454 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2>«» S. VIII. W 3, '£9. 



I presume, a family of considerable antiquity in 

 the county of Dorset, taking their name from the 

 manor of Bettiscombe, near Lyme Regis in that 

 county ?) " who, at Dorchester, an agreeable pro- 

 vincial town, proud of its taste and refinement, 

 was regarded by all as the model of a fine gentle- 

 man." (Macaulay's Hist, vol. i. p. 642.) He 

 unfortunately took part in the rebellion of the 

 Duke of Monmouth in 1685, and became one of 

 the victims of the infamous Judge Jeffi eys ; " he 

 suffered at Lyme piously and courageously." 

 Was he buried at Lyme Regis, where he suffered 

 death? Had he any collateral relatives? if so, 

 who were they? Was William Battiscombe, a 

 lawyer of Chancery Lane, London, in the middle 

 of the last century, a relative ? Also, anything 

 concerning the said William Battiscombe, his an- 

 cestors or descendants ? Alf. Shelley Ellis. 

 Bristol. 



[The pedigree of the Battiscombe or Bettiscombe 

 family of Vere Wotton is printed in Hutchins's Dorset- 

 shire, i. 536. It commences with John Bettescomb, who 

 purchased the farm at Vere Wotton about 1432, 11 Henry 

 VI., who married Alice, daughter and heir of John Beau- 

 chin of Beauchin Ha^-s. The last two of the family no- 

 ticed in this pedigree are " Richard Battiscombe, bar- 

 rister, ob. 1782, set. 30., s. p., buried at Simondsbury 

 (Gent. Mag. for June, 1782, p. 309.); and Robert, of 

 New Windsor, apothecary to His Majesty." We learn 

 from the obituary of the European Magazine, that a John 

 Battiscombe, Esq., of Hendon, Middlesex, died 22nd Aug. 

 1793 ; and a Mr. Daniel Battiscomb, attorney, died 9th 

 Jan. 1795. Christopher Battiscombe, executed at Lyme, 

 1685, was not married. Great interest was made to save 

 •him, and he was several times at the judge's lodgings, 

 who offered him pardon if he would impeach others, 

 which he nobly refused. Among the petitioners for his 

 life, was a young lady to whom he was engaged to be 

 married, who, making her humble request on her knees 

 to the judge, his insulting cruelty dictated a reply too 

 coarse to be reproduced.] 



Plowden in English. — Knight, in his notes to 

 Hamlet, says that Plowden was published in 1578 

 in old French. Can you give me the date of the 

 earliest translation into English, if there be one ? 



G. H. K. 



[Plowden's Commentaries or Reports were originally 

 written in Norman French, and the editions of 1571, 1578, 

 1599, 1613, and 1684, were published in that language; 

 but an English translation of the entire work was published 

 in 1761, fol. Mr. Broomly is understood to have been the 

 editor and translator. This edition appeared with a new 

 title-page in 1769. The other editions are, 2 vols. 8vo. 

 Dublin, 1792, and 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1816,] 



Painting on Copper concealed in a Book Cover. 

 — With reference to Mr. Hakt's remark (ante, 

 249.), " that even the covers alone of old books 

 contain treasures," I enclose a copy of an oil paint- 

 ing on copper found in an old book- cover that 

 had been used by a binder to rub his irons on. 

 The leather of the fellow cover being worn 

 through, it was thrown on the fire as useless ; 

 copper dropping between the bars, revealed that 



it had contained something peculiar, am.]g^ to 

 the opening of the remaining cover, when tjjjg 

 picture was discovered. Thinking it an unusual 

 occurrence, and therefore worthy of note, I send 

 you a copy (indifferent, but still illustrates it). 

 There are twelve figures in all ; the bottom and 

 lefthand edges are jagged as if cut ; the colours 

 good. I should like to know if any of your 

 readers know of similar instances, and if they can 

 account for such a proceeding. Was the picture 

 valuable, or the subject prohibited, that it must 

 thus be hid ? What date ? R. J. F. 



[The original designer of the picture of which our cor- 

 respondent has enclosed a photograph is either Tintoret, 

 Paul Veronese, or one of the Venetian masters of the 

 middle of the sixteenth century. It is impossible to 

 state more decidedly without a sight of the original. We 

 never heard of a similar instance of an oil painting being 

 thus concealed in the cover of a book.] 



Blackstone's " Commentaries" — Tn what year 

 was the last edition of this admirable work pub- 

 lished which was by himself or sanctir)ned by 

 him ? In what edition of the work did he first 

 introduce a table of precedences which does not 

 appear in his earlier editions? 



Some of your legal readers would be rendering 

 an acceptable service by giving in your pages a 

 list of the various editions of the Commentaries^ 

 with the names of the respective editors, and years 

 of publication. J. R. 



[The last edition of the Commentaries published during 

 the author's life was the eighth, Oxford, 4 vols. Svo. 

 1778. Blackstone died on Feb. 14, 1780. After his death 

 Dr. Richard Burn edited the ninth edition, containing the 

 last corrections of the learned author, 4 vols. 8vo. 1782. 

 (Bridgman's Legal Bibliography, p. 19.) A list of the 

 various editions of the Commentaries, with the names of 

 the respective editors and dates of publication, will be 

 found in Bohn's new edition of Lowndes's Bibliographer's 

 Manual; consult also Marvine's Legal Bibliography, Phi- 

 ladelphia, 8 vo. 1847; and Allibone's Diet, of English Lite- 

 rature. The " Table of Precedence " first appeared in the 

 fifth edition, Oxford, 4 vols. 1773, at Book i. p. 405.] 



THE rOUB KINGS. 



(•2°" S. viii. p. 417.) 



Addison, in No. 50. of the Spectator, tells us that 

 when the four Indian Kings were in tliis country, 

 he took a great interest in their proceedings ; and 

 after their departure employed a friend to make 

 many inquiries of their landlord, the upholsterer, 

 relating to their manners and conversation. He 

 adds that the upholsterer, finding his friend so in- 

 quisitive about his lodgers, brought him a little bun- 

 dle of papers, wliich he assured him were written by 

 King " Sa Ga Yean Qua Rash Tow ;" and, as he 

 supposed, left behind by some mistake. Perhaps, 

 very few readers take this name, or that of this 

 king's " good brother," E Tow O Koam, " King 



