2''<« S. VIII. Dec. 8. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



451 



havinnr satisfied his own curiosity, lent the sheet 

 to his kinsfolk and acquaintance, to the parson, 

 the doctor, and the more curious of his tenants — 

 among whom it continued to circulate for perhaps 

 two or three weeks after. 



1 have before me two parcels of such letters, 

 some belonging to the years 1681 — 1683, and 

 others to the year 1691. The character of their 

 contents corresponds entirely with that of printed 

 newspapers of the same and later times. I should 

 be glad to be informed : 1. Whether, in the Bri- 

 tish Museum or elsewhere, any large number, or 

 particular series, of such letters has been pre- 

 served? 2. Whether many of them, or any, have 

 been printed in subsequent times ? 3. Whether 

 any account of them, beyond the mere fact of their 

 being customary, has been published ? 



John Gough Nichols. 



The Mayot of Market- Jew. — My grandmother 

 was a Cornish woman, and well stored with the 

 quaint sayings of the county. One of tliem was 

 as follows : — "Don't stand in your own light, like 

 the Mayor of Market- Jew."* V\.hat is the legend 

 connected with this? 



Job J. Baedwell Workard, M.A. 



Clergymmis Crest. — Has a clergyman any 

 heraldically legal right to bear a crest ? If not, 

 why not? G. W. M. 



Fly-boat. — What was a fly-boat of the reign of 

 Elizabeth ? Was it not a fast craft of about 100 

 tons, in fjact, a clipper ? G. R. L. 



Lett Family. — Where can I find any account of 

 the Lett family, an extensive branch of which has 

 long been settled in the county Wexford? I have 

 heard a tradition that they were brought over by 

 Cromwell and placed there. If I am correct, 

 they came from Suffolk or Cambridgeshire, where 

 the name now exists, but under the form of Leet, 

 Light, Leete, and Lete. I recollect once hearing 

 that the family is of German origin, descent being 

 traced from that tribe who spoke the Lettish dia- 

 lect of the German language, and that the uaiftes 

 Jellet, Mallet, &c., are but varieties of the same 

 race. Ovris, 



Captain Fitzjames. — Any information respect- 

 ing this gallant captain, who accompanied Sir 

 John Franklin in his last expedition, will be 

 esteemed by J. R. 



Beau-siant: Beaulieu. — What is the etymology 

 of the words " Beauseant avant," the cri-de- 

 guerre of the Templars ? I have heard it conjec- 

 tured that it means " the beautiful seat" (or site), 

 and alludes to the fine position of the Temple at 



[* Of course Market-Jew is Marazion, in the parish 

 of St; Hilary (« N. & Q." 2'^'i S. ii. 463.). But where is 

 the legend to be found? — En.] 



Jerusalem. Does "Beaulieu" mean the same 

 thing, and was the word at any time the cry of 

 the Hos[)itallers? In this case tiie land they held, 

 callfd " Beaulieu-vant" (see Qu. " Boley Hill," 

 supra), would be named after their cry, " Beau- 

 lieu avant." A. A. 

 Poets' Comer. 



Scorning the Church. — I cut the following from 

 a newspaper a few days since. I shall be glad to 

 know if this curious custom prevails elsewhere. 



" A peculiar custom prevails at Norham, Durham, that 

 if the banns of marriage be thrice published, and the 

 marriage aoes not lake place, the refusing party, whether 

 male or female, paj's tbrty shillings to the vicar, as a 

 penalty for ' scorning the Church.' " * 



Alfred T. Leb. 



Francis Pole of Park Hall, Derbyshire. — The 

 landlord of the "Coach and Horses" publichouse, 

 late " Hockley-in-the-Hole," Ray Sti-eet, Clerken- 

 well, is in possession of a brass dog-collar, found 

 upon the premises, on which is engraven in old 

 script characters, " Mr. Francis Pole of Park 

 Hall, Derbyshire." 1 shall be obliged to any of 

 your correspondents who will favour with some 

 particulars of the life of this gentleman, but more 

 especially the manner of his death : as from the 

 circumstance of a mastiff's collar having been found 

 here, I suspect that this gentleman- gamester was 

 victimised by some of the ruflSans who frequented 

 the baitings at "Hockley-in-the-Hole," lor the 

 sake of his money and valuables. W. J. Pinks. 



William Thirkeld. — A clergyman of this name, 

 from the city of Durham, is said to have been 

 sometime in exile with Dr. Cosin, afterwards 

 Bishop of Durham. Can any of the readers of 

 " N. & Q." throw any light upon his history ? 



E. H. A. 



Biographers, and their Subjects. — A certain ex- 

 chancellor, hearing of the intention of a certain 

 actual chancellor to write the lives of all holders 

 of the Great Seal, is reported to have exclaimed, 



" By ! it adds a new pang to the thought of 



death ! " The anecdote, true or not, was current 

 a few years ago. Compare 



" The imprudence of editors and executors is an addi- 

 tional reason why men of good parts should be afraid to 

 die." — Hannah More, quoted in Walpole's Letters, ix. 

 115. 



And 



"He [Curll] was notorious, from his" practice of issu- 

 ing miserable catchpenny lives t)f every eminent person 

 immediatelj' after his decease. Arbutlinot wittily styled 

 him 'one of the new terrors of death.'" — Carruthera' 

 Life of Pope (1853), p. 150.. 



Can this joke be traced farther back ? 



H. L. Temple. 



[* This paragraph, quoted from Raine's North Durham, 

 appeared in our Ist S. vi. 432, — En.] 



