290 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°aS. NMl., Oct. 11.'56. 



coffins, and in their shrouds hanged by their neck, tmtil 

 the going down of the sun. They were then cut down, 

 their heads taken off, and their bodies buried in a grave 

 under the gallows. The coffin in which was the body of 

 Cromwell was a very rich thing, very full of gilded 

 hinges and nails." (Addit. MS. 10,116, British Mu- 

 seum.)] 



Ordinary of Nervgate. — Why is the clergyman 

 charged with the duty of the metropolitan prison 

 styled the ordinary, and not chaplain ? Is it^ a 

 mere difference of title, or does it infer any dif- 

 ference of position ? Y. B. N. J. 



[We take the title Ordinary, as connected with New- 

 gate, to signify common, usual, like an ambassador, 

 envoy, or physician in ordinary. Hence formerly there 

 was an Ordinary of Assizes and Sessions, who was a 

 deputy of the bishop of the diocese, appointed to give 

 malefactors their neck-verse, (^Miserere mei, Deus,') and 

 judge whether they could read or not ; to perform Divine 

 service for them, and assist in preparing them for death.] 



Works on Glass Manufacture. — What works 

 are most suitable for the acquisition of a thorough 

 knowledge of the manufacture of glass? J. E. S. 



[There is a popular modern treatise by G. R. Porter, 

 published in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopwdia, entitled, " A 

 Treatise on the Origin, Progressive Improvement, and 

 Present State of the Manufacture of Porcelain and Glass," 

 1832. Consult also Apsley Pellatt's Curiosities of Glass- 

 Ilaking, sm. 4to., 1849.] 



ancpiteiS. 



MORTUABIES. 



(2"^ S. ii. 172. 279.) 



I have taken some interest in reading the re- 

 plies elicited under this head to the Queries of 

 your correspondents, as they reminded me of an 

 inquiry which I once prosecuted with the view of 

 obtaining some information from mortuary tax 

 registers — if such were extant — but this I could 

 not discover to be the case. I was certainly under 

 the impression that the statute concerning the 

 taking of mortuaries, or demanding, receiving, or 

 claiming the same (21 Hen. VIII. c. 6.), had 

 fallen into complete disuse. It appears, however, 

 from the answers of your correspondents, that 

 such is not the case, and that our clergy in some 

 places amerce the public in this tax. 



The statute is so far shaped in the fashion of 

 popery, that its Section V. legalises bequests to 

 high altars of churches. 



It is not in accordance with uniform justice, as 

 it perpetuates discrepancy of custom in various 

 parislies. 



Its scale of — 



" 3s. 4c?. upon 10 marks, and under 30 pounds, 

 6s. 8c?. „ 30 marks, and under 40 pounds, 

 10s. „ 40 pounds and upwards," 



is anything but equitable to the middle classes. 



The law of assessment of the impost is quite un- 

 suited to the present age. Will any ingenious 

 correspondent tell us how, for example, modern 

 wayfarers are to be taxed under Section IV. of 

 the statute, which sets forth : 



" For no woman being covert baron, nor child, nor for 

 any person not keeping house, nor for any wayfaring man 

 not dwelling nor making residence in the place where he 

 happens to die [shall any mortuary be given or demanded 

 except at the rate above referred to], but the mortuary of 

 such wayfaring person shall be answerable at the rate in 

 Section III., in the place where they have most habita- 

 tion, and no where else." 



I have seen a statement that an act of parlia- 

 ment, 12 Queen Anne, abolishes mortuaries in 

 some places which were excepted from the statute 

 of Henry VIII. ; but a clean sweep of all mor- 

 tuaries would appear to be desirable. Legislation 

 on mortuaries really seems to have made no sub- 

 stantial advance since the time when John Young, 

 or Yonge, addressed Queen Elizabeth (New 

 Year's Day, 1558, vide my notice of his treatise 

 on Banking in "N. & Q.," P' S. xi. 224.). He 

 remarks at the commencement of his treatise : 



" There was a custome not longe tyme passed used in 

 England, that whosoever died, should paj^e to his parson 

 or curate, the best of his quicke cattell, and in default of 

 quicke cattell, y" best of his moveable goodes. And this 

 was called a Mortuarie, and was paied by all sortes of 

 people bothe poore and riche. Which payemet first be- 

 gyiiing of devocon, and after by tj'me turned into custome, 

 was so extremely exacted bj' the Clergie upon the poore, 

 that youre moste prudent Father kynge henry the eight 

 moved with pitie made an Acte of parliament, to abolishe 

 and take awaie that kjTide of exaction. And suerlj' not 

 without cause, for it happened many tymes that a poore 

 householder, whiche had but one cowe, for the suste- 

 naunce of him and his nedie famylie, was enforced to give 

 that cowe for his Mortuarie to the sterving of his poor 

 Widowe and children left behynde. Some of late were of 

 opj'nyon to have the same custome revived, but so was 

 not I, who nevertheless can well agree instede of the 

 same, to have another kynde of Mortuarie set up. A 

 mortuarie I meane not for the fedynge of suche as be fatt 

 3'noughe alredie, but a Mortuarie for common necessitie, 

 and of all as well poor as riche bothe of y" Clergie as 

 Laytie. A mortuarie I saie not of exaction but of de- 

 vocion, not of extremitie, but of charitie, not geven to 

 preestes perticulerlv, but to all the people univsally," 

 &c. &c. 



I take the present opportunity to thank your 

 correspondents Mr. George Roberts of Lyme 

 Regis, and Ma. J. Sansom, for their Replies to 

 my Queries as to John Yonge (vide " N. & Q," 

 P' S. xi. 330, 331.). It is very likely he was the 

 Devonshire man they take him for. 



Feedekick Hendriks. 



MEANING OF LECKERSTONE. 



(2°'' S. ii. 247.) 



There is scarcely a doubt that this word has the 

 same derivatives as Lichfield, lich-gate, &c.,i e. from 



