2°* S. VIII. Dkc, 24. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



523 



Gibbon of Rolvenden, gent., by his wife, Deborah, 

 daughter of Mr. Stratford. The precise de- 

 gree of relationship between the commissary and 

 the last-named lady has not been discovered. 

 See Notices of Dr. William Stratford in the Rev. 

 Canon Raines's Introduction to Bishop GastrcWs 

 Notitia Cestriensis, vol. ii. Part ii. pp. ]iv. et seq., 

 printed for the Chetham Society, 4to. 1850. The 

 editor names having in his possession many of Dr. 

 Stratford's unpublished letters, a copy of his 

 funeral sermon, and a privately printed account 

 of his extensive charities. F. 



Death Warrants (2°'* S. viii. 433.)— In answer to 

 your correspondent I have to state that it was not 

 the custom for the sovereign to sign death warrants. 

 Prisoners capitally convicted at the Old Bailey 

 were reported by the Recorder of London to the 

 sovereign in council, by whom each case was se- 

 parately considered, and in those instances where 

 the sovereign in council could not interfere, the 

 law was left to take its course, the Recorder after- 

 wards making out and signing and sealing the 

 warrant for execution. In all other instances where 

 the sovereign could interfere, the prisoners were 

 directed to be transported or imprisoned according 

 to circumstances. 



A Statist is reminded that it is the law which 

 condemns, but that the sovereign, being the foun- 

 tain of mercy, can interpose, by the advice of the 

 council, to save life. 



This was the practice prior to 1837, but I have 

 been informed that when the Queen came to the 

 throne it was thought desirable to discontinue 

 these reports, cases sometimes arising that were 

 unfit to be reported to our youthful Queen. 



Should your correspondent wish to see the form 

 of a death warrant I will furnish him, through 

 your columns, with a copy of one. J. Speed D, 



Sewardstone. 



Seals (2"* S. viii. 376.) — The seal referred to 

 by Aliquis is the corporate seal of the ancient 

 borough of Hedon in Yorkshire. This seal, 

 although dated so recently as 1598, is no doubt 

 a renewal of a seal of a much older date. 

 The device, a ship, no doubt refers to the period 

 at which the town was incorporated, temp. Ilenry 

 II., which is confirmed by the fact that the seal 

 of the borough of Scarborough has a ship of a 

 similar form, with the addition of a watch tower; 

 the borough of Scarborough as well as Hedon 

 having received its first charter of incorporation 

 fi'om King Henry II., and this is in all probability 

 the date of the ancient seal. The legend " H. Ca- 

 mera Regiss" without doubt means " Hedon Regis 

 CamerjB," chambers of the king, or, in other words, 

 a king's port. This might be thought strange in 

 the present day, were it not clear from well-au- 

 thenticated evidence that Hedon was, before the 

 port of Hull was called into existence, a place of 



considerable note. Leland, in his account of this 

 place, says — 



" The Towne hath yet greate privileges, with a Maire 

 and Bailives, but when it had in Edwarde the 3. davea 

 many good Shippes and rich Merchaunts, now therbe 

 but a fewe Botes, and no Merchaunts of any Estima- 

 cion." 



Camden also remarks — 



" It fell by the nearnesse of Hull, and by the silting up 

 of the Harbour is so sunk as to have scarce the least 

 traces of its former splendour." 



G. R. P. 



Registration without Baptism (2"* S. viii. 469.) 

 — I* has never been the duty of clergymen of the 

 Church of England to act as registrars of births. 

 In some instances perhaps during the Common- 

 wealth and the Protectorates of Oliver and Richard 

 Cromwell, the parish minister may have been ap- 

 pointed also the parish registrar, but the two 

 offices were quite distinct, and if there are any 

 instances on record of both being held at the same 

 time by one person they are very rare. Of course 

 at any period from the establishment of parish 

 registers the clergyman has had the power to 

 make entries therein in addition to those which 

 he was legally bound to make. It is, therefore, not 

 at all uncommon, as many of your readers know; 

 to find events of local importance, such as battles, 

 floods, and high winds chronicled in their pages. 

 It is not surprising, therefore, now and then to 

 find that the minister has complied with the wish 

 of his dissenting parishioners by registering their 

 children's births. In most cases, however, the 

 clergymen have refused this courtesy, to the great 

 annoyance doubtless of the parents at the time, 

 and of genealogists at the present day. 



I append an extract from the parish register of 

 Scotter, CO. Lincoln. I have frequently met in 

 other registers with memoranda of similar pur- 

 port : — 



" 1665. Multi hoc anno in parochia nati sed non bap- 

 tizati, 'per schismaticam Sacramenti Baptismatis dene- 

 gationem apud parentes suos ideoq; secundum Eccliao 

 constitutionem non Registratum. 



" Guilielmus Carrington, Rector Ecciiss ibid." 



Edward Peacock. 



Bottesford Manor, Brigg. 



Heraldic Drawings and Engravings (2""* S. viii. 

 471.) — It is stated in most of the ordinary books 

 of reference that the tinctures in heraldry were 

 first indicated by lines in the sixteenth century. 

 The invention is attributed to an Italian named 

 Petrasancta. Edward Peacock. 



Rijigs, their Uses and Mottoes (2"^ S. viii. 329,) 

 — The only book on this subject with which I am 

 acquainted is The Histoivj and Poetry of Finger 

 Rings, by Charles Edwards, Councillor at Law, 

 New York; Redfield, 110. 112. Nassau Street, New 

 York — a most amusing volume, with numerous 

 illustrations, and containing a vast amount of in- 



