Nov. 17. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



381 



visiting the vaults of their forefathers ! — heaps 

 of coffins pressing down each other, broken into 

 fragments, illustrating literally what our Lord 

 alludes to, " whited sepulchres," fair outwardly, 

 but " within full of dead men's bones and all un- 

 cleanness." 



A friend of mine tells me that in digging the 

 foundation of his church, about to be enlarged, a 

 great number of lead coffins were removed. To 

 ensure decency, he superintended the work per- 

 sonally. He was greatly struck with the decom- 

 posed state of most of the coffins, those buried 

 fourteen years and upwards, appeared covered 

 with blisters, breaking through from the inside, 

 which was quite white and powdery, as though 

 lime had been placed between the shell and the 

 lead. He learnt, however, that lime had not been 

 used, but that tlie appearances were occasioned 

 by oxydation of the lead, produced by acid con- 

 tained in the wood of the shells, that oak con- 

 tains more of this acid than any other wood, and 

 that elm is now generally used, as it contains less, 

 if any, of this destructive ingredient. 



Now, if the directions of the worthy Knight, 

 quoted at the commencement of this paper, had 

 been oftener followed, much, if not all, that we 

 have spoken of could not have occurred. 



Should this mode of burial be ever again prac- 

 tised, it is, of course, assumed that all that is de- 

 corous and reverential should be observed. The 

 corpse should be most carefully shrouded, and 

 conveyed to the grave in a shell, covered with a 

 pall, so that, until actually placed in the grave, the 

 same appearance would present itself to the spec- 

 tator as IS now observable at every funeral. 



J. H. M. 



Ncwcourts " Repertoriuin." — Among the works 

 suggested for republication in A Plan for a Church 

 History Society, by Dr. Maitland, is that of New- 

 court's Repertorium. To help forward so de- 

 sirable an undertaking, the indefatigable William 

 Cole has collected some materials, which may be 

 turned to account by any future editor of that 

 valuable work. Cole says : 



" Having occasionally entered into m.y copy of Mr. 

 Newcourt's Repertorium Kcclesiasticum Parochiale Lon- 

 dhiense many manuscript additions from various manu- 

 scripts and other authorities, and after the dispersion of 

 my books the.y may fall into hands that may inake uo 

 use of them, I thought that putting them all together 

 in this manner, leaving room on the opposite side to 

 enter such other as may occur, might be useful to any 

 future editor of that useful book." 



These MS. additions fill about thirty-eight sides 

 of folio, and are preserved in the Additional MSS. 

 No. 5833. in the British Museum. Is anything 

 known of Cole's copy of Newcourt, containing the 

 original notes ? J. Ybowei-u 



No. 316.] 



The Cavalry Charge at Balaclava. — At the late 

 banquet in Glasgow, the Duke of Hamilton the 

 chairman, in proposing the toast of the evening — 

 "the Crimean army, and welcome to the vic- 

 torious heroes who have returned" — spoke of the 

 services and suffei'ings of our soldiers ; and, refer- 

 ring to the charge at Balaclava, said there was 

 not one who joined in it who was not as great a 

 patriot hero as Curtius, who threw himself into 

 the gulf to save his country. Sir A. Alison, who 

 followed the duke in a long harangue, repeated 

 the same comparison. " The leading journal" has 

 thrown some ridicule on this " classical allusion," 

 as inappropriate. Without presuming to argue 

 the question of its fitness or unfitness, I think that 

 i a closer parallel to the justly lauded action may 

 be found in the Roman histoi'y. Something very 

 similar is stated to have occurred at the battle of 

 Cannse. Plutarch, in his life of Fabius Maximus, 

 thus relates the incident : 



" It is also said, that a strange and fatal accident hap- 

 pened to the Eonian cavalry. For the horse which 

 JEmilius rode, having received some hurt, threw him : 

 and those about him alighting to assist and defend the 

 Consul on foot, the rest of the cavalry seeing this, and 

 taking it for a signal for them to do the same, all quitted 

 their horses, and charged on foot. At sight of this, 

 Hannibal said, ' This pleases me better than if they had 

 been delivered to me bound hand and foot.' " — Lang- 

 horne's Plutarch, Cth edit, vol. ii. p. 19. 



Here all the circumstances are combined which 

 occurred at Balaclava — the mistaken order, the 

 devoted charge, the disastrous consequence, and 

 the exulting enemy. 



This coincidence seems worthy of notice in 

 " N. & Q.," and in the future history of the 

 Crimean war. F. 



Pj'ynnes Removal from Caernarvon to Jersey. — 

 As there have been several notices of Prynne's 

 residence in Jersey, I thought the following copy 

 of the receipt for the expences incurred in the 

 removal of the persecuted antiquary to that island 

 might not be without interest : — 



"xj" die Julii, 1638. 

 "Receaved upon an order of the iiij"* of July, 

 1638, by vertue of his J\l*''' I'res of privy scale 

 dated viij" Junii, 1638, of John Savile, esq're, 

 one of the Tello" of the Receipt of his Ma'" 

 Excheq"', by me Rob't Amvill, the som' of 

 cvj" x^ in satisfacc'on of my chardges, and in 

 considerac'on of the danger and trouble w*^** I 

 did undergoe, being imployed by my father 

 the late highe Sherifie of the Countye of Car- 

 narvan, in conveying W"" Prinn by sea from 

 the Castle of Carnarvan unto the Isle of 

 Jersey. I say received - - - cvj" x*. 

 ", (Signed) Robert Amvill." 



Being simply a receipt, the information it gives 

 is not much ; and the apportionment of the sum 



