2nd s. N* 47., Nov. 22. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



415 



the authorised translation of the Bible in 1611, it 

 is substituted as a preferable rendering of the 

 word which in our former versions had been 

 translated "weapons" and "instruments," — "And 

 Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad, and said 

 unto him, go, carry them to the city ; " meaning 

 the bow and arrows he had brought with him to 

 make the concerted signal, in the field, to David. 

 1 Sam. XX. 40. The previous translations had 

 been, in Coverdale, 1535, "his wapens; " in Mat- 

 thews, 1537, and in Cranmer, 1539, " his wepons ; " 

 in the first and second Bishops' Bible, 1568 and 

 1572, " instrumentes ; " and in the Genevan, 1560, 

 '' bowe and arrowes." V. F. S. 



Two hundred years ago artillery meant (amongst 

 other things) bows and arrows, as may be seen by 

 comparing 1 Sam. xx. 40., " And Jonathan gave 

 his artillery unto his lad," &c., with the preceding 

 narrative. J. Eastwood. 



LETTER TO LORD MONTEAGLE AND LADT SELBY. 



(2-"! S. ii. 248. 314.) 



Some weeks since, my friend Major Luard (the 

 present occupier of Ightham Mote, and husband 

 of the presumptive heiress,) drew my attention to 

 an incised slate slab which he had discovered in 

 the dark recess behind Lady Selby's bust, on the 

 monument in Ightham Church. He represented 

 it as detailing the history of Guy Fawkes. 



The recent discussion in " N. & Q." making me 

 anxious to ascertain if this slab could throw any 

 light on the question, I accompanied my gallant 

 friend to the church last week, and found it to be 

 as he had represented. 



By the aid of his skilful pencil I am in posses- 

 sion of an exact copy of the slab, which I purpose 

 to have lithographed for distribution among our 

 antiquary friends. 



It seems merely intended as an illustration of 

 the inscription given in " N. & Q." (2°'' S. ii. 248.) 

 That inscription has been for many years known 

 to me ; and, till the question was raised by Mag- 

 DALENENSis, I have never interpreted it as implying 

 anything more than that Lady Selby Lad worked 

 in tapestry representations of The Golden Age., 

 the Story of Jonah, and that of Guy Fawkes. 

 Now, on the tomb, in a recess behind Lady Selby's 

 bust, we find coloured plaister work, moulded in 

 relief, representing Adam and Eve in Paradise 

 (the woman rising from Adam's ribs ; the for- 

 bidden tree ; savage and domestic animals roam- 

 ing in harmony, &c.). This answers to The 

 Golden Age of the inscription. 



Beneath this comes our incised slab ; on which, 

 on the left, is the Papal conclave, seated in 

 council before the Pope : the Devil peering at 



them through the canopy, and Guy Fawkes re- 

 ceiving his commission, in the form of a sealed 

 diploma. On the riglit, he is proceeding, lantern 

 in hand, towards the powder casks, to execute 

 this commission. 



This is '■'■ the plot" which her "art" disclosed. 

 Methinks the expression " art" suflices to limit 

 the meaning of the writer to an effort of manual 

 skill on the part of the lady. 



The position of the incised slab, at the back of 

 the monumental bust, renders it didicult to see all 

 that may be engraved on it. Further inspection 

 may bring to light a representation of the " acts 

 of Jonah," even if something of the sort be not 

 intended by the ships and sporting fish which 

 occupy the space between the left and right por- 

 tions of the story of Guy Fawkes, as detailed 

 above, although the inscriptions would certainly 

 seem to indicate the destruction of the Armada, 

 as the subject of this part of the picture. This, 

 however, must remain in doubt till permission 

 can be obtained to move the bust, and thus lay 

 open the entire slab. Enough, however, is seen to 

 warrant the inference that the purport of those 

 who designed this monument was to immortalise 

 Lady Selby as " a Dorcas : " first, by the inscrip- 

 tion ; and then, by a sketch of the works detailed 

 therein. 



C. DE D. mentions tapestry at the Mote. There 

 is none there now : and, as far as family tradition 

 extends, the only tapestry ever there, represented 

 far different subjects from these ; but of this we 

 must not pretend to speak with certainty. It 

 would lengthen this article too much were I to 

 give minuter details of the figures, mottoes, &c. 

 on the incised slab. The above will suffice for 

 the purpose in view, viz. to enable your readers 

 to see how this monument bears upon the ques- 

 tion recently opened in your columns, as to Lady 

 Selby being the writer of the letter to Lord Mon- 

 teagle; the solitary authority for hel* having writ- 

 ten it (as far as I have been able to discover) is 

 the expression of the inscription " whose arts dis- 

 closed that plot," &c. 



May not this question very naturally be asked, — 

 If Lady Selby's authorship of the letter was a fact 

 so notorious in her family as to be recorded by 

 them on her monument, is it possible that it 

 could have remained wholly unknown to the 

 public ? and is it likely that such signal service 

 to the State would have remained unrewarded 

 and unhonoured ? 



Surely it is utterly impossible that the historian 

 should have vainly searched for the revealer of 

 the plot, while all the time the secret was not 

 confined to her own breast. The letter was pro- 

 bably written by a confederate, who let the secret 

 of his treachery be buried with him in his grave. 



L. B. L. 



