2''4 S. No 84., Aug. 23. 'SB.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



145 



part of the parish had to be conveyed past the 

 palace to be buried in St. Margaret's churchyard. 

 The fear o^ infection from dead bodies made it 

 desirable that this practice should be put an end 

 to; and the king, partly to remove the cause of 

 apprehension, and partly to compensate the parish 

 of St. Martin's for the loss of tithes it had sus- 

 tained by the enclosure, annexed to it all that 

 part of tbe parish of St. Margaret which lay be- 

 tween the palace and St. Clement's church. 

 Such are the facts made known to us by the 

 document which I transcribe. 



Patent 33 Henry VJIL p. 6. m. (11.) 



" Pro ecclesia parochiali Sanctl Martini in Campis, 



de concessione. 



" Rex omnibus ad quos, &c. Salutem. Sciatis 

 quod nos, in recompensationem decimarum et ali- 

 orum jurium ecclesiasticorum quae parochialis 

 ecclesia Sancti Martini in Campis prope Charing- 

 crosse, Westmonasterii diocesis, ex imparcatione 

 quorundam praediorura et aliorum locorum decim- 

 abiliura in parochia illius ecclesiae consistentium, 

 et nunc pro sustentatione et conservatione dama- 

 rum et aliarum ferarum nostrarum ibidem impar- 

 catorum *, perpetuo amisit ; Atque ad evitandura 

 periculum infectionis quod Aularibus nostris ex 

 delatione corporum raortuorum per palatium nos- 

 trum regium ad ecclesiam Sanctaa Margaretee 

 Civitatis nostras Westmonasterii sepeliendorum in- 

 venire possit ; Volumus, concedimus et ordinamus, 

 quod omnes illae aides sive domus ac alia loca de- 

 cimabilia qua3 inter ecclesiam parochialem Sancti 

 Clementis extra Barras Novl Templi London' et 

 palatium nostrum regale Westmonasterii existunt 

 et usque, dum in et de parochia dictse ecclesia 

 Sanctse Margaretae consistebant, unacum incolis et 

 habitatoribus eorundem, abhinc sint et esse cen- 

 seantur .de et in parochia Sancti Martini in 

 Campis; Ita quod bene licebit vicario perpetuo 

 ipsius ecclesi* Sancti Martini qui pro tempore 

 fuerit, incolas et habitatores antedictos ad eccle- 

 siam Sancti Martini praedictam pro divinis au- 

 diendis ac sacramentis et sacramentalibus par- 

 tlcipandis recipere et admittere, ac_ decimas et 

 oblationes et caetera jura ecclesiastics abipsis 

 Deo et ecclesiae eorum parochite ofFerri debita et 

 consueta percipere et habere, absque impedimento 

 nostro vel haeredum nostrorum aut aliorum quo- 

 rumcunque : Eo quod expressa mencio, etc. In 

 cujus rei, etc. Teste Rege apud Westmonaste- 

 rium, xxj die Marcij. 



" Per breve de private Sigillo et de data, &c." 



James Gairdneb. 

 * " Imparcatarum " in orig. 



flfCinor ^atei, 



Salisbury Court Theatre. — la a letter from 

 Sir George Gresley to Sir Thomas Puckering, 

 dated Essex House, Oct. 24, 1629, is the following 

 notice of the origin of this theatre : 



" My Lord of Dorset is become a great husband ; fpr he 

 hath let his house in Salisbury Court unto the queen for 

 the Ambassador Leiger of France, which is daily ex- 

 pected to come over, to lie in, and giveth for it 350/. by 

 the^ year, and for the rest of his stables and outhouses 

 towards the water side, he hath let for 1000/. fine and 

 lOOZ. by the year rent, unto the master of the revels, to 

 make a playhouse for the children of the revels." 



The late Mr. Thomas Uodd had in his possession 

 some interesting';MS. documents concerning this 

 old theatre, a list of which I subjoin. 



1. "Indenture between John Heme of Lin- 

 coln's Inn, Esq., and the Earl of Dorset, relating 



to the Play- House in Dorset Gardens, 1629, < 

 signed by the Earl.^' 



2. " Grant of permission to Andrew Rayne and 

 others, the qualities of Playing as well in their 

 present Theatre, Salisbury Court, as elsewhere, 

 1631." 



3. *' Richard Heton's Instructions for his Pa- 

 tent." 



4. " Instructions touching Salisbury Court 

 Playhouse, 1639." 



5. " Assignment of the Playhouse and Premises 

 in Salisbury Court, Lord Dorset and J. Heme to 

 W. Beeston, 1648." 



6. " Mr. Birde's Counterpart concerning the 

 Playhouse in Salisbury Court, 1652." 



Edward P. Rimbault. 



Identity of Morgan O'Doherty. — I have not 

 the early numbers of " N. & Q." to refer to, and 

 may therefore be repeating something already 

 stated on this point. In conversation with the 

 late Dr. Maginn, some seventeen years ago, I 

 happened to quote one of the " Maxims of Ensign 

 O'Doherty," published in Blackwood, I think aa 

 early as 1825 ; and the Doctor claimed it and them 

 as his own. This, at least, proves Dr. Maginn'g 

 adoption of the nom de plume in question. R. W. 



Reading. 



Superstition at Constantina.-~- 



" Whilst great inundations have taken place in France, 

 Africa has been suffering from drought. At Constantina 

 the natives last week had recourse to what they consider 

 an infallible means of obtaining rain — tbp ceremony of 

 ducking, with religious forms, in \he nearest river the 

 half-witted creatures called marabouts. Five or six of 

 these men were conveyed in procession to the Roumel, 

 and there plunged several times in succession into the 

 water, the persons composing the procession at the same 

 time singing and shouting. One of them, who was un- 

 willing to be ducked, was thrown into the river by force, 

 and when he came out he declared in a passion that no 

 rain should fall for a year. The next day, however, to the 

 great delight of the natives, clouds covered the sky, and. 



