432 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 265. 



beg to refer your correspondent to vol. iii. 

 pp. 251-3. of Mr. Roach Smith's Collectanea 

 Atitiqua, for a full account of it. With regard to 

 the word Cos, Mr. R. Smith reads it Consults. 

 Moreover, it seems, the same word occurs in an 

 inscription found at Winchester, referred to in 

 p. 272. of the same work. E. Pbettt. 



Standard-hearer of the Conqueror (Vol. x., 

 p. 306.). — The office of standard-bearer of Nor- 

 mandy was hereditary in the family of De Toeny, 

 Lords of Toeny and Conches, as appears from the 

 passage of the Roman de Rou, referred to by 

 J. M. G., with which compare Ordericus Vitalis 

 in Duchesne's Script. Norm., pp. 493. 576. The 

 Fitz-Rolph mentioned by Mr. Wakeman is the 

 same with the Tosteins Fitz-Rou le Blanc of Wace, 

 to whom Duke William confided the standard on 

 Raol de Conches and Walter Giffard successively 

 declining to bear it. The Malets were either de- 

 scended from or collaterally connected with this 

 Toustain, as would appear from the genealogy 

 given in Mr. Taylor's translation of Wace, p. 209., 

 compared with the disquisition respecting Lucy, 

 wife of Ivo Taillebois, in the account of the Earls 

 of Lincoln in the first volume of Nichols' Topo- 

 grapher and Genealogist. But the precise relation- 

 ship does not appear. There is a good deal re- 

 specting the Malets, and also (I think) regarding 

 Toustain and his family, in the Memoirs of the 

 Society of Antiquaries of Normandy, where possibly 

 evidence of the relationship may be found. I 

 have no books of reference at the place from which 

 I write. L. 



Another may be added to the four persons men- 

 tioned by J. M. G. to whom this honour has been 

 appropriated, viz. Sylvester de Grymeston, who is 

 said to have "come over from Normandy as 

 standard-bearer in the army of William the Con- 

 queror," to whom " he did homage for his lands at 

 Grymstone and Holmpton." (Burke's Commoners.) 

 The same statement is repeated in Poulson's 

 History of Holderness, vol. ii. p. 60., where it is 

 farther stated, on the authority of Philpot, that 

 Sylvester was " standard-bearer to William at the 

 battle of Hastings." Are these statements re- 

 corded as facts in Anglo-Norman history ? 



F. R. R. 



" The Birch " (Vol. vii., p. 159. ; Vol. x., pp. 73. 

 116.). — Your correspondent Balliolensis gives 

 a copy of The Birch : a Poem, and requests to 

 know the author. 



In No. 247. Mr. Hughes of Chester says that 

 he found the lines in Adams's Weekly Courant, of 

 Tuesday, July 25th, 1786, and thinks it likely 

 they were the production of one of the scholars of 

 the Grammar School of Chester. 



In No. 249., signed Lancastriensis, the writer 

 agrees with Mr. Hughes in the probable emana- 



tion of this poem from the King's School, Chester, 

 with some finishing touches from its master, the 

 Rev. Thomas Bancroft, afterwards Vicar of Bol- 

 ton-le-Moors. He thinks he had seen it in Dr. 

 Bancroft's MS. folio of his own poetical compo- 

 sitions, mixed with others by his pupils. 



I have read the above conjectures with con- 

 siderable interest and surprise, because, for the 

 last forty years, I have always believed this poem 

 of The Birch to have been the undoubted pro- 

 duction of the Rev. Thomas Wilson, B.D., head 

 master of Clitheroe Grammar School, Lancashire, 

 and author of The Archaeological Dictionary. 

 Such has been to this day the general tradition 

 and belief of the whole neighbourhood, and of all 

 who have been connected with Clitheroe School. 



I have ajcopy of verses very similar to The 

 Birch in style and character, though on a difierent 

 subject, which had been written for recitation in 

 the school ; this copy I received from Mr. Wilson 

 himself, a iQVf years before his death, and it is 

 subscribed with his initials, " T. W. 1784." 



Since the question was mooted in " N. & Q.," I 

 have communicated with a gentleman, who has 

 now Mr. Wilson's papers and MSS. in his possession, 

 and he informs me that on searching through them, 

 at my request, he finds a copy of The Birch : a 

 Poem, unquestionably in Mr. Wilson's hand- 

 writing, and to which are subjoined the initials 

 " T. W." 



These simple facts will be sufficient, I may 

 hope, to establish the claim of Mr. Wilson of 

 Clitheroe as the true author of the verses on The 

 Birch. J. T. ALiiEK. 



Stradbrooke. 



Two Brothers of the same Christian Name 

 (Vol. viii., p. 338.). — Two sisters of the same Chris- 

 tian name occur in the family of Thomas Holland, 

 Earl of Kent, who married Alice, daughter of 

 Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel. Alianore the 

 elder married, first, Roger Mortimer, Earl of 

 March ; and, secondly, Edward Cherleton, Lord 

 Powis. Alianore the younger sister married 

 Thomas Montague, Earl of Salisbury. M. P. 



Battle-door (Vol. x., p. 385.). — The passage to 

 which F. C. B, refers is as follows : 



"To Francis the Watchman, at Coaledome's, for a 

 skuttle and a battle-door, and other necessarys, 8d." 



When I published the third volume of my Annals 

 of Cambridge, I was unable to explain the word 

 battle-door, or I should have added a. note. I 

 have since formed the conclusion that it means a 

 washing betel. See Promptorium Parvulorum, 

 p. 27. ° 



With the concluding part of tlie Annals of 

 Cambridge I intend to give a glossarial index. 



C. H. COOPEE. 



Cambridge. 



