2''<» S. VIII. Dec. 10. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



477 



out — to Christmas, 1722, being twelve 

 and a-lialf years, at five per cent. • 462 10 

 To Loss of Employment as a Writer to » 



the Signet, from 1708 to 1722, inclu- 

 sive, being fifteen years, at 300Z. per 

 annum 4,500 



£5,702 10 

 By being Postmaster of Scotland, from 

 Midsummer, 1715, to Christmas, 1717, 

 and since by pension of 200?. per an- 

 num, being seven years and a-half -£1,500 



By yet resting owing 



-£4,202 10 0" 



STRATFORD FAMILY. 



(2"^ S. viii. 376.) 



Mr. J. G. Nichols, in his notes to Erasmus's 

 Pilgrimages, p. 99., states that the two Lord 

 Chancellors, John de Stratford, Archbishop of 

 Canterbury, and his brother Eobert de Stratford, 

 Archdeacon of Canterbury and Bishop of Chiches- 

 ter, were believed to be the nephews of Ralph 

 Hatton de Stratford, Bishop of London. 



By Foss's Judges of England, vol. ili. pp. 515- 

 521., the precise dates of the appointment of each 

 of the brothers appear to have been as follows : — 



"John de Stratford, Chancellor from Nov. 28, 1330 

 (Rot. Claus. 4 Edw. III. m. 16.) to Sept. 28, 1334 (Ibid. 

 8 Edw. III. m. 10.). Again Chancellor from June 6, 

 1335, to March 24, 1337 {Ibid. 9 Edw. III. m. 23. ; 11 

 Edw. III. p. i. m, 29.) A third time Chancellor from 

 April 28, 1340, to June 20 in the same year {Ibid. 14 Edw. 

 III. p. 1. m. 27. and m. 13.). 



" Uobert de Stratford, Keeper of the Seal to his brother 

 in 1331, 1332, 1334, 1335 (Ibid. 5 Edw. III. m. 17. 20. p. 

 2. m. 2. ; 6 Edw. III. m. 22. ; 8 Edw. HI. m. 27. ; 9 Edw. 

 III. m. 23.). Chancellor from March 24, 1337, on his 

 brother's resignation, to July 6, 1338 (Ibid. 11 Edw. III. 

 p. 1. m. 29. ; 12 Edw. III. p. 2. m. 33.). Again Chancel- 

 lor from June 20 to Nov. 30, 1340 (Ibid. 14 Edw. III. p. 

 1. m. 13.). The former died in 1348 ; the latter in 1362." 



D. S. 



Robert Stratford of Baltinglass, Ireland, the an- 

 cestor of the Earls of Aldborough, was the third 

 son of Edward Stratford of Nuneaton, co. War- 

 wick, Esq. This Edward was the son of John 

 Stratford of Nuneaton, and nephew of Robert 

 Stratford, a citizen of London, who died in 1615, 

 and, by his will proved at Doctors' Commons, de- 

 vised estates at Nuneaton and Ansley to be en- 

 joyed by his nephew when he attained the age of 

 twenty-eight years. Edward Stratford seems at 

 that time (1615) to have been at the University of 

 Oxford. I should be glad to ascertain to which 

 of the Colleges he belonged. 



I have little doubt that the family at Nuneaton 

 was a branch of the Farmcote Stratfords, but I 

 have not been able hitherto to trace the con- 

 nexion between them. A Query upon this sub- 

 ject was inserted in "N. & Q." (2°'^ S. i. 301.), but 



I am sorry to say it elicited no reply. The pedigree 

 of the Stratfords of Nuneaton (and afterwards of 

 Merivale) is to be found in the Heralds' Visita- 

 tion of Warwickshire of 1682, at the College of 

 Afms, but it commences only with the above- 

 mentioned Edward. Is the Dublin Heralds' Of- 

 fice likely to possess a pedigree whereby the 

 descent of the family can be traced from the re- 

 mote age mentioned by De W ante, p. 424. 



Nicholas Stratford, Bishop of Chester, was the 

 son of Nicholas Stratford of Hemel Hempstead, 

 CO, Hertford. He appears by the tablet to his 

 memory at Chester Cathedral (the arms upon 

 which are, gules a fesse humettee between three 

 trestles, argent) to have left an only son, William 

 Stratford, Archdeacon of Richmond and a Canon 

 of Christ Church, Oxford, who died in 1729, and 

 left considerable property to augment the incomes 

 of poor livings. 



A memoir and portrait appeared in the Gen- 

 tlemaiis Magazine of a William Stratford, Esq., 

 LL.D., who died in 1753, " late Commissary of 

 the Archdeaconry of Richmond," and said to have 

 been a near relative of the Bishop of Chester 

 and of the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. I should 

 be glad to know what the relationship was. F. H. 



"^t^liti to Minat ^Mtxi^i. 



" ir for ''its" or ''his" (1" S. passim.) — 

 Having contributed what up to this time is the 

 earliest instance of this usage noted in your pages 

 (2"^ S. iv. 319.), I feel entitled to send the fol- 

 lowing, which is a still earlier instance, and has 

 the additional recommendation of being in apoet~ 

 ical work, and so putting an end to a doubt ex- 

 pressed by Mr. Keightley, " that there are no 

 earlier instances among the poets " than those in 

 Shakspeare : — 



" For I wille speke with the sprete 

 And of hit woe wille I wete, 

 Gif that I may hit bales bete, 

 And the body bare." 



Anturs of Arther (Cam. Soc. viii. 11. 13.) 



J. Eastwood. 



The Play performed in Bishop Williams's House 

 on a Sunday (2"** S. viii. 401.) — During the reign 

 of James I. plays were performed at Court on 

 Sundays. The statute 3 Car. I. c. 4. absolutely 

 prohibited their exhibition on the Sabbath day; 

 yet, notwithstanding this act of parliauient, both 

 plays and masques were performed at court on 

 Sundays during the first sixteen years of the reign 

 of that king. (See May's History of the Parlia- 

 ment of England.) 



The statement regarding the performance of 

 the Midsummer Night's Dream at Bishop Wil- 

 liams's house, Sept. 27, 1631, does not rest solely 

 on the MS. at Lambeth Palace. In John Spen- 



