158 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd S. No 86., Aug. 22. '67. 



sophical belief may be doubted, but they do in 

 fact express a philosophy of the consciousness. 

 This inner state of consciousness has already a 

 history of which clairvoyance is a part, and which 

 commences with the Homeric ages, or even earlier. 



E. Rich. 



''Lathe;' or ''Lethe'' (2"'» S. iii. 448.) — Per- 

 haps this word may not be peculiar to Kent ; for 

 the steep hill leading down to Bransford Bridge, 

 three miles from Worcester, is called " Lathe," or 

 " Lethe " Hill ; though I am not aware if the 

 word was ever applied to the hundred of the 

 county in which the hill is situate, nor can I find 

 any mention of the hill in any of my large collec- 

 tion of Worcestershire books. The Worcester 

 Herald of June 6, in its report of the monthly 

 meeting of the turnpike trustees, says : 



"The tender of Messrs. Walford and Hayes for im- 

 proving the road at Lathe Hill, on the Bransford district, 

 for the sum of 495Z. 6s. 6d. was accepted." 



CUTHBBET BeDE, B.A. 



Francis Rons (2°* S. iv. 107.) —In reply to 

 H. G. D., Richard, Anthony, and Thomas were first 

 cousins of Thomas Rous, the Speaker. From 

 Thomas I am directly descended ; and if querist 

 will favour me with a letter per post, I may be 

 able to assist him in his inquiries. His Thomas 

 Rous of 1687, is another person ; and is the same, 

 I think, who was under-sheriff of Middlesex in 

 1684. 



Will H. G. D. favour me with the names he has 

 met with in the register of Trinity Chapel ? 



H. T. EuiiACOMBE. 



Clyst St. George, Topsham, Aug. 7, 1857. 



Birkhead Family (2"'> S. i. 374. ; iv. 107.) — 

 This was, originally, a Cheshire family, and has 

 spelt its name, at different periods, Birket, Birk- 

 head, and Birkenhead. Sir John Birkenhead, the 

 political writer of the Cavalier period, author of 

 The Assembly Man, and editor of the Mercurius 

 Aulicus, was of this family. There are nume- 

 rous references to the Birkheads among the MSS. 

 in the British Museum, e. g. Birchett of Middle- 

 sex, 1468, fol. 131 b. ; Birkhead of Crowton and 

 Huxley, in Cheshire, 1535, fols. 10. 31b, 78 b, 

 111., &c. ' T. Hughes. 



Chester. 



French Protestants in London (2"^ S. iv. 90.) — 

 Melbtes is referred to Burn's History of the 

 Foreign Refugees settled in England, Longman, 

 1846. J. S. B. 



Coffin-plates in Churches (2'^ S. iv. 107.) — At 

 Dolgelley decorated cofiin-plates are hung in re- 

 markable profusion over the pillars of the church, 

 and convey an idea of the votive offerings to saints 

 in Catholic places of worship ; this is a usual prac- 

 tice here. The plates are taken from a coffin when 



a person is buried, and hung up there. This is, 

 no doubt, a relic of some Catholic superstition, and 

 it has a most singular effect. — The Falls, Lakes, 

 and Mountains of North Wales, by Louisa Stuart 

 Costello, p. 174. B. G. J. 



In reply to G. R. G. I beg to say that, during a 

 tour in N. Wales lately, I noticed a number of coffin 

 plates nailed up to the walls in the parish church 

 of Efenechtyd, near Ruthin. Efenechtyd is in- 

 teresting for an ancient font and roodloft in its 

 interior ; and the neat graveyard adjoining is sin- 

 gularly beautiful, on account of a very fine lofty 

 fence of boxtree which surrounds it. N. L. T. 



Proxies and Exhibits (2"'* S. iv. 106.) — 



" Proxies " or " Procurations " are " certain sums of 

 money which Parish Priests pay yearly to the Bishops 

 or Archdeacon, ratione visitationis ; formerly the visitor 

 demanded a proportion of meat and drink for his refresh- 

 ment, when he came abroad to do his dutj', and examine 

 the state of the Church ; afterwards these were turned 

 into annual payments of a certain sum, which is called a 

 Procuration, being so much given to the visitor, ad pro- 

 curandum cibitm et potum." 



There are three kinds of Procurations, or 

 Proxies, viz. " ratione visitationis," " consuetudinis" 

 et "pacti."* 



Some of these procurations were so exorbitant, 

 that frequent complaints were made, and they 

 were forbidden " by councils and bulls." Pope 

 Clement IV. issued a bull against them, in which 

 mention is made of the Archdeacon of Richmond, 

 who travelled with " 103 horses, 21 dogs, and 

 3 hawks ; " a goodly retinue forsooth for an arch- 

 deacon! but more, I should say, Ratione vena- 

 tionis, than " visitationis." 



" Exhibits," or, as they were sometimes called, 

 " Exhibitions," I find to be allowances " for meat 

 and drink such as was customary among the re- 

 ligious appropriators of churches, who usually 

 made it to the depending vicar," Henbi. 



The great Douglas Cause (2"'^ S. iv. 69.) — 

 There is no printed Report of this curious and ex- 

 traordinary case extant that I know of, but L. F. 

 B. will find, on a reference to Lowndes' Biblio- 

 graphers' Manual, under the head " Douglas 

 Cause," a very good list of the most important 

 works which have been printed and published on 

 the subject. Bos well's preface to his Summary of 

 the Speeches, Sfc, of the Judges, gives an impartial 

 and distinct account of the suit. T. G. S. 



Edinburgh. 



The Theodosian Code (2°'^ S. iii. 291.) —Your 

 correspondent A. will find the information he re- 

 quires in the Penny Cyclopcedia, art. " Theodosian 

 Code." Resupinus. 



• The former of these is of ecclesiastical cognizance ; 

 the other two are to be tried at law. 



