500 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"i S. VIII. Dec. 17. '59, 



nity of consulting the archives of the Foreign 

 Office or the State Paper Office. 



In conclusion, I cannot but observe how 

 strongly is herein verified the proverb, " Out of 

 sight, out of mind." A. A. (than whom I believe 

 there is no one better qualified to throw light on 

 most subjects connected with the abbey) seems to 

 treat the very existence of these coffins as a mat- 

 ter of tradition : whereas scarcely forty years 

 have elapsed since their disappearance, which was 

 after the coronation of George IV. in 1821. In 

 setting matters to rights after the abbey had been 

 fitted up for that occasion, many removals and 

 alterations took place, some of them judiciously, 

 amongst which these may be reckoned, but many 

 of them very far otherwise. This might consti- 

 tute an interesting subject of inquiry to those 

 who are disposed to take it up. M. H. 



If one of the bodies were that of Don Pedro 

 Ronquillo, as Dr. Rimbault with great probabi- 

 lity informs us, it must have been that of the 

 Spanish ambassador in the time of James II., 

 whose house was sacked by the mob in December, 

 1688, and who was afterwards lodged at St. 

 James's in almost regal state. That he was very 

 much in debt we have several authorities cited by 

 Baron Macaulay, vol. ii. 560. ; but if the body was 

 arrested for debt, how came it in the church ? 

 In old times we hear of corpses being arrested in 

 the way to the church, but surely when once 

 icithin the consecrated ground they were privi- 

 leged. Farther on, in his admirable History (vol. 

 ii. 599.), the Baron tells us that Ronquillo (who 

 by the way had always in some degree opposed 

 Father Peters and the ultra party) reported to 

 his court very favourably on the part of William. 

 Is it possible he could have so far offended the 

 Papal See by this as to have incurred the censure 

 of excommunication ? If so, his own people would 

 not have buried him, and there might have been 

 some difficulty on the part of the Church of England. 

 Can any of the readers of " N. & Q." inform us 

 farther on this point ; can they give any particu- 

 lars as to the law of arrest as regarded dead 

 bodies ; and can they tell us who was the tenant 

 of the other coffin, if there were two, as my infor- 

 mant states ? A. A. 



As I do not think that the Query on this subject 

 propounded by A. A. has as yet received any 

 answer, perhaps the following extract from The 

 Letters of Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann, 

 concluding series, vol. i. p. 193., may help him: — 



" But pray, has the Marshal consigned to you the reve- 

 r^ues of the duchy ? I tell you, you will be bankrupt ; 

 you will lie above ground in a velvet coffin, like the 

 Spanish ambassadors in Westminster Abbey! " 



John Pavin Phillips, 



Haverfordwest. 



EIKON BASILIKE. 



(2''« S. vili. 356. 444.) 



In " N. & Q.," P' S. yi. 361., I described a very 

 choice copy of this book in the original morocco 

 binding, and with the rojal arms on the sides (in- 

 advertently stated to be those of the Stuarts before, 

 instead of after the Union), and containing some 

 very curious MS. chronosticha and verses. 



This is, no doubt, as well as B. H. C.'s copy, of 

 the first edition. The pagination of my copy, 

 however, is so excessively irregular that I think it 

 better to give an account of it, with a view of 

 affording a means of comparison with other copies. 



The title is exactly as B. H. C. gives it, except 

 that the text in the Romans is denoted by an 8 in- 

 stead of viii. Then follow four pages of Contents, six 

 of a Relation of the King's Speech to his Children, 

 one of an Epitaph upon King Charles, signed I. H. 

 (Qu. Jos. Huit?) Then Marshall's folding plate, 

 but no Errata, as described in the editor's com- 

 munication. The pagination goes ou regularly up 

 to p. 129, save that p. 9 lias no numeral at all ; 79 

 is put for 76, and 72 and 73 are transposed. In- 

 stead of 130, 134 follows 129, then 135 for 131, 

 133 for 132, 12 for 133, 131 and 132 for 134 

 and 135; then 136 follows, and all is correct up 

 to p. 150, for which 110 is substituted, and 111 

 for 151, 114 and 145 are put for 154 and 155, 

 and so on up to 148, which stands for 158, 

 Then 19 does duty for 159, 150 for 160, and 

 so on ten less till we come to 173, for which 

 137 stands ; then all regular, on the same plan, up 

 to 208 (except that 200 is misprinted for 203, and 

 p. 209 has no pagination). Suddenly, for p. 210, 

 we find 108, and this continues, with the exception 

 of 14 for 149, till we come to p. 154, after which 

 follows p. 255, which brings the pagination toler- 

 ably, but not quite correct. Only one other 

 misprint occurs, 239 for 293, The Eikon con- 

 cludes with p. 302, but four unpaged leaves are 

 bound up with the book, containing " A Perfect 

 Copie of Prayers used by His Majestic in the Time 

 of His Sufferings," delivered to Bishop Juxon 

 immediately before his death, and a " Copie of a 

 Letter which was sent from the Prince to the 

 King," dated from the Hague, January 23. 1648. 

 Although the pagination is thus irregular, the 

 catchwords show that no leaf is missing or mis- 

 placed, and I should like to know if copies are to 

 be found in other libraries with the same pecu- 

 liarities, and whether these probably denote the 

 first hastily thrown off impressions. I should add 

 that what is technically called the " register " of 

 the volume is particularly bad. 



Allow me to ventilate a second time the sug- 

 gestion that these copies bearing the royal arms, 

 of which several have occurred, might have been 

 presented by Charles II. to the old Cavalier ad- 

 herents of his father. Certainly, the custom of 



