Oct. 28. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



339 



thered with certayn clothes which were in the carte, and 

 was buried here. — 1023, Sept. 4. Buryed a poore man 

 brought by the Little Chesterford constables, to be exa- 

 mined by "the justice; the justice being a hunting, the 

 poore man died before his coming home from hunting." 



Perhaps the squire had a longer run than usual 

 with the hounds on this occasion. 



" 1716, Nov. 18. The oulde girle from the workhouse 

 was buried." 



The corporation accounts contain some singular 

 items. We have entries of money paid for saffron 

 given to the " queen's (Elizabeth) attorney," and 

 of 2s. " to my Lord Staffourd's players ;" a larnje 

 lionorarium of 10s. having been paid for the medi- 

 ation of the Earl of Suffolk's secretary ; and the 

 sum of \l. 9s. M. for "setting uppe the cucking- 

 stole." Bailey designates this 



"A machine formerly used for the punishment of scolds 

 and brawling women, in which they were placed and 

 lowered into a river or pond, until they were almost 

 choked with water." 



Happily for scolds, this ancient method of " taming 

 the shrew " has long been abolished. Mrs. Cau- 

 dle, so graphically described in Punch, would have 

 been a good subject for this sort of discipline. 



" Paid 4tZ. for nailing up the Quakers' door twice ; and 

 received 10s. for rent of the mountebank." 



The following are extracts from an old parish 

 book belonging to St. Giles's, London : 



"1641. Received of the vintner, at 'The Cat' in 

 Queen Street, for permitting of tippling on the Lord's 

 Day, 1/. 10s. — Received of three poore men for drinking 

 on the sabbath dale at Tottenham Court, 4s. — 1645. Re- 

 ceived of John Seagood, constable, which be had of a 

 Frenchman for swearing three oaths, 3s. — Received of 

 Mrs. Sunder, by the hands of Francis Potter, for her being 

 drunk and swearing seven oaths, 12s. — 1640. Received 

 of Mr. Hooker for brewing on a fast-day, 2s. 6d. — Payd 

 and given to Lyn and two watchmen, in consideration of 

 their pains, and the breaking of two halberts, in taking 

 the two drunkards and swearers that paid, 1/. 4s. — Re- 

 ceived of fair-men travelling on the fast-day, Is. — 1648. 

 Received of Isabella Johnson, at the Cole Yard, for drink- 

 ing on the sabbath day, 4s." 



This was the year previous to that in which King 

 Charles I. was beheaded. It appears that there 

 were persons at that period who could " strain at 

 a gnat and swallow a camel." These turbulent 

 subjects could put their sovereign to death ap- 

 parently without much remorse ; but to brew on 

 a fast-day, or to be found travelling on those days 

 or on the sabbath, were enormities that they would 

 by no means tolerate. With respect to their zeal 

 against tippling and swearing, in that they are to 

 be commended. 



"1652. Received of Mr. Huxley and Mr. Morris, who 

 were riding out of town during sermon time on a fast- 

 day, lis. — 1054. Received of William Glover in Queen 

 Street, and of Isaac Thomas, a barber, for trimming of 

 beards on the Lord's day [the sum not stated]. — 1655. 

 Received of a mayd taken in Mr. Johnson's ale-house on 

 the sabbath dav, 5s. — Received of a Scotchman for 



drinking at Robert Owen's on the sabbath, 2s. — 1658. 

 Received of Joseph Piers for refusing to open his doores 

 to have his house searched on the Lord's dale, 10s." 



1659. There is an entry of " one Brookes's 

 goods, sold for a breach of the sabbath," but the 

 produce is not set down. 



The following memorandum is copied from an 

 old register in the parish of Great Easton : 



" Matthew Tomlinson, curate of this parish, left Feb. 1, 

 1730. 



To my Parishioners. 

 Farewell, dear flock, my last kind wish receive. 

 The only tribute that I now can give. 

 Ma}' my past labours claim a just regard. 

 Great is the prize, and glorious the reward ; 

 Transcendent joys, surpassing human thought. 

 To meet in heaven whom I on earth had taught." 



In concluding this account of parish registers, 

 it may be mentioned that, many years since, there 

 was a good old-fashioned farmer, James Biddell 

 by name, who lived at Bradfield St. George, near 

 Bury, who, when he served the office of overseer, 

 used to close his account by putting down, " For 

 bustling about, 10s." The parishioners used to 

 smile at this item in the worthy old gentleman's 

 account, but they all agreed in thinking that it 

 was a very moderate charge for " bustling about " 

 for so long a period on parish business. 



G. Blencowb. 



Manningtree. 



Curious Extracts from Parish Registers in 

 New England. — The following notes have been 

 recently taken from the records of the old church 

 in Andover, Massachusetts : 



" January 17, 1712. Voted (under protest) yt those 

 persons who have pews sit with their wives." 



" Nov. 10th, 1713. Granted to Richard Barker foure 

 shillings, for his extraordinary trouble in swiping our 

 Meeting House ye past year." 



"March 17th, 1766. Voted, that all the English 

 women in the parish, Avho marry or associate with negro 

 or mulatto men, be seated in the Meeting House with the 

 negro women." 



" In 1799 it was voted, amid much opposition, to pro- 

 cure a bass viol." 



Before closing this Note, might I ask if it is a 

 custom now, or ever has been, in any part of 

 England, for the head and male members of a 

 family to have the sittings in a pew nearest the 

 door? If so, its origin. Such is the custom in 

 America, and it is supposed to have originated in 

 the following manner. 



In former times it was customary for the 

 Indians to attack a village on a Sunday, when 

 they thought the men would be in church, and 

 unprepared to receive them. The savages having 

 been successful on several occasions, it became a 

 necessary precaution for all the males to go 

 armed, and have sittings near the door of a pew, 

 to be enabled on the first alarm to leave the place 



