2''d S. No 94., Oct. 17. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



317 



young, to her great grief. After this, sir William Holford 

 married her, chiefly for her wealth (her beauty being 

 then much decayed",) he being but poor himself; but dyed 

 before her, and what he had came to his son, sir Wil- 

 liam Holford, who dyed not a year agoe, being bachellor 

 of arts and fellow of New college, a rakish drunken sot, 

 and would never acknowledge his mother in law, for 

 which she allowed him nothing, and so he dyed poor. 

 This woman dyed very rich, (in the 70th year or there- 

 abouts of her age,) and hath left a vast deal to several 

 charitable uses. She was buried on Thursday night, 

 (Nov. 17.) in great state, in the church of St. Alhallows 

 Stayning, near that of sir William, her late husband. 

 The blew-coat boys belonging to Christ Hospital walked be- 

 fore the corps in procession, singing of psalms ; and twenty- 

 seven clergymen attended at the funeral." 



Hearne afterwards gives some particulars of the 

 exhibitions left by Lady Holford for Charter- 

 House scholars at Oxford, and says that each of 

 the twenty-seven clergymen attending her funeral 

 received a legacy of ten pounds. 



It will be observed that this funeral took place 

 as much as twenty-six years after the production 

 of the play by D'Urfey, in which the allusion to 

 the custom, quoted by me, is found. Sir William 

 Holford does not appear to have been an alderman 

 of London, but it is probable that he and his lady 

 were governors of Christ's Hospital. 



^*^c f H.I 103 W. H. Husk. 



degeneracy of the Human Race (2""^ S. iv. 288.) 

 — I have lately dug up in a barrow some Romans, 

 known to be such by the coin in their mouths. 

 They were of average height. And a ^qvt years 

 ago I discovered in a barrow a perfect skeleton of 

 what must have been an aboriginal Briton, and 

 from circumstances thought to be nearly as early 

 as the Christian era. He was about 5 ft. 10 in. or 

 5 ft. 11 in., but the bones prodigiously strong. 



OVTIS. 



" Fortune helps those who help themselnes " (2"*^ 

 S. iv. 292.) — The Latin is, " Audaces fortuna 

 juvat." Ohris. 



Esquire (2"-^ S. iv. 296.) — We are altogether 

 got out of order and place. If your correspon- 

 dents remonstrate against the indiscriminate use 

 of the word Esquire, allow me to protest against 

 the practice, now become common, of tradesmen 

 sending their compliments upon payment of their 

 bills. Their customers will, I suppose, shortly be 

 expected to send their respects and thanks for the 

 favour of letting them have goods. And I should 

 hardly dare to say this, if I were not Ovtis. 



The Case of Edward Drewe (2"'» S. iv. 255.) — 

 The Case of Edward Dreive, late Major in the 

 35th Regiment of Foot, is a pamphlet of 102 pages 

 published by him at Exeter in 1782. It consists 

 chiefly of Minutes of the Court-Martial held at 

 St. Lucia on May 24, 1780, by the sentence of 

 which he was cashiered. An Appendix comprises 

 several letters and papers adduced by the late 



Major in defence of his character, and among 

 them is the letter of Lieutenant, afterwards 

 General, Simcoe, now brought forwards. The 

 freedom of the city of Exeter was presented to 

 Captain Drewe on November 23, 1755, "for his 

 late gallant behaviour in America." He was a 

 native of that city, being the son of Edward 

 Drewe, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, and died there 

 on February 21, 1793, at the age of forty-two 

 years. J. D. S. 



High Borlace (2°'» S. iv. 248.) — The meaning 

 of these words, for thus they should be written, 

 will be discovered by reference to the interesting 

 extracts from the Diaries of Thomas Hearne, 

 lately edited by Dr. Bliss. 



The High Borlace appears to have been a select 

 club at Oxford, at the annual meeting of which, 

 held at the King's Head Tavern, a lady was 

 chosen to be patroness of the society for the year 

 ensuing. The brooch described in the Query is 

 doubtless the badge of this high office. August 

 18. appears to have been the anniversary of the 

 High Borlace, at which members were elected. 



As the ReliquicB Hearniance is already, as my 

 friend Mr. Toovey informs me, a scarce book, I 

 venture to transcribe the following extract rela- 

 tive to this subject : 



" 1733. August 22. On Saturday, Aug. 18? 1733, was 

 the annual meeting, called the High Borlace, at the 

 King's head tavern in Oxford, when miss Molly Wick- 

 ham, of Garsington, was chosen ladj* patroness, in room 

 of miss Stonhouse, that was lady patroness last year." 



" August 23. Dr. Leigh, master of Balliol coll., was of 

 the High Borlace this year. This is the first time of a 

 clergyman's being there." 



" 1734. August 20. Sunday (being the 18th) was the 

 annual meeting of the High Borlase, but being the sab- 

 bath, the meeting was not held till yesterday, at the 

 King's head tavern, as usual in Oxford, when the com- 

 pany was less than last j'ear. They chose for their lady 

 patroness miss Anne Cope, daughter of Sir Jonathan Copo 

 of Bruem." 



I should be glad to receive any farther infor- 

 mation as to the constitution and objects of this 

 society, and the source from which its title was 

 derived. Vebna. 



Captain Cook, Godfather to his own Wife (2"** 

 S. iv. 225.) — There is nothing violently improbable 

 in the above circumstance, if the following facts 

 are strictly correct. Captain Cook was born in 

 1728 ; about the year 1835 I attended a funeral in 

 Cambridge, said to be that of Capt. Cook's widow. 

 If this were so, she survived her famous husband 

 fifty-six years ; and as he was killed at the age of 

 fifty-one, it would seem to indicate that she must 

 have been a much younger person, and might well 

 have been his godchild. A reference to the regis- 

 ter of Great St. Andrew's Church in Cambridge, 

 where the funeral took place, will determine her 

 age. Camul. 



