448 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Dec. 8. 1855. 



mentioned, that upon one occasion he undertook, at his 

 own expense, a journey to Switzerland, for the purpose of 

 rescuing some Irish records which had ftillen into the 

 hands of a Swabian baron, a great antiquary and col- 

 lector of old manuscripts. The records proved to be of 

 the Irish Court of King's Bench, of the time of King 

 Edward I., and were, it is surmised, purloined in the 

 reign of George I., when Addison was keeper of the Bir- 

 mingham Tower Records. These he purchased at his 

 own expense, merely to restore them to the country. For 

 the last three years he continued his guardianship of the 

 Exchequer Records, although his circumstances were far 

 from prosperous, without any salary." 



Monument of Sir W. Stanley at Malmen. — 

 The unenvied notoriety of the Colonel William 

 Stanley, of unfortunate memory, has been suffi- 

 ciently recorded by the historian Hume, and more 

 particularly by Strada in his second Decade, to 

 need any comment here ; but to the copy of the 

 epitaph, which I subjoin, I consider a few words of 

 explanation are necessary. 



That he should have recorded his own military 

 rank on the tomb of his lady, betrays the lurking 

 of a doubt that by his tergiversation he had for- 

 feited the esteem of all honest men, without ob- 

 taining the confidence of his adopted companions 

 in arms. 



The space destined for the inscription on the 

 elaborately engraved stone is only occupied by 

 the epitaph beneath, while the upper part was 

 reserved for himself; but he died without a friend 

 to execute the last and trifling duty due, as he 

 evidently imagined, to his memory, — none cared 

 to record his name, — at the mention of his ser- 

 vices the hardiest might blush. 



You, probably, will be the first to record his 

 death and his resting-place, and perhaps a senti- 

 ment of regret that one so nobly born should have 

 stained the honours of knighthood, and one of the 

 noblest names in the annals of his country. 



To the bearings of the Stanleys of Alderley he 

 has added seventeen quarterings. The Egertons 

 are on a lozenge beneath, but the eight tablets, 

 probably intended for crests, are plain. 



"iCr GIST LA NOBLE DAMB ELIZABETH. 



" Egerton, ladis espevse dv Treprvdent 

 Chevallier Messir Guillavme Stanley, 

 Coronet, et dv Conseil de Gverre 

 De Sa Met« d'Espaigne, Laqvielle tres 

 Passa de ceste vie le 10 d'Apvrii, 1614. 

 Prie Diev Povr son Ame." 



He died March 6, 1630, and it is reasonable to 

 conclude he was buried by the side of his lady 

 before the high altar in the church of Notre Dame 

 in Malines. Henbx D'Aveney. 



Legal Antiquities, — I think many of your 

 readers will be glad to see the accompanying para- 

 graph, from the Wilts and Gloucester Newspaper 

 of Nov. 24., enshrined in " N. & Q." : 



" The late Mr. Bellamj', Avho Avent the Oxford and 

 No. 319.] 



other circuits for sixty-two years, states that in every 

 county on this circuit there was an assize ball on the 

 commission-day of each assize. This ball was attended 

 by the nobility and gentry of the count}', and the Judges 

 and Bar. The judges used to wear to the balls the black 

 silk gown, band, and the two-curl bob-wig. They were 

 attended b}' the High Sheriff, wearing a full court dress, 

 bag-wig, and sword ; and his chaplain, in his gown, 

 cassock, and band. The Judges did not dance, but they 

 usually played at whist. In the recollection of Mr. Bel- 

 lamy, in every assize town on the Oxford circuit the two 

 courts were held in the same room, without any division 

 or partition, and so that one judge could see the other. 

 This continued at Gloucester till the j'ear 1816, and the 

 alteration was occasioned by this circumstance : — Baron 

 (then Judge) Bayley was trying a man for murder, and 

 his jury burst into a laugh at one of Mr. Dauncey"s jokes 

 in a horse case in the other court. The learned judge 

 thought that it was time this was altered. Formerly the 

 judges on their circuits had an immense number of 

 presents — venison, fruit, wine, &c., which half kept their 

 house during the assizes; but in the year 1784, when so 

 much was subscribed for the defence of the nation against 

 the threatened invasion, the value of the different presents 

 was subscribed, and the presents discontinued, and never 

 renewed. About thirty years ago, a story was current 

 in Worcester that the mayor always sent the judges a 

 present of a loaf of sugar, and that the judges in return 

 invited the mayor to dine with them ; but that the 

 mayor being once uninvited, the sugar was discontinued 

 ever after. Till the passing of the Municipal Reform Act, 

 the Corporation of Gloucester always sent each judge in 

 spring a salmon and a house lamb, and in summer a 

 salmon and a whole sheep ; and at present the Corporation 

 of Oxford give to each judge a pair of white kid gloves, 

 edged with gold lace, and ornamented with gold tassels." 



B. W. 



Duke of Ormonde and Atterbury. — The fol- 

 lowing letter from the Duke of Ormonde to the 

 Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, in 

 favour of Atterbury, will not be inappropriate to 

 the pages of " N. & Q." 



" To the Rev. Dr. Mander, Vice- Chancellor of Oxford, to 

 be communicated to the Heads of Colleges and Convocation. 



" Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen, 

 " Whereas Mr. Francis Atterbury, late of Christ Church, 

 has so happily asserted the Rights and Privileges of an 

 English Convocation as to meritt the solemn tbankes of 

 the Lower House of it, for his learned pains upon that 

 subject, I hope the University will not be less forward in 

 taking some public notice of so great a piece of service to 

 the Church ; and considering he is of full standing for a 

 Dr. of Divinity degree, that his book is a sufficient testi- 

 mony of his great learning, and that his preparing it for 

 the public has been no less expensive than laborious, I 

 believe. Gentlemen, the most proper and seasonable 

 marke of your respect to him will be to confer on him that 

 degree by a Diploma, without doing exercise or paying 

 fees. To do this I most heartily recommend to you, and 

 no way doubting of your ready concurrence, 

 " I I'emain, 



" Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen, 

 " Your affectionate friend and servant, 



" Okmonde. 

 " St. James's Square, 

 April 29, 1701." 



P. B. 



