonel Perc}' 

 Kirke's antecedents. He served under the Duke of 

 Monmouth in the army of the King of France, by the 

 special permission of Charles II., granted 23rd Feb. 1673. 

 He was Captain-Lieutenant of the Earl of Oxford's own 

 troop of the royal regiment of Horse-Guards in 1675, 

 and was promoted from that regiment (o be Lieutenant- 

 Colonel of the Earl of Plymouth's, or the 2nd Tangier 

 regiment (now the 4tb Foot), on its being raised in 

 1680, and he embarked with it for Tangier in September 

 of that year. Having distinguished himself in several 

 actions with the Moors, on the death of the Earl of Ply- 

 mouth at Tangier, he was promoted to the Colonelcy of 

 the 2nd Tangier regiment on the 27th Nov. 1680, and 

 transferred to the Queen's regiment on the 19th April, 

 1682. Kirke left Tangier for England with his regiment 

 in April, 1684. During the rebellion of the Duke of Mon- 

 mouth in the West of England, the Queen's regiment 

 formed part of the forces assembled under the Karl of 

 Feversham, and it is reported that at the decisive battle 

 ■of Sedgemoor, " the two Tangier regiments, Kirke's and 

 Trelawny's, did good service." Col. Kirke was promoted 

 to the rank of Brigadier- General on the 11th May, 1685, 

 and afterwards appointed to command at Bridgewater. 

 Numerous are the acts of barbarity which history has 

 handed down as perpetrated by Judge Jeffreys and Col. 

 Kirke in what were termed " the bloody assizes." On 

 the abdication of James II. the following anecdote is re- 

 lated of Col. Kirke. When asked respecting a change of 

 religion, he is stated briefly to have replied, ' He was 

 pre-engaged, for ho had promised the Emperor of Mo- 

 rocco, if ever he changed his religion, he would turn 

 Mahomedan.' In 1689, troops being required for the 

 relief of Londonderry, Col. Kirke was appointed to the 

 command of the Queen Dowager's regiment, which re- 

 mained in Ireland, and served with distinction at the 

 battle of the Boyne on 1st July, 1690. It was also em- 

 ploj'ed in the siege of Limerick ; in the relief of Birr ; 

 and in December drove a division of the enemy out of 

 Lanesborough; The war in Ireland having ended with 

 the capitulation of Limerick, King William withdrew 

 some regiments from that country to reinforce his army 

 in Flanders, and one selected for foreign service was the 

 Queen Dowager's regiment. Lieut. -General Kirke, who 

 was promoted to that rank on the 24th Dec. 1690, joined 

 the army in Flanders, and died at Breda on the 31st Oct. 

 1691. For the character of this remarkable man, see Ma- 

 caulay's History of England, 12th edit. 1856, i. 6-27— 631. ; 

 and Historical Record of the Second or Queen's Royal Re- 

 giment of Foot, 8vo. 1838.] 



Mary Queen of Scots. — At the sale of Mr. 

 Upcott's collection of prints, pictures, and curio- 

 sities, by Messrs. Evans in 1846, was the handle 

 of a coffin, said to have been that of this martyred 

 sovereign. Can any of your readers inform me 

 who purchased it, and the price which it pro- 

 duced ? M. L. 



Lincoln's Inn. 



[At Mr. Upcott's sale tiiis relic .sold for two guineas, 

 and was purchased by Mr. Rodd. In Tlie Portfolio, 1822, 

 is an engraving of it, Avith the following historical notice : 

 " This elegant relic, one of the eight handles that were 

 attached to the splendid coffin which received the re- 

 mains of the ill-fated Mary Queon of Scots, when con- 

 ve3'ed to Westminster, was formerlv in the possession of 

 Dr. Richard Moad, physician to King George II., and of 



great antiquarian reputation, at whose death it was sold, 

 and passed through various hands, till at length it be- 

 came the property of Samuel Tyson, of Narborough Hall, 

 Norfolk, Esq. It was afterwards purchased at the sale of 

 Mr. Wilson, by Mr. Joseph Miller, the well-known anti- 

 quary, of Barnard's Inn, -who ver}' obligingly allowed it 

 to be copied. The handle and device are of copper, and 

 were original! j- double gilt. The extreme length is four- 

 teen inches and a half; the width one foot. Excepting 

 the handle, the whole is flat and partially engraved. The 

 initials M. R. appear above the handle." Who is the pre- 

 sent po.?sessor of this relic?] 



Hildesley's Poetical Miscellanies. — In the Har- 

 leian MSS. 47-6. there is a volume of Poetical 

 Miscellanies by Mark Hildesley. Can you give 

 ine any information regarding the contents of 

 this volume ? Was the author M. Hildesley, 

 Bishop of Man, who died in 1772 ? R. Inglis. 



[This volume consists of 163 leaves, besides four leaves 

 of introductory matter, and contains a large collection of 

 Miscellanies in prose and verse, but chiefly the latter, by 

 Mark Hilsly or Hildesly (for he writes himself both 

 ways). Bencher of Lincoln's Inn. He seems to have been 

 a singular humorist, very fond of scribbling. He was 

 probably grandfather of Bishop Hildesley, whose name 

 was also Mark.] 



THE EARLY EDITIONS OF FOXe's BOOK OF 

 MARTYRS. 



(2'"^ S. viii. 221. 271. 334. 403.) 



I have to return my best thanks to some fifteen 

 correspondents of " N. & Q." who in Nos. 196. 

 199. and 202. have contributed their various re- 

 plies, all more or less interesting, in answer to my 

 inquiries on this subject. 



Further investigation continues to prove that 

 I gave a correct list of the dates of the first nine 

 editions ; and, apparently, for the first time. 

 Among our old authors of repute, not only Strype 

 was wrong as to the first edition, but also Bishop 

 Burnet and Oldmixon, who placed it in 1561. 

 Even Herbert, in his edition of Ames's Typo-- 

 gi-aphical Antiquities, assigned it to 1562 instead of 

 1563, and he was only doubtfully corrected by Dr. 

 _Dib(Hn. Mr. Hartshorne, in his Book Rarities of 

 Cambridge, 1829, notices one of the copies in the 

 Public Library of the University as being of the 

 date 1562, and strangely says, " Of the first im- 

 pression of this truly national and important, 

 book, the present is the only perfect copy known 

 to exist." In truth, no date is placed on the 

 title-page of the first edition ; but in the colo- 

 phon, at its close, it is stated to be " Imprinted 

 at London by John Day, dwelling over Alders- 

 gate beneth St. Martin's. Anno 1563, the 20 of 

 March," meaning, I presume, 1563-4. In the 

 large woodcut of Day the printer's portrait, 

 which is placed in the same page, the date 1562 

 appears behind his head, which may have led to 



