498 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"d S. VIII. Dec. 17. '50. 



•' Poems," Harleian MS. -2311. ; 2ntl. Mary More, 

 author of "Poems," Harleian MS. 3918. 



R. Inglis. 



[Anne Cromwell was tlie daughter of Richard Cromwell, 

 Esq., son and heir of Henry Cromwell, Esq., of Upwood. 

 She married her secoiul cousin Henry Cromwell, alias 

 Williams, Knight of the Royal Oak. Mrs. Anne Williams 

 seems really to have been attached to the Royal cause 

 and familj', a merit her husband only affected, as he was 

 courtier both to his cousin Oliver the Protector and 

 King Charles II. She survived her husband, and resided 

 at Ramsej' upon a narrow income, where she was buried, 

 .Tan. 10, 1687-8. For the contents of her MS. volume in 

 the British Museum consult the Index to the Harl. 

 MSS., also Noble's House of Cromwell, i. 73. 250. — Mary 

 More, according to Walpole, "was a lady who painted for 

 her amusement, and was grandmother of Mr. Pitfield; in 

 the family are her and her husband's portraits by herself. 

 In the Bodleian Library is a picture that she gave to it, 

 which, by a strange mistalic, is called Sir Thomas More, 

 though it is evidently a copy of Cromwell Earl of Essex. 

 Robert Whitehall, a facetious poetaster and Fellow of 

 Merton College, wrote verses to her in 1C74, on her send- 

 ing the supposed picture of Sir Thomas More." — Anec- 

 dotes of Fainting, ii. 622., edit. 1849; consult also Wood's 

 Athena, by Bliss, iv. 178.3 



Bocase Tree. — In Nortbamptonsliire, at one of 



the boundaries of Brigstoek Forest, formerly no 



doubt included in the great forest of Bockingbam, 



there is an old stone standing, 3 ft. 9 inches high, 



1 ft. 9 inches wide, called " Bocase Stone." It is 



of a kind found in the neighbourhood, called 



"Raunds," or " Stanwick stone," full of shells. 



One side is very smooth ; and on this, quite at the 



upper part, is this inscription in capital letters : — 



« JN THIS PLAES 



GREW BOCASE 



TREE." 



.And lower down, just above the ground : 



"HERE STOOD 

 BOCASE 

 TREE." 



The stone is mentioned in the histories of the 

 county, but without any explanation of the mean- 

 ing. I cannot hear of any local tradition, nor do 

 I know of any ancient name of place or person 

 that might elucidate the matter. Perhaps some 

 of your readers may be able to say why a tree 

 was called Bocase ? H. W. 



[In the following passage there is an .apparent allu- 

 sion to the tree in question : — " Upon the Borders of the 

 Forrest here, next Brigstoek and Sudborough, there is an 

 Oak called King Stephen's Oak, now an old hollow Tree, 

 which is famous .... because, according to Tradition, 

 King Stephen shot a Deer from this Tree." — Magna 

 Britannia, vol. iii. p. 478. (Nokthamptonsh.) It is 

 hazardous to attempt explanations and etymologies of 

 local terms, without a due amount of local information. 

 But if we may be permitted to suppose the " Bccase Tree" 

 to have been identical with the tree from Avhich the King 

 .«hot the stag, we would understand by it "Buck-case 

 Tree," the tree near which a buck was deprived of its 

 "case," i. e. skinned or flayed. "Case, to skin an animal. 

 Cases, skins." (Halliwell.) The skinning the slaugh- 

 tered deer was a standing rule of the chace. " The Harte 



and all manner of Deare are fluyne." (^Nohle Art of 

 Venerie or Hunting, p. 241.) Hence the very particular 

 directions how, when a "Harte "is killed, "to take off 

 his skinne." The skin of a wild animal was frequently 

 called his case, and flaying was called casing. " The 

 flaying, striping [stripping], and casing of all manner 

 chaces." " You must beginne at the snowt or nose of the 

 beast, and so turne his skinne ouer his eares all alongst 



the body, vntill you come at the taile This is 



called casing." (P. 241.) So Shakspeare, " We'll make 

 more sport with the fox, ere we case him ;" and again, in 

 a double sense, " But though my case be a pitiful one, I 

 hope I shall not heflay'd out of it." 



Amongst the old terms corresponding to buck were 

 bouc, bucca, and bock. On the whole, then, we are dis- 

 po.sed to regard bocase as equivalent to bock- case, or buck- 

 case, and as appertaining to the spot where a buck, having 

 been slain by a royal hand, was according to due form 

 deprived of his case, or flaj-ed. The buck-case, then, 

 would be simply the buckskin, or buck's skin. 



Be it observed, however, that, according to the strict 

 rules of mediaeval nomenclature, which with respect to all 

 matters connected with hunting were very precise, the 

 proper name of the hart's and deer's case was skinne or 

 coate. This may explain why we find bocase (or buck- 

 case) only as a local term, though we have buckeye, 

 Buckstone, buckstall (a net for^catching deer), &c., all 

 words of more general use.] 



A Soldiers Epitaph. — 



" Whilst I was young, in Avars I shed my blood. 

 Both for my King and for my Country's good ; 

 In elder years it was mj' care to be. 

 Soldier to Him who shed his blood for me." 



Can you tell me in what church the above noble 

 epitaph is placed ? I believe it to be one of very 

 old date. Centcrion. 



[This epitaph will be found in Waddesdon church, 

 Bucks, and reads as follows : " Guy Carleton, the second 

 son of Thomas Carleton of Carleton in Cumberland, was 

 born in the year of Christ 1514, and dying the 1" of 

 June, 1608, 



Saluteth the Reader: 



Whilest I was yong in warres I shed my blood 

 Both for my King and for my Countr}''s good : 

 In elder j-ears my care was chief to be 

 Soldier to Him who shedd his blood for me. 

 Now restinge here in hope a whj'le I h-e, 

 Farewell, good reader, never fear to die." 



He was probabb* father of George Carleton, succes- 

 sively Bishop of Llandaff and Chichester. Vide Lips- 

 comb's Bucks, i. 509.] 



THE UNBITRIED AMBASSADORS. 



(2"" S. viii. 377. 443.) 



When A. A.'s Query appeared, I decided on 

 waiting the chance of some communication fur- 

 nishing an answer to his inquiry, "who they were." 

 In default of which I had determined to offer my 

 reasons for considering the story of the ambassa- 

 dors as altogether a myth. Dr. Rxmbault's Note, 

 however, has rather shaken my theory, and that 

 is strengthened by a book which I have raked up, 



