July 15. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



4d 



of Lady Russell's Letters, is not corrected in 

 the new collected edition. Lady Russell writes, 

 June 12, 1680 : — " The three chits go down to 

 Althorpe, if they can be spared." Miss Berry 

 conjectured that the chits were the Earl of Lei- 

 cester's children, Lord Leicester having been 

 mentioned in the previous sentence. The chits is 

 the nickname of the three chief ministers of the 

 day, Laurence Hyde, Godolphin, and Sunderland ; 

 the last being the owner of Althorpe. The poli- 

 tical ballad of " The Chits" is well known : — 



' But Sunderland, Godolphin, Lory, 

 These will appear such chits in story, 

 'Twill turn all politics to jests," &c. 



C. H. 



Female Parish Overseer. — Several instances of 

 female parish clerks have appeared in " N. & Q. " 

 I have not, however, seen any Note on female 

 guardians of the poor. Will you give a place to 

 the following paragraph, which has lately appeared 

 in the newspapers ? 



"A Female Parish Overseer. — Miss Sarah Matilda 

 George was recently nominated at a vestry meeting as a 

 fit and proper person to fulfil the duties of overseer of the 

 poor of Misson, Notts ; and the Retford magistrates have 

 made the appointment. Miss George subsequently at- 

 tended a vestry meeting, declared her willingness to 

 fulfil the duties, and received the balance due to the 

 parish from the outgoing overseers." — Record, May 11, 

 1854. 



F. M. MiDDLETON. 



©uertcS. 



THE LORD HIGH STEWARD : WARREN HASTINGS' 

 TRIAL. 



Haydn, in his Book of Dignities, records 

 the Lords Chancellors Thurlow and Loughbo- 

 rough presiding in the capacity of Lord High 

 Steward, the one at the commencement, and the 

 other at the conclusion, of Hastings' trial. He 

 gives circumstantially the minute dates of their 

 respective appointments as such, Lord Thurlow 

 on Feb. 12, 1788, and Lord Loughborough on 

 Jan. 28, 1793. 



But Lord Campbell, in his Lives of the Chan- 

 cellors, vol. V. p. 575., expressly states, — 



" The charge (i. e. against Hastings) not being 

 capital, no Lord High Steward was appointed, and 

 Lord Thurlow, during the time he held the great seal, 

 presided over it (the trial) as Chancellor or Speaker 

 of the House of Lords." 



It seems also to have been as chancellor that Lord 

 Loughborough acted : see Lives of the Lord Chan- 

 cellors, vol. vi. p. 268. Here, then, is a singular 

 variance ; " non nostrum," &c., but I suspect that 

 Lord Campbell is right as to the fact; let me, 

 however, with all respect question the reason he 

 gives for the non- appointment of a Lord High 



Steward at this trial. Surely it was not because 

 the charge was not capital, but because Hastings 

 was not a peer. I think it will be found that this 

 office is never filled except on occasion of a peer's 

 trial ; and indeed, I may quote Haydn himself, 

 whose words are : 



" Henry (III.) and his successors, wisely judging 

 that the power was too great, in some measure abo- 

 lished the office, as, in the bands of an ambitious sub- 

 ject, it might be made subservient to the worst pur- 

 poses. It is now, therefore, only revived, pro hdc vice, 

 to officiate at a coronation, or the trial of a peer." 



I should add that in Haydn's list of the holders 

 of the office, comprising the period from the Re- 

 storation to the present time, his own definition of 

 the appointment is, with this one exception, strictly 

 borne out. W. T. M. 



Hons; Kong. 



DEDICATIONS Or SUFFOLK CHURCHES. 



As you have upon former occasions allowed me 

 to make use of your columns for practical pur- 

 poses, will you again allow me to inquire whether 

 any of your readers can supply me with the names 

 of the saints after whom the following churches 

 are named in the county of Suffolk? My work 

 on the archaeological topography of that county is 

 nearly ready for publication ; but I am still in 

 want of the architectural notes of a few churches 

 and of these dedications, which I have in vain en- 

 deavoured to find in any of the usual sources of 

 information. J. H. Parker. 



CHUBCHES IN SUFFOLK, THE DEDICATIONS OF WHICH 

 ARE WANTED. 



Lowestoft. 



Wenham, Little. 



Earasholt 



Stowlangtoft. 



Poslingford. 



Whixoe. 



Wratting, Little. 



Alpheton. 



Exning. 



Whepstead. 



Gipping. 



Harleston. 



Welnetham, Great. 



Hargrave. 



RAPHAELS CARTOONS. 



I am not aware whether a singular mistake in 

 one of Raphael's Cartoons has ever been noticed. 

 The guide-books (authorised perhaps by the au- 

 thorities) make no allusion to it. Some record of 

 the error may possibly be in existence ; but if 

 such is the fact, it is not I think generally known. 

 There can be little doubt, therefore, that its pub- 

 licity in your columns may make the circumstance 

 more generally known ; and induce the compilers 

 of the said handbooks, in their next edition, to 

 " make a note of it" in the long explanation they 

 give of the cartoon in question. This cartoon is 

 said to describe the scene mentioned in the last 



