Sept. 4. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



231 



ferred to the small but very cui-ious brass of a 

 priest with crossed hands, at Fulbourne, Cam- 

 bridgeshire. In the MS. catalogue of my own 

 Collection of Rubbings of Monumental Brasses, I 

 find the following note appended to the account of 

 the brass in question ; it is taken from an unpub- 

 lished letter by Mr. Bloxam : 



" Brasses of priests with the hands crossed in front 

 are of more rare occurrence in this county than abroad. 

 A few years ago the ancient cemetery of the Priory of 

 Kenilworth was disclosed to view, and many slabs with 

 crosses covered the remains of the monks, who were 

 found to have been interred with the hands crossed, the 

 fingers downwards. In an old work entitled Vetus dis- 

 ctplina monastica, the dead bodies of monks of the order 

 were disposed as follows: 'Supra pectus manus extra 

 ancillam amplicantur ! ' " 



This note bears so much upon the subject of 

 " Monkish Burials," that I thought it might in- 

 terest some of your readers. 



In the noble Flemish brass at Wensley, York- 

 shire, circ. 1360, a chalice is represented as being 

 laid upon the breast of the figure, whilst the hands 

 are crossed and point downwards. I cannot call 

 to mind any other brasses of priests in England in 

 which the same arrangement is to be found. 



W. Sparrow Simpson, B. A. 



Beech Tree (Vol. vi., p. 129.). — I have inquired 

 of persons in the neighbourhood of Little Marlow, 

 where beech woods abound, if they remember any 

 instances of trees of that description being struck 

 by lightning. A labourer who was attending some 

 sheep, perfectly recollects a violent storm taking 

 place at a spot called Booker, which killed several 

 of the sheep, evidently by lightning, who were 

 under the tree, which was a remarkably fine and 

 large beech. The tree itself was much scorched 

 on one side, and the leaves " frizzled up." This 

 is, I am aware, only a solitary instance, and it 

 happened about twenty-one years ago; still it may 

 assist in preventing Tittrus trusting himself in a 

 thunderstorm, for the purpose of safety, " sub 

 tegmine fagi." C. I. R. 



Duke of Orleans (Vol. vi,, p. 128.). — I cannot 

 give A. C. any cotemporary evidence of what is 

 stated in my Curiosities of Heraldry, p. 173., viz. 

 that Charles, Duke of Orleans, was in captivity for 

 twenty- five (not twenty-nine) years at Groom - 

 bridge, the seat of Sir Richard Waller. I origin- 

 ally found the statement in a work entitled The 

 Principal Historical and Allusive Arms of the 

 United Kingdom: London, 4to , 1803. This is, 

 according to Moule, a "particularly scarce" book, 

 most of the copies having been destroyed by a fire 

 at the printing-office. But subsequently to my 

 perusal of it I have met with similar accounts, the 

 accuracy of which I believe remains unchallenged. 

 The fact of the unfortunate duke's having been 



imprisoned at Pontefract and elsewhere for some 

 time, does not militate against the twenty-four years' 

 captivity in Kent. Polydore Vergil tells us that 

 he " was at the last lett home twenty-six yere after 

 that he had been taken in the battaile of Agin- 

 court," which would allow two years for detention 

 in other places. In Burr's Tonbridge Wells, 1766, 

 p. 163., the account given is as follows : 



" Sir Richard [Waller] followed the King into 

 France, and very highly distinguished himself at the 

 ever-famous battle of Agincourt, from whence he 

 brought the Duke of Orleans prisoner, and was al- 

 lowed by Henry to keep him in honourable confine- 

 ment at Groombridge. This prince continued twenty- 

 five years in captivity, paid at last 400,000 crowns for 

 his ransom, and, from a principle of gratitude for the 

 hospitality of his generous keeper, rebuilt the mansion- 

 house, and repaired and beautified the parish church 

 [Speldhurst], which to this day bears his arms over the 

 portal. He also assigned to Sir Richard and his heirs 

 for ever, as a perpetual memorial of his merits, this 

 honourable addition to his family arms, namely, the 

 escutcheon of France suspended upon an oak, with this 

 motto afiixed to it, — 



' HI FRUCXUS VIRTUTIS.' " 



The authority quoted is Baronetage, 1720, vol. il. 

 p. 289. Mark Antony Lower. 



Lewes. 



Henrie Smith (Vol. vi., p. 129.)- — To the full 

 and able answer given to your correspondent's^ in- 

 quiry I would not have ventured to add anything, 

 only it may be worth while to note Fuller's quaint 

 allusion to his being 



" Commonly called the silver-tongved preacher, and 

 that was but one metall below St. Chrysostome him- 

 self" — The Life of Mr. Henry Smith, prefixed to his 

 Sermons, Sec, 1675. 



t 



I observe among your Queries one relating 

 to the Rev. Henry Smith, a divine of the 

 reign of Elizabeth. In your Note you say he 

 was connected with a family of the same name 

 living at Withcock, Leicestershire. In Burton's 

 Leicestershire (1622), under the name of " With- 

 cote," you will find a few particulars respecting 

 the divine in question, and his family. His father, 

 I believe, was the purchaser of the estate at With- 

 cote ; and there is now standing an old chapel, 

 which I have visited, containing monuments in 

 memory of members of the family. Jaytee. 



Leicester. 



Longevity (Vol. v., p. 178.). — Not very long 

 after the publication of your sceptical correspond- 

 ent O. C. D.'s letter, I saw in an American paper 

 an obituary notice, which put forward a claim to 

 very great age (about 140 years, if I recollect 

 right), the evidence of which was easily accessible. 

 The deceased person was stated to be a native of 



